Korean Beef Tacos

 Korean Beef Tacos are a complete explosion of flavor! The tasty, marinated beef is loaded into charred tortillas and topped with a quick and crunchy veggie slaw and a delicious Sriracha-lime sauce.

Korean Beef Tacos

These tacos have been a while in the making. We found a fun hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurant months ago that had near perfect ratings on Yelp. And after trying their beef tacos, my husband begged me to re-create them. It took a few tries to get them just right, but my husband will tell you he likes this even better — score! Honestly, the beef alone is good enough for a meal!

The marinade is super simple but results in some seriously flavor-packed beef. If you don’t want to go to all the effort of making tacos, whip up some rice and top it with this beef (maybe a little Sriracha mayo too?).

Below I’ll break down the different components of these Korean beef tacos and give a little more detail for each component — the tortillas, beef with marinade, slaw, and sauce! It sounds like a lot, so I’ll also suggest some ways to simplify.

Ingredients In Korean Beef Tacos

• Tortillas: I prefer street-sized flour tortillas, quickly charred or warmed for the best flavor and texture, either by charring directly over gas flames or warming in a nonstick skillet.
• Beef and marinade: If flank steak isn’t available, alternatives such as flat iron steak, hanger steak, or skirt steak can be used.
• Slaw: You can adjust spice levels according to preference.
• Optional Sauce: The sauce has only five ingredients. I recommend adding the Sriracha gradually, to personal taste and spice preference.

Korean Beef Taco Notes

• Spiciness. Overall, I’d say this recipe is fairly mild, but it certainly has some heat. To reduce the heat almost entirely, remove the Sriracha from the slaw and reduce the amount in the sauce. To add more heat, add an extra drizzle of Sriracha or Gochujang Sauce to the tacos.
• Make sure the skillet is hot before you add the marinated beef. High heat sears the surface of the meat, resulting in a juicier beef with an amazing char. (Char/color on the beef = flavor).
• Don’t overcrowd the skillet with beef –this lowers the temperature of the skillet and keeps the beef from charring nicely. Give the meat plenty of space to cook!

Simplify these Korean Beef Tacos

• Serve over rice: Skip the tortillas and slaw. Add the marinated and cooked beef and some sauce on top with some avocado or (raw) matchstick carrots
• Replace the slaw: Use regular shredded cabbage (red or green) instead of the full-blown slaw recipe included.
• Simplify the sauce: Make a super-simple Sriracha mayo — just mayo (1/4 cup) and Sriracha (2-3 teaspoons)! Or just drizzle plain Sriracha over everything (or use gochujang sauce).

More delicious taco recipes

• Ground Beef Naan Tacos with a simple herb sauce
• Chicken Tinga Tacos with quick pickled red onions
• Asian Chicken Tacos with a mango slaw
• Pinto Bean Tacos with avocado and fresh corn
• Baked Chicken Tacos with a cilantro-lime sauce

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5 from 4 votes

Korean Beef Tacos

By Chelsea Lords

Korean Beef Tacos are a flavor-packed win! Juicy marinated beef, crunchy slaw, and a zesty Sriracha-lime sauce all tucked into charred tortillas.

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Marinating Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 2 hours hours

Servings: 6 servings (16–18 small tacos; 3 tacos per serving)

Equipment

• Large food processor or blender
• Large pan heavy, nonstick

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

Steak and Marinade

• ▢ 2 pounds flank steak
• ▢ 1 tablespoon ginger peeled and chopped
• ▢ 1/3 cup soy sauce not lite
• ▢ 1/4 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
• ▢ 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• ▢ 1 lime
• ▢ 1 packed cup coarsely chopped yellow onion
• ▢ 1 packed cup coarsely chopped Fuji apple
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic

Quick Slaw (Optional—See Note 1)

• ▢ 4 cups finely shredded green cabbage
• ▢ 1 cup matchstick carrots
• ▢ 1 cup matchstick-cut cucumbers 2–3 Persian/Salad or 1 English cucumber
• ▢ 1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro 1 bunch—stems and leaves; measure before chopping
• ▢ 1 lime
• ▢ 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• ▢ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce

Sauce

• ▢ 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons mayo I love Hellman’s/Best Foods
• ▢ 2-1/4 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
• ▢ 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 2 limes
• ▢ Salt and pepper

Tacos

• ▢ Street-size flour tortillas plus cooking spray
• ▢ Cilantro optional, for serving

Instructions 

• Remove flank steak from packaging and pat dry all over with a paper towel. If the steak is wider than 4 inches, cut in half lengthwise. Then, against the grain, very thinly slice the steak into small strips. Place all cut steak pieces in a large plastic bag. In a large/powerful food processor (or blender), add all the marinade ingredients. Add 1 tablespoon lime juice. Pulse to finely chop and break down ingredients until you have a thick paste. Pour over the steak and seal the bag without air. Massage the marinade into the steak and refrigerate for at least an hour up to overnight. (Even with just an hour of marinade, you’ll still get lots of flavor!)
• While making the marinade, I also like to whip up the sauce so it can chill and get more flavorful. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon lime zest and 3 tablespoons lime juice. Stir briskly until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper (I add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, but add to preference). Cover and store in the fridge until ready to eat.
• Combine all the ingredients listed under “slaw” in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon lime juice. Toss gently with tongs until well combined. Toss a few more times and right before serving (see note 1).
• Set out the beef 15–20 minutes before cooking (if it’s super cold, it will make the meat less juicy). Set a large, heavy, nonstick pan on high heat for about 1–2 minute(s) without adding anything. Cook the meat in batches: use tongs to grab some of the meat and marinade and add to the hot pan. Quickly separate the meat into an even layer (so meat is not overlapping). It should make a loud sizzle when added to the pan (how you know the pan is hot enough). Let the meat stand 2–3 minutes or until lightly browned, then flip and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 2–3 minutes or until beef is cooked and marinade has caramelized on the meat. Transfer to a plate, cover with foil, and quickly wipe down the pan with a paper towel and repeat until all the beef is cooked through.
• Warm or char tortillas (see note 2). Add beef, slaw, and lots of sauce on top! Enjoy immediately.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: If you don’t want to make the slaw, these tacos are still extremely tasty. I’d recommend just adding a handful of green cabbage (tossed in a little soy sauce) for some crunch.

Note 2: To char the tortillas: Spray both sides with cooking spray and char directly over gas flames for a few seconds, flipping with tongs until lightly charred and soft. Fold immediately in half and keep warm under a towel. Alternatively, warm in a skillet over medium heat in batches, flipping each side. Fold in half and cover with a towel to keep warm.

Storage: Store leftover Korean Beef Tacos in an airtight container. Keep the beef, slaw, and sauce separate from the tortillas. Refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat the beef and tortillas before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 480kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 1290mg | Potassium: 1255mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 9448IU | Vitamin C: 76mg | Calcium: 158mg | Iron: 5mg

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

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