This is an authentic recipe for Korean Beef Bulgogi. It’s easy and fast to make, and the ingredients are all from the supermarket. I think you will be surprised by two key ingredients in the marinade: grated apple and grated onion. This is quite unique to Korean cooking – and it makes an incredible base for this simple, tasty stir fry!
Korean Beef Bulgogi
When I think about food trends in recent years, one of the cuisines that comes to mind straight away is Korean food.
Legends like David Chang (of the world renowned Momofuku restaurants) and Roy Choi (LA Korean fusion food truck extraordinaire) have brought Korean food into the limelight. Whereas once you had to hunt to find great Korean restaurants in Sydney, now they are really common in the city and there are growing pockets throughout the suburbs with an increasing number of great Korean restaurants.
Korean food is now cool. It’s what sushi was 10 years ago!
I have always loved Korean food, from the moment I first tried it. But honestly, it wasn’t until perhaps about 5 years ago that I started making it myself at home. You will laugh when I tell you how I got onto Korean home cooking….
It was because of my Korean hairdresser. Truly! She’s a character. Even though I now live 30km/20 miles from her salon, I still make the trek there every 6 weeks not only because she knows what she’s doing, but also because she dictates recipes to me while she colours and snips away!
One such recipe she dictated to me was Bulgogi, which is otherwise known as Korean BBQ Beef. It is probably one of the more commonly known Korean dishes in Western countries. Marinated beef which is stir fried with onion and carrots. Then served either using lettuce wraps or on rice.
The recipe she dictated to me was a loose interpretation, along the lines of “throw in some garlic, grated apple and onion, splash of sesame oil” etc, but I still jotted it down. Then went in hunt of a full recipe to follow!
That’s when I first stumbled onto My Korean Kitchen, and food blog run by Sue who is a native Korean now living in Australia. For anyone interested in making real and fusion Korean food at home (note: it’s fusion that stays on the right side of the fusion line!), My Korean Kitchen is a fantastic blog to bookmark. Not only are her recipes delicious, they always work and she goes to great lengths to ensure she explains ingredients that might not be familiar to everyone.
So this Korean Beef Bowl (aka Korean BBQ Beef) I’m sharing today is very slightly adapted from her recipe for Bulgogi – Korean BBQ Beef. So you can have absolute confidence that this is the real deal!
The use of grated apple and onion in a marinade is quite uniquely Korean. It’s a fabulous way to get a bit of sweet and touch of tang from the apple and flavour from the onion into a Marinade. This exact Marinade is fantastic used with chicken, beef and pork for grilling on the BBQ. In fact, it features frequently at my fusion-Asian BBQ’s I put on!
Hope you give this a try! It really is fabulously delish! – Nagi x
More Korean Recipes
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Korean Beef Bowl (Bulgogi)
This recipe makes enough for 2 to 3 people, served with rice as a main.
Ingredients
Beef
- 14 oz / 400 g thinly sliced beef , any good quality tender cut suitable for grilling (Note 1)
- 1 scallion/shallot stem , green and white part separated, both finely sliced (Note 2)
- 1/2 large onion (brown, yellow or white), peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2 medium carrot , peeled, cut vertically then cut into thin slices on the diagonal
- 1 tbsp cooking oil (I use peanut or vegetable oil)
- 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
Marinade
- 3 tbsp ordinary soy sauce (I use Kikkoman)
- 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp mirin (Note 3)
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp grated onion (brown, white or yellow)
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 3 tbsp grated red apple (not green - they are too tart) OR nashi pears
- 1/2 tsp minced ginger
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Blot the beef dry using a paper towel then place into a bowl.
- Mix together the Marinade ingredients in a small bowl, then add the beef. Stir gently to coat the beef, cover with cling wrap and set aside to marinate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. Because the meat is thin, you still get good flavour even with 1 hour of marinating.
- Heat the oil in a wok or large fry pan over high heat.
- Add the onion and white part of the scallion/shallots. Cook for 1 minute.
- Then add the beef, including the Marinade, and carrots. Cook for around 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the beef is just cooked.
- Remove from heat, then toss through the sesame seeds.
- Serve immediately with rice - or for a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice! Sprinkle with extra sesame seeds and the reserved green part of the scallions.
Recipe Notes:
The Spicy Side of Life: Korean recipes
Korean Beef Bulgogi nutrition assuming this serves 3 and is made using Sirloin steak.
OMG this is the best bulgogi I’ve ever had. Thank you very much Nagi for these delicious recipes. Everything I have tried so far from your recipes comes out so amazing, my family said this tastes even more delicious than when they had it in Korean restaurants.
This was truly a winner at our dinner table tonight. I’ll definitely be making this again and again. Thanks, Nagi, for the great tip about buying the beef pre-sliced from the Asian grocers. I’ll be doing that from now on. It is by far so much easier than slicing it myself.
Hi .
While really yummy it wasn’t quite there for me. I micro plained the pear an onion. Was this a mistake as apposed to course grating.
Love the recipe, I always have it interesting to see what others do with bulgogi. I’ve seen others do it with chicken but always feel beef is the best for it! Will have to try out your recipe soon! I hope you can comment and check out my recipe as it’s spicy bulgogi beef udon: http://nyamwithny.com/nyam-recipes-spicy-bulgogi-beef-udon/ I personally love using the Daesang Beef Bulgogi Marinade as a sauce in my recipe.
Hi Nagi, I’m so looking forward to making this! But I have an intolerance to apples and was wondering of I could substitute this to apple cider or something else?
Hi Yasmine, use white vinegar or rice vinegar 🙂 N x
once again you came to my rescue in proving the perfect recipe for me to prepare for my son/daughter-in-law (Korean) and family.
WOOT!!!
We have made this twice, once with rice and tonight with cabbage. We diced the cabbage up finely and made the double the sauce, using half of it to cook the cabbage in. It was even better than the rice! It did end up a little soupy, so we will back off the sauce next time, but the flavor was amazing.
I’m so glad you loved it Emily!!
Going to make this Saturday night. There’s a “Disneyland of international foods” supermarket in the Sacramento area. It used to be called Koreana Plaza until it expanded to about 3x it’s size. Now, one can find an unimaginable array of foods (yes, including live fish and turtles for cooking). We now live 6 hours away, but whenever my husband travels to Sacramento, he stops at KP International Market and brings home premarinated Bulgogi meat and/or un-marinated meat for it. It’ll be thinly sliced beef rib eye for this recipe. Can’t wait!
LOVED it!! I will definitely make this again. Another great recipe from your site. Personally, I will leave out the ginger next time, I tasted it too much on my palate (just one of those flavors that for me, less is better). It was still fabulous! I’m making Kung Pao tonight from your site. Love the variety of recipes!!
Glad you enjoyed it Betsy!! Thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂 N x
Thank you!
You’re so welcome! 🙂 N x
This looks yummy! What other type of meat would you suggest to use in this recipe? I’m living aboard and beef is expensive here.
Hi Melissa! Pork, chicken or turkey would be terrific!
We used this as written to make a “bulgorito” – our at home version of a burrito from a local Korean fusion restaurant. We used a flour tortilla, cilantro lime rice, your bulgogi, and a drizzle of Sriracha mayo. Amazing!!
Is there any reason you’d recommend against using applesauce for the grated apple?