Sesame Beef Tacos
with Quick-Pickled Veggies and Chili Sour Cream
- Milk
- Soy
- Wheat
Instead of going the traditional route with these tacos, we decided to mix things up with a Korean-style sesame beef filling. The filling gets a kick from *gochugaru*—chili flakes traditionally used in dishes like kimchi and bulgogi. It’s an unconventional choice, perhaps, but one that lives up to the maxim that everything tastes better in a tortilla.
Ingredients
3 unit
Radishes
1 unit
Persian Cucumber
2 unit
Scallions
¼ ounce
Cilantro
5 teaspoon
White Wine Vinegar
4 tablespoon
Sour Cream
(Contains: Milk)
1 teaspoon
Korean Chili Flakes
4 ounce
Shredded Red Cabbage
10 ounce
Ground Beef
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon
Sesame Oil
2 teaspoon
Sriracha
2 tablespoon
Soy Sauce
(Contains: Soy, Wheat)
6 unit
Flour Tortillas
(Contains: Soy, Wheat)
Not included in your delivery
1 teaspoon
Vegetable Oil
2.5 teaspoon
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
Wash and dry all produce. Trim and thinly slice radishes and cucumber into rounds. Trim and thinly slice scallions. Pick cilantro leaves from stems; discard stems.
In a medium bowl, combine radishes, cucumber, vinegar, 1 tsp sugar (2 tsp for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt and pepper. Taste and add a pinch more sugar if you like a sweeter pickle. Set aside, stirring occasionally, until ready to serve.
In a small bowl, combine sour cream and a pinch of chili flakes (taste and add more from there if desired; save a little for steps 4 and 6). Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add scallions and cabbage; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until softened, 4-5 minutes. Add beef, garlic powder, and 1 tsp sugar (2 tsp for 4 servings). Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until browned and cooked through, 4-5 minutes. Stir in sesame oil, half the soy sauce (use all for 4), half the sriracha, and a pinch of chili flakes to taste. Taste and season with salt, pepper, and up to ½ tsp more sugar.
While filling cooks, wrap tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave until warm and pliable, 30 seconds.
Spread a bit of chili sour cream onto each tortilla, then top with filling, a bit of pickled veggies, cilantro, and as much remaining sriracha and chili flakes as you like. Serve with any remaining pickled veggies on the side.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the unique blend of Asian and Mexican flavors, with the pickled veggies adding a delicious tangy crunch 🌶️.
- Ease of prep: Customers found this recipe quick, simple, and easy to make, perfect for a weeknight meal.
- Suggestions: Some recommended draining the beef after cooking and using less sesame oil to reduce greasiness.
- Leftovers: The pickled veggies kept well, making great leftovers or a tasty side dish on their own.
- Texture: Diners enjoyed the variety of textures from the crunchy pickled veggies and tender seasoned beef.
Reviews from our home cooks
Absolutely fantastic, this should be a hall of fame recipe. Like a Korea House taco, all at home and made easily and relatively quickly. The "one-pan" advertisement is a bit misleading, because you do use two bowls for the veggie and the sauce. We used the extra sugar it gave as an option, and all of the spice, and it was delicious.
This seems like a basic recipe, but I assure you it's literally amazing. The texture and tanginess you get from the pickled veggies, and the spicy note from the chili sour cream, with the sweetness of the sesame beef... omg perfection!
Family hit on this one! Everyone loved the sesame beef tacos. I made everyone try them the way the recipe called for, kids and husband were skeptical but after a bite even the pickiest eater loved them!
Love the tacos- the added pickled veggies was a bit too much for the taco eat- i think it would work great with a more fatty meat (maybe pork or steak) also the sour cream chili wasn't as spicy as it seemed
Loved the cabbage mixed in with the beef. And the chili sour cream really added to the flavor of the tacos. For the price, would have liked to see some sort of side dish with this since the other ingredients were not expensive.
These aren't bad, and I would probably order them again, but they aren't my favorite fusion tacos that I've had from HF. I feel like maybe I should have added more soy sauce than what was instructed - there seemed to be a need for a little more flavor to balance the sesame oil, and not just additional heat. I do like the pickling technique and included white wine vinegar - I strongly feel this should be HF's go-to pickling method, not lemon juice as is used in some recipes.
Flavors were great, but there is way too much oil in this recipe. Rather than using cooking oil at the beginning, use some of the sesame oil to sauté. Then omit adding oil to an already greasy pan at the end, since the beef is not drained.
By far our favorite taco recipe. The pickled veggies were a delicious fresh zip it needed with the heavy Asian flavors. Great balance! Not enough tortillas for four though.
I think it had too much sesame oil it overpowered the other flavors. Also if you had been instructed to cut cucumbers and radishes in smaller pieces they might have stayed on the tacos better and had more flavor
Super Fast dinner with insane flavor! Yum! This might be the easiest meal yet. From the meat flavor to the perfect crunch and crisp of quick pickled cucumber and radish to the fresh brightness of cilantro. Simply perfect! We added some easy homemade garlic coconut lime rice to finish the dish. Would absolutely add this to our weekly menu. Yum yum!!
