Bibimbap (Korean Rice Bowl with Beef and Vegetable)
Classic bibimbap made with an array of vegetables, beef, and the savory bibimbap sauce representing the best of Korean food. The colorful display of vegetables makes this world famous Korean mixed rice dish a wholesome and healthy meal. This bibimbap recipe can become vegetarian or vegan if you omit the beef and egg.
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 scrumptious Korean bibimbap at home with this easy bibimbap recipe. You can easily feed a crowd by simply increasing the amounts of each ingredient.
What is bibimbap?
The literal translation of bibimbap (bibimbop) means mixed rice – “bibim” means to mix, and “bap” means cooked rice.
Bibimbap is a well known Korean mixed rice dish 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. This gochujang sauce has become super popular in recent years. It is used to dress up many dishes in Korean and other cuisines.
Buddhist temple bibimbap
Depending on the type of vegetables you use in the recipe, bibimbap can be an everyday rice dish (if you use ordinary vegetables) or something elaborate and gourmet (if you use hard-to-find edible vegetables grown in the wild). Many Buddhist temples, in fact, use these exotic wild grown vegetables to turn their bibimbap from ordinary to extraordinary. It’s worth a trip to a Buddhist temple to taste this type of vegetarian (or vegan) bibimbap if you ever visit Korea.
Korean Regional bibimbap
In the western world, the most well-known bibimbap is beef bibimbap, but that is just one of many different types known in Korea. Different regions in Korea use different bibimbap ingredients.
- Jeonju bibimbap: Jeonju in Jeolla province is most well known for their bibimbap using raw beef instead of marinated, cooked beef bulgogi. They use locally grown vegetables making the rice bowl more wholesome.
- Southern provinces often include seafood, either cooked or fresh, such as cockles or fish roe, in place of meat. Gyeongsang province, especially where I am from, is famous for using raw sea squirt (munggae, 멍게), a local delicacy. Salmon bibimbap with micro-greens is another recent trend that many Koreans enjoy.
What is 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 of carbon steel skillet. Check my recipe video below to see how to make dolsot bibimbap in a skillet.
Watch How to make dolsot bibimbap in a skillet
What is in Bibimbap Bowl
1. Vegetables
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 typical 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 (beef bulgogi)
The famous bulgogi bibimbap recipe uses traditional Korean marinated beef. The downside is that you will need to prepare the beef several hours, or up to a day, in advance.
When I make my bibimbap, I use my ground beef bulgogi recipe for my bibimbap bulgogi. It is much quicker (less than 15 minutes) and just as tasty as marinated beef. Ground beef bulgogi is also easier to mix with the rice and vegetables than the bigger chunks of traditional bulgogi beef.
3. Bibimbap Sauce
As important as vegetables and meat are in making bibimbap, you can’t ignore the 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 plum extract -optional, but recommend
- corn syrup or sugar
- sesame oil
- toasted sesame seeds
How to make bibimbap
For the soy bean sprouts: blanch them and drain. Season with a a mixture of 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 2 teaspoons Korean soup soy sauce, pinch salt, 2 teaspoon sesame oil, 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, and 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions. Toss well.
For the radish: slice into thin matchsticks. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the 2 teaspoons of 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 2 teaspoon of sesame oil. Taste and add more salt if needed.
For zucchini: heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons garlic, zucchini slices, and salt. Stir fry until soft, about 1-2 minutes. Add 2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds. Toss well
For watercress: heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the 2 teaspoons of minced garlic and watercress; stir fry for 1 minute. Drizzle 2 teaspoon Korean soup soy sauce and cook until wilted.
For mushrooms: heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the 2 teaspoons minced garlic and the mushrooms; stir fry for 1 minute. Drizzle 2 teaspoon Korean soup soy sauce and cook until soft. Sprinkle in 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds at the end and toss.
For carrots: heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add carrot and salt and toss 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 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds at the end and toss.
Assembling Bibimbap
- Put a desired amount of rice on the bottom of a large serving bowl.
