Samgyeopsal
Meat dishes
Thick slices of unseasoned pork belly grilled at the table, cut with scissors and wrapped in lettuce or perilla leaves with dipping sauces.
Why this list cannot be complete
Many Korean restaurants are franchises whose recipes are not published, and shops create their own versions of the same dish. A menu name often does not tell you what is inside. This page covers the traditional recipe and the variations that have spread widely, not every shop.
When you are not sure what a shop puts in, show your card to say what you cannot eat, or show the list below and ask the staff to point to what is in theirs.
What usually goes in
이 음식에 아래 재료 중 들어가는 것이 있나요?
For the staff: does this dish contain any of the ingredients below?
The name itself means three-layered pork belly — the dish is pork by definition, and a five-layer version keeps the skin on.
The meat itself is plain, but it is eaten with ssamjang, a dipping paste of fermented soybean paste and gochujang, set on the table for every wrap.
Two dips usually sit by the grill: gireum-jang, which is sesame oil with salt and pepper, and ssamjang, which also has sesame oil mixed in.
Sliced raw garlic is served on the side to tuck into each wrap, and there is more garlic mixed into the ssamjang.
Sliced onion is a common side for the grill, and chopped onion is one of the usual ssamjang ingredients.
The route for wheat here is the gochujang inside ssamjang, which is often made with wheat — skip the ssamjang and ask for the sesame-oil dip if wheat is the concern.
Wine samgyeopsal soaks or reduces the pork in wine, and wine commonly has added sulfites.
The dipping sauce is usually ssamjang, but some places serve meljeot, a salted anchovy sauce, or salted hairtail innards. It comes as a separate sauce, so you can decline it or ask them not to heat it on the grill.
Some places serve salted seafood such as meljeot or hairtail innards as a dipping sauce, and the kimchi side dish is seasoned with salted seafood too. Both come separately, but the kimchi is sometimes grilled on the same grill.
The kimchi served as a side dish is commonly seasoned with salted shrimp. It comes separately, but it is sometimes grilled on the same grill.
Jjusam is webfoot octopus stir-fried with pork belly in a spicy sauce.
- Usually in it
- Most kitchens put this in. Assume it is there unless the staff tell you otherwise.
- Sometimes in it
- It depends on the recipe and the brand of sauce, so it is worth asking.
- Rarely in it
- The usual recipe does not call for it, but some kitchens still use it.
Checked 11 of the 33 ingredients this site covers. An ingredient that is not listed here has simply not been checked yet — that is not the same as it not being in the dish.
This page describes how the dish is usually made in Korea. Every kitchen works differently, so always show your card and ask the staff before you order.
Going on your card
- Pork (돼지고기)
- Soybean (대두)
- Sesame (참깨)
- Garlic (마늘)
- Onion (양파)
- Wheat (밀)
- Sulfites (아황산류)
- Fish (생선)
- Jeotgal and fish sauce (젓갈 · 액젓)
- Shrimp (새우)
- Octopus (문어 · 낙지 · 주꾸미)
Common variations
If you see one of these names on a menu, expect the ingredients below on top of the basic dish. Shops differ, so check with the staff.
- 고추장삼겹살Gochujang samgyeopsal
Adds: Wheat (밀)
The pork belly is marinated in gochujang and soy sauce before grilling, and many store-bought gochujang pastes contain wheat flour.
- 와인삼겹살Wine samgyeopsal
Adds: Sulfites (아황산류)
The pork belly is soaked in wine or reduced in a wine sauce, and wine commonly contains added sulfites.
Diets
- VeganNot suitable
The dish is grilled pork belly.
- Lacto-ovo vegetarianNot suitable
Pork is the whole dish; the leaves and sides alone are not a meal here.
- HalalNot suitable
The meat is pork belly.
- No porkNot suitable
Samgyeopsal is a cut of pork, so the dish cannot be made without it.
Other dishes with the same ingredients
- Budae-jjigae (army base stew)Pork · Wheat · Soybean · Garlic · Onion — Usually in it / Fish · Salted fermented seafood (Jeotgal) & Fish sauce · Shrimp — Sometimes in it
- JapchaeSoybean · Sesame · Garlic — Usually in it / Pork · Onion · Wheat · Shrimp · Fish — Sometimes in it
- BibimbapSoybean · Sesame · Garlic — Usually in it / Wheat · Onion · Fish · Octopus (incl. long-arm and webfoot octopus) — Sometimes in it
Read more
- Soy in Korean foodWhere this ingredient hides across Korean food
- Sesame in Korean foodWhere this ingredient hides across Korean food
- Gluten-free travel in KoreaWhere wheat hides in sauces and broths
- Vegan dining in KoreaWhere meat and seafood hide in Korean cooking
- Emergency allergy help in KoreaWhat to do and say if a reaction starts
- Halal food in KoreaWhere pork, alcohol, and non-halal meat hide in Korean cooking
- Temple food and Buddhist vegetarian dining in KoreaWhere garlic, green onion, and other pungent vegetables hide
Sources we checked
Each finding on this page lists the recipes and references it is based on. Source titles appear in their original language and are not translated, and each link opens the other site in a new tab.
