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Cooking adventures in a small, closet sized, kitchen. - I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.

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Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Beef)

[heart_this] · Apr 7, 2008 · 37 Comments

Bulgogi

I came across this really tasty sounding recipe for bulgogi a while ago. Bulgogi is a Korean barbecued beef dish that translates to “fire meat”. I liked the fact that this recipe used a pear and an apple in the marinade to add sweetness and help tenderize the meat. The bulgogi was pretty easy to make. The hardest part was slicing the beef thinly. I found that freezing the beef for an hour made it easier to slice thinly. The bulgogi was really good. It was sweet and tasty and the beef was nice and tender. I served it with rice and kimchi and I even tried making lettuce wraps with it. The leftover bulgogi mad a great bibimbap .

Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Beef)

Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Beef)

Prep Time: 1 hour 10 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes Servings: 4
ingredients
  • 1 pound beef sirloin (thinly sliced)
  • 5 cloves garlic (grated)
  • 1 inch ginger (grated)
  • 1 small onion (grated)
  • 1 Korean pear (grated)
  • 1 Fuji apple (grated)
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 green onions (chopped)
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
directions
  1. Mix everything in a freezer bag and marinate over night.
  2. Cook the meat on a barbecue or in a pan on the stove.
Use in:
Bibimbap
Korean Bulgogi and Kimchi Nachos
Bulgogi Cheesesteak Sandwich

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Beef, Food, Korean, Main Course, Recipe

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. tigerfish says

    April 7, 2008 at 9:02 am

    Wow, you have a perfect meal set there 🙂

    Reply
  2. Manggy says

    April 7, 2008 at 9:53 am

    Awesome! I was just thinking of new Korean dishes to prepare! The bibimbap is beautiful too! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Sylvie says

    April 7, 2008 at 10:14 am

    I don’t think I’ve ever made anything Korean. The beef looks really good.

    Reply
  4. Peter M says

    April 7, 2008 at 10:45 am

    I love bulgogi and you’ve got some kimchi to the side for some heat.

    Reply
  5. canarygirl says

    April 7, 2008 at 11:37 am

    Delicious! Bulgogi is SO good. I have yet to find some decent kimchee here. 🙁 Eat a bite for me, ok? 🙂

    Reply
  6. Lori says

    April 7, 2008 at 11:38 am

    Thanks for the great idea to use pear and apple in the marinade. And now that you mention bibimbap, I am so craving that! 🙂

    Reply
  7. VeggieGirl says

    April 7, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    so vibrant!! I always love the colorful palate of ALL of your meals :0)

    Reply
  8. Kalyn says

    April 7, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    I’d love to try it!

    Reply
  9. Gretchen Noelle says

    April 7, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    The apple and pear in there is a curious thing. I like the sounds of it too!

    Reply
  10. Nilmandra says

    April 7, 2008 at 1:00 pm

    I love bulgogi at Korean bbq. The apple and pear addition sounds interesting. Should be a nice balance to all that garlic!

    Reply
  11. Christine says

    April 7, 2008 at 3:29 pm

    We often order bulgogi at restaurants – it’s a great dish. I haven’t tried to make it at home. Your version looks great. Another one to bookmark 🙂

    Reply
  12. Deborah says

    April 7, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    I’ve never had bulgogi, but now I really want some!

    Reply
  13. Elle says

    April 7, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    I’ve always wanted to try making this! I love tat there’s pear and apple in the recipe, too.

    Reply
  14. Melanie says

    April 7, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    I had bulgogi for the first time while backpacking around Korea about 8 years ago. It is delicious! But I’ve never quite found it to be the same here in the States at the Korean restaurants I’ve eaten at. Now, it looks like I’ll just have to try to make it myself!

    Reply
  15. Psychgrad says

    April 7, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    Looks good Kevin! Good tip with freezing the meat too.

    Reply
  16. Sara says

    April 7, 2008 at 5:01 pm

    Yum! The grated fruit sounds really interesting. I’m going to fit this into my menu this week.

    Reply
  17. TheSassyChef says

    April 7, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    Bulgogi is one of my absolute favourite Korean dishes. Bibimbap as well. Never heard of using fruits to sweeten it but sounds like a good idea!

