Beef Larb

Easy, 30-minute Beef Larb is made in one skillet. While not quite authentic, Beef Larb is easy to make and has all the great flavors you know and love from Thai food. It’s packed with fresh herbs and the beef is coated in the best savory sauce. Serve the beef over coconut lime rice for a filling meal.

Beef Larb

Larb Gai is a traditional dish from Thailand and Laos; it’s a meat salad that is typically made with ground chicken or pork and flavored with lime, garlic, chili peppers, palm sugar, fish sauce, and rice powder. It’s an explosion of flavor with spicy, sour, sweet, and salty notes in each bite.

My Beef Larb recipe is not the same as an authentic Thai dish, but rather it’s a quick, 30-minute, weeknight meal with flavors that’ll quench your thirst for Thai. Authentic larb can be a time-consuming labor of love, not very practical for weeknight cooking, so now you can enjoy this “cheater” larb whenever the cravings strike!

To make this recipe more accessible, I’ve replaced fish sauce with soy sauce (a more readily available ingredient in most kitchens), replaced the typical ground chilies with chili sauce, and left out the toasted rice powder. You’ll need a few fresh ingredients like the herbs, lime, and zucchini, but hopefully, the rest are pantry staples you already have– like frozen ground beef, rice, coconut milk, soy sauce, chili sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch, and oil.

How to make Beef Larb

• Start by prepping ingredients, since the cooking goes quickly. Chop the green onions, ginger, garlic, and zucchini. Coarsely chop the herbs.
• Sauté onion, garlic, and ginger. 
• Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink; crumble and break up the beef as you cook it. Quick tip: let the beef cook undisturbed in the hot skillet for 30 seconds to a minute to get a bit of a char; this adds flavor to the beef!
• Add in the zucchini and sauté until tender.
• While the beef is cooking, whip together the sauce. It’s easy: whisk together a few pantry staple ingredients and add in some fresh lime zest and juice.
• Add the sauce to the beef and cook until the sauce is nice and glossy and coats the beef.
• Remove the dish from the heat and gently stir in the fresh herbs. 

 I have a few serving suggestions for Beef Larb, shown below. I also recommend chopping an English or Persian cucumber to top the beef; it adds a nice fresh flavor and crunchy texture.

How to enjoy Beef Larb 

• Over coconut rice: Our personal favorite way to serve Beef Larb is layered on coconut lime rice. This rice is so easy to make; we replace most of the water with a can of coconut milk and stir in some lime juice and zest once it’s cooked.
• With sticky rice: Traditional Larb Gai is served with sticky rice. For a great sticky rice recipe, try this one.
• In lettuce wraps: Start with lettuce (Boston, Bibb, or Iceberg) and pile in some rice and the beef mixture. 
• In a salad: Layer chopped lettuce with the beef and a few more veggies (like cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced sweet peppers, or red onions). Add a quick Thai-inspired vinaigrette.
• As a bowl meal: It’s easy to create a bowl meal: use rice as the base, add the beef mixture on top, and add some other fun elements such as pickled red onions or creamy avocado.
• Over cauliflower rice: For a lower carb meal, serve Beef Larb over riced cauliflower.

Variations

• Add fish sauce: A splash or two of fish sauce will accentuate the Thai flavor. If you really love Thai flavors, you may want to add a tablespoon or two; add slowly and to taste.
• Change up the herbs: This meal has cilantro, mint, and basil; we love all of these herbs in this dish and it does give an authentic flavor. That said, feel free to use just use what you have on hand. One herb or a mixture of two of the herbs is better than nothing!
• Swap the zucchini: Use chopped eggplant, summer squash, or chayote squash instead!

More easy ground beef recipes

• Ground Beef Stroganoff ready in 30 minutes!
• Beef Tacos in crispy taco shells
• Beef Lettuce Wraps with quick-pickled red onion
• Goulash with macaroni
• Taco Lasagna reader favorite recipe!

