Vegan Bulgogi

Korean cuisine is one of my favorites! Korean food isn’t exactly the most vegan-friendly cuisine, but fortunately I’ve been able to find a few places that offer vegan versions of classic dishes like bibimbap, kimchi fried rice, and kimchi stew. One dish I’ve never tried bulgogi. Bulgogi is a meat-based dish that you don’t find many vegan versions of. I decided to create one myself! Obviously I can’t guarantee the authenticity of this one, having never had legit bulgogi. But I can promise that it’s delicious!

What You’ll Need

How to Make Vegan Bulgogi

The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!

Rehydrate your soy curls by placing them in a bowl and covering them with broth. Let them soak for a few minutes while you make the sauce. To make the sauce, place the soy sauce, half of a pear, some onion, garlic, ginger brown sugar, and gochujang into a blender or mini food processor. I don’t recommend using a full-sized food processor unless you double or even triple the batch size — otherwise it might not all blend. Blend everything together to make a smooth sauce.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet, then add the soy curls. Cook the soy curls for about 5 minutes, until they start to brown in spots. Now stir in the sauce. Bring it up to a simmer and cook the soy curls in the sauce until it reduces a bit. Be sure to stir the soy curls from time to time to prevent burning. Turn on the heat and stir in the sesame oil.

Serve your vegan bulgogi over rice and topped with scallions and sesame seeds.