Quick and Easy Bulgogi Recipes for Busy Weeknights

Hello from Seoul. Let me guess, you want to start cooking more at home. But when you get home from work or school, you’re exhausted and you don’t want to spend lots of time in the kitchen, right?

Why You’ll Love This

If you invest just 15 minutes on this recipe, you don’t have to worry about your weeknight dinner, lunch, or even breakfast. I guarantee it.

Delicious. And not only that, you can actually make it in bulk and split it throughout the week. So instead of ordering takeout, please give them a try. You won’t regret it.

These bad boys are really important because they’re like an umami bomb. Trust me. Whether you use it or not, the taste will be totally different. So do not miss the chance to have the best bulgogi of all time.

But if you have some courage to make it better with this MSG, you will earn the greatest bulgogi of all time. And I’m pretty sure that you’re gonna be like, Oh my god, am I a genius? I should open a restaurant or something.

You can’t go wrong with this. Oh my gosh.

The smell of garlic. The garlic scent. It’s so nice that the garlic scent is so fragrant. The rice is also well-cooked. You know, the meat is also well-cooked in a round shape. It goes really well with the meat. It’s fun to feel the texture of the grains when you eat it. It’s fun.

It’s so good. I don’t have anything to complain about.

First of all, the ginger scent is very fragrant, so you can’t feel the smell of pork at all. And the oil from the pork in this red sauce is full of flavor. It’s the best. It’s good.

And with sesame seeds and green onions, you can feel the small grains popping out of your mouth. That’s art. It’s good. Oh. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten stir-fried spicy bulgogi with minced meat. But it’s good. It’s a little different and fun. Oh, that’s good. Mmm. Mmm. I’m a little surprised now. I don’t know if it’s because of the ginger, but the taste of stir-fried spicy bulgogi has changed to a slightly luxurious taste.

It’s a very strong recommendation. It’s delicious.

Ingredients

For Classic Bulgogi

• ground beef
• green onion
• onion
• shiitake mushroom
• chili peppers

Marinade

• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of mirin
• 2 1⁄2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• a few shakes of black pepper
• MSG (optional)

For Cooking & Garnish

• 2 tablespoons of oil
• green onions
• chili peppers
• half a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• toasted sesame seeds

For Spicy Bulgogi

• ground pork
• onion
• green onion
• chili peppers
• some ginger

Sauce

• 4 tablespoons of curry and chili pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of mirin
• 2 1⁄2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon of minced ginger
• some black pepper
• a pinch of MSG (totally optional)

For Cooking & Garnish

• 1 tablespoon of oil
• green onions
• chili peppers
• half a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Classic Bulgogi

1. Chop some green onion first. And green onion oil with the white part. And use the green part for garnish. So please keep them separately like this.
2. Next, finely dice half an onion.
3. Take two or three shiitake mushrooms. And finely chop them.
4. Lastly, slice some chilies for garnish.
5. Now, let’s make a marinade. In a small container, add three tablespoons of soy sauce, two tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of mirin, two and a half tablespoons of oyster sauce, two tablespoons of minced garlic, one tablespoon of toasted sesame oil, and a few shakes of black pepper. But if you have some courage to make it better with this MSG, you will earn the greatest bulgogi of all time.
6. Now, to a mixing bowl, add the ground beef, shiitake mushrooms, marinade, and give it a good mix.
7. So let’s get cooking. In a wok or pan, add two tablespoons of oil and heat it over medium-high heat.
8. Once it gets nice and hot, add the white part of the green onions, onion, and stir them around for about three minutes.
9. Once they start to go brown, add in your beef and let them cook for about seven to eight minutes.
10. Here, make sure to break up the beef and keep stirring it.
11. And we wanna make sure that most of the liquid has evaporated.
12. Once the beef is cooked through, turn the heat off and add some chili peppers, green onions, and half a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil.
13. Now, all you gotta do is give it a final mix.

