Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Bibimbap
A bowl of rice crowned with seasoned vegetables, beef, and a fried egg, all mixed with gochujang at the table.
Korean · medium · serves 2
prep 35 min · cook 20 min
~888 cal · 56g protein · 89g carbs · 35g fat · 10g fiber · 14g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Bibimbap, literally 'mixed rice', is a bowl of warm rice crowned with an artful arrangement of seasoned vegetables (namul), sautéed beef, and a fried or raw egg, served with gochujang chili paste to stir through. The array is deliberately color-coded, with balance of color, flavor, and texture the whole idea.
One origin story ties it to using up assorted banchan side dishes; another to ancestral-rite offerings mixed and shared. The Jeonju version is the most celebrated, and the sizzling stone-bowl 'dolsot' version crisps the rice at the bottom into a golden crust.
The ritual of mixing everything together with the spicy-sweet gochujang just before eating is central, a jumble where every bite comes out slightly different.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 2
2 cups short-grain rice, cooked
8 oz beef sirloin, thin strips
2 cups spinach, and squeezed
1 carrots,
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 cup bean sprouts,
2 eggs
2 tbsp gochujang
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 zucchini,
1 tbsp honey or sugar (for the beef)
to taste salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
1
Blanch or saute each vegetable separately, seasoning each with a little salt, garlic, and sesame oil, then set them aside in individual piles.
✎ Chef’s note
Seasoning each vegetable on its own is the whole point of bibimbap, and those seasoned vegetables have a name: namul. Keeping them separate is what gives every bite its own flavour. Cooks who want the full version add gosari (fernbrake) and doraji (bellflower root) as two more namul, and a dolsot version crisps the rice in a hot stone bowl.
2
Season the beef (or tofu) with soy, garlic, honey, and sesame oil, then sear it hot and fast until browned, and set aside.
3
Fry the eggs sunny-side up, with crisp edges and soft yolks.
4
Spoon warm rice into each bowl.
5
Arrange the vegetables and beef in neat wedges over the rice, then crown each bowl with a fried egg.
6
Serve with gochujang and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
7
At the table, mix everything together thoroughly, breaking the yolk through, before the first bite.
Seoul home-and-lunch-counter style.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Seoul (Gyeonggi). The red tteokbokki everyone means is recent. It was made by Ma Bok-rim in Sindang-dong in 1953, and the district only took off in the late 1970s; the Joseon court version it descends from, gungjung tteokbokki, was soy-sauce-based and mild, with no chilli paste in it at all.
🗺️
South Korea. Kimjang, the late-autumn making and sharing of a winter's worth of kimchi, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2013. Households pool labour and cabbages over a few days and the results are distributed among neighbours and relatives, which makes it a social obligation as much as a preserving method.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from South Korea
Sundubu-jjigae (Soft Tofu Stew)Bubbling-hot soft tofu stew, brick-red with gochugaru, finished with an egg cracked in at the table.
BulgogiThin beef marinated in soy, pear, sesame, and garlic, seared fast and sweet-savory, Korea’s beloved "fire meat."
Hobak-jukA silky, naturally sweet Korean pumpkin porridge thickened with glutinous rice.
Browse all South Korea recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a South Korea meal
SikhyeDrink
HotteokDessert
KimbapLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
Kabuli PulaoAfghanistan
Shah PlovAzerbaijan
Riz GrasBurkina Faso
Pilao (Comorian Spiced Rice)Comoros
SkoudehkarisDjibouti
Iraqi DolmaIraq
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Bibimbap?
A bowl of rice crowned with seasoned vegetables, beef, and a fried egg, all mixed with gochujang at the table.
Where does Bibimbap come from?
Bibimbap is a Korean dish from Seoul (Gyeonggi), South Korea.
Can Bibimbap be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bibimbap recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Bibimbap safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Bibimbap take to make?
About 55 minutes total (35 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 2.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.