Incredibly Delicious Easy Beef Bulgogi

When this Incredibly Delicious Easy Beef Bulgogi meets the heat, magic happens. The thin sliced tender beef sirloin is marinated with a slightly sweet, smoky, and savoury marinade. Within 15 minutes, dinner is ready! 

This post first appeared over at BBQing With The Nolands where I’m a contributor.

During the summer months, I like to barbecue several times a week to make up for the loss of char during the winter! I can never decide whether to make an afternoon of it, smoking Chicken Thighs over low and slow charcoal or to just whip up a quick turmeric marinade for quick grilled Turmeric Chicken Kabobs. It’s all delicious in my books! 

My Easy Beef Bulgogi Recipe

My Bulgogi recipe contains the secret to the ultimate flavourful marinade. The quick cooking thin sliced rib eye is tender with a slightly sweet, smoky, and savoury flavour. The mouthwatering tender beef just oozes flavour, hitting all the sweet, salty, savoury, and slightly spicy notes Beef Bulgogi is known for. It’s sure to become your newest barbecue go-to recipe!

What is Bulgogi?

Bulgogi, pronounced ‘Buul-GOH-ghee’ is a term that encompasses many recognizable Korean BBQ dishes. Basically, it consists of meat (gogi) that is quickly cooked over a fire (bul). Sometimes the meat is marinated, sometimes it isn’t. It can be grilled as a full steak, pounded meat, on skewers, or as thin slices. 

Bulgogi dishes range from seasoned steak cooked over charcoal to sweet or spicy (sometimes both) marinated sliced beef with added vegetables and/or clear noodles.

Generally, most Bulgogi recipes feature beef as the star protein. However, pork and squid are also used. 

This Bulgogi Recipe goes beyond basic grilled steak. The marinade really takes that meat to flavourtown. Yes, this phrase has been (over) used many times but let’s add one more time to the pile.

The Perfect Marinated Bulgogi 

There are many recipes for bulgogi marinade out there. In order to create the most flavourful bulgogi recipe, I made sure to use all of the most favourite authentic Korean flavours. 

SWEET – This flavour is not found in all Korean dishes but it is a popular component of Korean cooking. The sweet flavour of this recipe comes via three ingredients; Brown sugar, grated apple, and Korean red pepper paste called gochujang. Once the meat has been slightly caramelized by the heat, there’s a fourth component of sweetness.

However, this dish is not overly sweet because of how well balanced the other flavours are.

SALTY – the salty umami punch of fermented soy sauce is a familiar component in many Asian cuisines, Korean included.

SPICY – though we do love a lot of spice at our house, this recipe is not overly spicy especially when we are talking in terms of Korean food. There is a slight warming from the gochujang and adding the gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes) is entirely optional, though highly recommended.

GARLIC – don’t be shy, everyone is eating the same dish. In my opinion, garlic is a Korean ingredient that must not be missed. 

ACID – what makes this meat so incredibly tender is the acidic component of the marinade. Traditional recipes use Asian pear to add acidity but regular apple, kiwi, minced onions, and even cola can be used. 

How to Cook Beef Bulgogi

Once you have infused all those great flavours into the beef, it’s time to BBQ it up! As the beef has been sliced into strips, it’s best to break out the grilling basket. Brush it with a bit of oil, then pre-heat it on your grill. 

Next, you can either stir fry the vegetables in the basket, or in a frying pan on your stove. I did mine on the stove because I used matchstick carrots. 

Set the veggies aside while you add only half of the beef to the grilling basket. To get that signature caramelized char, arrange the beef in a single layer in the pan and let it sit for a few minutes before moving. Remove the cooked beef, then repeat with the second half of the meat.

When the meat is done, mix in the onions and carrots, then top with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions.

If you don’t have a barbecue or grilling basket, don’t worry! This bulgogi recipe can also be pan fried in a large pre-heated cast iron pan or even broiled in a hot oven. 

Ways to Serve Bulgogi

Simply put, Beef Bulgogi is great on plain rice with a side of kimchi. We ate ours as a lettuce wrap, topped with kimchi and a little extra gochujang because I was too lazy to whip up some ssamjang.

This barbecued beef is so tasty, however, it has become quite the fad to use it in many dishes, creating the ultimate Korean fusion.

• BBQ Bulgogi Pizza
• Bulgogi Beef Tacos
• Bulgogi Kimbap – all the great flavours of bulgogi in sushi form!
• Beef Bulgogi Salad Rolls
• Beef Bulgogi Bowls
• In a soup…called Jeongol.
• As a topping on a salad
• In a wrap
• Beef Bulgogi Poutine