This simple, simple dish is super, super tasty. It’s just a few ingredients, but it’s a dish much loved by Koreans and a staple of our everyday lives.
This version is simple, but you can dress it up with a bit of beef, chicken, pork, ham, or even spam. Many Koreans also like to put a fried egg on top, but my family prefers this simple version that I’m showing you here. When my son lived in the school dorm, visits with him were rare. I talked to him on the phone before he came and I asked:
“What food do you miss the most? I’ll make it for you when you come.”
I figured I would need some time to prepare and shop ahead of time, but he answered: “I miss kimchi-bokkeumbap.”
“What? That’s it? Is there anything else?”
“Just kimchi-bokkeumbap, Mom.”
As you see in this video, you don’t need to prepare much in advance for kimchi-bokkeumbap if you have kimchi and rice on hand. So of course I made it for him, along with grilled beef and lots of high protein food. As soon as he came home, I was ready to stir fry. He loved it!
A lot of people say making fried rice is best with leftover rice straight from the fridge, or just day-old rice, but I’ve never really tasted the difference in flavor, taste, or texture. I use fresh rice all the time. I just let it cool down a bit before I stir fry, and my kimchi bokkeumbap is always delicious. It’s the best fried rice I have ever tasted, much better than the kimchi-bokkeumbap at a Korean restaurant.
Ingredients
- 3 bowls steamed rice (3 cups)
- 1 cup chopped kimchi (should be aged, well-fermented and sour)
- ¼ cup kimchi juice (spicy red juice from a jar of kimchi)
- ¼ cup water
- 2-3 tablespoons gochujang
- 3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
- 1 sheet of gim, roasted and shredded into seaweed strips
Directions
- Heat up a wide, flat pan or skillet. Add the vegetable oil.
- Add the kimchi and stir fry for 1 minute over medium-high heat.
- Add rice, kimchi juice, water, and gochujang. Stir all the ingredients together for about 7 minutes with a wooden spoon.
- Add sesame oil and remove from the heat.
- Garnish with sprinkled chopped green onion, roasted gim, and sesame seeds. Serve right away.
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My first attempt came out pretty yummy. It doesn’t look quite as appetizing as your meal because I cut the meat pretty horribly. I just made due with what I had, which was rib-eye steak. The kimchi fried rice I added egg too and cut out the seaweed, since I didn’t have any. But end result was delicious, I made it for me and my grandmother and she really really liked the meal. The meat came out nice and tender and she even ate some of the kimchi fried rice and she’s not a big fan of kimchi.
Thanks so much for sharing your recipes
Maangchiii I need your help !! :(
I have some issues with cooking the beef. Basically, I cooked it on a hot pan, using a little bit of oil and i cooked its for 15 mins max. unfortunately it turned out really hard and it was so hard that it made my teeth hurt on chewing it. it was my first attempt and I had high hopes. Is there anythng I can do to the beef to make it more soft and tender ??
also I didn’t like the kimchi i made it was nothing like the ones from restaurants. It had such a strong garlic taste…. hmmm
I guess I have a long way to go !! ;(
I’m sorry to hear that! To make good bulgogi, use sirloin or tenderloin steak beef. And slice it very thinly across the grain. Check out my recent bulgogi video and the recipe. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/bulgogi
Just made this, with the rice and home-made ssam jaang. It was delicious. I found lots of recipes for Bulgogi on the internet but decided on this one, although I think next time i’ll reduce the amount of sesame oil as the flavour overpowered everything else, maybe the oil I used was quite a strong one.
Hi!! in culinary i picked korea as my country for culinary class and we’re suppose to make a dish from our country…so i decided to do kimchi fried rice, is this the whole recipe? i need help . i think your fried rice looks the best out of all the ones i checked :D
yes, it’s very easy to make. That’s all! Let me know how your class project is going.
thank you!!! hopefully theres hot pepper paste here in Hawaii and will do
is it okay if i dont have hot pepper paste?? and how much sesame oil do i add?
