Gingery Ground Beef (Soboro Donburi)

We’re Just Going to Say It. Japanese Home Food > Fancy Pants Restaurant Sushi.

This gingery ground beef stir-fry recipe is Japanese in origin, and often served simply over white rice—that’s how we love to eat it—as a soboro donburi (donburi just means that something is served over steamed rice as a rice bowl). Here in the U.S., Japanese food is often thought of as the height of fussiness—pristine slices of raw fish, carefully placed on perfectly-cooked sushi rice, or quickly seared slices of wagyu that cost a gazillion dollars. But the thing is, Japanese home cooking is actually super approachable, and—here’s the big secret—we like it even better than super-fancy Japanese restaurant food. It’s mostly very, very simple, and at the heart of its simplicity is a deep comfort—in other words, it’s exactly the kind of food we’re hungry for these days. This meaty, savory, gingery ground beef stir-fry comes together in minutes, has just five ingredients, and is a sure-fire family-pleaser.

Soboro Donburi in Just 5 Ingredients

We didn’t make any changes to traditional Japanese soboro beef recipe, it really is just as simple as five ingredients. Well, plus the rice the soboro beef is served over, which is what makes it soboro donburi (remember, that means rice bowl). The word “soboro” refers to the fact that we’re using ground beef, and to the crumbly texture of the finished dish.

Here are the five ingredients you’ll need to make this gingery soboro beef with peas:

• Ground beef. We used a typical 80/20 blend.
• Soy sauce. Or, if you’re GF, it’s fine to use gluten-free tamaril
• Brown sugar.
• Fresh ginger.
• Frozen peas.

How To Make Japanese Soboro Beef

The crispy-crumbly texture and the meaty, savory flavors of this simple ground beef stir-fry are oh-so-lovable. Scooped over a pillowy bowl of steaming white rice, it’s a new (to us) kind of comfort food and we are ALL about it. Here’s how easy this gingery ground beef is to make:

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add the ground beef, soy sauce, water and sugar and sauté until the beef is browned.
3. Add the fresh ginger and frozen peas, and continue to cook until the peas are warmed through, and any liquid has mostly evaporated.
4. Serve! Over warm, steamy bowls of rice. Soboro donburi is classically served with white rice, but brown rice would be fine, too.

Tools You’ll Need:

• Large skillet
• Wooden spoon

Um, that’s it. This soboro beef recipe is just really, really easy. Come to think of it, this is sort of a genius recipe for times when you don’t even want to dirty a knife. Or for if you’ve just moved and can’t find any of your kitchen stuff—just break out a skillet and whip up soboro beef! No prob!

More Ground Beef Recipes

Got ground beef? GREAT! We’ve got ground beef recipes for you!

• Thai Basil Beef
• Easy Bolognese
• Beef Empanadas
• Taco Soup
• Mediterranean Meatballs with Tzatziki

Do You Donburi?

Snap a photo of your finished gingery ground beef donburi and maybe even a video of the beautiful people you share it with, and then tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so we can see your handiwork! Happy eating!