Vegetarian Bibimbap with Sweet Potatoes, kimchi, pickled cucumber, sauteed shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, and grated carrots is a fresh take on a classic Korean dish.
Photos by Rikki Snyder
Have you ever tried Bibimbap at a Korean restaurant? It is, in a word: incredible.
What is Bibimbap?
Bibimbap is a traditional Korean dish which translates literally to “mixed rice” (bibi = mixed, bap = rice).
A mix of sautéed, raw, and pickled veggies are served on top of steamed white rice with a raw or over-easy egg and sliced meat. In order to make a vegetarian version, I substituted roasted sweet potato slices for the meat.
I know, I know…sweet potatoes in exchange for meat? It may seem like an odd substitution, but I assure you, it works! The sweet potatoes are filling, flavorful, and add life to the meal.
In addition to the roasted sweet potato, for these Bibimbap Bowls, I went with sautéed shiitake mushrooms, kimchi, bean sprouts, pickled cucumbers, and grated carrot.
I serve a sunny side up egg on top of each bowl, but you can add more or less eggs depending on protein preference.
The combination of cooked, raw, and pickled vegetables is so heavenly, and that sauce makes everything come together like a dream!
Ingredients for Vegetarian Bibimbap:
For the Sauce: Liquid aminos (or coconut aminos or soy sauce), sesame oil, green onion, garlic, sriracha, fresh ginger, pure maple syrup, and rice vinegar.
For the Sautéed Mushrooms: Shiitake mushrooms and sesame oil
For the Bowls: Steamed brown rice (or white rice), eggs (cooked using your favorite method), sweet potato, pickled cucumber, sprouts, kimchi, sesame seeds, and grated carrot.
How to Make Vegetarian Bibimbap:
Make the Sauce: Prepare the sauce by stirring everything together in a small bowl. Set the sauce aside until you’re ready to use it.
Prepare the Rice: Cook 1 to 2 cups of rice on the stove top or in your rice cooker, according to package instructions. Choose the amount depending on how many people you’re serving and how hungry everyone is!
Cook the Vegetables: Sauté the shiitake mushrooms, roast the sweet potato, and cook the eggs according to how you like them – you can make 6-minute eggs, poach them, make them sunny side up, fried, or scrambled.
Gather the rest of the ingredients for the bowls – grate the carrots!
Compile the bowls: Add desired amount of cooked rice to each bowl, and top with desired amount of sautéed shiitake mushrooms, sliced roasted sweet potato, eggs, grated carrot, kimchi, pickled cucumbers, and sprouts.
Drizzle everything with sauce, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and enjoy!
Recipe Adaptations:
- Make it Grain-Free by using Cauliflower Rice.
- Substitute any of your favorite raw, roasted, and/or sautéed vegetables.
- Omit the egg to make vegan.
Also check out my Quick and Easy Chana Saag and my 30-Minute Thai Green Curry with Avocado!
Enjoy! xo
Vegetarian Bibimbap with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 2/3 cup liquid aminos soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 green onions chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp sriracha
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup or coconut sugar
For the Bibimbap Bowls:
- 1 large sweet potato roasted and sliced
- 4 large eggs cooked by method of choice
- 4 to 6 cups brown rice or white rice cooked
- 6 oz shiitake mushrooms
- kimchi
- 2 cups grated carrot
- bean sprouts
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
- pickled cucumbers
Instructions
- Prepare the sauce by stirring everything together in a small bowl. Set the sauce aside until you're ready to use it.
- Roast the sweet potato at 400 degrees F for 60 to 90 minutes, until soft when poked with a fork. Once cool enough to handle, slice the sweet potato into rounds.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the sauce and 1 tablespoon olive oil or avocado oil to a skillet and heat to medium-high. Add the shiitake mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have softened and begin to caramelize, about 5 to 8 minutes.
- Cook the rice according to package instructions - you'll want 4 cups of cooked rice (about 1.5 cups dry) if serving 4 people.
- Cook the eggs using your favorite method.
- Compile the Bibimbap Bowls by adding cooked rice to 4 bowls. Top with roasted sweet potato rounds, sauteed shiitake mushrooms, cooked eggs, kimchi, pickled cucumbers, and sprouts. Drizzle desired amount of sauce over each bowl and serve with sesame seeds.
Thank you for the ideas. I have a lot of vegetarians in my family and do my best to accommodate them. I forgot to buy traditional zucchinis so needed another food to put in there. Will try this !
I hope they love it, Marz! 😀 xoxo
Just look at those gorgeous eggs! Love this veggie version, but now you’ve got me singing MMMBop…
I am going to make this while rocking out to Hanson. And then the.boy might renounce our engagement. But WHATEVER. Then I’ll stuff this in his face, and all will be right in the world.
I was just thinking of doing a vegetarian version of bibimbap, just yesterday! Yours looks perfectly wonderful. There aren’t enough recipes involving sweet potatoes, this one looks great.
