Grilled pork belly

Samgyeopsal-gui 삼겹살구이

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.

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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.
Jimmy_Me

Ingredients

(for 4 servings)
3 pounds of pork belly (fresh or pre-sliced frozen)

Green onion salad (pajeori):

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Doenjang-gochujang dipping sauce (my special kind of ssamjang I make for samgyeopsal-gui):

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

  1. Slice pork belly into bite sized pieces. Put it on a large plate and keep it in the refrigerator.

grilled-porkbellysamgyeopsal

Make green onion salad

  1. Soak shredded green onion in cold water for 5 minutes. Rinse and drain.
  2. Combine soy sauce, sugar, sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, and hot pepper flakes in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.
  3. Portion the green onion into small serving bowls, and put some sauce on top of each. Set aside.

pajeorisamgyeopsalgui_saucegrilled-porkbelly_pajeori

Make ssamjang (dipping sauce)

  1. Combine soybean paste, hot pepper paste, sugar, green onion, garlic, sesame seeds, and toasted sesame oil in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.

grilled-porkbelly_ssamjangssamjang

Prepare vegetables:

grilled-porkbelly_vegetables

From the left: onion, garlic, green chili peppers, cucumber, carrot, and perilla leaves

How to cook:

  1. Heat up your grill plate or pan. Put a little toasted sesame oil on the hot plate for flavor.
  2. 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.
  3. 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!
  4. Eat, but keep cooking!

grilled-porkbelly_grilledgrilled-porkbelly (삼겹살구이)grilled-porkbelly_doenjangjjigae

Doenjangjjigae (Korean fermented bean paste stew: 된장찌개)

grilled-porkbelly_soybean-sprouts

Kongnamulmuchim (Soybean sprout side dish: 콩나물무침)

How to eat:

  1. Put a piece of lettuce on a plate or in your hand. Add a piece of perilla leaf and a piece of cooked pork.
  2. Add ssamjang, cooked onion or garlic, and some green onion salad on top.
  3. Fold the lettuce leaf over so you have a little package.
  4. Pop it into your mouth in one shot. Don’t bite it in half, it will break open! One-shot!

grilled-porkbelly_lettucewrapgrilled pork belly (삼겹살구이)

Posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 11:40 am. Last updated on June 5, 2021.
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120 Comments:

  1. Tfair46 Atlanta, Ga USA joined 5/20 & has 3 comments
    Posted May 20th, 2020 at 12:16 am | or create a profile.

    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?

  2. Ixj3ivivxi Oakland joined 12/18 & has 8 comments
    Posted February 27th, 2019 at 11:36 pm | or create a profile.

    Yummy yummy!


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  3. Cornelius B. Ecuador joined 12/17 & has 42 comments
    Posted August 23rd, 2018 at 11:23 pm | or create a profile.

    My second try at Samgyeopsal-gui was with Gochu-Jangajji, instead of Ssamjang. Also turned out very delicious. This time I had seasoned the pork belly with some salt and ground black pepper: made it tastier. The hearty taste of the pork combined perfectly well with the sweetish spiciness of the chili and the grilled onions.


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  4. Cornelius B. Ecuador joined 12/17 & has 42 comments
    Posted July 5th, 2018 at 9:32 pm | or create a profile.

    Today I made Samgyeopsal-gui. Normally, I´m not too fond of greasy pork (you know: calories, cholesterol…), but in the vid it looks so appetizing that I could not resist. And it was worth it: wrapped it with fried onion and mushroom, and Ssamjang. Yummie, was sooo deliciousss! Sure gonna repeat it!


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  5. Juvy Philippines joined 1/18 & has 1 comment
    Posted January 13th, 2018 at 6:37 am | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi. I really like your videos. They are very easy to follow and very delicious. I hope you can also make a video on how to cut meat for samgyeopsal (can’t find anywhere). Or maybe suggest what do you call that cut? Hahaha. We had samgyeopsal for Christmas (our family decided to have international cuisine and I got Korean as theme). I had to cut the meat myself and got pierced with raw pork bone and ended up with swollen finger(pretty bad. Had pus on them). Please :3. I reeeaaally love korean food and I enjoy making them. Thanks!

  6. John in Baton Rouge Baton Rouge Louisiana joined 12/16 & has 40 comments
    Posted January 18th, 2017 at 10:24 pm | or create a profile.

    Love this video & the food looks awesome. I will make this. You guys are so cute together on camera.

  7. Sav_sss Canada (near Montreal) joined 3/15 & has 29 comments
    Posted April 4th, 2015 at 9:04 am | or create a profile.

    I LOVE PORK BELLY in my town its called “grillades” theres no english name for it but we cook it on the barbecue with special spices made in my town and we eat it just like that with the spices or in a sandwich. Its my town food. seriously if you didnt grew up in my town then you probably never ate those. So i was really surprised when i saw that korean use pork belly in there recipes (i didnt even know that the meat in itself was called pork belly ahah) So when i first tasted pork belly without those spices i was like what the fuck is this ahah i love pork belly but with the spices !! im so use to those that now i cant even eat it whitout the spices.
    in the picture thats how we ate it. i couldnt find a picture on how its cooked on a barbecue since its really not a know dish its the only picture of “grillades” that i could find on the internet. but next time i make those im gonna take a picture or a video :P


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  8. Sav_sss Canada (near Montreal) joined 3/15 & has 29 comments
    Posted March 27th, 2015 at 8:02 pm | or create a profile.

    Maangchi is fermented soybean paste ok for the sauce or not?

  9. Martychan joined 3/15 & has 1 comment
    Posted March 19th, 2015 at 10:38 pm | or create a profile.

    I’ve followed you since 2007! :) Many, many thanks for sharing all your amazing recipes! :)

    I made all this tonight (I even sliced my own pork belly with the meat slicer!) and invited my next door neighbor over for dinner.

    I’m Japanese-American, my neighbor is Norwegian. We’ve come together with your delicious recipes with the amazing Korean flavours and flair! And the best way by crossing cultures and friendship is around a grill making samgyeopsal!!

    peace, love, & blessings!

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,050 comments
      Posted March 20th, 2015 at 10:05 am | or create a profile.

      I started sharing my recipes from 2007! You’re one of my old friends! : ) I’d like thank you for not only liking my recipes but sharing your food with your friends. Sharing good food with loved ones is what life is all about!

  10. LeahJung United States joined 5/14 & has 1 comment
    Posted June 9th, 2014 at 2:27 am | or create a profile.

    I know this sounds weird, but is there a version of ssamjang that isn’t spicy at all? I had samgyeopsal at a restaurant once and they served it with a dark brown salty/sweet sauce… Do you know what that might have been, and do you have a recipe for it? Thanks!

  11. leighfrat NJ joined 3/14 & has 1 comment
    Posted March 15th, 2014 at 11:35 am | or create a profile.

    Can I make this on an outdoor grill?

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