How to Make Authentic Bibimbap in Under 1 Hour

Learn how to prepare authentic Korean bibimbap at home, a dish of rice with sautéed vegetables, Korean ground beef, topped with a fried egg. This detailed post is full of tips and tricks, a list of tools, and recipe variations for making a bibimbap bowl in under 1 hour, and includes a simple way for making homemade red bibimbap sauce.

Even if you’ve never been to Korea, bibimbap is a distinctively Korean dish that has become a favorite in many households. You can find this traditional bibimbap on the menus of many local Korean restaurants in your neighborhood.

Once you have a bibimbap experience, you’ll be hooked. And you can totally make this wholesome and healthy Korean bibimbap at home with this easy bibimbap recipe. You can easily feed a crowd by simply increasing the amounts of each ingredient. And all in under 1 hour!

What is bibimbap?

The literal translation of bibimbap (or bibimbop) means mixed rice–“bibim” means to mix, and “bap” means cooked rice. You can pronounce as it says; Bi-Bim-Bap.

Bibimbap is, perhaps, the most well known dish among Korean rice dishes. A bowl of rice is arranged with all sorts of seasoned vegetables and meat (typically beef), and topped with a sunny side up fried egg.

You can enjoy the rich flavor and the crisp texture of each ingredient in every bite. This Korean rice dish is served with a sweet and spicy bibimbap sauce made with gochujang–Korean chili paste.

The homemade gochujang sauce has become super popular in recent years. It is used to dress up many dishes in Korean and other cuisines. My cookbook, Korean cooking favorites, also shares another delicious recipe.

Is bibimbap eaten hot or cold?

You can enjoy it either way depending how you serve the dish. The rice and meat (if using) should definitely be warm, but the vegetables can be cold or at room temperature.

While the regular bibimbap is served at a room temperature, dolsot bibimbap should be served hot in a heated stone pot. For that reason dolsot bibimbap is usually favored in cold weather.

BIbimbap vs Dolsot bibimbap

Bibimbap is traditionally served in a large bibimbap bowl made with stainless steel or porcelain. In contrast, dolsot bibimbap is served in a Korean stone pot that can be put directly on the heat source.

This hot stone bibimbap is well known for the crackling rice on the bottom of bowl as a result of heating the pot directly.

You can purchase Korean stone pot if you want to make it authentic, but you can get a same result by using a heavy duty cast iron skillet or carbon steel skillet.

Check my recipe video below to see how to make easy dolsot bibimbap in a skillet.

Bibimbap toppings

1. Vegetables

While the options for bibimbap vegetables are endless and you can use any number of them.

The vegetables used in bibimbap recipe are collectively called namul (나물). On their own, they are Korean vegetable side dishes. When you consider what vegetables to use, always strive for a color contrast to make it look more appetizing.

Most common bibimbap vegetables are:

• soybean sprouts or mung bean sprouts – See my bean sprout side dish recipe for more detailed instruction.
• spinach – Try my Korean spinach side dish recipe.
• watercress – I prefer watercress over spinach because you can skip the blanching process.
• carrot
• zucchini (fresh or dried)
• Swiss chard
• radish
• eggplant
• bracken (gosari) – Needs a lot of work to prep beforehand (see my Yukgaejang recipe for the idea)
• mushroom – it is not one of the “namul” vegetables, but mushrooms are always included in bibimbap. The most common mushroom used is shiitake mushroom, but other mushrooms are fine.

Important! Each vegetable should be cooked and seasoned separately to retain its taste and texture.

Here’s a tip: start by cooking the lightest colored vegetables (radish) first, and then progress one by one to the darker colored vegetables. That way, you can maintain each one’s natural color, and you will only need to use one skillet.

2. Meat

Many bulgogi bibimbap recipe uses traditional marinated beef bulgogi. The downside is that you will need to prepare the beef several hours, or up to a day, in advance.

I suggest you trying this easy bibimbap with ground beef. When I make my bibimbap, I use my Korean beef recipe with ground beef for the bibimbap bulgogi. It is much quicker (less than 15 minutes) and just as tasty as marinated beef.

Besides, it is much easier to mix with the rice and vegetables than the bigger chunks of traditional bulgogi beef.

Other various meat toppings can also be used for different flavors; chicken bulgogi, pork bulgogi, spicy squid stir-fry would be great bulgogi toppings.

