Bibimbap

비빔밥
Rice mixed with vegetables, meat, an egg, and chili pepper paste

Today’s recipe is bibimbap, a super-popular Korean dish you might have heard about already! It’s made of a bowl of rice, sautéed and seasoned vegetables (namul: 나물), a bit of hot pepper paste (gochujang: 고추장), and usually a bit of seasoned raw beef, too (yukhoe: 육회).

Bibim (비빔) translates as “mixed,” and bap (밥) means “cooked rice,” so bibimbap literally means “mixed rice.” Before eating it you’re supposed to mix everything all together.

There are many variations on this dish, from simple to elaborate, and this recipe I’m showing you today is for one you could consider “classic” bibimbap. If you ordered bibimbap in a Korean restaurant, you would probably get something like this dish, with regional variations. I’m also going to show you bibimbap prepared and served in a heated stone or earthenware bowl called dolsot-bibimbap (돌솥비빔밥). “Dolsot” means “stone pot” in Korean, and this version is well-known for the way the bowl makes a layer of crispy, crackling rice on the bottom of the bibimbap.

Even though we mix up bibimbap before we eat it, each ingredient needs to be prepared with care and individuality, bringing out their unique flavors, textures and colors so they come together beautifully in the bowl and deliciously in your mouth. The different ingredients aren’t random, they’re chosen because they balance, harmonize, and offset each other.

This recipe isn’t quick and easy, it takes some time to make. But if you’re really in a rush you can make a great bibimbap with the soybean sprouts, spinach, and carrot (or red bell pepper, or both), and gochujang, toasted sesame oil, and an egg— those items are unskippable!

I’m going to share some more bibimbap recipes on my website in the future, and you’ll see how many different variations there are. This version is a little different than the version in my cookbook, because I make a quick and simple soup with the bean sprouts. When I started my YouTube channel, bibimbap was one of the first recipes I made, because it’s such an essential dish in Korean cuisine. So I’m happy to remake the video now in HD with much better editing and instruction. I’ve been building up to this video by remaking videos for the ingredients, too. I remade yukhoe, and sigeumchi-namul, and my yukagaejang video has a lot of detail about preparing the mountain vegetable fernbrake.

So if you’ve been following my videos, you’re now ready to be a bibimbap master! Ready? Let’s start!

Ingredients (serves 4)

How to prepare dried fernbrake (gosari) for use

If you have presoaked or fresh fernbrake you can use it straight away, but if you have dried fernbrake you’ll need to get it ready to eat. It’s fast if you have a pressure cooker, but if you don’t it will take some time.

With a pressure cooker:

  1. Wash ½ ounce of dried gosari and boil it with 5 cups of water in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes.
  2. Drain and rinse in cold water a couple of times.
  3. Drain. It should make 4 ounces.

In a pot on the stove:

  1. In a large saucepan add ½ ounce of dried gosari to 7 cups of water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 30 minutes. Cover and let stand until cool, about 2 to 3 hours.
  2. Rinse the fernbrake a couple of times, drain and put in a bowl. Cover with fresh cold water and let soak for at least 8 hours or overnight in a cool place, changing the water 2 or 3 times during the soaking.gosari
  3. Taste the gosari: It should be soft. If it’s tough, boil it again in a fresh pot of water for about 20 minutes and then let it sit, covered, until soft.
  4. Drain. It should make 4 ounces.

Make rice

If you have a usual method for making rice or have a rice cooker, go ahead and make 5 cups of rice like you usually do. But here’s how I do it on a pot on the stove. 2 cups of dried rice makes about 5 cups of cooked rice.

