The Marinade Does the Work
Traditional bulgogi marinade uses grated Asian pear, and it is not just for sweetness — the fruit contains enzymes that tenderise the beef as it sits. Combined with tamari, sesame oil and a little ginger, it turns thin-sliced sirloin into something that caramelises almost instantly in a screaming hot pan. Twenty minutes of marinating is enough; two hours is better.
Ingredients
Serves 4 | Cost: $7.75 per serving | Total: $31.00 | Ready in 25 min
- 600 g (1⅓ lb) grass-fed top sirloin, sliced as thinly as possible
- 1 Asian pear or firm nashi, peeled and finely grated
- 4 tablespoons tamari
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
- 400 g (2 cups) cooked short-grain rice
- 4 spring onions, green tops only, sliced
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
Instructions
- Make the marinade. Whisk the grated pear with the tamari, sesame oil, coconut sugar and grated ginger until the sugar has dissolved. It should taste sweet, salty and faintly sharp.
- Marinate the beef. Add the thinly sliced sirloin and turn it through the marinade until every piece is coated. Leave at room temperature for 20 minutes, or refrigerate for up to 2 hours for a deeper flavour.
- Get the pan hot. Heat the neutral oil in a large cast-iron skillet over the highest heat your stove will give until it is genuinely smoking. This matters — a cooler pan will boil the marinade instead of caramelising it.
- Sear in batches. Lift the beef from the marinade, letting excess drip off, and add it to the pan in a single layer in two or three batches. Sear each batch for 90 seconds per side until the edges are darkly caramelised.
- Serve. Divide the rice between four bowls, pile the bulgogi on top with any pan juices, and finish with sliced spring onion greens and toasted sesame seeds.
Nutritional & Dietary Notes
Dairy-Free
There is no milk, cream, butter or cheese in this recipe. Richness comes from the meat, the cooking fat and the aromatics rather than from dairy, which makes it a comfortable choice for anyone who is lactose intolerant or avoiding dairy altogether.
High Protein
Built around a generous serving of premium BC-sourced protein, this dish is designed to support muscle repair, satiety and steady energy through the day. It works particularly well as a post-training meal or as the anchor of a high-protein meal prep rotation.
Featured HOTRO.ca Product
This recipe is built around Grass-Fed Top Sirloin from HOTRO.ca. We source premium BC-raised and ethically farmed meats and slow-simmered bone broth, so the quality of the core ingredient does most of the work for you. Substituting a lesser product will change the result more than any other single change you could make to this recipe.
Thin-sliced grass-fed sirloin in a pear and sesame marinade, seared hard and served over rice.