3. Fried egg

Topping the traditional Korean mixed rice bowl with a fried egg is common. You can go either sunny-side-up or over-easy egg, so the runny egg yolk will get tossed with rice.

Bibimbap Sauce

As important as vegetables and meat are in making bibimbap, you can’t ignore the red bibimbap sauce. In fact, the battle to find the best bibimbap is with the sauce.

This gently sweet and spicy bibimbap sauce recipe uses gochujang, and it is simple and quick to put together.

Ingredients for bibimbap sauce:

• gochujang (Korean chili paste)
• Korean plum extract -optional, but recommend
• corn syrup or sugar
• sesame oil
• toasted sesame seeds

How to make authentic bibimbap in under 1 hour

Step 1. For soy bean sprouts:

Blanch sprouts in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain. Season with a a mixture of minced garlic, Korean soup soy sauce, salt, sesame oil,sesame seeds, and finely chopped green onions. Toss well.

Step 2. For radish:

Slice radish into thin matchsticks. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add radish slices and a couple pinches of salt, and toss well. Cover with a lid and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Drizzle a little sesame oil. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Step 3. For zucchini:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, zucchini slices, and salt. Stir fry until soft, about 1-2 minutes. Add sesame oil and sesame seeds. Toss well

Step 4. For watercress:

Stir-fry watercress in hot oil with minced garlic; cook for 1 minute. Drizzle Korean soup soy sauce and cook until wilted.

Step 5. For mushrooms:

Add 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet, add the minced garlic and the mushrooms; stir fry for 1 minute. Drizzle Korean soup soy sauce and cook until soft. Sprinkle in toasted sesame seeds at the end and toss.

Step 6. For carrots:

Stir-fry carrot in hot oil with salt and cook together for 30 seconds. Pour in 2 tablespoons water to create steam and cover with a lid immediately. Cook for 1-2 minutes until soft. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds at the end and toss.

Assembling vegetables

1. Put a desired amount of rice on the bottom of a large serving bowl.
2. Arrange the vegetables on top of the rice in alternating colors for a good visual presentation. Put bulgogi meat (bulgogi ground beef) in the center.
3. Place a fried sunny side-up egg on top.
4. You can either drizzle the bibimbap sauce (about 2 tablespoon) directly over the rice bowl, or you can put the sauce in a small sauce bowl on the side next to the bibimbap so that your guest can add the sauce directly to the bowl in their desired amount.

How to eat bibimbap

1. Mixing:

Your bibimbap presented in a nice serving bowl looks picture perfect and almost artistic, but it is about to get destroyed.

To eat, use whatever method you like to mix everything up. Keep in mind, however, that the easiest way to mix bibimbap, and the way most local Koreans do it, is NOT TO USE THE SPOON to mix it.

• Use a pair chopsticks first. Holding each chopstick in one hand, use a cross pattern to break-up the runny egg yolk and egg white into pieces.
• You can then hold both chopsticks in one hand and toss the rice and vegetables to mix the sauce in.
• Only as a final step, complete the mixing with a spoon to coat everything in the bowl. See my tutorial video to understand better.

2. Serving:

Take a big spoonful into your mouth and savor every component – the rice, meat, and vegetables coated in a savory gochujang sauce. Since bibimbap has a ton of vegetables mixed in a bowl already, you don’t need any additional side dishes except kimchi.

Bibimbap is typically served with a light soup made with soybean paste, such as my arugula soybean soup or kale soybean paste soup recipe in my cookbook.

Vegetarian or Vegan Bibimbap

Turning my traditional bibimbap recipe into a vegetarian or vegan bibimbap is easy. Simply omit the beef (meat) and egg. You can replace with tofu or plant based protein if you wish.

My pan-fried tofu recipe is a great to use in place of beef. The crispy, nutty taste of the tofu will enhance the chewy texture.

Other bibimbap recipes

If you love bibimbap, you will love these simple rice bowl recipes:

• Salmon Bibimbap (No Cook Recipe)
• Korean Egg Rice (Gyeran Bap)
• Mushroom Rice Bowl with Meat Sauce
• Radish Salad Rice Bowl

Tried this recipe? Please take a moment to leave a star rating & comment below. I love hearing from you and it helps other readers, too.