- Arrange the vegetables on top of the rice in alternating colors for a good visual presentation. Put bulgogi meat in the center.
- Place a fried sunny side-up egg on top.
- 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 to add extra 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 dishes
If you love bibimbap, you will love these Korean rice dishes:
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.
Bibimbap (Korean rice bowl with beef and vegetable)
Ingredients
For bibimbap sauce
- 4 tbsp Korean chili paste (gochujang)
- 1 tbsp Korean plum extract (maeshil cheong)
- 2 tbsp corn syrup, or 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
For bibimbap
- 6 cup freshly cooked white rice
- 6 egg
- 2/3 lb ground beef bulgogi
For bibimbap vegetables
- 1 lb soybean sprouts
- 1 lb Korean radish, sliced into thin matchsticks
- 2 small zucchini, sliced
- 1 bunch watercress, sliced
- 6 oz shiitake mushroom, thinly sliced
- 2 carrots, sliced into thin matchsticks
For vegetable seasonings
- 3 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp Korean soup soy sauce (gukganjang)
- 2-3 tsp salt, to season
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 green onion, finely chopped
Instructions
For the bibimbap sauce
- To make the bibimbap sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well; set aside.
For the bibimbap vegetables
- For the soybean sprouts, blanch them and drain. Season with a a mixture of 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 2 teaspoons Korean soup soy sauce, pinch salt, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, and 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions. Toss well.
- For the radish, slice into thin matchsticks. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the 2 teaspoons of 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 2 teaspoon of sesame oil. Taste and add more salt if needed.
- For zucchini, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons garlic, zucchini slices, and salt. Stir fry until soft, about 1-2 minutes. Add 2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds. Toss well.
- For watercress, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the 2 teaspoons of minced garlic and watercress; stir fry for 1 minute. Drizzle 2 teaspoon Korean soup soy sauce and cook until wilted.
- For mushrooms, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the 2 teaspoons minced garlic and the mushrooms; stir fry for 1 minute. Drizzle 2 teaspoon Korean soup soy sauce and cook until soft. Sprinkle in 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds at the end and toss.
- For carrots, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add carrot and salt and toss 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 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds at the end and toss.
- For eggs, heat oil in a skillet and fry eggs to sunny-side up.
Assembling Bibimbap
- Put a desired amount of rice on the bottom of a large serving bowl. Arrange the vegetables on top of the rice in alternating colors for a good visual presentation. Put bulgogi meat in the center. Place an sunny-side up egg on top. 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.
can you make bibimbap without onions or garlic? substitutes are okay, just not sure what if you can still make it.
Hi Melody, you can omit the onion and garlic in the recipe. It will make the dish milder in overall flavor.
Am eating this now. Thanks! You solved the long-mysterious cucumber riddle for me: restaurant bibimbap (first tried whilst living in Seoul–love!) tasted like cucumber, but was it really cooked first or did it heat up in the dol sot? Mmmm–this tastes like heaven! Haven’t had this taste of cucumber since late nights doing the obligatory student outings in Shinchon and Itaewon with Gangnam thrown in every once and a while. Thanks…
This was a great dish. One question though, I live in Belgium and it s difficult to buy Korean soy sauce, I used Kikkoman instead or is it better to use the Chinese soy sauce version?
Thanks for sharing all those delicious recipes
Sylvia
Hi Sylvia
I prefer Kikoman soy sauce over Chinese version. I am glad to hear that you liked the Bibimbap. Yum!
Thank you! Love it!
