It’s Almost Like Pork Bulgogi, yet Insanely Simple!

It’s Almost Like Pork Bulgogi, yet Insanely Simple!

Dec 31, 2025

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When my family first saw the completed dish, they immediately noticed the Korean chili powder and pork slices typically used for bulgogi. However, this oven recipe is so much easier to make!

Below are some links to more details, including photos:

My Story
Inspiring Recipe
- First Try
- Second Try
Continuous Improvement
Lesson for Dumber Self
Next Step for You

My Story

At my local supermarket, I snatched up a tray of frozen boneless pork shoulder butt pre-sliced for making bulgogi. After getting a great deal at $4.99 per pound, I had to find a recipe for it.

Inspiring Recipe

What I came up with was Oven Baked Korean Spicy Pork from a Korean food blog, Kimchimari.

First Try

Though the recipe needed only five ingredients, I had to make another trip to buy the Korean chili powder and Maesil syrup. For the soy sauce, I decided to use the Chinese one that I had at home.

Ingredients to Use

For 3.34 pounds of pork, I more than tripled the default recipe and used the following:

6 1/2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon of soy sauce
6 1/2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon of Korean chili powder
5 tablespoons* of chopped garlic
4 1/2 tablespoons of Maesil syrup

* The amount that I used for the garlic was 1/2 tablespoon more than needed. Since I chopped up more than anticipated, but didn’t want to waste anything, I just added everything to the recipe.

Plum extract, soy sauce, garlic, Korean red pepper powder, and pork shoulder butt

Steps to Prepare

Of the seven steps, I modified three of them as follows:

Step 2 – I didn’t have to slice the pork since it was already done.
Step 6 – Instead of parchment paper, I used foil because that’s what I had available. As for stacking the pork slices, I put them in multiple layers. Because the pieces were thin and I tried to make them level, I was hoping that baking one batch would be fine.
Step 7 – Since the meat was in multiple layers, not only did I flip them, I also separated the pieces to help cook them more evenly. After cooking the tray at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, I ended up baking it for another 10 minutes before the edges started to brown.

Soy sauce and pepper powder mixture in a white bowl — Soy sauce and pepper powder mixture in a bowl

Pork slices with soy sauce and pepper powder mixture in a plastic bag

Garlic and plum extract added to the plastic bag

Pork slices on a foil lined baking sheet

Partially cooked pork flipped and separated on the baking sheet

Time to Eat

Here’s the plate of pork ready for tasting.

Baked Korean spicy pork on a white plate — Plate of baked Korean spicy pork

Recipe Rating

Below are the results of the recipe after the first try:

# of Ingredients	Effort	$ / Serving	Try Again?
5

I enjoyed the pork with the pepper and soy sauce flavor, even though there was only a hint of sweetness. However, I should’ve cooked the meat in two batches, so more of the fatty pieces of pork would be drier and almost crispy, as those pieces tasted better.

Nonetheless, if I wanted some of the Korean pork bulgogi flavors without having to spend the extra time grilling the meat, I would definitely make this dish again!