I am very happy to introduce my kongnamulbap recipe to you today. If you’ve been using my recipes for a long time, you might be able to guess what it’s made from by it’s name. Did you? : )
Kongnamul means “soybean sprouts” in English and bap means “rice.” I’ve posted a few recipes that call for soybean sprouts like bibimbap, kongnamul muchim, and kongnamulguk. And how about recipes that use bap? Bibimbap, yubuchobap, what else? Oh, gimbap!
Yes! Bap is definitely a staple food for Koreans, so there are so many kinds of dishes made with rice, adding different ingredients. You could add Korean radish, seafood, even kimchi!
The best things about this dish are that it’s easy to make, simple, and delicious! I want to add 1 more thing: it’s very cheap! Nobody will say, “I can’t afford soybean sprouts!”
Do you want me to add 1 more thing? Yes, you can make a vegetarian version by skipping ground beef or even egg. It will still be very tasty. You can add crushed roasted dried seaweed (kim) if you want, but I prefer simple kongnamulbap because I don’t want to dilute the flavor. I always say this while I’m eating this: “umm umm .. ah delicious.”
Let’s make delicious, humble, decent, and wholesome kongnamulbap!
Ingredients
(for 2-3 servings):
Soybean sprouts (16 oz: 453 grams), rice, ground beef, egg, soy sauce, green onions, garlic, green chili pepper (optional), radish sprouts, toasted sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, onion, and honey (or sugar), and eggs.
*tip: If you’re a vegetarian, replace the beef with shiitake mushrooms. Soak 3-4 dried shiitake mushrooms in water until they become soft, then chop them up and season.
Directions
Preparation and cooking time: 50 minutes to 1 hour.
Let’s start by making rice!
- Add 1 cup of short grain rice to a heavy bottomed pot. Rinse in cold water and drain.
- Scrub the wet rice by hand about for about 10 seconds. Rinse and drain.
- Scrub, rinse and drain 3-4 times, until the water becomes clear.
- Tilt the pot and pour out as much water as you can. The rice should still be wet.
- Add 1 cup of water to the rice, close the lid, and let it soak at least 30 minutes with the lid closed.
Next, soybean sprouts!
- Take the soybean sprouts out of the package and put them in large bowl with water.
- Rinse and drain a couple of times to clean thoroughly.
- Pick out some brownish rotten beans. Drain and set aside.
Season ground beef (or chopped shiitake mushrooms)
- Prepare about ½ cup ground beef (4 ounces: 113 grams) and put it in a bowl.
- Add 1 ts soy sauce, a pinch of ground black pepper, 1 ts toasted sesame oil. Mix well with a spoon and set aside.
Make sauce
- Combine all these ingredients in a bowl and mix well: ⅓ cup soy sauce, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 stalk of chopped green onion, 2 ts hot pepper flakes, 1 ts honey, 1 tbs chopped onion, 1 tbs chopped green chili pepper, and 1 tbs roasted sesame seeds.
- Cook 2 eggs sunny-side up and set aside. If you serve 3 people, prepare 3 sunny-side up eggs.
- After the rice has soaked for 30 minutes, add the soybean sprouts and the seasoned ground beef over top.
- Close the lid and bring to a boil over medium high heat for 10 minutes. After boiling, turn it over with a rice scoop and mix all the ingredients well.
- Lower the heat and simmer for another 10 minutes with the lid closed.
- Transfer it to a serving bowl and place the sunny side egg on top. Garnish with radish sprouts (muwoo soon).
Serve with the sauce and toasted sesame oil on the side so that people can adjust the dish to their personal taste.
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Hello Maangchi, thank you very much for the easy and delicious recipe! We use textured soy protein instead of minced meat and eat it with our last portion of kimchi :-)
See full size image
Wow you made a really nice vegetarian version of kongnamulbap. Wonderful!
Is this only good for people on a diet? I have a cold right now and I want to make some foods that help relieve or fight my stuffy nose. I made Kongnamul bap before and I honestly liked it more than Kongnamul Guk. So can I just eat Kongnamul Bap for my cold rather than the Kongnamul Guk?
