This easy Korean beef is ready in under an hour in the Instant Pot! Inspired by Korean beef bulgogi recipes, this juicy, citrusy one-pot shredded beef is great for meal prep and last-minute dinners.
From corned beef to chuck roast, my Instant Pot is one of my favorite ways to prepare beef that’s fall-apart-tender and full of flavor.
You don’t need fancy ingredients to recreate the flavors in traditional Korean beef bulgogi, the dish that inspired today’s Korean beef recipe. Soy sauce, fresh garlic, and ginger work together with diced apples and orange juice to make this version approachable AND flavorful.
The Instant Pot achieves tender, juicy, shreddable results in a fraction of the time, and I can’t wait to make this again. I served this juicy beef over rice this time, but I’m already planning to make Korean beef tacos next!
Why I’m Obsessed With This Easy Korean Beef Recipe
- Korean-style flavors. This Korean beef recipe combines the Instant Pot method with juicy bottom roast and a mild and citrusy, Asian-inspired sauce. It’s savory, zesty, and lick-your-fingers good!
- One pot, baby! Using the Instant Pot means that we can sear and cook this beef in one pot from start to finish. Perfect for busy weeknights.
- Juicy, tender beef in under an hour. The beef cooks for a short while on high pressure and then shreds up like a dream. You don’t even have to shred it if you cube the meat small enough, but I like how the shredded meat soaks up all of the tasty sauce.
- Versatile. Korean beef goes great with rice, or you can add it to tacos, noodles, lettuce wraps, or serve this shredded beef between soft Hawaiian rolls to make game day sliders.
Ingredients Needed
Like my Chinese-style beef and broccoli and Thai peanut chicken, I set out to recreate the flavors in beef bulgogi using everyday, uncomplicated pantry ingredients. Here’s a look at what you’ll need. Refer to the printable recipe card below the post for the full amounts and step-by-step recipe instructions.
- Beef Roast – I chose a bottom round roast for this recipe. Cut the beef into cubes so it’s easier to fit inside the Instant Pot. Make sure they’re cut to the same size, so the meat cooks evenly.
- Oil – Olive oil, or another mild cooking oil, for searing.
- Beef Broth – Pressure cooking requires liquid. So, to amp up the beefy flavors, I add beef broth. You could use chicken stock in a pinch, but it won’t have quite the same depth of flavor.
- Soy Sauce – You’ll need a good amount of soy sauce for this recipe, so I don’t recommend substituting it. Use low-sodium soy sauce for less salt.
- Garlic – Try to use freshly minced garlic. If not, substitute each clove with 1 tablespoon of jarred garlic or garlic paste.
- Ginger – Like the garlic, the ginger should be fresh. A 1-inch knob of fresh ginger will typically give you about 1 tablespoon when grated.
- Apple – Peeled and chopped. I like to use Granny Smith, but any firm-crisp apple works, like Fuji or Gala. You could also use a pear.
- Orange Juice – Fresh is always best. You’ll need the juice from one large orange or two small ones. In a pinch, you can use ¼-⅓ cup of store-bought orange juice (not from concentrate).
Can I Use Another Cut of Beef?
Yes, but with a caveat: Different cuts of beef may have different cooking times in the Instant Pot. Chuck roast, for example, will need slightly longer to cook. I recommend choosing a similar cut, like top round roast, if bottom round isn’t available.
How to Make Korean Beef in the Instant Pot
Pressure cooking is an easy way to tenderize slow-cooking cuts of beef, like the roast in this recipe, at the last minute. It’s a reassuring option when I know I won’t have time to load up my slow cooker in the morning.
- Prepare the beef. Cube the roast, then season the pieces liberally with salt and pepper.
- Next, set the Instant Pot to sauté. Brown the beef chunks on all sides. You’ll likely need to brown the meat in batches, so it doesn’t steam.
- Deglaze the pot. Transfer the cooked beef to a plate. Deglaze the IP with beef broth, scraping up the stuck-on bits on the bottom. Make sure to use a non-metal spatula for this!
- Put it all together. Add the soy sauce to the broth, then add the beef back to the pot. Stir in the garlic, diced apples (or pears), grated ginger, and freshly squeezed orange juice.
- Seal and cook. Close the lid, and set the Instant Pot to cook on Manual/High Pressure for 45 minutes. Double-check that the valve is closed before you hit start.