Show the 19 sources behind each finding
What usually goes in
Pork · Usually in it
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- 위키백과, "삼겹살구이" — 돼지 갈비 쪽 뱃살을 양념하지 않은 채 굽는 요리; 상추 · 깻잎 · 쌈장 · 마늘 · 김치 · 파절이를 곁들임 (opens in a new tab)
Soybean · Usually in it
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- 위키백과, "삼겹살구이" — 돼지 갈비 쪽 뱃살을 양념하지 않은 채 굽는 요리; 상추 · 깻잎 · 쌈장 · 마늘 · 김치 · 파절이를 곁들임 (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia, "Ssamjang" — made of doenjang, gochujang, sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions and optionally brown sugar (opens in a new tab)
Sesame · Usually in it
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia, "Ssamjang" — made of doenjang, gochujang, sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions and optionally brown sugar (opens in a new tab)
Garlic · Usually in it
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- 위키백과, "삼겹살구이" — 돼지 갈비 쪽 뱃살을 양념하지 않은 채 굽는 요리; 상추 · 깻잎 · 쌈장 · 마늘 · 김치 · 파절이를 곁들임 (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia, "Ssamjang" — made of doenjang, gochujang, sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions and optionally brown sugar (opens in a new tab)
Onion · Sometimes in it
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia, "Ssamjang" — made of doenjang, gochujang, sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions and optionally brown sugar (opens in a new tab)
Wheat · Sometimes in it
- Celiac.com, "Is Gochujang Gluten-Free? What to Know Before You Buy" — many commercial versions contain wheat, barley malt or wheat-based soy sauce (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia, "Ssamjang" — made of doenjang, gochujang, sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions and optionally brown sugar (opens in a new tab)
Sulfites · Sometimes in it
Fish · Sometimes in it
Jeotgal and fish sauce · Sometimes in it
- 대한민국 구석구석(한국관광공사), 「제주 흑돼지」 — 멸치를 염장한 멜젓에 찍어 먹음 (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia, 「Kimchi」 (opens in a new tab)
- 나무위키, 「멸치젓」 — 제주 고깃집은 멜젓을 불판에 올려 데워 돼지고기를 찍어 먹게 냄 (opens in a new tab)
- 만개의레시피, 「갈치속젓 찍어 삼겹살 맛나게 먹기」 — 갈치속젓을 불판에 데워 찍어 먹음 (opens in a new tab)
- 만개의레시피, 「삼겹살 굽는법 김치볶음」 — 삼겹살 기름에 김치를 구움 (opens in a new tab)
Shrimp · Sometimes in it
Octopus · Sometimes in it
Common variations
고추장삼겹살 · Gochujang samgyeopsal
와인삼겹살 · Wine samgyeopsal
Diets
Vegan · Not suitable
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- 위키백과, "삼겹살구이" — 돼지 갈비 쪽 뱃살을 양념하지 않은 채 굽는 요리; 상추 · 깻잎 · 쌈장 · 마늘 · 김치 · 파절이를 곁들임 (opens in a new tab)
Lacto-ovo vegetarian · Not suitable
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- 위키백과, "삼겹살구이" — 돼지 갈비 쪽 뱃살을 양념하지 않은 채 굽는 요리; 상추 · 깻잎 · 쌈장 · 마늘 · 김치 · 파절이를 곁들임 (opens in a new tab)
Halal · Not suitable
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- 위키백과, "삼겹살구이" — 돼지 갈비 쪽 뱃살을 양념하지 않은 채 굽는 요리; 상추 · 깻잎 · 쌈장 · 마늘 · 김치 · 파절이를 곁들임 (opens in a new tab)
No pork · Not suitable
- Wikipedia, "Samgyeopsal" — thick pork belly slices, usually neither marinated nor seasoned; served with lettuce, perilla leaves, ssamjang and gireum-jang (sesame oil, salt, black pepper), kimchi, sliced garlic and onions; ogyeopsal keeps the skin (opens in a new tab)
- 위키백과, "삼겹살구이" — 돼지 갈비 쪽 뱃살을 양념하지 않은 채 굽는 요리; 상추 · 깻잎 · 쌈장 · 마늘 · 김치 · 파절이를 곁들임 (opens in a new tab)
Each dish is researched by hand from the sources we checked, and nothing here is generated automatically. Recipes vary from kitchen to kitchen, so always confirm with the staff before you order.