Making Korean Barbecue at Home? You’ll Need These Hot Sauces!

by Jillian Giandurco

It’s finally spring, and you know what that means – it’s almost summer! No summer is complete without a classic backyard party, filled with friends, family, and food, but sometimes, the menu at these parties can start to get repetitive. Luckily for you, Korean barbecue is super easy to make at home, especially if you’ve already got some grill skills under your belt. To learn more about making Korean BBQ at home, keep reading on.

Before you start stocking up on ingredients for your Korean barbecue spread, you should probably make sure you have everything you need to cook the food. Korean barbecue is best made on a tabletop grill, though you can also use a propane camping stove, a butane tabletop burner, or even an electric pan. Simple enough, right?

Now that your cooking method of choice is all sorted out, it’s time to get to the good stuff. To make sure your Korean barbecue comes out top-notch, you’ll need to nail the most about part of the dish – the marinade. The marinade will not only add an extra level of flavor to your meal, but it will also tenderize your meat as well. The best ingredients to use in a Korean barbecue marinade are onion, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, black pepper, pineapple juice, a sweetener, and if you like your meals to bring the heat, you can also add gochujang for an extra kick. To make the marinade, just throw the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until processed.

Next comes the main event: the meat. When it comes to Korean BBQ, the best cuts of meat to choose from are samgyeopsal (sliced pork belly), dak (chicken), or galbi (beef ribs). If you don’t have access to those cuts, you can opt for either flanken ribs, rib-eye, hanger, or skirt steaks as well, so long as they’re not tough. Before picking out your pork, try to look for a cut with a good amount of fat on it, so that it can be cut into half-inch-thick pieces for marinating and grilling. (Lean cuts are also fine – just make sure it’s thin enough to cook quickly). As for the chicken, you can’t go wrong with a thigh, especially because they’re so easy to cook and season. Traditionally, Korean barbecue chicken is prepared with the bone roughly chopped, though some people prefer boneless chicken for faster cook times.

Okay, so you’ve prepared your marinade, picked out your cut, and now you’ve got it cooking on the grill. All that’s left to do is set out your various barbecue sauce options for your guests, because you can never have just one.

When picking out Korean barbecue sauces on Bokksu Market, there are three can’t miss sauces you need in your pantry. The first sauce is the Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce, which is actually a Chinese barbecue sauce, but the taste just can’t be beat! Made with sweet, salty, and slightly spicy flavors, this sauce is perfect for those who don’t want the spice to overpower the rest of the meal.

Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce

Kicking the spice up a notch, the Ebara Ohgon No Aji Sauce: Medium Hot sauce is a popular choice amongst Japanese barbecue lovers. Though this sauce boasts a medium heat flavor, it's also made with fruits like apple and citrus to give it a nice sweet balance.

Ebara Ohgon No Aji Sauce: Medium Hot

Lastly, if you’re looking to turn the spice levels all the way up, the Wang Gochujang Red Pepper Paste is definitely a must-have. Gochujang is a spicy Korean chili paste, and though its main ingredient is gochugaru (chili powder), it still manages to balance sweet, sour, spicy, and umami flavors with each bite. When it comes to Korean barbecue, gochujang is best used as ssamjang, or a dipping sauce for your meat.

Wang Gochujang Red Pepper Paste

Take a trip to your favorite Asian grocery store without ever leaving your couch! Bokksu Market carries all your favorite Korean grocery brands, asian snacks, condiments, and beverages, which means you can finally order all of your groceries online from one place.

By Jillian Giandurco


Author Bio

Jillian Giandurco works primarily as a Trending News Writer for Elite Daily, where she writes about all things Food, Travel, and Tech related. Brands she has covered in the past include Kit Kat, Hershey’s, Expedia, and many more.