  1. Rinse 2 cups of rice in cold water and scrub the wet rice with your hand. Rinse and drain until the drained water is pretty clear.
  2. Put the rice in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add 2 cups of water, cover, and soak for 30 minutes.
  3. Cook over medium high heat for 7 to 8 minutes until the surface is covered with abundant bubbles that are spluttering noisily and look like they’re about to overflow the pot. Turn the rice over a few times with a spoon and cover the pot again.
  4. Turn the heat to very low and simmer for another 10 minutes until the rice is fully cooked and fluffy. Remove from the heat.
  5. Fluff the rice with a spoon to release excess steam. Let the rice stand, covered, at room temperature to keep it warm.

Prepare and cook the ingredients for bibimbap

I like to get a big platter and then put each vegetable on it as they’re ready. I think it looks really pretty, but you don’t have to do this. When all vegetables are prepared and ready to use, the platter looks pretty delicious!

Soybean sprouts:

  1. Put the soy bean sprouts in a pot and add 4 cups water and 2 or 3 teaspoons salt. Cover and cook for 20 minutes over medium high heat. Take out the sprouts with tongs and put them into a bowl, leaving about ½ cup of sprouts in the pot with the water you used to boil them. This is the soup to serve with bibimbap later.bibimbap kongnamul
  2. In a bowl, mix the sprouts by hand with ½ teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, and 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil. Put them on the large platter.

Spinach:

  1. Cut up the blanched spinach a few times and put it in a bowl. Mix by hand with 1 teaspoon garlic, 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds. Cover and put it next to the soy bean sprouts on the platter.

Other fresh vegetables:

  1. Cut the carrot into matchsticks, put them in a bowl, and mix with a pinch of salt. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until sweating.bibimbap carrot
  2. Cut the red bell pepper into halves, deseed, and slice into strips. Put them in a bowl.
  3. Cut the zucchini into matchsticks and mix with ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
  4. Cut the cucumber into halves lengthwise and slice thinly crosswise. Mix with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt.

Beef:

  1. Cut the beef into matchsticks and put them in a bowl.
  2. Mix with 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon honey, 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds with a spoon.bibimbap yukhoe
  3. Cover and keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Mountain vegetables:

  1. Cut the fernbrake (gosari) a few times into bite size pieces. Set aside.
  2. Put the bellflower roots (doraji) in a large bowl. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons salt. Rub for a minute to wilt slightly and release some of the bitterness. Rinse them in cold water a couple of times and drain. If you find some roots are too thick, split them lengthwise. Set aside.

Let’s cook!

  1. Heat up a pan over medium high heat. Squeeze out excess water from the carrot. Add a few drops of cooking oil to the pan and sauté the carrot for 1 minute. Put it on the platter next to the soy bean sprouts and spinach. Clean the pan with wet paper towel or wash it.
  2. Heat a few drops of cooking oil in the pan and squeeze out the excess water from the cucumber. Sauté with ½ teaspoon minced garlic and a few drops of toasted sesame oil for 30 seconds. Put it on the platter. Clean the pan.
  3. Heat up the pan with a few drops of cooking oil. Add the red bell pepper and sprinkle a pinch of salt over top. Sauté for 30 seconds. Put it on the platter. Clean the pan.
  4. Heat up the pan and squeeze out excess water from the zucchini. Add a few drops of cooking oil and sauté with 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon chopped green onion, a drop of toasted sesame oil for 1 minute until slightly softened. Put it on the platter. Clean the pan.
  5. Heat up the pan with a few drops of cooking oil. Add the bellflower roots and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Lower the heat to medium so as not to brown them. Add 1 teaspoon minced garlic and a drop of toasted sesame oil. Stir for another minute until a little softened. Put it on the platter. Clean the pan.bellflower root (doraji)
  6. Heat up the pan. Add a few drops of cooking oil. Stir the gosari for 2 minutes until a little softened. Add ½  teaspoon of minced garlic, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and 2 teaspoons sugar, and keep stirring for another minute. Put it on the platter.

bibimbap vegetables

Serve

Here are a couple of ways to serve: bibimbap in a regular, shallow bowl, and dolsot-bibimbap in a stone or earthenware bowl.

