When my friends and family come together for an all you can eat Korean BBQ meal, it feels like an unlimited night of eating, laughing, talking, and drinking soju. KBBQ is a delicious collection of grilled meats and a colorful array of side dishes (banchan), all in a fun and casual family style setting. Beef short ribs (kalbi), thinly sliced marinated ribeye (bulgogi), and pork belly (samgyeopsal) are cooked with onions and garlic on a hot pan in the center of the table. Then you can choose how to eat it – roll it all up in lettuce, eat it with rice, or dip it in flavorful sauces.
The proteins are the star of the show, but the side dishes (banchan) really complete the meal. Restaurants usually serve fermented cabbage (kimchi), steamed egg, seasoned soybean sprouts (kongnamul), potato salad (gamja saelleodeu), fish cake (eomuk bokkeum), stir fried glass noodles (japchae), scallion salad (pajeori), and spicy cucumber salad (oi muchim), to name a few.
It’s always a good time when going out for Korean BBQ, but you can easily create a restaurant-quality experience in the comfort of your own home and spend far less than you would at a restaurant. Depending on your preferences, you can buy pre-marinated meats, side dishes, and sauces or make your own.
I like to do a combination of store-bought and homemade items depending on how much time I have to prepare. To stay with the theme, I like to serve Korean barley tea (boricha), which has a mild nutty taste and can be served hot or cold. I also serve soju, which is a clear, low-alcohol, distilled Korean spirit that comes in a variety of flavors. It’s best served cold and straight, but can also be mixed with different juices.
It takes me about an hour to set up everything or about 30 minutes if I’m not making banchan salads (recipes below).
TOOLS
We love eating Korean BBQ at home and invested in a round BBQ grill pan. We use this electric griddle for Korean BBQ and for Vietnamese Beef Butter Skillet. Sharp scissors are also handy for easily cutting up the meat on the grill.
INGREDIENTS
There are so many great options of meats, veggies, and side dishes to have. Here is my shopping list of my go-to items for Korean BBQ.
You can find packaged marinated meats (pork steak, pork slice, pork spareribs, pork belly, beef short ribs, and beef ribeye) at Asian grocery stores like H-Mart and Assi Plaza. I usually buy marinated beef ribeye (bulbugi) but will make a shortcut homemade marinade for short ribs myself because it costs about half the price of the pre-made version.
Asian supermarkets also have an easy to prepare Hot Tofu Soup in the refrigerated section and some stores will have pre-sliced scallions you can use to make scallion salad.
PREPARATION
Once everything is prepared, arrange the ingredients on a plate before cooking.
MEATS
BEEF SHORT RIBS (KALBI)
Pat dry the 2.5 lbs. of beef short ribs. Grate a whole Asian pear or apple and half of an onion into a gallon size Ziplock bag. Then pour 2 cups of kalbi marinade into the bag. Mix together until combined and add the short ribs to marinade. Make sure both sides of the short ribs are covered in the mixture and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight.
PORK BELLY (SAMGYEOPSAL)
Pat dry 2 lbs of pork belly. Slice them into thin or thick long strips. If you decide to make thick long strips, make ¼” scores on one side to prevent the pork belly from curling.
STORE-BOUGHT MARINATED MEATS
Remove marinated meats from their containers and arrange them on a plate.
SIDE DISHES (BANCHAN)
SCALLION SALAD (PAJEORI)
Slice 2 cups scallions into thin 3” strips (or buy a container of pre-sliced scallions) and soak them in cold water for 10 minutes.
To create the dressing, combine:
- 2.5 teaspoons gochugaru flakes
- 3 teaspoons soy of soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon of honey
- 1 teaspoon of vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds
- ½ teaspoon of minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon of sugar
- ½ teaspoon of sesame oil
Toss the scallions in the sauce and serve in a bowl.
SPICY CUCUMBER SALAD (OI MUCHIM)
Thinly slice an english cucumber into bite-sized pieces and gently toss with 1 teaspoon of salt. Set aside for 15 minutes and drain the excess liquid.
Toss the cucumbers in a mixture of:
- 1 tablespoon of gochugaru flakes
- 1 tablespoon chopped scallions
- ½ teaspoon of minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
Serve in a bowl.
WATERCRESS NAMUL
Blanch one bunch of watercress by placing it into boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove the watercress and place it in a large bowl of ice water to stop it from cooking. After the watercress has cooled down, drain and gently squeeze out the excess water.
Cut the watercress into 2-3” pieces and mix with:
- 1 chopped scallion
- ½ teaspoon of minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon of sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon of sesame seeds
- ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Let the watercress marinate in the mixture for 10 minutes before serving.
HOT TOFU SOUP (SOONDUBU)
Follow the directions on the package and add enoki mushrooms, scallions. Crack an egg into the soup and lightly poach.
RICE
Rinse and cook your rice by following the directions on the bag (or your rice cooker’s instructions).
KIMCHI
Take store-bought kimchi out from the container and put in a dish.
LETTUCE
Wash and dry the lettuce, then arrange whole leaves in a bowl.
PERILLA LEAVES
Perilla leaves (sometimes seen in stores as sesame leaves) have a grass flavor, with notes of anise or licorice. Wash and dry the perilla leaves, then arrange whole leaves in a bowl.
GARLIC
Peel and thinly slice garlic, then serve in a small dish.
SAUCES
SESAME DIPPING SAUCE
Mix the ingredients below together and serve in a small dish.
- 1 ½ teaspoon of kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper
- 2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil,
- 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder
SEASONED SOYBEAN PASTE (SSAMJANG)
Scoop out store-bought seasoned soybean paste and serve in a small dish.
Barley Tea
Roasted Barley Grains
Put 3 tablespoons of roasted barley grains into 2 liters of boiling water or into a tea strainer first. Boil on low for 5 minutes then strain out the barley grains or remove the tea strainer. Serve hot or chilled.
Barley Tea Bags
Boil 2 liters of water and remove from heat. Steep one barley tea bag for 10 minutes. Serve hot or chilled.
HOW TO COOK
Place the BBQ grill pan on a portable burner in the center of the table and arrange the meats, side dishes, and sauces around it. If you don’t have a BBQ grill pan, you can use a cast iron griddle or electric skillet.
Turn the heat to medium or medium-low and lightly grease the grill pan with oil. Once the pan is heated up, start adding your meats – note that some cuts will cook faster than others. Be sure to grill both sides of the meats completely.
For pork belly strips, once they start to brown on both sides, use scissors to cut them to bite-size pieces and continue to cook them on the grill pan until crispy. You can add sliced onions and any other vegetables you want to grill. You can even add some side dishes to the grill pan – kimchi, watercress salad, or soybeans if you have it.
If you have a dome in the center of your grill pan, you can use that area to cook garlic slices with a little bit of sesame oil. If not, you can add sesame oil and garlic to a small heatproof tin and place it directly on the grill pan or just simply grill the garlic on the pan.
Once the meats, vegetables, and sides are cooked to your liking, remove them from the grill to eat.
HOW TO EAT
One of the great things about Korean BBQ is that there’s no wrong way to eat it!
My favorite way to enjoy Korean BBQ is by rolling up meat, grilled onions, and kimchi in a lettuce leaf (ssam) then dipping it in the seasoned soybean paste. You can also add a perilla leaf to the roll or use it instead of the lettuce leaf. The kids prefer to eat their meat in a bowl with rice and some veggies.
You can experiment by dipping your meats in the different sauces, mixing the banchan with the rice, or using them as fillings in lettuce wraps – get creative!
I hope you enjoy making and eating this delicious meal! What are your favorite side dishes?