- Release the pressure and shred the beef. Once the cooking time is up, quick-release the steam. Carefully open the lid, and use two forks to shred the meat, stirring it back into the sauce. You’re ready to serve!
Slow Cooker Method
Of course, the Instant Pot slow-cooks, too, which makes it super versatile. If you’d prefer to make this beef recipe using the slow cooking setting, or if you have another slow cooker or crockpot, you can absolutely do it that way.
Follow the steps as written, assembling the ingredients in the slow cooker instead. Cover and cook the beef on High for 4 hours, or on Low for 6-7 hours. Set it to cook in the morning, and come home to delicious Korean beef that’s ready to shred!
Recipe Tips
- Cut the beef into the same-sized pieces. I mentioned this earlier, but it helps the beef cook through at the same rate.
- Make it spicy. Prepared as written, this recipe is very mild. I spiced mine up with a little chili oil to give it an extra kick. If your whole family likes spice, add crushed red pepper flakes into the sauce as well. You might also like to try my spicy Asian fire meat recipe.
- The Instant Pot takes time to come to pressure. Note that the cooking time in the recipe does not include the time it takes the IP to come to pressure. This can take an additional 5-20 minutes or so, depending on the contents. Think of it like preheating the oven, and plan accordingly!
- Serve on the Keep Warm setting. Whenever I’m serving this Instant Pot Korean beef to a crowd, say, for game day or a family gathering, I’ll switch the pot to its Keep Warm setting. This way, the beef stays hot, and everyone can help themselves.
What to Serve With Korean Beef
Serve Korean beef over a bed of jasmine rice and a rainbow crunch salad on the side. Or, add this beef to spicy sesame noodles or try a version of this homemade pork ramen with shredded Korean beef instead of pork.
Tuck this flavorful beef into slider sandwiches or dinner rolls, and I think it would make wonderful beef tacos topped with crunchy slaw and a squeeze of lime.
How to Store and Reheat Leftover Beef
- Refrigerate. Korean beef is great for meal prep. Cook it on a weekend, and store the cooled beef in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. It’s ready to portion over rice for easy meals throughout the week!
- Reheat. To reheat the shredded beef, warm it in a skillet on the stove or in the microwave. If you find the beef a bit dry, add a splash of beef broth.
- Freeze. Once cooled, seal this Korean beef inside a freezer bag or container and freeze it for up to 2 months. Thaw the beef in the fridge overnight before you reheat it.
More Asian-Inspired Dinner Ideas
Korean Beef
- Prep Time: 25 min
- Cook Time: 45 min
- Total Time: 1 hr 10 min
- Yield: serves 6
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Crockpot
- Cuisine: American
Description
Inspired by traditional Korean beef bulgogi, this easy Korean beef recipe is flavorful, juicy, and ready in under an hour in the Instant Pot.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds bottom roast, cut into cubes
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 pear or Granny Smith apple peeled and chopped
- juice of one large orange or 2 small
Instructions
- Season the cubed roast liberally with salt and pepper.
- Heat Instant Pot to saute. Once the pan is hot coat the pan with the olive oil and in batches brown the meat on all the sides. Transfer meat to a plate while you’re working.
- Once all the meat is browned de-glaze the pan with the beef broth, scraping up all the browned bits.
- Pour in the soy sauce and stir to combine.
- Return all the meat back to the pan and then place the garlic, ginger and pear on top of the meat, stirring lightly to slightly combine.
- Finally add in the orange juice.
- Place the lid on your Instant Pot and using the manual button on high pressure set to 45 minutes. Make sure the valve is closed.
- Once the pot is done, release the steam and shred meat using a fork.
- Serve over rice
Notes
To make this recipe in the slow cooker follow all the steps 1-7. Slow cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 plate
- Calories: 474
- Sugar: 5.1 g
- Sodium: 1805 mg
- Fat: 15.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Protein: 70.4 g
- Cholesterol: 178.4 mg
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A friend loaned me her Instant Pot to try, and this was my second experiment (after plain white rice). I only found a 3lb package of bottom round and accidentally forgot to scale the rest of the ingredients back, but I remedied this by reducing the liquid by cooking on the Saute function for about 20 minutes after the meat was done. So easy, yet so delicious! Thanks for sharing.
We loved it! I threw this together ina matter of minutes after a google search for “instant pot beef” led me to your recipe. I was getting three young kids ready to fly out the door when I was peeping it, so who knows if I put the right amount of ingredients in, haha. Well, when we got home it smelled amazing and tasted even better. I am glad to say, this is a fail safe recipe! Thanks, I needed that 🙂
I assume when it is done do do a quick release instead of natural release?