In a regular, shallow bowl

  1. Reheat the soybean sprout soup.soup
  2. Divide the cooked rice into 4 portions. Each portion will be a little more than 1 cup of rice.
  3. Put the rice in each of 4 bowls and arrange the vegetables and beef on the rice. Top with a raw egg yolk and gochujang. If you prefer your eggs and beef cooked, use a fried egg sunny side up and slightly pan-fry the beef before putting them on the top of rice.
  4. Sprinkle the bibimbap with the sesame seeds and drizzle with sesame oil to taste.
  5. Ladle the soup to a small bowl and sprinkle some chopped green onion over top.
  6. Serve right away with more hot pepper paste on the side, and maybe kimchi too.bibimbap

Dolsot-bibimbap in a hot earthenware bowl (ttukbaegi) or hot stone bowl (dolsot)

  1. Reheat the soybean sprout soup.
  2. Put a few drops of toasted sesame oil in the bottom of each of 4 earthenware bowls. They should be big enough to hold 4 to 6 cups each.
  3. Divide the rice among the bowls. Arrange the vegetables and beef on the rice. Top each serving with a raw egg yolk and 1 tablespoon gochujang. If you prefer your eggs and beef cooked, use a fried egg sunny side up and slightly pan-fry the beef before putting them on the top of rice.
  4. Set each pot on a burner. Heat over medium high heat until you hear a ticking, crackling sound coming from the rice.dolsot-bibimbap
  5. Sprinkle the bibimbap with the sesame seeds, drizzle with sesame oil to taste.
  6. Ladle the soup to a small bowl and sprinkle some chopped green onion over top.
  7. Serve right away with more hot pepper paste on the side and maybe kimchi too.gochujang

Eat

  1. Gently but firmly mix everything together in the bowl with your spoon. Try not to crush the more delicate ingredients.bibimbap mixing
  2. Eat with your spoon.

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421 Comments:

  1. K. Lover Nigeria joined 10/21 & has 1 comment

    I’m in Nigeria and I really want to make this

  2. Rosalie The Netherlands joined 12/20 & has 1 comment

    Dear Maangchi,

    I made this recipe with all the available ingrediënts and it turned out incredible! We do not eat meat, so I substituted with your Dubu-gangjeong and that also turned out really really delicious!!! Wow! Thank you for teaching me :)


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  3. kirakira Arizona joined 7/20 & has 1 comment

    My lunch today turned out great!


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  4. JLee29 Texas joined 6/20 & has 1 comment

    Made this tonight! It turned out amazing!!


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  5. Ellyphanyy Singapore joined 5/20 & has 1 comment

    Love ur recipes maangchi!!! Omitted the beef and made barley rice and included more veges!!!


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  6. shimeringstars McKees Rocks joined 6/17 & has 13 comments

    So exited to eat this again!!

  7. Học Nấu Ăn CET 145 - 147 Xuân Hồng, Phường 12, Quận Tân Bình, TPHCM joined 2/20 & has 1 comment

    it’s look very delicious!

  8. cosimaluise Germany joined 3/19 & has 6 comments

    Hi Maangchi, today ist my 16th Birthday and I made Bibimbap for my family. For my mum and me I substituted beef with tofu to make it vegan. (My brother and father ate it with beef) it tastes so delicious :) we will definitively make it again!!
    (I accidentally already commented this but as a reply to another comment so I’ll post it again on its own :))


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  9. Kuckuck Germany joined 11/19 & has 1 comment

    Hello Maangchi, I am new to your website, but I already love your recipes and videos! Thank you! Your crispy chicken recipe led me here :-) (It’s all because of Yoon Doo-Joon enjoying it so much in “Let’s Eat 2”).
    I was wondering, if you usually eat the Bibimbap with the vegetable Banchan when they are cold and they become a little bit warm again with the steamed rice OR should I serve the Bibimbap quickly, when the vegetables are still hot?
    How about the Banchan in general? Do you usually eat them right out of the fridge? I am confused which to reheat, which to eat cold and which to serve only one time. Thank you!

