Grilled pork belly (Samgyeopsal-gui) is an extremely popular Korean BBQ dish. Because the cooking and eating is done at the table, it’s really social and a great party food. It’s also pretty simple to make, and because everyone pretty much helps themselves it’s easy to serve, too.
Nobody can resist the taste of samgyeopsal gui! When your guest eats the pork belly with garlic, green onion salad and ssamjang in a fresh lettuce leaf, they’ll be instantly hooked! And if you, or one of your guests, is a vegetarian, you can grill king oyster mushrooms instead of meat. Samgyeopsal-gui is usually served with a lot of vegetables, so in general it’s a well-rounded meal.
I filmed this video in LA with my friend Jimmy Wong. I hope you enjoy it a lot and plan a grilled pork belly party with your family and friends.
Ingredients
(for 4 servings)
3 pounds of pork belly (fresh or pre-sliced frozen)
Green onion salad (pajeori):
- 14-16 green onions (about 5 cups), sliced thinly
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoon hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
Doenjang-gochujang dipping sauce (my special kind of ssamjang I make for samgyeopsal-gui):
- ¼ cup doenjang
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoon gochujang
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Vegetables:
- 1 bunch of lettuce, washed and drained
- 2 dozens of perilla leaves (optional), washed and drained
- 2 carrots, cut into bite size sticks
- 1 English cucumber, cut into bite size sticks
- 7-8 green chili peppers, chopped
- a dozen of raw garlic, sliced
- 1 large onion, cut across into ¼ size pieces
Directions
- Slice pork belly into bite sized pieces. Put it on a large plate and keep it in the refrigerator.
Make green onion salad
- Soak shredded green onion in cold water for 5 minutes. Rinse and drain.
- Combine soy sauce, sugar, sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, and hot pepper flakes in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.
- Portion the green onion into small serving bowls, and put some sauce on top of each. Set aside.
Make ssamjang (dipping sauce)
- Combine soybean paste, hot pepper paste, sugar, green onion, garlic, sesame seeds, and toasted sesame oil in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
Prepare vegetables:
From the left: onion, garlic, green chili peppers, cucumber, carrot, and perilla leaves
How to cook:
- Heat up your grill plate or pan. Put a little toasted sesame oil on the hot plate for flavor.
- Cover the grill plate with pork belly. Grill them and turn them over when the bottoms get a little crispy. Keep cooking and turning them over until both sides are crispy.
- As the pieces get ready to eat, take them off the grill and put them on a small side plate. People can take the pieces from this plate, or if they’re too hungry they can take them right off the grill!
- Eat, but keep cooking!
Doenjangjjigae (Korean fermented bean paste stew: 된장찌개)
Kongnamulmuchim (Soybean sprout side dish: 콩나물무침)
How to eat:
- Put a piece of lettuce on a plate or in your hand. Add a piece of perilla leaf and a piece of cooked pork.
- Add ssamjang, cooked onion or garlic, and some green onion salad on top.
- Fold the lettuce leaf over so you have a little package.
- Pop it into your mouth in one shot. Don’t bite it in half, it will break open! One-shot!
Buy this recipe's ingredients online
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Dearest Maangchi, it’s been a few years since I stopped by your website. I learned some very good recipes from you. I still make mak kimchi and jap chae regularly. I am limited as to some recipes since we have no good Korean butchers in the area. We went to a Korean BBQ in Charlottesville VA, my first Korean BBQ experience. Before we moved here we would go to small family run restaurants for real Korean home cooking, but not BBQ. Oh boy was it good!!! While experiencing this amazing food I was thinking all the time “…Maangchi…Maangchi…she is going to teach me how to make this.” I am so appreciative of your videos, your website, your teaching. Thank you!
Hi Adam,
I’m so glad to hear that my recipes are helpful to you! Dishes like Korean BBQ, bulgogi, and bibimbap are already well-known, but there are still so many everyday Korean side dishes and home-style meals that aren’t widely known yet. It’s great that you’re already interested in them. Try using my recipes to learn how to make some of these simple traditional Korean dishes! Cheers!
I marinated the pork belly before cooking, still very tasty.
I used a George Forman grill.
I overcooked the mung soybean sprouts by six minutes, still good and crunchy. Then I refrigerated them and made a salad using cumber, cut up fresh grape tomatoes, red onion, sesame oil and seeds, soy, salt, and pepper.
Hello Maangchi, I followed this recipe but my prok belly didnt have the same flavor as the one I get a lot a korean bbq. I feel like it needed salt. Do the restaurants add salt to their pork belly? And if so should I rub on the meat before I cook it to five it some flavor?