This fried chicken bibimbap was born in South Carolina but grew up in Seoul, South Korea. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, you get the idea. Check out this recipe for a fun new southern take on a Korean classic!
“I ain’t never had no fried chicken like that, but I reckon I want some more”
JJ’s Ken Folk
What is Bibimbap?
If you’re late to the party don’t worry, just remove the large rock from your head and grab a seat.
Bibimbap is Korean for “mixed rice”, Bibim meaning “mixing” and bap meaning “cooked rice”. So don’t upset the bibimbap gods and be sure to mix everything up before you dive head first into your bowl.
Traditional bibimbap is a bowl of warm rice accompanied by banchan (veggie side dishes), Kimchi, gochujang (red chili paste), a fried egg, and a protein, usually sliced beef. Chicken bibimbap isn’t super traditional.
As with so many culinary delights we enjoy today, bibimbap had humble beginnings. Rural Koreans would take rice, leftover veggies, and maybe some meat, and mix them in a bowl. Boom, a cheap and easy meal was born.
With the nature of this, the dish was rarely the same; and it is no different today. You’ll see all kinds of different variations of bibimbap, it is endlessly customizable!
We hope you enjoy our take on it with this fried chicken bibimbap recipe.
Chicken Bibimbap Recipe
Fried Chicken Bibimbap Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this fried chicken bibimbap.
- Chicken: For this recipe I used skinless boneless chicken breast. I brine the breasts or tenders in a jar of pickle juice overnight before frying them.
- Rice: We prefer jasmine rice, but you can use whatever grain you like. Brown rice, quinoa or even barley work fine in this spicy pork bibimbap recipe.
- Veggies: For this crazy concoction, we use some classic southern veggies to complete the fusion. Sweet potatoes, collard greens, red onion, and some quick pickled carrots and cucumbers.
- Eggs: Put an egg on it your chicken bibimbap! Over easy please. Let that beautiful golden yolk run throughout the bowl. Yum!
- Gochujang: A spicy, sweet, and savory fermented treat! Most grocery stores should carry a gochujang in the asian section. Sometimes I like to toss my fried chicken in the gochujang sauce. Korean buffalo chicken bibimbap anyone!?
- Garnishes: Garnishes can vary widely. Use whatever you like, or don’t use anything at all. Nori, or seaweed sheets, are popular. Kimchi, sesame seeds and sesame oil are fantastic garnishes as well. As always, I gotta push great Portland brands. Choi’s Kimchi is fantastic!
How to Make the Fried Chicken for Bibimbap
This chicken bibimbap actually takes some planning and prep. In addition to brining the chicken overnight, you should marinate it in a buttermilk mixture for an hour. These extra steps aren’t required, you can always just eat bland chicken or go to KFC and hate yourself a little more.
Step 1: Brine the chicken
When I finish a jar of pickles I keep it in the back of the fridge for whenever I want to make fried chicken. I just drop the chicken breast in the jar of pickle juice, shake it a couple times and put it back in the fridge overnight.
If you’re doing a large batch and can’t fit all your chicken in the jar you can always use a ziplock bag or any other air tight container.
When you’re ready to cook the chicken bibimbap, take it out of your brine and give it a quick cold water rinse. Pat it dry with a paper towel and set it aside.
Step 2: Marinate the chicken
In a large bowl combine the buttermilk, eggs, and black pepper. At room temperature, soak your chicken in the mixture for about an hour.
Remove the chicken, discard the buttermilk mixture, and quickly run the breasts under cold water. Pat dry and set aside.
Next, make your breading. In a shallow bowl or lipped plate, mix together flour, onion powder, cayenne, smoked paprika, black pepper, red pepper, corn starch, and salt.
Dredge your chicken through the flour mixture and set on a plate next to your skillet.
Step 3: Cook the chicken
Pour about half an inch (2 cups) of canola, vegetable, or peanut oil into a cast iron skillet and heat to around 350 degrees. Use a deep frying thermometer to make sure the oil is just right. This is key to making sure you get crispy chicken thats cooked all the way through.
Working in batches, use tongs to carefully place your chicken into the skillet. Depending on the size of each piece of chicken, you’ll need to cook each side for 10-15 minutes.
Once both sides are golden brown, use your tongs to transfer the chicken to a wire rack. Put a paper towel underneath the rack to catch any oil drippage.
Let the chicken cool a bit while you prepare the rest of your chicken bibimbap components.
How to make Collard Greens for Bibimbap
Okay, for this fried chicken bibimbap recipe we love to use collard greens. Growing up in Georgia I was lucky enough to enjoy these savory greens pretty regularly.
Outside of the American south, I don’t see collard greens served a lot. So making this fried chicken bibimbap recipe is sort of nostalgic for me. It brings me back down south, but in an entirely new way.
Step 1: Prep your Greens
So to make your collard greens go ahead and wash your leaves. They look like big green elephant ears! Just run them under cold water, brushing off any sand or dirt.
Stack the leaves onto each other and roll them into a green burrito. Now cut them in 1-2 inch sections. You’ll end up with long strips of collards, so cut those strips to make 1-2 in squares. Set aside.
Step 2: Cook your Greens
Now, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot. Once its warm add 1/2 a chopped white onion and 4 minced garlic cloves. Season with salt, black pepper, red pepper, and sauté until fragrant.
Pour in enough vegetable stock to make sure the greens will be swimming, 4-5 cups. If you are using a ham hock or chopped bacon, toss that in too. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the collards.