  10. lszkitti91 Hungary joined 4/19 & has 2 comments

    I’ve just made colorful and delicious 비빔밥. Everyone loved it in the family. Thank you so much for your recipes, Maanghi!♥️ It’s so much fun to cook korean food with your videos and your cookbook. 감사합니다! 사랑해 ♥️


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  11. winnie_inthesun Singapore joined 4/19 & has 1 comment

    Hi maangchi!
    I made bibimbap today to clear the leftover ingredients in my fridge. Although i didn’t have all the ingredients, the bibimbap was still really tasty! My sister loved the honey-marinated meat especially :) this is one of my first few tries at making korean food, so I’m glad how well it turned out!
    Thank you!

  12. Oh, ThNk you Maangchi. This was so delicious. I used your recipe for a vegan bulgogi and I even made a vegan egg yolk to pour on top. It was so yummy. Thank you thank you.


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  13. LaEmeJota A Coruna, Spain joined 2/19 & has 2 comments

    Hi, Maangchi!
    Today we made bibimbap! Unfortunately our Asian Supermarket does not bring fern or bellflower root, so I substituted them with mushrooms.
    It was A HIT!
    It was also very fun to cook.
    Can’t wait to make more of your dishes.


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  14. Nora Nero East Java, Indonesia joined 2/19 & has 13 comments

    For the veggies, I don’t use zucchini; red bell pepper; gosari (fernbrakes); and doraji (bellflower roots) here. I don’t think doraji is imported to our country. For the gosari, my mom once ever said if ferns are difficult to handle. Wrong cooking method could result in poisoning. And also I think that the one you use is different from the fernbrakes in our country (it’s always green after cook, never turned brownish or even blackish).
    So to keep the color balanced, I replace the doraji with oyster mushrooms since they have the same color and look. With the same reason, I replace the gosari with wood ear mushroom. Sometimes, I replace the spinach with fresh lettuce (I’ve ever watched it once on a Korean variety show). For the protein, I use chicken or sauteed sausage instead. Since I can’t eat raw egg because of the Salmonella, I turn the egg into gyeran jidan to keep the beautiful color (here is the picture ^^)


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    • Nora Nero East Java, Indonesia joined 2/19 & has 13 comments

      As I said, made it multiple times


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    • Kualantokoso McAllen Texas joined 6/12 & has 1 comment

      Hi Nora, i read your article and it says that your fernbrake is always green and your worried about not being prepared right. I lived in Korea for about four years and i spent a lot of time out in the country where i wittnessed the harvesting and preparation of the ferns. First the folks would pick the young curly shoots and fill lots of bags, carry them home and they were set out in the sun to dry. After a day or so the fern cuttings would turn brown. They would then pack them up in portion size or in a basket and hang them up in storage shed. The rest was simple usally just soak them in water untill ready for the what ever recipie they were using.
      As for the species im not sure about the ones in your country, but here in the United states in particular in Oregon, Upstate New York and northern parts the Korean folks go out the woods and pick bags full of these fern. Good luck let me know how it turns out.

  15. Nora Nero East Java, Indonesia joined 2/19 & has 13 comments

    Lately, I think maybe there’s some Indonesian too out there who wants to try to cook bibimbab and still feels confused about the replacement ingredients. So, I’ve decided to post my modification version (joesonghamnida, Maangchi-ssi ^^) for the gochujang and veggies.
    I mix 1 red chilli pepper, 3 cloves shallot, 2 cloves garlic, 1 candlenut, and ginger (about 1 cm in length). Sautee the mixture with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, a bay leaf, a pinch of salt, a pinch of white pepper powder, 50 ml of water, and 1 tbsp of sweet soy sauce until the water reduced and the mixture gets its viscosity back.

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