Whole30 Samgyeopsal: Korean Grilled Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps
Happy, very belated New Year! I’m starting the year with a colorful, satisfying, and naturally simple Korean-inspired dinner: Whole30 samgyeopsal. This Korean grilled pork belly dish is perfect for a relaxed weeknight meal because it requires very little preparation, and most of the cooking happens right at the table. If you enjoy interactive dinners, fresh vegetables, and rich grilled pork, this is a fun recipe to make at home.
Samgyeopsal is usually served as grilled pork belly wrapped in lettuce and perilla leaves, often with garlic, vegetables, kimchi, and a savory dipping sauce. I first had the idea to make it at home after going out for all-you-can-eat samgyeopsal with my best friend. The pork belly was juicy, the vegetables were fresh, and the wraps were delicious, but the restaurant was so noisy that we ended up leaving earlier than planned. Recreating the meal at home turned out to be the perfect solution: all the flavor, all the fun, and a much quieter dinner table.
The amount of lettuce and perilla leaves you use depends on how much leaf you like with each bite of meat. For this version, I used about 10 pieces of lettuce and 5 perilla leaves. Perilla leaves have a strong, distinct flavor. I enjoy them, but I find the taste can be a little intense, so I prefer using half a perilla leaf in each wrap rather than a whole one. If you love the flavor, feel free to use more.
The vegetables for samgyeopsal are flexible, which makes this dish easy to adapt to what you have on hand. I chose kabocha squash, red bell peppers, garlic, and broccoli sprouts to make the meal bright and colorful. Kimchi is also wonderful in a pork belly lettuce wrap, but many store-bought versions contain sugar, so they may not fit a Whole30 approach. If you are not following Whole30, kimchi is a delicious addition and adds a tangy, fermented bite to the wrap.
To cook the samgyeopsal, heat a tabletop grill and arrange the sliced pork belly and vegetables on it. If you do not have a tabletop grill, you can prepare everything in the kitchen using a nonstick pan. A nonstick surface works well because pork belly is a fatty cut of meat, and the fat will render as it cooks. There is no need to add extra oil when the pork begins to release its own fat.
Cook the pork belly and vegetables until they develop nice grill marks and the pork is cooked through. The vegetables should soften slightly while still keeping some texture. Garlic becomes especially delicious as it cooks in the rendered pork fat, and the kabocha squash adds a sweet, hearty contrast to the rich meat.
Once the pork belly is cooked, use kitchen shears to cut the thick strips into bite-size pieces. This makes the samgyeopsal easier to wrap and eat. Kitchen shears are commonly used for this type of table cooking because they let you cut the meat quickly without moving everything back to a cutting board.
Before adding the pork to your wrap, dip each piece into a simple mixture of sesame oil and sea salt. Traditionally, samgyeopsal is often served with ssamjang, a thick dipping sauce, but that usually contains bean paste and sugar, which are not suitable for Whole30. The sesame oil and salt combination is simple, fragrant, and enough to bring out the flavor of the grilled pork belly.
To assemble a wrap, take a lettuce leaf, add a piece of perilla leaf, then place one or two pieces of grilled pork belly on top. Add grilled vegetables, garlic, sprouts, or any other vegetables you like. Fold the leaf around the filling and eat it in one bite if you can. Each wrap is rich, fresh, savory, and crisp, making this Whole30 samgyeopsal a simple but memorable Korean pork belly dinner.
Samgyeopsal
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs (680g) pork belly, sliced into thick pieces
- ½ lb (227g) kabocha squash
- 2 bell peppers
- 1 head of garlic
- 10 perilla leaves
- 20 lettuce leaves
- sesame oil with a couple pinches of sea salt
Instructions
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Heat the tabletop grill and arrange the pork belly and vegetables on the cooking surface. If you do not have a tabletop grill, use a nonstick pan in the kitchen.
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Cook the pork belly and vegetables until the pork is cooked through and everything has good grill marks.
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Use kitchen shears to cut the thick strips of pork belly into bite-size pieces.
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Dip the pork belly into sesame oil mixed with sea salt before adding it to the wrap.
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To assemble, place lettuce on your hand, add perilla leaf, grilled pork belly, and any vegetables you like. Wrap and enjoy immediately.