🥓 Grilled pork belly (samgyeopsal)

Name: Grilled pork belly (samgyeopsal)
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: South Korea
Ingredients: 600 g pork belly, sliced 5–8 mm thick; 1 head of lettuce, leaves separated; 8 garlic cloves, sliced; 4 tbsp ssamjang (soybean and chilli paste); 200 g kimchi; Salt and black pepper

Origin: South Korea

560kcal

per serving · 200 g

280kcal

per 100 g

32 gProtein16 g / 100 g

46 gFat23 g / 100 g

6 gCarbs3 g / 100 g

This is samgyeopsal as served in Korean barbecue restaurants: strips of pork belly cooked on a tabletop grill and cut with scissors as they crisp. Each bite goes into a lettuce wrap with garlic, kimchi and ssamjang, balancing the fatty, smoky meat with crunch and spice. It is a social meal, ordered by the portion and grilled together at the table.

Diets

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

✓

Keto-friendly3 g carbs per 100 g

Not vegetarianbecause of: pork belly

Not veganbecause of: pork belly

Contains porkbecause of: pork belly

Contains glutenbecause of: ssamjang

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Fish ⚠ Soy ⚠ Sesame

What it is made of

pork bellylettucegarlicssamjangkimchi

Recipe

4 servings30 min

Ingredients

600 g pork belly, sliced 5–8 mm thick
1 head of lettuce, leaves separated
8 garlic cloves, sliced
4 tbsp ssamjang (soybean and chilli paste)
200 g kimchi
Salt and black pepper

Method

Heat a grill pan or tabletop grill until very hot.
Grill the pork slices without oil until golden and crisp on both sides, then cut into bite-size pieces with scissors.
Grill the garlic and kimchi in the rendered fat alongside the meat.
Wrap a piece of pork in a lettuce leaf with a little ssamjang, garlic and kimchi and eat in one bite.

How to make it lighter

Grill until the fat renders out and drain it away instead of cooking the kimchi in it.
Eat more lettuce wraps per slice of meat — a 150 g portion of pork goes a long way when wrapped.
Go easy on the ssamjang: 1 tsp per wrap is plenty of flavour.

History

Samgyeopsal, literally “three-layer flesh” after the stripes of fat and meat in pork belly, became a mass favourite in South Korea in the late 20th century. Grilling it at the table is now a fixture of Korean barbecue restaurants and after-work gatherings.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →