With our bulgogi recipe, you can easily make incredible Korean barbecue beef at home. Thanks to our bulgogi marinade, the beef turns out perfectly sweet, savory, and melt-in-your-mouth tender.<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
Our love for Korean food began years ago when Adam\u2019s best friend married a Korean-American who proudly introduced us to his heritage. He cooked for us and took us to authentic restaurants. We fell in love. In the same way we consider pho to be a gateway to Vietnamese food, bulgogi is the perfect entry point for anyone looking to explore Korean cuisine.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve not had it before, bulgogi is thinly sliced beef that\u2019s been marinated in a savory-sweet soy-based sauce. Then, it\u2019s quickly seared or grilled (it\u2019s truly delicious!). This easy recipe is our go-to when we want to bring the flavors of a Korean barbecue into our own kitchen, and luckily, it\u2019s completely doable for you, too!<\/p>\n
Key Ingredients<\/h2>\n
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Beef:<\/strong> You want thinly sliced beef, which, after marinating, cooks quickly and turns out really tender. Top sirloin, ribeye, or really any prime beef cut works well.<\/li>\n
Soy Sauce:<\/strong> This is the base of our bulgogi sauce. I like using a low-sodium soy sauce and sometimes substitute low-sodium tamari. Both work well.<\/li>\n
Rice Wine Vinegar:<\/strong> Look for unsweetened rice vinegar (usually with a green bottle cap or label).<\/li>\n
Sesame Oil:<\/strong> Toasted sesame oil adds a lovely, toasty, rich flavor to the beef.<\/li>\n
Brown Sugar and Honey:<\/strong> We really love both for this. You can use either one, but the combination makes our beef taste more interesting and complex. The honey also caramelizes beautifully.<\/li>\n
Gochugaru and Black Pepper:<\/strong> This brings a little heat \u2013 not much though! Bulgogi usually isn\u2019t very spicy. If you are unfamiliar, gochugaru is Korean chili pepper and is sold as ground red pepper, not to be confused with gochujang, which is a paste. We use gochugaru when making homemade kimchi.<\/li>\n
Garlic and Ginger:<\/strong> I always use fresh garlic. For the ginger, you can buy ginger root, or some stores sell ginger puree (either refrigerated or frozen).<\/li>\n
Pear:<\/strong> This is the \u201csecret\u201d ingredient. It adds sweetness and contains natural enzymes that tenderize the beef. Look for Asian, Korean, or Nashi pears. If you can\u2019t find them, a ripe Bosc pear or Anjou pear is a good substitute.<\/li>\n
Sesame Seeds and Green Onions:<\/strong> These provide texture, color, and a bit of freshness at the very end.<\/li>\n
Lettuce, Rice, and Sides:<\/strong> To make it a full meal, serve with steamed rice and lettuce leaves for wrapping. Don\u2019t forget the banchan (sides) like kimchi or spicy cucumber salad, and ssamjang (a savory dipping sauce that ties everything together).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Find the full recipe with measurements below.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
How to Make Bulgogi at Home<\/h2>\n
Tip 1: Thinly slice the beef.<\/strong> The reason bulgogi is so hard to stop eating is that it turns out so wonderfully tender. That\u2019s thanks to the marinade and to the fact that we start with thin slices of beef.<\/p>\n
The best trick for getting perfectly thin slices is to place your beef in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes to firm up a bit. Then, remove it, set it onto your cutting board, and make thin slices across the grain. Slicing across the grain breaks up tough muscle fibers, helping the beef turn out more tender. You don\u2019t need to be 100% perfect; the slices can be ragged and varying in size.<\/em><\/p>\n
Tip 2: Use a food processor to make the marinade.<\/strong> If you don\u2019t have a food processor, you can make this marinade by hand, but a food processor makes really quick work of it. I just toss everything in and hit pulse until mostly smooth. If you\u2019re doing it by hand, you\u2019ll finely grate the garlic and ginger with a microplane, then grate the pear with a box grater.<\/p>\n
Tip 3: Marinate for at least 4 hours.<\/strong> Whenever I marinate beef, I usually do it overnight, which would be perfect for this recipe. That said, if you\u2019re sitting there in the morning and want bulgogi for dinner, you can absolutely make that happen. Four hours gives the pear and other bulgogi sauce ingredients enough time to flavor and tenderize the beef.<\/p>\n
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