Korean BBQ Pork Baked Beans
Korean BBQ and American BBQ are very different beasts, but when you combine them, like in this spicy pork baked beans, you can end up with something really magical! This recipe makes a nice big pot of beans perfect for a backyard bbq side dish. It’s also great for taking to work the next day as leftovers or having as late night snacks. I even used it as omelet filling one morning! One bowl of these is pure stick to your ribs comfort!
The inspiration for this recipe
I was inspired by the flavors in the korean dish jeyuk bokkeum to make these american style baked beans. It is similar to bulgogi, but made with pork and a bit of heat! I combined all the ingredients that I would put into that pork marinade, but added them to the beans along with most of the things I would put into American baked beans. The results were better than I could have imagined!
Start with the pork and aromatics
Typically for this spicy Korean pork you would blend up the pear right into the pork marinade. I just diced it up and added it to the saute pan with the pork and some onions. It will melt down into the sauce later on.
Add the beans and broth
Garlic and fresno peppers after the pork gets a little color. Then add the soaked beans and broth. The beans were soaked overnight in water. I used garlic broth but you could do any broth you have around.
Looking good so far, but it needs more flavor!
Add flavor to the Korean bbq pork baked beans
Now is the time to add all the Korean spicy pork flavorings, as well as the american baked beans flavorings. You can see gochujang, gochugaru, molasses, and brown sugar. I also added soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, ketchup, mustard, worcestershire and honey.
Finish the Korean bbq pork baked beans
After cooking 6 hours, this is amazing! Start checking to see if the bbq pork baked beans are tender after around 4 hours. Also add water if needed, or take the lid off it you need to evaporate some of the moisture. About 20 minutes before it is done, I added ginger paste. I think that ginger loses a lot of its flavor if it cooks too long, so that is why I added it towards the end.
Each spoonful is a spicy bite of beany porky goodness! Top it with some scallions, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and gochugaru.
It eats almost like a chili! You could have this as a meal, but it’s really great as a bbq side dish.
Twists on Korean BBQ Pork Baked Beans
You could do this in a slow cooker if you want! I would saute the pork, onion, and pear first, then dump everything into the slow cooker to finish. You could even skip the saute part and make it easier!
If you have a baked bean recipe you love, you could follow your version but add the gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar to it to give it a different twist. The number one thing people ask is can you do this with canned beans, but I wonder, why bother? You already have to cook the pork for a few hours why not cook the beans in there too?
For an authentic Korean black bean recipe, check out this one. Its sweet and tasty and meant to be snacked on while drinking beer! For a traditional jeyuk bokkeum, the spicy pork that inspired these baked beans, check out this recipe.
For more fun Korean food twists and mash-ups, check out my spicy Korean pork burrito, lamb bulgogi bolognese, or these tasty bulgogi nachos!
Korean BBQ Pork Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound dried pinto beans
- 1/2 pound dried great northern beans
- olive oil
- 1.25 pounds boneless pork shoulder cut into chunks
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 pears Asian or whatever you can find, diced
- pinch of salt
- 10 cloves garlic peeled and cut in half
- 3 fresno chili pepper seeds removed and diced
- 4 cups broth I used garlic broth, chicken or veggie is fine
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil plus more for garnish
- 1/4 cup gochujang I used medium spice
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon gochugaru or more to taste
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger
Garnish
- sesame seeds
- sesame oil
- gochugaru
- scallions
Instructions
- Add the beans to a large bowl and fill with water. Cover and let sit for at least 12 hours. Strain and rinse.
- Preheat oven to 325
- Add some oil to the bottom of a pan and preheat to medium high. Add in the pork, onion, and pear. Sason with a pinch of salt but go light because there is a lot of salty things going in here later. Cook, stirring often, for about 12 minutes, to lightly brown some of the pork and onions.
- Add in the garlic and chili peppers and stir. Cook 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add in the beans and the broth. Stir to combine. Add in all the remaining ingredients except for the ginger, and the garnishes.
- Cover and put into the oven at 325. Cook for 1 hour.
- Stir and reduce heat to 275. Cook for about 5 hours. During this time, you can add water if it seems dry, or remove the cover if it seems to wet. Stir it every hour and a half or so, and test the beans for tenderness during the last hour.
- When the beans are just about tender, stir in the ginger and cook another 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve. Serve the garnishes on the side to top the beans with.
Ugggh. All those ingredients and the descriptions. This looks amazing and I want it right now!
Mmm time for cold weather recipes. I need to start using my slow cooker and this seems like a great recipe for it – have you tried making it in a slow cooker?
Bump, Liz’s question. Slow cooker?
This would work just fine in a slow cooker, but I would suggest still searing the meat and onions.
Making this weekend. Very excited.