TREND BITES:

Korean

September 8, 2023

The popularity of Korean food in the US surged a few years ago and it hasn’t shown any sign of fading yet! Instead, it’s positioning itself as one of Americans’ go-to global cuisine choices alongside Italian, Chinese, and Mexican. Worldwide interest in Korean cuisine has been growing with the increasing popularity of Korean music and TV shows. As consumers learn more about Korean culture through media, they’ve become curious about Korea’s unique spicy and sweet cuisine. Americans have grown familiar with bibimbap, kimchi, and gochujang, and they’re ready for more Korean food—and not just in Korean restaurants, but in dishes across the foodservice industry.

Korean Cuisine Basics

Korean influences are found throughout American diets today, starting with cooking staples like kimchi and gochujang on grocery store shelves and continuing into full dishes like bulgogi and bibimbap on restaurant menus. Korean ingredients and dishes are inevitably popular because they feed into two of this year's most prominent food trends: spicy foods and global flavors.

Korean cuisine's popularity is also boosted by the Millennial and Gen Z love of experiential dining. Dining out for Korean food often includes the full experience of going to a Korean barbecue restaurant and watching food sizzle on the grill in the middle of the table. Guests grab pieces of freshly grilled meat and veggies while Korean music videos are projected on the walls and staff rushes around, creating a bustling, electric atmosphere.

Try these Korean-inspired applications!

Bring the excitement surrounding Korean cuisine to your patrons with a few simple recipes!

Chicken Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps

These Chicken Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps can be served as appetizers, entrees, or grab-and-go snacks! Each bibb lettuce leaf is packed with a mixture of fresh flavors that will leave your customers feeling satisfied.

Chicken Bibimbap Bowl

Use your bowl menu to get into the Korean cuisine trend! This Chicken Bibimbap Bowl is easy to prepare and contains healthy ingredients consumers are looking for, like mushrooms, bean sprouts, egg, and sliced chicken.

Kimchi Chicken Burger

The easiest way to serve a Korean-inspired dish is by using kimchi! This Kimchi Chicken Burger is simple but so flavorful. With the perfect balance of tastes and textures in each bite, this will be a go-to option on your burger menu!

Ingredient Staples: Gochujang and Kimchi

The main ingredients Americans are familiar with from Korean cuisine are gochujang and kimchi, which are both made with red chili pepper flakes for spicy, tangy flavor. Gochujang is a thick red paste used as a base for stews or to add flavor to sauces and marinades. Bon Appetit describes it as a “sweet-hot-salty” paste where the fermented soybeans supply umami flavor and the red peppers create lingering heat. Premade gochujang is perfect for adding trendy global touch to your entrees, like we did with this Korean Chicken Stir Fry.

The second ingredient staple, Kimchi, is a tangy, fermented cabbage dish that’s eaten as a side, a topping, or an addition to fried dishes like fried rice or pancakes. Today’s Dietitian chose kimchi as a top superfood this year, and our culinary team loves kimchi so much that we've used it in a wide variety of applications. One of our favorites is this simple Kimchi Chicken Burger!

Menu Favorites: Bibimbap and Mandu

Though Korea has many delicious traditional dishes from ttokbokki to japchae to spicy ramen, we’re going to focus on bibimbap and mandu because they’re versatile and taste fantastic with chicken.

Bibimbap is a bowl of rice, veggies, gochujang, and meat. Each ingredient is cooked and seasoned individually before adding it to the bowl, which gives the dish a variety of complementary flavors. In this Korean Chicken Bibimbap Bowl, we used sliced chicken, jasmine rice, veggies, fried egg, and gochujang.

Mandu, or Korean dumplings, look a lot like Chinese dumplings but are folded one more time for a rounder shape. They’re usually filled with ginger, onion, tofu, garlic, or meat. Try adding fully cooked, sliced or diced chicken to your mandu for a savory, mouthwatering bite!

Fermentation

Throughout the pandemic and beyond, consumers have gotten more interested in gut health and probiotics. IFIC states that digestive health is the “third most commonly sought-after benefit among Americans.” Korean cuisine is ideal for probiotic-seekers because it heavily features fermented foods, such as gochujang and kimchi. Gochujang contains amylase and protease, which are digestive enzymes that break down starches and proteins, while kimchi contains the same lactobacilli bacteria as yogurt and helps with digestion. It also reduces cholesterol and inflammation, improving heart health. Both gochujang and kimchi are especially appealing to consumers because they're great sources of probiotics and they're deliciously on-trend in an era of bold flavors.