I couldnt find pepper flakes in the grocery store. What i have is crushed chili. Will it make a difference? Will it be too spicy? Will it change the taste? Thanks
It is a little different flavour, but it will work ok.
Thanks again Maangchi!!!! You never failed me!!!! I love all your recipes.. Been trying alot of your recipes and they are all AWESOME!! Just uploaded my kongnamulbap photo.. yayy!!
Maangchi,
This dish is awesome. I use Japanese brown rice and put the bean sprout, mixed pork ( my daughter doesn’t like beef) with the seasoning and finely chopped fresh shiitake on the rice just as it cooked and mix it through. Then I add 1 raw egg on top and put the lid of my rice cooker back on.
It taste divine. Thanks for the recipe
It sounds very good! Happy cooking!
Thank you so much for your site!! In my country, the number of Korean restaurants can be counted on two hands and I recently discovered how delicious Korean food is after visiting one on holiday! Sites like this make me want to cook every day
I’m going to make this for my friends tonight with kimchi (perhaps as a pancake) and hoddeok as dessert (=
It was delicious! my friends thought so too, they especially loved the hoddeok (:
cheers!
Thank you for your update! I feel like kongnamulbap now. : )
Hello Maangchi,
I wanted to take some time to thank you for sharing so many delicious recipes on your website. I have been watching your videos a little bit more than a year, and thanks to you that I am able to make some korean dishes. Today I made Kongnamulbap and it was very very delicious! I can eat that everyday! Thank you.
Chen-Hsuan
Dear Chen-Hsuan,
I’m very very happy to hear that your kongnamulbap turned out very very delicious! : )
Happy cooking!
Hi Maangchi!
I was wondering why you let the rice soak for 30 minutes before adding everything else to the pot? Do you do the same if using different kinds of rice, like jasmine or basmati?
Thank you!
Soaking rice will make it fluffy. If you use a pressure rice cooker, you don’t have to soak.
I just made this and as soon as I ate the first spoonful, I went ‘ummmm so good!’ >.< This is one of my new favourites now! Thank you for the wonderful recipe ^_^
Cheers to “‘ummmm so good!’ : )
Hi Maangchi. Instead of cooking in heavy bottom pot, can I use rice cooker? Just by looking at the photos… it is so delicious already!!! Yummy!!! I am going to make it next week… :)
yes, using a rice cooker sounds good to me. yummy!
soo hungry just looking @ this…Maangchi, thanks so very much for sharing your gift of cooking.
Maangchi, my soybean bimbimbap was perfect! My husband loved it. Thanks so much. Will definitely include this in my day to day menu. Mwah!
I’m glad to hear that your husband loved your kongnamulbap!
Cheers!
I’m going to cook this tonight. Will let you know how it turned out.
Maangchi, Thank you soooo much for this recipe!!! It’s so delicious & my daughters just love, love, love it! I love how it’s more veggie than meat & the sauce, oh, the sauce!!! I could put that sauce on everything!!! Thanks again!!
yay! : )
Happy cooking!
I can’t wait to make this tonight! YUMMY~
omg, just watched this video.. and i can’t wait to do it myself…. i just had bibimbap last night in one of the korean restaurant in Glendale, Ca. Now, i won’t be dependent with them!!!!… tnx.!!!
I made this tonight and it was amazing! I wanted to eat more because it was so delicious but I had already had two bowls hahaha. Thank you for your easy tasty recipes Maangchi :)
I have already made this twice with brown and red rice. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. I have also doubled this recipe with success so I can enjoy this again the next day. It is so delicious. Check out my photos here: http://lemonchiffoncake.blogspot.com/2011/11/poached-fried-egg.html
yeah I saw it. It looks great!
My whole-gain rice version is finally posted. I also doubled the recipe and replaced the ground beef with ground lean turkey. Maangchi, I hope you approved of my whole-grain rice version of this recipe: http://lemonchiffoncake.blogspot.com/2011/11/soybean-sprout-bibimbap.html
Thanks for including the vegetarian tips! Your sauce looks simply delicious.
oh you must be a vegetarian. : )
Hey Maangchi!