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5 from 13 votes

Beef Larb

By Chelsea Lords

Beef Larb is a quick, 30-minute Thai-inspired dish made in one pan with all the flavors you love. Easy and delicious!

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Equipment

• Medium pot
• Large pan cast-iron

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

Beef

• ▢ 1-1/2 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic 3 to 4 cloves
• ▢ 1 tablespoon minced ginger 1-inch pieces
• ▢ 1 cup thinly sliced green onions white and green parts, 4 to 6 onions
• ▢ 1 pound lean ground beef (90/10)
• ▢ 2 cups diced zucchini

Quick Sauce

• ▢ 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• ▢ 1/4 cup soy sauce not low sodium
• ▢ 1 large lime
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Sambal Oelek ground chili paste, see note 1
• ▢ 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• ▢ 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• ▢ Salt and pepper
• ▢ 1 cup chopped fresh herbs I recommend a combo of cilantro, mint, and basil; see note 2
• ▢ 2 to 3 Persian cucumbers or 1 English cucumber, optional
• ▢ Additional lime wedges optional
• ▢ Fish sauce optional

Coconut Lime Rice (optional)

• ▢ 1 cup basmati rice
• ▢ 1-1/2 cups full-fat coconut milk 1 can
• ▢ 1/2 cup water
• ▢ 1 large lime

Instructions 

• If making rice, Combine basmati rice, coconut milk, water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste). Stir and place over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and cover. Allow to simmer 13–18 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, keep covered, and let stand 10–15 minutes; don’t rush or it will be sticky! Zest and juice lime to get 1 teaspoon zest and 2 tablespoons juice. Fluff rice with a fork, then add in lime zest and juice. Stir and evenly divide onto plates.
• In a small bowl, add cornstarch and soy sauce. Whisk with a fork until smooth, then zest and juice lime to get 1 teaspoon zest and 2 tablespoons juice. Add lime zest and juice, Sambal Oelek (see note 1), sugar, and rice vinegar. I add 2 tablespoons, but add slowly to personal preference. Season with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper (leave out salt if you’re concerned about saltiness with soy sauce). Whisk with fork until smooth and set aside.
• Melt coconut oil in a large cast-iron pan set to medium-high heat. Once oil is shimmering, add minced garlic, minced ginger, and sliced green onions. Sauté 3–4 minutes or until fragrant and tender. Push veggies to the edges, increase heat to high, and add ground beef to the center. Let stand 30 seconds without moving, then flip to the other side and let stand 30 seconds. Season beef with salt and pepper to taste (I add a tiny pinch of each). Then break up the beef and cook until fully cooked with no pink inside.
• Drain off accumulated grease and add in diced zucchini. Stir until softened, about 3–4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low. Quickly whisk the sauce again with fork, then pour it over beef and cook for another 1–3 minutes or until beef is glossy and sauce has thickened and coated everything. Taste and adjust any sauce ingredients—flavors should really sing, so add additional lime juice or salt until they do. You can also add some fish sauce to taste here if desired (to add a more authentic Thai flavor). Remove from heat and stir in chopped herbs. Stir gently.
• Add even amounts of beef to the coconut basmati rice. If desired, top with sliced Persian cucumber and lime wedges. Enjoy immediately.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Sambal Oelek adds a lot of flavor and is fairly spicy. If you’re sensitive to heat, start with 1 teaspoon of the sauce and increase from there. You can also try Sriracha sauce in place of the chili sauce (Note that a lot of the flavor in this dish does come from the Sambal Oelek).

Note 2: The herbs add so much to this dish, but if you prefer, use a combination of two of the herbs instead of the three suggested. When measuring herbs, coarsely chop them and very loosely measure to get 1 cup.

Nutrition Note: Nutrition information is for the Beef Larb and does not include the optional coconut lime rice. A serving with the rice is 402 calories.

Storage: Store Beef Larb leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in a pan or microwave until warmed through.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 230kcal | Carbohydrates: 13.9g | Protein: 26.7g | Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 67.8mg | Sodium: 168.3mg | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 3.8g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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