Thanks, Joyti! Let me know what you end up putting together for your veggie bibimbap! There are so many options and I’m now on a quest to make all the delicious bibimbaps! 😉
That bibimbap looks AMAZING! (although now I cant cant Hanson out of my head! 😉
Haha! If it makes you feel any better, I had it in my head all day today. Kinda kicking myself for the Hanson reference.
I’m 100% positive that when I say Bibimbap to myself that I’m not saying it right. But it looks tasty! I’ll just call it Mmbop.
I can imagine Keirsten’s book is full of useful information. That girl has herself a little empire over there!
I tend to refer to Bibimbap as “Bibimooombop” I say just let it flow off the tongue however it may come out. Tomato, tomaaato 😉 I’ve read Kiersten’s whole book already and it’s flipping amazing. I luuuvs it!
yum. Looks delish!
LOL! Before I even read your post I actually sang that song in my head! These are stunning!
First of all, stunning egg, my friend. I need to get my paws on a big bowl of bibimbap, like now! This looks relish! Got Kiersten’s book yesterday and I la-la-love it!!
YES! So glad you got her book. It’s seriously the most helpful resource I’ve had since I started blogging. Love that girl. And thanks for the sweet photo compliment – I wish I could take credit, but Kiersten’s bud, Rikki Snyder snapped all the photos for the post 🙂
Confession: (Stephie, don’t read this) This is the second post I’ve seen recently with this bibimbap in it. This is a true story. I read it as Bipmap. So, I’m thinking it’s some kind of cool interactive food map of some sort. Couldn’t figure it out. I have no idea what this is, nor have I seen it in central Illinois (nor probably won’t anytime soon). I’m not going to lie. I’m a bit disappointed that it isn’t some cool interactive food map. Ok. I’m done, of which I’m sure you are glad. BTW, your blog is the only one I will admit this stuff on. I’m not sure that’s a compliment. 😉
Ok. So now I’ve clicked over and discovered that it’s a dish, rather than a type of food. I’m sheeepish. Baaa. I’ll have to ask Mr. I-Lived-in-Korea-for-a-year and see if he’s heard of it. He’s never talked about any food in Korea, other than hating kimchee. This will be an ongoing saga. Your day has been made, I’m sure.
Too late. Already read it. Yes, you saw it on Erin’s site. Bibimbap for days, apparently. I had never heard of it either (and I’m obviously sooo much more cultured than my mother, not), but now I am feeling like the universe must be trying to tell me something…
I think the universe is telling you the next big food trend is takeout fakeouts…as in, let’s write a cookbook on takey fakey’s right now because people seem to love the at-home version of General’s chicken. All this talk of takeout is making me crave Panda Express for breakfast. Hmmm…
Bahahaha (< - - - on all accounts. Seriously, you make me LOL)!! I'm glad my blog brings out the real raw Julie. No worries on the bibimbap mixup..I seriously had to google the crap out of it before I was entirely sure what it was. Hope Mr. Jer Bear gives this recipe a shot some day, minus the kimchi. Still amazed that he lived in Korea.
I asked him if he knew about it. He shook his head no, and said that after finding out about kimchee, he refused to have anything to do with Korean food. That was not his favorite place to be. He loved Okinawa, though. I digress. This is a man that will eat and try anything, so it’s all quite odd. Anyway, I would have to sneak it in on him. And, I don’t think you really want the real me coming out on your blog–or anywhere for that matter. You should meet my momma for a real treat. Maybe someday, you will. 😉
If you make bibimbap for him, you could play it off like it’s stir fry. “Oh here, honey, here’s stir fry with a little breakfast in it. We’re having breakfast stir fry for dinner tonight. You’ll LOVE it!” That’s the route I’d take 😉 I don’t blame him on the Korean food thing. I seriously don’t know diddly squat about Korean food other than I like eating other people’s Kimchi (never made it myself), and bibimbap’s the bomb.
Hmmm… might have to try this. Korean food is full of garlic. So much so, that when you would be standing in front of a Korean at the commissary, you knew that it was someone from Korea because they smelled of garlic even before you turn around. Like, it comes out of their pores. They say that we smell of spoiled milk because of all of the milk and cheese we eat, which is quite possible. Other cultures are interesting. (Please know that I’m not dissing the Korean culture…just saying that what we eat affects all parts of our health).
Ok so, I haven’t had Bibimbap…but if it’s 1/10 as fun to eat as it is to say I am SO in! Checkin’ out zeee recipeeee!
And I am so pumped about that book! Yay!!!
P.s SO HAPPY ABOUT YOUR HANSON REFERENCE!
Pinning so I can try this bibimbap stuff!
Taylor, you will looooove it!!! Stick some pork or beef in it, and you and that hubs of yours will be singing bibimmmmbop all night long 😉