Korean BBQ Sauce makes a great dip or marinade, full of bold, savory flavor. Use it on beef, pork, vegetables, and more to make any meal stand out.
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Why this Korean BBQ Sauce Recipe is a Keeper
This delicious Korean BBQ sauce packs a spicy, savory punch, unlike the typically sweeter American BBQ sauce. This sauce is the perfect addition to lots of Korean food recipes and is a great recipe for your next gathering. You can use this sauce for anything, from traditional Korean cuisine to your own recipes. Here are a few reasons why you’ll love this sauce:
- 15 Minute Sauce: This easy Korean barbecue sauce is quick and easy to make, and will be ready in just 15 minutes.
- Easy Ingredients: All of the ingredients can be found in your kitchen or local grocery store.
- Family Friendly: This recipe is also great for barbecues, cookouts, and other get-togethers. Use as a marinade or stir-fry sauce to give your favorite foods a distinctive Korean inspired flavor.
If you love this recipe and are looking for more Korean inspired recipes, try these: Korean BBQ Chicken Wings, Korean Pork Chops, and Slow Cooker Sticky Korean Ribs.
How Do I Use Korean BBQ Sauce?
The ideal meat for this finishing sauce often consists of cuts of Korean BBQ beef or pork. Some popular meat cuts and styles of Korean cooking include samgyeop-sal, a fatty pork cut, bulgogi recipes, or marinated beef brisket from the loin of a cow, and galbi, thin-cut and marbled Korean short ribs.
Of course, if you want the best Korean BBQ sauce to pair with this meat, it’s recommended to buy authentic ingredients and meat cuts from your local Asian market.
Ingredient Notes for Easy Korean BBQ Sauce
- Rice Wine Vinegar: Rice wine vinegar is common in Asian cuisine and can likely be found at your local Asian market. Mainstream American supermarkets may carry it as well.
- Sriracha: This chili hot sauce will help you make a delicious spicy BBQ sauce.
- Fresh Ginger: Use a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Prep Ahead Suggestions
- Use Pre-Minced Garlic: This is a great recipe to use store-bought minced garlic.
- Use Ginger Paste: Use store-bought ginger paste instead of fresh ginger. But, do not use ground ginger – it’s not the same thing.
Korean Dipping Sauce Variations and Substitutions
- Mirin: This Japanese rice wine can be used in place of rice wine vinegar.
- Red Pepper Flakes: If you want a spicier sauce, add in some Korean chili flakes.
- Korean Gochujang BBQ Sauce: Gochujang is a fermented Korean chili paste commonly used in spicy Korean cooking. Use some gochujang sauce if desired in this delicious Korean BBQ sauce recipe.
- Soy Sauce: This recipe for sweet Korean BBQ sauce uses soy sauce, but you can use a gluten-free soy sauce or low-sodium soy sauce if you’d prefer.
Special Equipment Needed for Homemade Korean Sauce
- Garlic Press: Easily mince the garlic using a garlic press.
- Ginger Grater: Grate greater ginger with a ginger grater.
Korean Barbecue Sauce Pro Tip
Add a little fruit juice from a pear, kiwi, or pineapple.
How to Make Korean BBQ Sauce
These are the basic steps for making Asian BBQ sauce. Refer to the full, printable recipe card below for detailed instructions.
1. Combine Ingredients and Bring to a Boil
Add soy sauce, minced garlic, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, sriracha, ginger, sesame oil and black pepper to a large saucepan over medium-high heat; bring the sauce to a boil.
2. Add Cornstarch
Meanwhile, stir together cornstarch and water to form a slurry in a small bowl. Pour slurry into boiling mixture to add the remaining ingredients.
3. Simmer and Add the Sauce to Food
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer the sauce for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened, whisking periodically. Remove the sauce from the heat. Let the sauce cool, then pour the Korean barbecue sauce over meat or other foods as needed. For a thinner sauce, simmer for a shorter amount of time.
How to Store and Use Leftovers
This recipe is even better when you make it a day or two ahead of time. The extra time allows the flavors to really develop.
