Hello everybody, Dwaejibulgogi recipe is here! : )
When I was invited to my friend’s BBQ party in upstate New York, I brought marinated beef, pork, and mushrooms (for vegetarians) and was planning to shoot a video for beef bulgogi. I didn’t plan on shooting a spicy pork recipe video, but I changed my mind at the party while barbecuing marinated pork. As you can see, the recipes for beef bulgogi and pork bulgogi are very similar. The only big difference is that I add hot pepper paste to the marinade for pork bulgogi.
Some of you might be wondering what the difference is between my spicy stir-fried pork (dwaejigogibokkeum) recipe that I already posted and this recipe. The taste is very similar but the preparation is different. Stir-fried pork is cooked, as the name suggests, in a pan or a wok over high heat, with the seasoning sauce and vegetables altogether.
Dwaejibulgogi is marinated first and then grilled, pan-fried, or barbecued over charcoals. Both are delicious!
If you are looking for a vegetarian version of this recipe, the marinade can be used with other vegetables: eggplant, squash, or mushrooms.
Enjoy the recipe!
Ingredients (3-4 servings)
- 1 pound pork belly, sliced thinly into pieces ½ inch x 2 inches and ⅛ inch thick
tip: You can replace pork belly with pork shoulder or pork loin
For the marinade :
- ½ cup of crushed pear
- ¼ cup onion purée
- 4 cloves of minced garlic
- ½ ts of minced ginger
- 1 chopped green onion
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tbs of sugar and 1½ tbs rice syrup (or 2 tbs brown sugar)
- a pinch of ground black pepper
- 2 ts of toasted toasted sesame oil
- 3 tbs hot pepper paste
Directions
- Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add the sliced pork and mix well.
- You can grill, pan-fry, or BBQ right after marinating, but it’s best to let it marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Serve with rice, ssamjang (a soybean paste based dipping sauce), lettuce, sliced garlic and green chili pepper.
- Make a small green lettuce wrap with pork, garlic, green chili pepper and ssamjang and eat the wrap in one bite!
I’ve been making this for years now! Pork belly can be expensive so I’ve started using boneless pork shoulder as you recommended. I love it! As a good Canadian, I use maple syrup instead of rice syrup. I always have some purple rice with the lettuce wrapped dwaejibulgogi! It’s soooo good. I highly recommend this recipe to everyone.
Can I use pork butt? Also my husband has been going to a Korean restaurant for 35 years and they will make the spicy pork bulgolgi with extra sauce for him so he can dip his rice in the sauce on the sizzle skillet. Do you know what ingredients I could use to do that?
I tried your recipe, and it was fantastic! I really love Korean style BBQ, but it’s quite pricey at most restaurants, and you never get enough, but now with this recipe, I can have as much of this spicy pork BBQ as I want! Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Is it possible to use korean melon versus pear for meat marinades? It is hard to find pears off season and korean melons taste so similar to asian pears to me. Love your recipes!!
Hi! Long-time oly resident here and SO of one very hungry Korean man (who bugs me for Korean food non-stop)!
Arirang Asian Market in Lacey often has Korean pears in the refrigerated section. Give them a try!
Thank you very much.
Do you cut the skin off of the pork belly?
No, if I find the pork belly with skin, I use it because it’s chewy and delicious.
Hello! Made this and absolutey loved it. Think my marinade was a bit off though, how do you exactly messaure 1/2 cup of crushed pear? is that like half the pear chopped and skinned? same with the onion? Thanks!