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Dish guide · Rice dishes

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Bibimbap

비빔밥

Mixed rice with vegetables, meat and chili paste

🌡️ Hot or cold🌶 Mildly spicy🥬 Vegetarian versions exist: ask

A bowl of rice topped with seasoned vegetables, usually with meat and an egg, that you mix together at the table with gochujang (red chili paste). The name simply means "mixed rice".

What it is

  • Toppings change with the season and the shop, but a bowl usually holds several seasoned vegetables, beef and an egg, with gochujang added to taste.
  • Jeonju bibimbap is the famous regional style: rice cooked in beef broth, with soybean sprouts, hwangpo-muk (yellow mung bean jelly) and often seasoned raw beef, traditionally in a brass bowl.
  • Dolsot-bibimbap comes in a very hot stone pot. The egg cooks against the stone and the rice at the bottom turns crisp and golden.
  • Yukhoe-bibimbap is topped with seasoned raw beef instead of cooked meat.

How to eat it

  1. 1Add the chili paste a little at a time, then mix everything thoroughly with a spoon before you start. It's meant to be stirred, not eaten layer by layer.
  2. 2With a stone pot, wait a moment before mixing so the rice can form a crust.

History

  • Its origin is unknown. Stories link it to the Joseon royal court, or to mixing leftover side dishes with rice, but sources differ.
  • Jeonju's version became the best known, and the city holds a bibimbap festival every year.

Allergies and diet

Usually contains

beefeggsoysesame
  • Ask for it without meat and egg. Vegetables are often seasoned with sesame oil and soy sauce.
  • Yukhoe-bibimbap contains raw beef and often a raw egg yolk.
  • Gochujang and soy sauce can contain wheat.

Recipes differ between restaurants. If you have an allergy, always ask the staff before you order.

🗣️ Allergy card for the staff

Pick your allergy to see the sentence in Korean.

📍 Where to try it

Sources

We check every fact against at least two sources and write it in our own words. Last checked: 2026-10-31.