Bulgogi (Korean Grilled Beef) プルコギ (2024)

Bulgogi is a classic Korean grilled beef recipe that makes a mouthwatering dinner or lunch. It‘s easy to make on a BBQ grill or stovetop griddle, too. Serve the tender pieces of marinated and caramelized meat alongside steamed rice and kimchi, or wrap the leftovers in your onigirazu.

Grilling season is here and I want to share one of my family’s favorite grilled meat recipes: Bulgogi—the iconic Korean BBQ beef. Intensely flavorful and delicious, it is undoubtedly some of the tastiest dishes to put on the grill.

When the marinated meat hit the sizzling skillet, you can immediately smell the tantalizingly sweet & smoky aroma filling the hot summer air.Love your grilled meat with big bold flavors? You will have to give this Beef Bulgogi recipe a try!

What is Bulgogi?

Bulgogi (불고기) is a classic Korean preparation of beef or pork in which thinly shaved meat is marinated in a sweet and savory sauce and grilled on a barbecue or on a stove-top griddle. Literally “fire” and “meat,” bulgogi has been in existence for nearly a thousand years. It was even considered a fashionably high-class cuisine during the Joseon Dynasty.

With Korean barbecue restaurants becoming the mainstay of Japan’s food scene in recent years, a lot of housewives started making bulgogi (プルコギ) at home.

I love that it makes a wholesome one-skillet dinner for the family, especially when you cook it with vegetables as I did in this recipe.

Ingredients for Korean Grilled Beef

• Vegetables:I used onion, green onions/ scallion, and thinly shaved carrot, but you can also use other veggies such as bell peppers, bok choy, spinach, or bean sprouts.
• Cut of Beef:Thinly sliced beef (chuck or rib eye) is best, but you can use tenderloin or top sirloin; If you can’t find thinly sliced beef, you can freeze the block of meat for 2 hours before slicing (See my tutorial).
• Marinade:Korean (or Japanese) soy sauce, roasted sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic, Korean (or Japanese) pear, and freshly ground black pepper.
• Sesame Oil
• Toasted sesame seeds

How to Make the Best Bulgogi

1. Make the marinade and marinate the ingredients overnight.
2. Grill the meat.

Jump to Recipe

5 Tips to Make Delicious Bulgogi

Tip 1. Add grated Korean (Asian) pear

The SECRET ingredient for bulgogi’s tantalizing sweetness and melt-in-your-mouth texture is the addition of Korean pear in the marinade. Unlike other varieties, Korean pear (also called Asian pear or apple pear) contains more moisture and juice and has an enzyme that tenderizes the meat.

They appear in the grocery stores in the fall and winter months. It’s a lot easier to find them in Asian (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) grocery stores but my local Costco also carries them during the season. In Japan, we call these pears nashi (梨).

Korean pear may not be available in all seasons, but it’s totally worth hunting down when you make bulgogi at home. I didn’t expect I could get hold of a Korean pear in May at my local American grocery store. You never know until you look for it!

Tip 2. Use Korean soy sauce

Not all soy sauce is created equally!Korean soy saucehas a different richness, consistency, and flavor when compared to Japanese soy sauce or Chinese soy sauce. As it is one of the key flavors in bulgogi, you’ll notice a difference if you use another type of soy sauce.

Ideally, if you wish to cook up flavorsome bulgogi and other Korean dishes, use only Korean soy sauce as it works best for the characteristics of the cuisine. On the other hand, I use onlyJapanese soy saucefor all my Japanese cooking.

Tip 3. Marinate for at least 30 minutes (or overnight)

In my recipe below, I recommended at least 30 minutes for marinating, but I highly recommend overnight so the beef will be more tender and have enough time to soak up all the flavors. But sometimes, we just have that time. In that case, start prepping the meat the first thing so you can marinate for a long time.

Tip 4. Do not add the marinade liquid to the hot skillet

The trick in giving a nice char to the beef is to use a pair of tongs to pick up the meat from the marinade, leaving the liquid behind. You need to place just the meat on the hot skillet, no liquid goes into the skillet. Otherwise, you would end up steaming the meat in the pan. Make sure you coat each piece of the sliced beef well with your hands covered with plastic and let them absorb the flavors while marinating.

Tip 5. Cook on a hot skillet

Whether you use an outdoor barbecue grill or cook over the stovetop, you want to make sure the skillet/ pan is hot. That’s when the sliced meat gets nicely charred and caramelized quickly.

If using an outdoor barbecue grill, make sure to cook the meat on a skillet so the small pieces of meat won’t fall between the grill grates. I like to use a cast-iron skillet.

Bulgogi for An Easy Weeknight Family Meal

In the summertime, I often serve Bulgogi with steamed rice and kimchi on the side for a quick and easy weeknight family meal. If you are hosting a BBQ, this Korean grilled meat also makes a fabulous finger food when served on lettuce wraps. Enjoy with some icy cold beer or lemonade.

Oh, don’t forget to save a portion of leftover bulgogi meats forBulgogi Onigirazu the next day! The rice sandwich is a delicious meal on its own.

Side Dishes to Serve with Bulgogi

For a more elaborate meal, here are some amazing side dishes that pair well with this Korean Beef Bulgogi:

• Quick Korean Fresh Kimchi
• Korean Spinach Namul and Bean Sprout Namul
• Onigiri Rice Balls
• Spicy Pickled Cucumbers
• Spicy Bean Sprout Salad

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 26, 2017. The post has been updated in August 2022.