Yum! I think I’ll make this tonight and serve over rice with steamed broccoli. What would you add to tortillas for the Korean taco idea? Some kind of slaw, I assume?
Hi. How much juice do i add?
You can’t do manual and adjust pressure to normal. It’s either low or high! So which is it!? Hope low works cause that’s what I set it to!!!!!:-0
High will be fine!
Thank you! I did half time on low and half on high!! it was a HUGE hit with my family. My husband was in Heaven eating this, my 11 yr old son had 2 servings and requested me to make again tomorrow!!!
I served it over jasmine rice and side of broccoli!
Thank you!!!!!! I just shared it on fb and text it to a bunch of friends/ family!
Awesome! So glad you liked it!!
Help – in the instructions it says cooks in just a few minutes but later on says 45 minutes? What should it be?
Just a few minutes is just an expression I used to hyperbolize how fast you can achieve shredded meat in a pressure cooker 🙂 It’s 45 minutes.
i *didn’t* like it, Shelly! You must not have read my comment. The prep was insanely long. We haven’t eaten it yet, so i can’t comment on that crucial aspect, but come ON … this thing is called the INSTANT Pot. Emphasis on the “Instant.” i bought it to make meals quickly. This recipe is a bear. “Just a few minutes” is NOT just an expression, when you ramble on about how busy your weeknights are and when you’re trying to convince people to try your fast, easy recipes.
Why are those error still up there? Do you not have edit access?
Same recipe would take all day in the crockpot so relatively speaking, it is quick. I like it because I can throw something in when I get home from work, tend to other things, and my dinner will be ready in an hour or less.
Dude… Shut the fuck up
Wow… that’s some entitlement there. “Instant Pot” is the brand name, it does not imply that 2 lbs of beef will be cooked instantaneously. If you’re that upset with the narrative because you had unreasonable expectations, nobody can really do anything to help you. I suggest you just ignore the narrative and go straight to the recipe, which clearly describes the required cooking time.
Keep in mind that the all pressure cookers (including the instant pot) will need to get up to pressure before the cooking time really comes into play. Thus, depending on the temperature of your ingredients and your altitude, the cooking time may take an additional 30 minutes to get to pressure before the 45 minute timer kicks in. If you weren’t aware of this before purchasing an instant pot, then that’s just failure on your part to do proper research as a consumer.
As others have mentioned, this still saves several hours over the slow cooker method, so in a relativistic sense, it is “just a few minutes” for what is essentially a recipe for shredded beef. Even the fastest recipes for shredded beef indicate that a few hours will be needed, if you want the beef to have any amount of flavoring and not be overly tough. Once again, it’s about having realistic expectations.
LOL, Ryan just a wee bit of a cry baby attitude going on here.. Sometimes good things take effort and as for time, 45 minutes is nothing… Oh and if you don’t like the effort, move on and make something else…
THANKS~!! I had the same question, food in pot and ready to go! Glad the answer was at hand.
Oh man, we just had this SAME crisis! So glad these comments were here. Low it is! We have a smart Bluetooth one, are they different in manual?
I made this (in a slow cooker) and added red pepper flakes for heat. When did you add chili oil and how much? I served with rice and steamed broccoli. Sauce went well over everything. I’d like to thicken the sauce next time. Any suggestions? Thanks for the recipe!
I added the chili oil on my own serving. I just drizzled it on top of my bowl 🙂 You could thicken it up by coating the cubes of beef in flour before you brown them. That will help thicken the sauce a bit!
Love this recipe, meat is soooo good, I made tacos, have lots of leftovers makes plenty. Cubed meat, instant pot exactly 45 minutes.
What vegetable would compliment the Korean Beef?
I would say a green salad or green beans 🙂
I am making Korean cucumber salad, Gamjajorim, Korean potatoes. You can search Pinterest for both recipes. Easy and quick!
Steamed broccoli
I made a riff on this last night with the ingredients I had on hand. It was incredible. Legit, my husband drank some of the juice that was left. Ha! Thanks for sharing. I can’t wait to try some more of your IP recipes, I’m looking at your caramel cheesecake.
haha! that is hilarious! So glad you liked it 🙂
Dang it, I am really going to have to get an instant pot. This looks incredible!