- Storing: Place unused BBQ Sauce in a container with a tight fitting lid and store in the refrigerator for up to one week.
- Using Leftovers: Use leftover sauce on burgers, wings or mix with mayo for a tasty french fry dipping sauce!
Korean BBQ Marinade Recipe FAQs
Store the remaining sauce in an airtight container in the fridge. It should be good for up to a week.
Reheat the sauce on the stovetop until warmed through.
This sauce contains sriracha, which is spicy. If you want a sauce that’s spicier than regular BBQ sauce, add chili garlic sauce, red pepper flakes, or gochujang. Adjust the amount of gochujang to your taste depending on how spicy you want it.
Expert Tips for Making Korean BBQ Sauce
- Extra Spicy: For a bold flavor, make this Korean BBQ sauce extra spicy by adding crushed red pepper flakes and extra sriracha.
- Lettuce Wrap: Make Korean BBQ chicken lettuce wraps by adding chicken, sliced carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, and green onion.
- Other Korean BBQ Sauces for Dipping: Other popular sauces used in Korean BBQ include ssamjang (Korean chili paste), doenjang, samgyeopsal, and gochujang paste (Korean soybean paste).
More Sauce Recipes
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Korean BBQ Sauce
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Ingredients
- 1 cup Soy Sauce
- ¾ cup Brown Sugar
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Ginger, grated
- 1 teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon Water
Instructions
- Add soy sauce, minced garlic, rice wine vinegar, Sriracha, ginger, sesame oil and black pepper to a large sauce pan over medium-high heat; Bring to a boil.
- Meanwhile, stir together cornstarch and water to form a slurry. Pour slurry into boiling mixture.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens, whisking periodically.
Christina’s Notes
- Extra Spicy: For a bold flavor, make this Korean BBQ sauce extra spicy by adding crushed red pepper flakes and extra sriracha.
- Lettuce Wrap: Make Korean BBQ chicken lettuce wraps by adding chicken, sliced carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, and green onion.
- Other Korean BBQ Sauces for Dipping: Other popular dipping sauces served at Korean BBQ include ssamjang (Korean chili paste), doenjang, samgyeopsal, and gochujang (Korean soybean paste).
- Scale the recipe: Simply adjust the serving size in the recipe card and the ingredients will update automatically.
- Make your own All Purpose Seasoning: When a recipe calls for All Purpose Seasoning, you can use my homemade All Purpose Seasoning recipe or substitute salt and pepper to taste.
- Meat doneness: I always use a meat thermometer to test for doneness when cooking meat.
- Use unsalted butter: I use unsalted butter so I can control the salt level in the recipe.
- Preheat the oven: Unless otherwise noted, always preheat your oven before baking.
For more helpful information about this recipe, such as variations, substitutions and other pro-tips, check out the blog post.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided are estimates. It is recommended that you verify this information with your own trusted resource.
We love honest feedback, but to keep reviews helpful for everyone, we reserve the right to remove star ratings if it is clear the recipe has not been made, if the comment does not provide meaningful input, or if significant substitutions or alterations were made. Please note that ratings should reflect the original recipe as written to avoid confusing other readers.
This recipe is my personal adaption of an ethnic-inspired recipe. It is not intended to be an authentic recipe. I’ve recreated this recipe because I enjoy the flavors and I want to encourage my readers to expand their tastes and try new flavor combinations. The recipe, ingredients, and processes may have been adapted to make the recipe accessible to the average American. I have provided links to authentic versions of the recipe in the post above. I encourage you to visit these pages and learn more about the traditional version(s) of this recipe.
I really don’t like the taste of Sriracha sauce. Is there any way to replace it?
Quick Draw
Of course, you can use any hot sauce that you like. It will of course change the final products taste.
This is really easy to follow, loved this korean bbq sauce recipe! It’s really tasty and very flavorful! Will surely have this again! Highly recommended!
I absolutely love Korean bbq sauce but I’ve never made it before. Thanks for sharing this recipe I can’t wait to try it!