My absolute favorite Korean dish! In Hawaii, we can get the fern ( we call warabi) quite easily ( the dried as well, but i like the fresh better) fresh, it has a nice crunchy texture. Love all Korean food – had the unusual experience of being he only Portugese boy working in a Korean restaurant for almost 26 years lol. The menu was a Hawaiian style localized Korean foods, but the food in the back f restaurant that the Korean owners cooked …O MY!!! The Owners Mom cooked made every kinda of kim chee you can imagine , home made Korean miso paste, korean pickles … everything. She is now 85 years old, and can still outwork ANYONE in that kitchen – amazing woman that cant speak a lick of English, but the sweetest, kindest woman I know. And man can she COOK!!. The owners husband would come out everyday, and make all kinds of banchan for everyone’s lunch, and got me hooked on things like black spaghetti, ginseng chicken and spicy pork belly cooked with kochujang, a little dashi, bell peppers and onions and served over rice. Family would always come visit and bring persimmons, Korean mochi, and all the marvelous foods linked to the Korean holidays. I found my self hugely complimented when I was continually asked to make tofu and kimchee chigae, yook gae jung, seaweed and beef soups and other Korean specialties for the owners and family, and pregnant and/or sick women over the Korean workers !!!
haha..was a very nice experience, becoming “adopted” to another culture – in Hawaii, ive experienced that with Japanese, Hawaiian, Filipino, Samoan and many other cultures – but Korean people had the BEST and most intriguing foods… except for the bottle of prepared fish guts my boss always brought to the table for her rice !! 😀
But my first love was always bibimbap. Great site, love all your recipes – thanks for sharing!!
Wow, thanks Robert. I think you truly are a Korean food lover. I think Hawaii must have very good Korean restaurants. Lucky you that you get to try so many variety of Korean food. Thanks for you wonderful comments.
Hi. Bibimbap has been an instant favorite eversince I was introduced to Korean food. I was wondering, is there a way to have a simplified bibimbap? What about seafood bibimbap? Thanks.
Hi Avs
I had posted a very simple salmon bibimbap recipe a while ago. Below is the link.
https://www.beyondkimchee.com/salmon-bibimbap/
A simple, yet tasty Bibimbap we make is just rice in the bowl (sticky, short grain rice of course!), a little high quality sesame oil dribbled over the rice, julienne japan cucumbers, Korean daikon, some blanched mung bean sprouts, watercress and choi sum – each seasoned with a little salt , sesame oil, garlic and pepper – topped with kochujang , some fine-chopped teriyaki rib eye ( just fry it up in a pan or grill),and a fried egg. you can realty go as simple as you want with the veggies, or leave out anything you dont like, To me, the real flavor i cant do without is the teri beef, fried egg ( not hard, over easy so some yolk runs out..yum!) . sesame and kochujang – it makes th3 dish in my opinion.
hi…i made this food for my little family…and my hubby love it…and so do i…cant imagine the taste is great like that…i made with doraji , carrot, and bulgogi…really great…thx for your recipe..^_^
Thank you for such a fast response!
“Namools can be stored in the fridge over a week.” *cheers!*
I went to my H-Mart in New Jersey (I love them so much) and have everything to make this tonight! Brackens have been soaking overnight. My question: will namool keep in the fridge overnight?
Namools can be stored in the fridge over a week. For the Brackerns, after the overnight soaking, cook in the water for 45-60 minutes until tender. Add a little bit of baking powder or sugar might help to tenderize them. Good luck and enjoy your hard work!
i am so thankful for this site! I really need to make a trip to the Korean store. I love hearing the Korean language it is so awesome!
Hi Kay
Thank you for visiting my site. I hope you make a trip to Korean store and buy lots of god Korean stuff, and explore on Korean cooking. Do you speak Korean?
I just found you site. This is awesome. Thanks. Your overview answered a lot of questions and we can’t wait to try..
I love this dish! Last time I had it was when I was in Korea which was 2 years ago. So, thanks for posting this. I will have to make a trip to the Korean store and make this.
Thanks jade. 2 years is a long time not to have this bibimbap. Better make them soon!
Yes, it indeed is some work to make this dish. That's why I don't make that often, and If I do, it is to feed the company.
Yummy, I love bibimbap too! It's healthy, delicious and so nice to look at with the vibrant colors. It takes quite a lot of work to prepare though. That's why I usually eat it outside. But thanks for the gorgeous photos!
I always, always order Bibimbap at our nearby restaurant. Love it! I thought the name is Bibimba, though, as that`s how it`s written on the menu 😀