No.29 The 100 Most Popular Recipes Ever · October 2026

Bibimbap

Made famous by Maangchi

Photo: Cjkennedy15, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking, 2015. Maangchi is No. 9 on the Hot 100.

Korea's most famous rice bowl, eaten in every Korean restaurant abroad and one of the most searched Asian dishes worldwide.

Written in our own words and tested in a home kitchen. Get the original in Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked short-grain rice, warm
• 8 oz (225 g) beef sirloin or ribeye, cut into thin strips
• For the beef: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 tsp sesame oil
• 8 oz (225 g) spinach
• 8 oz (225 g) soybean or mung bean sprouts
• 1 medium zucchini, julienned
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• Sesame oil, soy sauce, fine salt, minced garlic and toasted sesame seeds, for the vegetables
• 4 large eggs
• For the sauce: 3 tbsp gochujang, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp water, 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Steps

1. Toss the beef with its marinade and set aside. Stir together the sauce ingredients.
2. Blanch the spinach in boiling salted water 30 seconds, rinse in cold water, squeeze dry and season with 1/2 tsp sesame oil, a pinch of salt, a little garlic and sesame seeds.
3. Boil the sprouts in salted water, covered, 10 minutes. Drain and season the same way.
4. Sprinkle the zucchini with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes, squeeze dry, and stir-fry in a little oil for 1 minute. Stir-fry the carrot 1 minute with a pinch of salt. Stir-fry the mushrooms with 1 tsp soy sauce and a little sugar until tender.
5. Stir-fry the beef over high heat until just cooked, 2 minutes.
6. Fry the eggs sunny side up in a little oil until the whites are set and the yolks runny.
7. Divide the rice among bowls. Arrange the vegetables and beef in separate piles on top, put an egg in the center, and drizzle with sesame oil.
8. Serve with the sauce. Everyone adds as much as they like and mixes everything together before eating.

Chef's tips

• For dolsot bibimbap, heat a stone or cast-iron bowl with sesame oil, add the rice and toppings, and cook until the rice crackles and crisps underneath.
• Any vegetables work; the point is each one seasoned on its own.

This is Chef Amazing's write-up of the dish, tested for a home kitchen. The original is in Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking by Maangchi: get the book, No. 44 on The 100 Greatest Cookbooks.

← No. 28Napa cabbage kimchi→ No. 30Chicken adobo