Bulgogi Sauce (Easy Authentic Recipe) (2024)

Learn how to make this easy and delicious bulgogi sauce and start making your Korean favorites at home! Sweet and salty, it works as a marinade, dipping sauce, or even a dressing!

Coming from a half Asian background, it should come as no surprise that I have a slew of Asian inspired recipes.

What do Hunan chicken, tempura chicken, and black pepper Angus steak have in common? The key feature of all of them is the sauce used!

I know I shouldn’t play favorites, but we are obsessed with making beef bulgogi, especially for its sauce!

What does bulgogi sauce taste like?

Bulgogi sauce is considered being the BBQ sauce of Asian and Korean cuisine. It’s sweet, smoky, and slightly tangy, and has a subtle spice hit thanks to the chili sauce. In many Korean restaurants, they actually serve this as a dipping sauce too!

Sure you could buy the pre-bottled kind, but where is the fun in that? Making your own is so easy.

Why this bulgogi sauce recipe will be a condiment staple:

• Ready in seconds. No boiling, steaming, or caramelizing required- everything is whisked together in one bowl.
• Authentic flavor. This sauce is sweet, it’s tangy, and it has some spice. Honestly, you’d think this was from a Korean restaurant.
• Versatile. While this sauce is famous in beef bulgogi, it can also be used as a marinade or sauce too.

What we love about this recipe is just how easy is it to make. If you find yourself with a delicious cut of beef, pork, or chicken, simply slice it up and make this sauce and you’ll have dinner ready in minutes!

Ingredients needed

This recipe uses very simple and uses basic pantry ingredients. The only one you might need to hit up the grocery store for is the Gochujang, but it’s so popular, you’ll find it at any basic store or even online. Here is what you’ll need:

• Soy sauce. Low sodium and gluten-free options work.
• Brown sugar. Adds sweetness and balances out the salty and umami ingredients.
• Sesame oil. A must for Asian marinade or sauces. A little goes a very long way, so try not to go overboard with it.
• Pear. Finely grated to an almost mushy texture. If you can find it, you can also use pear juice.
• Garlic. Freshly minced.
• Ginger.
• Gochujang. Very popular in Korean cuisine, this is their staple chili pepper sauce. If you can’t find this anywhere, you can use any chili sauce of choice.

How to make bulgogi sauce

Making this sauce is very simple.

All you do is whisk the ingredients together until combined. If you notice some separation, let it sit for half an hour.

Start by mixing the soy sauce with all the ingredients except for the grated pear.

Next, gently fold through the grated pear until combined.

How to use this sauce

If you’ve been to any Korean restaurant before, you’ll know that you can get all kinds of bulgogi based dishes, including chicken, seafood and tofu.

We love to use this sauce to marinate protein, like chicken breast, pork chops, or even steak.

You can also toss it through grain based recipes, like a fried rice, cauliflower fried rice, or even spicy noodles.

Oh, and if you are anything like me, use it to dip some sweet potato fries or zucchini fries in them.

Jazz up some noodles by making it the main sauce in a chow mein or noodle stir fry.

Storage instructions

• To store: If you haven’t used the sauce to marinate beef or chicken (or any other protein), you can store leftovers in the refrigerator, covered, for up to one week. Sometimes the sauce will thicken and if that happens, let it bring it to room temperature before using it.
• To freeze: Place the sauce in a shallow container and store it in the freezer for up to two months.

More sauce recipes to try

• Eel sauce
• Tempura dipping sauce
• Potsticker sauce
• Fry sauce

Frequently Asked Questions