Korean cuisine is known for hot and flavorful dishes using chili powders and lots of spices. These paleo-friendly recipes for classics like bibimbap and kimchi are sharing the list with less-traditional but Korean-inspired dishes that are also hot, spicy, and delicious. You’ll taste Korean barbecue flavors, spicy chicken thighs, noodle bowls, steak wraps, and more when you give this recipe list a try.
1. Sweet Korean Chicken Thighs With Cauliflower Rice
These chicken thighs are marinated in sweet and smoky flavors from honey and Korean chili paste. They’re sticky and amazing, with flavors of garlic and ginger. Serve them over cauliflower rice lightly seasoned with sea salt and, if you like extra coconut aminos.
Photo: The Primalist
Bibimbap is fun to say and even more fun to eat. This paleo version is made with beef bulgogi, cauliflower rice, seasoned cucumber, mushrooms, spinach, carrots, and other toppings like a fried egg, kimchi, and hot sauce. It’s a healthy lunch or dinner that’s uniquely flavored and delicious.
This dish is a Korean cold noodle soup made with dried shiitake mushrooms, daikon radish, zucchini, carrot, rice vinegar, sweetener of choice (coconut sugar may be the best option, cucumber, mustard, garlic, onion, and other fantastic flavors. No actual noodles involved!
These short ribs are marinated in a spicy mixture with coconut aminos (to replace the tamari), honey, pear, kiwi, sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic, scallion, onion, and chili pepper. Such interesting flavor combinations! Toss them with sesame seeds and dig in.
If you’re feeling seafood more than meatballs, try this soup with radish, onion, jalapenos, shiitake mushrooms, ginger, garlic, raw shrimp, cod steaks, watercress, and green onions. Of course, the soup wouldn’t be complete without a dab of gochujang, too.
Photo: Paleo Leap
These chicken wings are hot and spicy, so watch out! The raw honey is optional, and you can use it to try to balance out the spice a bit if necessary (but be aware, they’ll still be hot). You’ll use homemade hot pepper paste, garlic, fish sauce, coconut aminos, and more.
Kimchi is a Korean spicy pickled vegetable mixture that’s similar to sauerkraut, but much stronger in flavor with chili peppers, garlic, and other ingredients. This kimchi-kraut hybrid is easy to make, and you can adjust the ingredients to include what you like best. It’s a favorite in my house!
8. Korean Inspired Beef and Vegetable Noodle Bowl
What’s so special about this noodle bowl? I’ll tell you: kelp noodles! You’ll need duck fat, broccoli, red bell pepper, green cabbage, carrot, shiitake mushrooms, ginger, coconut aminos, and other flavorful ingredients to create this delicious lunch or dinner .
Here’s a recipe for kimchi in its own right—no kraut involved! You’ll need pear, ginger, garlic, daikon radish, scalliops, fish sauce, chili flakes, cabbage, and chili powder for this one, as well as salt. The salt helps the kimchi ferment quickly without growing mold.
Photo: Veggies By Candlelight
10. Korean-Style Spicy Grilled Steak Lettuc Wraps
With coconut aminos, cooking sherry, coconut sugar, garlic, lime juice, habanero, carrots, and other flavorful ingredients, you know these wraps are going to be good. The steak is marinated and then, after cooking, sauced and dressed with toppings in butter leaf cups.
Is it just me, or does everyone’s mouth water when a recipe title contains the word “glazed”? Yum! This recipe calls for wild salmon to be glazed with a spicy sauce of Korean red pepper flakes, coconut palm sugar, toasted sesame oil, coconut aminos, and more fantastic flavors.
12. Ginger Daikon Radish Rice With Gochugaru and Fried Egg
This radish rice is seasoned with Korean red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic. You’ll serve it up with a fried egg on top and call it an easy dinner. Woohoo! Want to know the very best part? This meal comes together in about 20 minutes, so it’s perfect for lunch or dinner in a pinch.
While this recipe isn’t for “real” fermented kimchi, it tastes very similar and still makes an excellent spicy side dish. You’ll sauce cucumber, carrot, onion, and chives with garlic, hot pepper powder, fish sauce, coconut sugar (in place of the sugar), rice vinegar, and sesame oil.
Photo: Laura’s Wild Kitchen
These spicy meatballs are made with ground elk, chicharrones, egg, garlic, fresh ginger, Korean chili paste, and green onions. When they’re all meatballed and cooked, you’ll douse them in a sauce of honey, rice vinegar, more gochujang, and coconut aminos (use instead of the soy sauce)
I could have called this recipe, “Kimchi, Another Whey.” See what I did there? This kimchi recipe is lactofermented using whey and salt with garlic, fresh ginger, cabbage, radish, carrot, chili paste, green onions, and fish sauce. It’s sharp, spicy, and perfect.
