Beef Teriyaki Bowls

Beef teriyaki bowls are made with an easy and delicious homemade teriyaki sauce, and are served alongside fresh steamed broccoli and carrots. Ready in less than 45 minutes, with 36 grams of protein, this dish is perfect for a quick weeknight meal or to meal prep for a hearty and healthy lunch. Use your favorite store-bought teriyaki sauce to make this an even quicker winning meal the whole family will love!

In our house, we love to make protein bowls of just about any sort. One of my favorite dinners are these healthy carnitas bowls, and for breakfast, savory Greek yogurt bowls.

Grab our favorite protein, add in some rice or quinoa, and then a ton of veggies and it’s the perfect healthful meal. These teriyaki beef bowls are my version of the ones my kids love from Flame Broiler. Using simple ingredients to make a quick teriyaki sauce, and an affordable cut of flank steak, this dish is hearty and delicious, but also good for you. Filled with protein, fiber from the veggies and minimal added sugar, this teriyaki beef bowl is an easy dinner that truly hits the spot!

Jump to:

• Why you’ll love this recipe:
• Ingredients for teriyaki beef
• How to make beef teriyaki
• Recipe tips and FAQ’s
• Beef Teriyaki Bowls

Why you’ll love this recipe:

• Quick and easy, these teriyaki steak bowls are a delicious dinner after a long day.
• Customizable to suit the vegetables you have on hand, or the time you have available. You can even ditch the flank steak all together and use lean ground beef if you’re really in a time crunch. 
• Great for meal prep to hit your dietary goals and save time and money skipping takeout. The teriyaki beef bowl reheats really well and can be stored in the fridge for 3-5 days.
• Nutritious and satiating– 36 grams of protein, 23 grams of carbs and 364 total calories per serving. Also gluten-free for those who have to adhere to a gluten free diet. 
• Make it extra convenient with some easy kitchen hacks like jarred grated ginger, pre-peeled garlic and a store bought bottle of teriyaki sauce. 

Ingredients for teriyaki beef

• 2 lbs of flank steak, fat trimmed off and sliced thin. See how to properly cut flank stead in the details below.
• 3-4 medium size carrots and about 2 cups of fresh broccoli florets. 
• Cornstarch or arrowroot powder to dredge the beef in and to help thickening agent for the teriyaki marinade.

For the homemade teriyaki sauce mixture:

• ½ cup gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tablespoon honey – feel free to use brown sugar or maple syrup, but I prefer honey
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced or jarred ginger paste

How to make beef teriyaki

Properly cutting flank steak

Making this beef teriyaki recipe is really easy and straightforward. It begins by cutting up the flank steak into thin strips. Lay your flank steak on a cutting board, and you’ll see “the grain” of the beef runs horizontal. You’re going to want to cut “against the grain” to make the steak more tender as you chew.

If you have a rather larger piece of flank steak, it may be helpful to cut it into quarters, beginning with straight down the middle lengthwise. Then cut each half in half width wise, so that you’ll wind up getting strips of beef about 3″-5″ long. This ensures you’ll get nice bite size pieces straight out of the pan.

Cooking the flank steak

Once your steak is all cut up, add it to a large plastic food storage bag, and add in the cornstarch. Shake it around vigorously until the beef is well coated with the corn starch. 

Next, heat a large skillet (I like to use my cast iron) or large wok on medium-high heat. Add about 2 tablespoon of cooking oil, and working in batches, begin cooking the beef. Remove the beef from the Ziploc bag, making sure to shake off excess cornstarch before adding to the pan. 

Cook the beef about 3 minutes per side, till nice and browned. These thin pieces of steak cook fast, so stay close by and flip as needed. Depending on the size of your pan, you’ll likely need to work in 2-3 batches, adding a bit more oil as needed. When the beef is done cooking, transfer to a large plate or bowl. 

Steam veggies and rice

While the beef is cooking, you can steam your veggies and cook whichever type of rice you’re using. I’ll admit that I love to keep microwavable rice on hand for quick and easy meals like this. It’s just another shortcut that comes in hand during the weeknight.

To steam vegetables on the stove top using a steamer basket. Simply grab a large sauce pan, place a shallow amount of water in the bottom of the pan, about 1-2 cups. Place the steamer basket on top of the water, then add the vegetables.

Cover and steam on low heat for about 5-10 minutes, depending on how crispy or tender you want your veggies. Once done cooking, remove from the heat and I like to keep the lid off so the residual heat doesn’t continue overcook my vegetables.

Does teriyaki sauce go on before or after cooking?

For this recipe, we will be making a teriyaki pan sauce, so it will go on after cooking the beef. Combine teriyaki sauce ingredients, except the garlic and ginger, in a small bowl.

Once the beef has been cooked and transferred to a plate, lower to low medium heat, and add a bit more oil to the pan as needed. Add the garlic and ginger first, stirring till nice and fragrant, about 1 minute. Immediately add the teriyaki sauce mixture and stir well. The sauce will be very thin, but don’t worry it will thicken up. 

Add the cooked beef back into to pan with the sauce, and stir till well combined and the beef is coated with the sauce. You will notice after just a couple of minutes, that the sauce thickens up quite nicely, thanks to the cornstarch coated beef. 

Assembling your teriyaki beef bowl 

Divide cooked rice into large individual serving bowls. 

Pile on the beef and veggies, then top with optional garnishes like green onions and sesame seeds. We also love drizzling sriracha sauce all over. We also keep a bottle of the Flame Broiler Magic Sauce on hand for an extra yummy flavor. 

Recipe tips and FAQ’s

What else can you serve with teriyaki beef?

​Teriyaki recipes are so great because they work with a number of vegetables. I kept it really simple here because I wanted them to be copycat Flame Broiler bowls.

Beef teriyaki bowls are also great with a combination of sauteed bok choy, bell peppers, zucchini, onions or pineapple. You can opt to serve it over a bed of steamed jasmine rice, brown rice or even cauliflower rice. I have even served it with sauteed shredded cabbage if I want to keep it lower in carbs.

What is teriyaki?

According to this great article on Tasting Table, “‘Yaki’ means grill in Japanese, and ‘teri’ means shine — The marinade is a way of making fish shine while it’s cooking on the grill.” The original teriyaki style sauce was actually a pretty thin fish marinade, not the thick and sugary sauce we use to marinate, baste and dip foods in as we do now.

It is also thought that the teriyaki we know and love today, actually originated here in America! Thought to have been developed by Japanese immigrants in America, trying to recreate the flavors that they loved and remembered back home, it morphed into the beloved sauce we now know.

It is in fact argued that the current style of sauce was created by Japanese-Americans in Hawaii. Hence why pineapple juice is often used in sauce recipes, as well as fresh pineapple when serving the dish!

What if I want to use ground beef instead of flank steak?

To cook beef teriyaki bowls using ground beef, skip the cornstarch and sauté ground beef over medium high heat until cooked through. Make sure to use a low fat content of meat, like a 90/10 or 85/15.

Transfer cooked ground beef to a plate, drain the oil from the pan, and proceed with the recipe instructions for making the sauce, and then add the beef back to the pan. Stir the beef into the sauce and serve as directed.

How many calories are in a beef teriyaki bowl?

Beef teriyaki bowls with the beef, sauce and veggies is 364 calories per serving, with 36 grams of protein, 23 grams of carbs and 14 grams of fat. This is without any rice. To keep the calories around 500, enjoy with about ½ cup of rice.

I know you’ll love this delicious recipe filled with yummy Asian-inspired flavors and fresh veggies. If you make this dish and love it, I would appreciate you leaving a rating and review! Enjoy!

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