Spicy Bulgogi

1. First, let’s start with onion. Just like the first one, I’m going to be using half an onion.
2. Make sure it’s nice and fine so that there’s no imbalance in textures.
3. And once that’s done, finely mince a small knob of ginger.
4. This time, green onion. Again, we’re going to use the white part to stir fry and the green part for garnish. So please put them into separate bowls.
5. And last but not least, slice one or two chili peppers.
6. Now, let’s move on to the sauce. In a small container, add 4 tablespoons of curry and chili pepper flakes, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of mirin, 2 1⁄2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of minced ginger, some black pepper, and a pinch of MSG, which is totally optional.
7. All right, let’s get cooking. In a wok or pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil and heat it over medium-high heat.
8. Once it’s heated, add the white part of the green onions, onion, and saute for about 3 minutes until brown.
9. And then increase the heat to high, add the pork, and let it cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.
10. And then add our lovely sauce and let it all cook together.
11. All you need to do is stir-fry for about 3 minutes.
12. Just like the first one, when most of the liquid has evaporated, turn the heat off and add some chili peppers and green onions.
13. Last but not least, let’s finish it off with half a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil.

Cooking Tips

Actually, you can use any cut of beef, but make sure it has enough fat in it because that will be more flavorful.

If it’s too chunky, there might be some kind of imbalance in textures. Plus, it’s going to take longer to cook. And that’s not our style, right? So make sure to finely dice it.

What? There’s no way to get this shiitake mushroom? Then try it with button mushrooms. Still gonna be good.

What? You worry about the cold brown situation? Then use bell peppers. Nobody would know.

Normally, when we say a marinade, it needs to be kept in the fridge to develop the flavors. But today, we don’t have to wait for a long time. We can start right now.

Here, all the good flavors will come out into the oil, and that’s gonna take it to the next level.

If you serve it right away, it’ll be so juicy and delicious. But you can’t keep that long in the fridge if there’s a lot of liquid in your food. They’re gonna go bad so quickly. So if you wanna do meal prep with this or store it in the fridge for a few days to come, make sure to evaporate as much liquid as possible. If you don’t take my advice and your precious bulgogi’s gone, I’m not responsible.

Since it goes so well with pork and gets rid of any gamey smell or taste, I strongly recommend using it.

And for information, it doesn’t always have to be made with pork. So if pork is not your thing, try with chicken. That would be fantastic.

Again, since we’re using ground meat, make sure it’s nice and fine so that there’s no imbalance in textures.

Here, some people might say, Aaron, my wife hates ginger. What should I do? Don’t worry about it. Just grate it. Then I’m pretty sure she’ll say, delicious. Yeah, she’ll never know.

Here, instead of chili pepper flakes, you could also use gochujang, Korean chili paste. But without gochujang, it will taste way better. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

At this point, some of you might ask, Aaron, it doesn’t need to be marinated. Are you sure about that? I’m so glad you brought that up. Unlike the first one, it can’t burn quite easily because of the chili flakes. That’s why I didn’t do it. Plus, the pork needs to be cooked for quite a while so that it can develop lots of umami. But if it’s marinated, we can’t cook enough because of chili flakes, right? So we’re going to cook through. And then add our lovely sauce and let it all cook together. Since the pork is cooked enough, it won’t take that long.

Serving Suggestions

All right, let’s get some rice on a plate and top it with our bulgogi. And last but not least, sprinkle on some green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

For information, if you could add some salad greens, broccoli, or asparagus, it would become more nutritious. So feel free to add some.

I think it would be really good to make a rice ball and eat it.

You know, if you put the leftovers in tacos or sandwiches, it would be really good. Or if you put the leftovers in a pan with rice and eat it with fried rice, it would be really good. There are so many ways to use it.

My only complaint is, it needs some kimchi. Bring some kimchi. I’m not lying. It tastes 10 times better when I put kimchi in it.

All right, let’s plate this up. Get some rice into a bowl or plate and add a generous amount of our spicy bulgogi. And then finish it off with some green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

Bring some fried egg. Don’t forget to serve with fried egg. Enjoy.

Today, I showed you two types of super simple bulgogi. How was it? They’re unbelievably easy, right? Like I said, if you invest just 15 minutes, you don’t have to worry about your lunch, dinner, or even breakfast. And you’ll be satisfied for a whole week. I guarantee it. All right. This is it for today.