Korean Beef Stew Recipe ~ Slow Cooker or Oven

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This is the beef stew to beat all stews! Korean Beef Stew is sweet, salty, tangy, and oh-so flavorful! It’s so incredibly easy, you can make it any busy weeknight for a delicious family dinner.

This Korean Beef Stew has so much flavor it seriously will blow your mind! It has the traditional hearty stew ingredients of beef chuck, carrots, and onions. But, then – oh then – it has garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, cilantro, and brown sugar for the most unbelievable flavor. It’s a symphony in your mouth with warm spice from the garlic and ginger, saltiness from the soy, and nuttiness from the sesame oil. Finally, you get sweetness from the brown sugar and brightness from the cilantro. It’s magic!

This recipe was inspired by my favorite Korean recipes, Korean Bulgogi Sauce Beef Tacos on this site, but is a much easier way to get all of those wonderful flavors.

Do you meal plan your dinners?  It makes weeknights so much easier!  Check out my Meal Planning Theme Night Recipes and then add this one to your International Wednesdays or your Slow Cooker Saturdays meal planning calendar!

Jump to:

• Simple Ingredients and Substitutes
• Simple Equipment
• Prep-Ahead Steps for Korean Beef Stew
• Cook the Korean Beef Stew Recipe
• Variations on Korean Beef Stew
• Oven Instructions for Korean Beef Stew Recipe
• Sides to go with Korean Beef Stew
• Korean Beef Stew Recipe FAQs
• Korean Beef Stew Recipe
• Comments

Want more tips for making busy family dinners easier?  Click here for my Free Printable 5 Simple Steps to Easy Family Dinners!

Simple Ingredients and Substitutes

Here are the simple ingredients and substitutes that can be used for this Korean Beef Stew recipe.

Quick note!  This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you purchase from them.  This commission is what helps me keep this blog afloat :).  I also share these links because I have used the products, genuinely love them, and want you to know exactly what I used.

• Beef Chuck or Stew Meat – Beef chuck is a cut of meat from the shoulder area of the animal that has lots of connective tissue. It needs to be cooked long enough to break this down and be tender. It is sometimes also called chuck roast, shoulder steak, boneless chuck roast, or chuck shoulder pot roast. You could also use Beef short ribs, beef brisket, or Pork shoulder (pork butt).
• Carrots, diced – You can use whole carrots with the skin on or peeled. I peeled for this recipe. You can substitute with diced baby carrots, parsnips, or even radishes.
• Scallions – The scallions, also called green onions or spring onions, in this recipe provide the onion flavor, but you could also use grated or diced onion or 2 teaspoons of onion powder or a tablespoon of onion flakes.
• Fresh Garlic cloves, minced – Fresh is best in this simple recipe, but you can buy the pre-minced garlic sold in a small jar or use dried garlic flakes or garlic powder.
• Ginger – I love to buy the fresh root and then mince it in bulk in the food processor, so that I can freeze and always have it on. You can also grate the fresh ginger root using a grater or microplane. You can use dry ginger powder as a substitute if you cannot get fresh.
• Soy Sauce – I used regular Soy Sauce, but you can also use light or low sodium soy sauce, or Gluten Free Soy Sauce. If you don’t have Soy sauce, you can add Worcestershire sauce or beef, chicken, vegetable, stock or broth.
• Sesame Oil – If you don’t have sesame oil, you can use toasted sesame seeds. You can leave them whole or blend them in a spice grinder or even in a blender with a couple tablespoons of olive oil to make your own sesame oil. You can also just eliminate this ingredient from the dish.
• Fresh Cilantro – If you don’t like cilantro, you can substitute in other fresh herbs, such as basil or parsley. Or leave it out all together.
• Vinegar – I like to use white wine vinegar for this, but rice wine vinegar is very traditional. Red wine vinegar will work too. You can use any vinegar that you have on hand, with the exception of sweetened vinegars, like balsamic or raspberry.
• Brown Sugar – The brown sugar brings the necessary sweetness in Korean food. You could use white sugar in place of it if you cannot get brown. You can also add chopped apple or asian pear to the food processor or 2 tablespoons of honey.
• Cornstarch – Cornstarch is the thickener for this stew, but you don’t have to thicken it if you don’t have cornstarch.
• Beef Broth or beef stock – You can also use, vegetable broth or stock or Chicken broth or stock. You can also use water mixed with a beef or chicken bouillon cube or beef base or chicken base.

See recipe card for quantities.

Simple Equipment

For this One Pot Korean stew recipe, you can cook the stew in a slow cooker or in the oven.

I prefer to make this in a slow cooker because it’s just so darn easy!

However, you could also make it in the oven in a dutch oven or large thick bottom pot with a lid.

Next, you need a food processor for the sauce ingredients, such as this mini food processor. You could use a blender for blending the ingredients too. You could also use a grater or microplane to grate the ginger and garlic for the sauce if you don’t have a processor or blender.

Prep-Ahead Steps for Korean Beef Stew

Peel and dice the carrots. Peel and dice the onion. Chop the cilantro. Reserve some of the cilantro for garnish. If you are doing this step a day or more ahead, add all of these to a storage container or bag. (you can also store these right in the slow cooker insert in the fridge!)

Cut the beef into 2-3 inch chunks and add to the slow cooker.

Peel the garlic. Then peel the ginger by scraping off the skin using a spoon. Rough chop the ginger.

Pulse to get it going and then puree until all chopped up. Pour over the beef in the pot.

Cook the Korean Beef Stew Recipe

Add the carrots, onion, garlic, ginger, and cilantro to the slow cooker with the beef and sauce. Pour in the broth, then stir to combine.

Set the slow cooker to HIGH for 4-6 or low for 8-10 hours depending on your schedule.

Variations on Korean Beef Stew

Giving the visitor ideas on how they can change this recipe to better suit their dinner guests, or their cultural cuisine, is a great way to increase the chances they make the recipe

• Spicy – add chili pepper flakes or diced jalapeno peppers to add heat into the dish.
• Chicken – Replace the beef with chicken thighs for a leaner option. You could use chicken breast as well, but I would not go over the 4 hours high or 8 hours low cooking time as the chicken breast tends to dry out.
• More Veggies – Other vegetables that would be great in this stew are celery, bok choy, white cabbage, mushrooms, green bell peppers, red pepper, or any color bell peppers.
• Garnishes – I love to add garnishes to my stews, soups, chilis, or really just about any meal! I’m not talking about parsley, I mean delicious toppings! For this Korean Beef Stew, I love my Sriracha Cream that is used in my Korean Beef Tacos! You can also use cool sliced or shredded radishes, fresh cool cabbage, or crunchy wonton chips.

Oven Instructions for Korean Beef Stew Recipe

If you do not have a slow cooker, you can make this in a dutch oven in the oven. Since I’m using a dutch oven (or pot) anyway, I like to first sear the beef cubes on the stove. To do so, simply preheat the pot over medium-high heat. Then add olive oil and the beef. Cook flipping the beef after a few minutes to brown on all sides. Then turn off the stove and follow the rest of the recipe instructions exactly the same to add the ingredients.

Cook in a 400 F degree oven, slow cooking for 3 hours until the beef is fall apart tender. Follow the same instructions for blending the sauce.

Sides to go with Korean Beef Stew

A simple steamed white rice is perfect with this stew. Or lightly soaked rice noodles (vermicelli) in hot water.