Chicken Bibimbap
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A flavorful chicken bibimbap you can make for dinner in just 35 minutes. Healthy comfort food at its finest!
Asian dishes are one of our favorite kinds of cuisine to cook and eat, for two reasons. One, they tend to cook fairly quickly, so they’re great for busy nights. And two, they’re typically saucy, spicy, and super comforting, while also being fairly healthy (the best of both worlds!).
That’s why we love this chicken bibimbap recipe. It’s packed with healthy veggies, juicy chicken bulgogi, crispy rice, and a flavorful bibimbap sauce we can’t get enough of. And it’s ready in about 35 minutes!
What Is Bibimbap?
Bibimbap is a Korean dish that literally translates to “mixed rice,” consisting of warm white rice topped with veggies, meat, egg, and often a spicy sauce made with gochujang. Our version of bibimbap is made with a flavorful chicken bulgogi, plenty of veggies, bibimbap sauce, and a sunny side up egg.
We love to make crispy rice for our bibimbap – it mimics the style of hot stone bibimbap (dolsot bibimbap), where the bibimbap is served in a hot stone bowl coated with sesame oil so that the rice gets crispy. The crispy, slightly sticky rice adds so much depth of flavor and texture to an already delicious dish!
What This Recipe Entails
Bibimbap requires preparing all the toppings separately, but each component cooks fairly quickly. You’ll definitely want to mise en place for this recipe – otherwise, it might feel a bit hectic.
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 20 minutes
Chicken Bibimbap Ingredients
- Rice – We use steamed white rice that we then crisp up in a hot cast iron pan before serving. You can also use leftover rice for this – it crisps beautifully!
- Vegetables – You’ll need cucumber, mung bean sprouts, bell pepper, onion, carrots, and spinach.
- Protein – We serve our bibimbap with chicken bulgogi, a play on a traditional Korean beef dish. Slice the chicken thin (doing this from frozen works really well!) and use this marinade for delicious authentic flavor. Bibimbap is also typically served with an egg on top.
- Sauce – Bibimbap sauce is another great topping that adds even more flavor! You can sometimes find this in the grocery store, but you can also easily make it yourself. My Korean Kitchen has a great classic gochujang bibimbap sauce recipe.
How To Make Bibimbap
- Steam the rice. Do this first so you can prep everything else while it cooks.
- Cook all the components separately. We recommend doing this in a specific order so that the things you want to serve hottest cook last. Start with pickling the cucumbers, then cook the bean sprouts, sautéed veggies, and spinach. Then cook the chicken, crisp the rice, and make the eggs right before serving.
- Assemble and serve. Add the crispy rice to a bowl, then top with the cucumber, bean sprouts, sautéed veggies, spinach, chicken, and egg. Serve with bibimbap sauce!
Bibimbap is meant to be mixed all together, so dig in with a pair of chopsticks and stir everything together! There’s so much flavor in every bite thanks to all the different components.
Recipe Variations
You can easily make different versions of this bibimbap with various proteins or any other Korean vegetable dishes (known as banchan).
- Vegetarian bibimbap – Omit the meat for an easy vegetarian version of our bibimbap
- Beef bibimbap – Make traditional beef bulgogi instead of chicken
- Pork bibimbap – Try pork bulgogi instead of chicken
- Stone pot bibimbap (dolsot bibimbap) – Serve your bibimbap in a preheated dolsot coated with sesame oil so the rice gets super crispy and everything stays hot while you eat
Storing and Reheating
Store leftover ingredients in separate containers in the fridge. Most of the veggies will keep for 2 to 3 days, but the pickled cucumbers will stay good for a while.
We recommend reheating the crispy rice, chicken, sautéed veggies, and spinach individually in a frying pan over medium-low heat. You can serve the bean sprouts and cucumbers cold.
Try our chicken bibimbap and let us know what you think by rating, commenting, and sharing below! Enjoy 🙂
Expert Tips
Love this recipe? You may enjoy these recipes, too:
- Gochujang Chicken Rice Bowl
- Korean Slow Cooker Gochujang Chicken
- Asian Fried Fish Rice Bowl
- Asian Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps
To browse more of our latest recipes and seasonal dishes, visit our homepage here.
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Chicken Bibimbap
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1½ cups white rice dry
- Vegetable oil
Pickled Cucumbers
- 1 small cucumber sliced thin
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
Bean Sprouts
- 7 ounces mung bean sprouts
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 pinch salt
Sautéed Veggies
- 1 medium bell pepper sliced thin
- 1 small yellow onion sliced thin
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 pinch salt
Spinach
- 8 ounces baby spinach
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
Chicken Bulgogi
- 1 pound marinated chicken bulgogi see notes
Additional Toppings
- 4 large eggs cooked sunny side up
- 1 cup bibimbap sauce see notes
Instructions
- First, steam the rice. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan, then stir in the rice, cover, and turn heat to low. Steam for about 20 minutes, or until the water has been absorbed and the rice is fluffy.
- In the meantime, prepare the bibimbap veggies:Start with pickling the cucumber. Add sliced cucumber, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, and salt to a deli container with a lid. Close the container and shake to combine, then refrigerate until later.
- Next, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Blanch the bean sprouts for 1 to 2 minutes, then strain and rinse under cold water. Transfer the bean sprouts to a large bowl and add the garlic, sesame oil, and salt. Toss to combine and set aside.
- Make the sautéed veggies. Add a splash of oil to a large frying pan over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the bell pepper, onion, and carrots with a pinch of salt. Sauté until slightly soft but still crisp, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- In the same pan, wilt the spinach. Add another splash of oil to the pan and turn heat to medium-low. Add the spinach, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger, and sauté until just wilted, about 2 minutes or so. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- In the same pan, cook the chicken. Bring the pan up to high heat and add the chicken with its marinade. Cook through, stirring occasionally, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Finally, in the same pan, crisp the rice. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan over high heat. Once it's hot, add the steamed rice and let it cook for a few minutes before stirring. Repeat the process of letting the rice crisp against the hot pan before stirring a few times, until there are some crispy golden-brown bits in the rice.
- Serve crispy rice topped with pickled cucumbers, bean sprouts, sautéed veggies, spinach, and chicken bulgogi. Top each bowl with a sunny side up egg and serve with bibimbap sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
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