I leave the pork out of this chicken bibimbap recipe because I don’t want to take away from all the other flavors. But normally I would always toss a ham hock in my collard greens.
Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 40 mins to 2 hours. Stir regularly. The cook time with vary depending on how you like your greens. The longer you let them simmer, the more tender and smooth they’ll be. I like a little bite to mine, so I keep it around an hour.
Before serving, taste and season with more salt and pepper, if desired. Pour in 2 Tablespoons of rice vinegar and give the pot a good stir.
Pro Tip:
Besides brining and marinating the chicken, the collard greens will be the component that takes the longest to cook. I suggest starting your greens 15 minutes before you take your chicken out of the buttermilk mixture.
You want to try and time the sweet potatoes coming out of the oven with the fried chicken finishing resting. You can always set the collard greens to super low for 10 minutes or so while everything else finishes up.
The goal is to serve this chicken bibimbap when everything is still nice at warm.
Fried Chicken Bibimbap Leftovers
So you’re not gonna want to freeze any chicken bibimbap leftovers, it just won’t work.
If you must, it’ll do fine in the fridge for a day or two. Just cover in an airtight container, and don’t expect the veggies to be nice and crisp when you reheat them. It’s the price you pay for not stuffing yourself to the point of being uncomfortable.
Or here’s an idea! Invite a friend over next time, SHARE! They’ll like you more if you feed them chicken bibimbap.
Bibimbap Variations
Can’t afford a ticket to Seoul, but you want more bibimbap? Check out these other great bibimbap recipes we have. We hope y’all enjoy!
Vegan Tofu and Mushroom Bibimbap
We’d love to hear from y’all, please let us know how the recipes turn out. As always, thanks for stopping by! Cheers
Fried Chicken Bibimbap
Course: Lunch, DinnerCuisine: Korean, PNW, SouthernDifficulty: Medium4
servings10
minutes1
hourSouthern staples combine in a Korean classic to make a fun new fusion.
Ingredients
- Fried Chicken
1.5 lbs 1.5 chicken breasts – boneless skinless
4 cups 4 buttermilk
2 tsp 2 black pepper – 1 for buttermilk marinate, 1 for flour mixture
2.5 cups 2.5 cups flour
1 Tbsp 1 cornstarch
.5 tsp .5 tsp cayenne
.5 tsp .5 tsp smoked paprika
.5 tsp .5 tsp onion powder
.5 tsp .5 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups 2 canola oil
- Collard Greens
1 bunch collards
4 cups veggie stock
1/2 white onion
4 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp red pepper
1 tsp salt – more to taste
ham hock, pancetta, bacon – optional
- Bachan (Veggies)
1 large sweet potato
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt
black pepper
- Quick Pickles & Carrots
1/2 large english cucumber – sliced thinly
1 large carrot – sliced thinly
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 rice vinegar – white vinegar is fine
- Rice
1 cup jasmine rice
2 cups water
- Garnishes
1 fried egg – over easy
Gochujang – to taste
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
Directions
- Fried Chicken
- Brine chicken in pickle juice overnight.
- Remove, run under cold water and pat dry.
- Combine buttermilk, eggs, and black pepper. Place chicken in the mixture and soak at room temperature for an hour.
- Remove chicken, rinse under cold water, pat dry.
- Combine Flour, cornstarch, cayenne, paprika, salt, pepper, red pepper, and onion powder in a shallow bowl. Dredge chicken in the mixture.
- Pour 2 cups of canola oil in a cast iron skillet. Should come up to about 1/2 inch on the sides. Heat to 350 degrees.
- Working in batches, place chicken into the skillet. Cook for 10-15 minutes on each side. Flipping every 3 minutes. Breading should be golden brown.
- Transfer to a wire rack to let cool.
- Collard Greens
- Wash greens under cold water to clean well.
- Cut into 1-2 inch squares.
- In a large pot, sauté the onion, garlic, salt pepper and red pepper flakes.
- Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
- Add the collard greens, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for an hour.
- Taste and adjust seasoning to desired taste.
- Add vinegar, stir and turn off heat.
- Sweet Potato
- In a medium bowl, toss the roughly chopped sweet potato and olive oil together. Season with salt and pepper.
- Bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 450 degrees. Potatoes should be fork tender.
- Rice
- Pour 1 cup rice and 2 cups water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover, and cook for 16 minutes.
- Remove from heat, fluff with a fork.
- Quick Pickle Cucumbers & Carrots
- In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, salt, and sugar until dissolved.
- Add the sliced cucumbers and carrots and toss well. Let sit for at least 10 minutes.
- To complete
- Add a scoop of rice to the center of a serving bowl. Surround the rice with piles of the sweet potato, collard greens, fried chicken, and pickled veg.
- Top with the fried egg, sesame oil & seeds, flaky salt, and more gochujang to taste. Enjoy!
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Fried Chicken Bibimbap Influences
The PNW is blessed with a growing Korean population. The majority is in Seattle, it has the fourth largest population in the country.
But Portland is no slouch. Multnomah county and the surrounding metro area, also boast a good sized population. That is made evident by the many Korean restaurants around town, especially in Beaverton’s unofficial Koreatown.
Frankie and I are always trying different foods that we didn’t grow up with. After trying so much great Korean food at places like, Toki or Kim Jong Grillin, bibimbap is now a staple for us.
We’ve kept the basic foundation of bibimbap and ran with the different flavor potentials. It’s one reason why we love bibimbap so much, you rarely have the same one.
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