Hi Maangchi! I’m not a huge fan of spicy foods and there seem to be some sort of spice added to many of these recipes. Would you please let me know if there are any “spice alternatives”? Thanks A lot :)
Check out non-spicy recipes here: https://www.maangchi.com/recipes/non-spicy
Maangchi, is there a serving size for this or what is the serving size for this?
1/2 pound of beef is usually for 1 serving, so this recipe will make 2-3 servings.
Just made it!! It was amazing!!!
awesome! : )
i loved making the fried rice for my lunchbox :D
Good idea! kimchi bokkeumbap is a popular lunch box menu in Korea.
Wow! Just when I thought I knew all of the great things you can make WITH kimchi… I see this. Or maybe I just forgot I watched it all those years ago. More reasons for me to use up my kimchi and make more! Some baked tofu would be nice with this to make a one-dish meal.
“Some baked tofu would be nice with this to make a one-dish meal.” I agree with you! : )
Hello Maangchi,
Love your website, and i love Korean food. Been trying your bibimbap recipes and it turns out
delicious. Anyway, i don’t eat beef, can i used pork instead of beef to cook bulgogi?
Thanks alot.. :)
yes, you can replace beef with pork.
is it possible to can(by water boil method) the bulgogi marinade? or would that ruin the taste somehow?
Djinni, the marinade should hold up very well to the canning process. I bet that would make a great gift for someone. Make many jars and attach recipes for the sauce to the lids. I might steal your idea :D
I have seen “bulgogi marinade” and “Korean barbeque marinade” in Asian markets and actually in the Ft. Campbell army post commissary. I”m sure that they have preservatives added, which some people do not like to eat.
Thank you for this website!
Absolutely unreal recipes!!! I’ve been eating Korean for years, and never tried cooking it myself..
I made this recipe along with your spinach and soy bean sprout salads, and the whole family was loving it (including me!)
Cheers! Happy cooking!
Hi Maangchi! I’m going to make this with my friends next weekend like a Korea BBQ party. I was wondering what other veggies or side dishes is good to be serve beside lettuce and kimchi?
Bulgogi will go with lettuce, cucumbers, carrot, and dipping sauce. Check this out. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/la-galbi
Or soybean sprouts and spinach side dishes will be good side dishes for this.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kongnamul-muchim
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sigumchi-namul
can i use pork for bulgogi?
Yes, one of my readers posted her bulgogi photo made with pork. https://www.maangchi.com/photo/bulgogi-pork-version
Hi! I used your recipe to make bulgogi and kimchi for my husband to celebrate Father’s Day since that’s his favorite korean dish. He absolutely loves it and he said that they taste as authentic as the ones he had in Korea when he was stationed there. So far I have only tried those two recipes but I’m definitely making more each week! We love korean food! Thank you and you’re a great teacher!
Good news! You made delicious kimchi and bulgogi which means you can cook a variety of Korean dishes! Congratulations!
Maangchi, You are my Julia Childs! I am making my way through your recipes and every one has turned out delicious. I’m a korean adoptee and don’t speak Korean but learning to cook with your fun and instructive videos has made a real Korean out of me!
Thank you- you’re the best teacher.
maangchi…. is the honey crucial in this recipe? What do I do if I have no honey, do I really have to have it? :(
no, you could replace honey with sugar.
Sunday’s dinner was this kimchi fried rice dish. Just got done making it, smells and tastes fantastic! 5/8/11 Sunday. :)
umm, I can almost smell your kimchi fried rice!
Hi Maangchi,
I made your kimchi fried rice today, and it was delicious!!! I used my mom’s homemade gochujang and added some spam with that. Ate it with gim wrapped around each bite. :) Made me think of home. Thanks for the recipes.
hi maangchi,
i recently found this recipe of bulgogi that was very simple and amazing via http://topchefkorea.com/2011/01/27/bulgogi/ my husband loved it and he doesn’t even like bulgogi much.
question is, do you think i can use this recipe for garbi too or would it be something completely different? can you share a classic la garbi recipe?
thank you!