    Reply
  18. Gloria says

    April 7, 2008 at 7:38 pm

    Kevin, love meat with sesame, is delicious, and this looks really nice!! xxGloria

    Reply
  19. Laura @ Hungry and Frozen says

    April 7, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    That looks seriously good, have never seen anything like it before. 🙂

    Reply
  20. giz says

    April 7, 2008 at 8:54 pm

    I’m such a rookie – I know absolutely nothing about Korean food and really have to do something about that. I admire your guts to just go forward and do it.

    Reply
  21. Toni says

    April 7, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    I love this dish, and have ordered it in restaurants. The sweetness of the fruit not only helps tenderize the meat, but also offsets the heat of the “fire”.

    Reply
  22. Indonesia-Eats says

    April 7, 2008 at 11:43 pm

    Bulgogi is one of my favorite korean food. I forgot I have a Korean BBQ sauce that I bought from Korean pavilion. The lady at that korean pavilion told me to mix with pear 🙂

    Reply
  23. Anonymous says

    April 8, 2008 at 12:29 am

    My neighbor introduced me to this and I loved it 🙂

    Reply
  24. Jen Yu says

    April 8, 2008 at 5:24 am

    Oh… *bleeping* yum!!! I have been wanting to try bulgogi… and especially to eat it with kimchi. Just a few more months and I’ll be able to indulge. Your food looks terrific and I’m feeling pangs of hunger just looking at the pics. Great job as always Kevin!

    Reply
  25. Greg Turner says

    April 8, 2008 at 10:01 am

    I love bulgogi, and this looks really, really good.

    Reply
  26. We Are Never Full says

    April 8, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    I think what I appreciate most about your blog is your love of Japanese and Korean food. You have a decent amount of it her and you have the ability to make it sound easy and look delicious for those who maybe don’t have the ability to eat that type of cuisine easily where they live. It’s weird b/c Korean food is one type of food I just don’t make at home because we have such amazing and cost-effective restaurants here in new york city. one day, i’m sure I won’t live here anymore, but i hope your blog is still around!

    Reply
  27. Rosie says

    April 8, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    Oh your Bulgogi looks Delicious Kevin!! One I would love to try 🙂

    Rosie x

    Reply
  28. Bellini Valli says

    April 8, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane Kevin. I haven’t made bulgogi in years…not because it isn’t delicious, but because I eat very little red meat.I will have to break that habit:D

    Reply
  29. Greg says

    April 8, 2008 at 8:31 pm

    Excellent. I do love Korean food. The asian pear is very subtle that you can’t really taste it but it wouldn’t be bulgogi without it.

    Reply
  30. HoneyB says

    April 8, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    This looks and sounds really good. I wonder about using venison in place of the beef?

    Reply
  31. Mrs. W says

    April 9, 2008 at 4:30 pm

    Kevin, you did an excellent job there. I lived in Korea for a while and often crave that yummy bulgogi. You can also make it with pork (pulgogi, or that’s what we called it anyway) using the same marinade. Well done!

    Reply
  32. denise & lenny says

    April 9, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    I love Korean B-B-Q … making this! Thanks for posting the recipe. Love your site … fantastic photos! Keep up the great work.

    Reply
  33. cook eat FRET says

    April 15, 2008 at 2:44 am

    bookmarked…

    Reply
  34. Jaime says

    April 27, 2008 at 9:49 pm

    i love bulgogi! i have a much simpler recipe in my blog for it that given to me by a friend. wonder how it compares to this one?

    Reply
  35. Anonymous says

    July 18, 2008 at 1:51 am

    Nice recipe, we also like using pear to tenderize the meat, we sometimes use Kiwi as well. If you go to korean supermarket, they pre-slice the ribeye for you so that its easy to make bulgogi!

    Reply
  36. Nikki the Foodie of Lobster Gram says

    March 5, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    I LOVE bulgogi. I always go to the same authentic Korean place in Chicago called Cho Sun Oak.
    Never tried making it myself before, but I think I will now.
    Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!

    Reply
  37. the dangerous mind says

    March 9, 2010 at 6:36 pm

    Hi Kevin,
    I had bulgogi for the first time pretty recently… loved it! So much so, that I looked up a recipe online and made it at home! I use kiwi and I've found that it really works well – both, to tenderize and sweeten.
    Take care, keep cooking.
    Cheers from India 🙂

    Reply

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