Love your bibimbap recipe and will make it for a big dinner party this Friday!
OK for this style of bibimbap can I use basmati rice? I have run out of short grain rice!
I finally got to make this dish after a visit to my local Paldo World for soybean sprouts (picked up the last pack of Italy towels too!) – delicious! It smelled so good while was cooking, it was hard to wait. The sauce is absolutely fantastic. I too threw in some mushrooms I had in the fridge (on top of the sprouts and under the meat) and it was a fine addition. No pictures because I ate it too fast! :) Also, the crispy bottom I got in the pan from the rice was so good… Thank you!
Guess what is for dinner? Haneul, Iseul, Taeyang and I watched this video together today and are making this together now. Their dad made kimchi today. Thanks for the home cooked food inspiration. I love that uses just one pot to cook because I am not a fan of doing dishes!
yes, one pot to cook, very simple food but delicious! You are not a fan of doing dishes? Nobody would like doing dishes. : )
Maangchi – I wanted to ask how long the marinated sauce is good for if you refrigerate it.
24 hours?
I made this the other night and it turned out so yummy! I used both beef and mushrooms and cooked it in the rice cooker. Thanks for the recipe!
Great great!
My whole-grain rice version of this recipe is finally posted. I also doubled the recipe and replaced the groiund beef with ground lean turkey. Maangchi, I hope you approve my whole-grain rice version: http://lemonchiffoncake.blogspot.com/2011/11/soybean-sprout-bibimbap.html
Love this recipe .. The sauce is also my favourite, i actually have this sauce with Korean Pancake, and also use this sauce as salad dressing :) … All my friends and family love it. :D
Maangchi, you are a legend!
Love.
Great news! Happy cooking!
I made this for dinner today. I’m a lazy mum:) I used the rice cooker and doubled the minced beef for my carnivorous kid;D
It was a hit:))) they want to eat again tomorrow:))
Thanks Maangchi<333
I am making this for dinner tonight – with doejibulgogi and a few other side dishes. I will take photos :)
I love the combination of beansprouts and an egg. Thanks for the recipe and I’d like to let people know that there will be some upcoming gift giveaways and a blogging contest on koreataste.org http://www.koreataste.org/lang/en/category/en/blogging-en/
So apply to be a blogger there and start blogging to win some awesome prizes. There are also interesting topics posted on Forum for people to talk about Korean food culture.
Can you double the recipe and still do it in one pot? Two cups of rice, two cups of water, etc. Thanks!
I have doubled the recipe with success.
Would it be possible to cook the rice in a rice cooker instead? Also, like Oppa, I would like to know if it still tastes good at room temperature. I can’t wait to mk this!
yes, you can.
This looks so amazing! I am definitely going to make it.
yeah I guarantee it will be delicious.
how do you modify this recipe to make kongnamulgukbap?
It’s another different recipe. The recipe will be posted someday in the future.
You say you are cooking the egg “Sunny Side Up” but then you flip it. Isnt this an over easy egg then? Maybe a “Sunny Side Down”?
Either way I love the recipe and will have to try it soon. That simple sauce you make is one of my favorites to have with rice now. Even if I can never find the correct green chili peppers!
That’s true! I like over easy style. : ) Happy cooking!
Hi Maangchi!
I love bibimbap, it’s one of my favs korean meal. I eat a lot but want to lose weight so this recipe is perfect, thanks a lot =)
I have a question, can this be eaten cool ? Or is it less tasty?
xo
“can this be eaten cool ?”, it will be ok but it’s more tasty when it’s warm.
The first thing I thought when you put your soybean sprouts in the drainer was ‘they’re so pretty!’ – and they are! So clean and beautiful! I can’t wait to make this!
Kerri
yay! Kerri! I knew you would like this dish! : )
I can’t wait to make it! Right now I only have the rice part, soon I’ll go to the grocery and get the rest!
And at the very end after you scoop out all the kongnamulbap, you can make nooroongji!