Hi
Here is my la galbi recipe. You can use the marinade for bulgogi marinade, too. It’s very delicious!
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/la-galbi
Thank you!!!
Your recipes are AMAZING! I’m half Korean, my mom is from Seoul, and I moved to Finland about a year ago. I’ve been so homesick for authentic Korean food, and these recipes taste just like my moms! Thanks soo much :)
yay, welcome to my website! Happy cooking!
I made your bulgogi for a BBQ this weekend and it was such a hit! Thank you so much! Everyone raved about it and wanted the recipe. I think you’re going to get a few new fans of your site. :-)
Great news! I’m very happy to hear that your bulgogi BBQ turned out delicious! Cheers!
My grandmother had told me to put slices of kiwi over the meat while it’s marinating – she told me that tenderizes the meat. I’ve heard conflicting advice on that, though. Do you recommend the kiwi or is it better without?
Yes, some people use kiwi to tenderize meat, but I prefer not to use it because the texture of meat becomes too mushy.
oh, your kimchi must be too sour. Kimchi will continue to ferment even in the refrigerator. Use less kimchi: 1/2 cup chopped kimchi instead of 1 cup in the recipe.
Hi maangchi,
I made kimchi fried rice but it was too sour. How do i neutralise the sourness of the kmichi?
Shuling, you could try adding more sweetness, little by little, tasting each time till it is right to you. Try sugar as it won’t change the flavor of the rice like honey would.
Hello. Sorry to ask you so many questions but my husband likes the bulgogi to be sweeter, which ingredient do I add to make it sweeter?
Hi, bulgogi is delicious when it’s sweet. If you want your bulgogi to be sweeter, add more sugar or honey.
I had this with clear noodles at a korean restaurant so if I want to add it, I would just have to boil it and put it over it right?
Yes, you could do that. Check out my bulgogi stew recipe, too. You can add the starch noodles to the stew, too. Delicious.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/bulgogi-and-bulgogi-stew
Starch noodles:
https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/starch-noodles
what type of beef is this?sirloin?D:
yes, sirloin or tenderloin!
Maangchi,
I want to make bulgogi, and is it ok if I marinate the meat overnight? Is it going to be really salty?
yes, of course! Your bulgogi will be more tender and delicious! Check my LA galbi recipe, too. You could use the marinade for your bulgogi. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/la-galbi
If I were to make this with pork, will the marinate sauce be the same? Thank you!
I loved the Bulgogi…but it was too greasy. I am not sure if that’s the juice? my husband comes home from out of country and can’t wait to try this. He’s Korean and I am learning how to make a lot of recipes through you and my mother in law. (I like your attitude better than my mother in law but don’t tell her that!) lol
Thank you for making it so easy to cook!
yes, I will be teaching you very nicely even though you make some mistakes. lol
Very tasty! I made this for my family and they loved it. =)
I’m so happy to hear that!
hie maangchi =)
i tried making bulgogi with your recipe a 2 weeks ago, it was so yummy(i had extra leftover in the fridge, a few times while waiting for the water to boil for tea i sneak a slice or 2 outta the fridge to nibble XD) ..
i liked it so much, i bought another pack of beef to make another batch XD .. they go so well with almost anthing =D
thanks for the recipe <3
I’m so happy to hear that your bulgogi turns out good! Congratulations!
I’m going to go make the kimchi bokkeum bap right now! What an awesome recipe to quickly use up old rice! My mother would be proud…haha! Thanks Maangchi!
sorry about the late response, I’m sure you got some compliments from your mom!
well.. I made it directly as you said. But what do you do if it’s a little “sheen-guh-wuh.” like it has some taste but not alot?
Add more hot pepper paste! that’s it.
““sheen-guh-wuh.” means “bland” : )