There are three dishes in Korean cuisine most people are familiar with. The first one is kimchee, fermented spicy cabbage. Either you love kimchee or you don’t, there are no shades of gray. The 2nd and 3rd most popular are Korean barbecued beef dishes, bulgogi and Kalbi / Galbi. The primary difference between bulgogi and kalbi are the cuts of beef used as well as the cooking method. Traditionally short-ribs are used for preparing Kalbi and is cooked on a charcoal grill or broiled in the oven. Bulgogi on the other hand is thinly (card stock thin) sliced, against the grain rib-eye steak prepared on a hibachi grill, broiled in the oven, or pan-fried. Both dishes use a similar or same type of marinade.
Bulgogi can be served as a main dish over a bowl of hot steamy white rice or as a component in other Korean dishes such as japchae, lettuce wraps, banchan (an assortment of Korean side dishes), bibimbap, and kimbap to name a few. However you decide to eat it, bulgogi will soon become a favorite in your home too! I have also included a gluten-free variation as well. Enjoy!
- 1-1.5 lbs. of thinly sliced rib-eye steak purchased from a Korean market. Or you can slice your own rib-eye or sirloin steak across the grain in paper thin slices. Partially freezing the beef helps with cutting clean slices.
- ⅓ cup of soy sauce or for a Gluten-Free variation, use San-J Organic Tamari Wheat Free Soy Sauce found in the health food section of your local grocery store.
- 3 Tbl white sugar
- 1 Tbl sesame oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- ¼ of a medium yellow onion, halved and sliced into medium moon shaped slivers
- 2 green onions including the white parts, finely sliced into small pieces
- 2 Tbl toasted sesame seeds
- ¼ tsp of red pepper flakes
- 2 pinches of black pepper
- optional ¼ tsp. of ginger, finely minced
- Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl except beef and onions. When most of the sugar has dissolved, add beef and onion slices to the bowl and massage the marinade with your hands into each slice of beef. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. To pan fry, place a few slices of beef in single layers and completely flat on a hot oiled frying pan and fry each side until cooked. Some people prefer to cook the bulgogi until some of the edges have turned dark brown and crispy. Serve with a bowl of hot rice. Enjoy!
Side note: Many bulgogi recipes call for shredded apples or Korean apple-pears. Because the meat is sliced very thinly, I’ve found the addition of fruit to sweeten and tenderize un-necessary especially when using rib-eye steak purchased from either a Korean or Asian grocery store specifically cut for bulgogi. To learn more about bulgogi, Wikipedia has an excellent article here.
*If you would prefer a Kalbi recipe, I have one here.
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You can also use chicken my favorite.
THIS DISH IS TO DIE FOR…..I FINALLY MADE IT ON MY OWN AND IT CAME OUT SUPER GOOD NO MORE GOING TO THE RESTURANT TO ORDER I’M MAKING MY OWN TY SO MUCH!!!
Wonderful wonderful recipe. Did it the first time and it came out delicious. Altered it a little the second time to make for a BBQ party and it came out great!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for the recipe. My son wanted this for his birthday dinner and I had never cooked it before. This is a fantastic dish. Definateley a house favorite now. Wow!!
This is really good, I was stationed in Korea for a year, this is the closest I have come to the “real” stuff.
:O) WONDERFUL! :O)
Looks absolutely yum – I’m cooking this for friends tonight, can’t wait (it’s marinating now!). Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
I serve this dishe for dinner..and the reaction was great my brother told me that i should take up culinary course instead of nursing..thank you for the wonderful dish
How did you cook yours ? I cant wait to try it! i heard a celeb say it was his fave dish that his mom made for him. I think it was Michael Strahan. My e-mail is vly1957@hotmail.com . Thank you!
Hi, just in a pan or you can barbeque it on the grill.
Absolutely delicious!
Although I should add that I added Crimoni Mushrooms.
I love bulgogi! I’m saving your recipe to try later! I am Korean and love to cook Korean food! I am so glad that there are other bloggers who like and blog about Korean food too!
OMO…this was delicious!! I only had to make one substitution since I didn’t have red pepper flakes. I substituted 1/2 the sesame oil with chili oil. Also, I added some shredded carrot. I cannot wait to make this again. I always have the ingredients on hand and this is so quick and easy! Thank you very much for posting the recipe!!!
I personally love bulgogi, and was lucky to stumble upon your site. I’ve made bulgogi using this recipe several times and its always a hit! thank you for sharing this.
I wish I could kiss the lady at Ft. Campbell Ky. For making this for me when I walked in and didn’t have any idea what I wanted to eat. Bulgogi is by far my favorite food I could eat everyday.
thank you for this recipe i have recently done it for a exam in school and it came out amazing you are a life saver thank you very much its a lovely dish and i will be cooking it a lot more now .
thank you for this recipe i have recently done it for a exam in school and it came out amazing you are a life saver thank you very much its a lovely dish and i will be cooking it a lot more now.
i dont know if i have commented before but i just wanted to share this little story of mine.
my first year away at college, i asked my mom for her bulgogi recipe. “oh you know, you just add a little of this and a little of that…,” she wasn’t much help. so i scoured the internet and finally settled on this one. it tasted just like my mom’s bulgogi (hers is always the best, you know). now, three years later, i am coming back to this recipe bc i know it is the best one. i am going to make it for my boyfriend for dinner tomorrow. my treat. hopefully i will get a marriage proposal soon!!
this is definitely a 5 star recipe!
YES!! This is “authentic” Bulgogi!! So happy to find this recipe of the meal that, during my college days, a friend’s mom would bring to us…so yummy and perfect just as written THANK YOU!
This looks great. I had it years ago in a restaurant and would love to be able to make an authentic version.
My Korean ajima taught me to add sliced mushrooms and matchstick carrots. Wonderful!
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You are wonderful! Thanks!
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