These amazing Korean BBQ Tacos have become a staple in our house. They’re completely make-ahead friendly, have an awesome depth of flavor with only a handful of ingredients, and you can prep everything the day before or even a few days before and then just heat and serve. That makes it a total dinner time win. So now go and spice up your taco night this week!
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Keep it simple with the crockpot
Putting a lot of flavor into your pork butt while it cooks is essential to getting it started in the right direction. In order to get the Korean BBQ flavor to really come through, start with the few simple ingredients put in the crock pot with the pork.
Another way to intensify the flavors in pork is to broil the pork after it’s been shredded. Place it on a dark baking sheet under a broiler on high for about 5-10 minutes, stirring once. Adding this simple step will give you those delicious “burnt” ends and slightly crunchy bits along with the soft parts of the pork. It really adds so much texture and flavor to these Korean BBQ Tacos.
Can I make this in an Instant Pot?
Sure thing! I haven’t tried it yet, but cooking a pork shoulder for pulled pork in the InstaPot is fairly simple. There is just one added step of cutting the pork into large chunks before placing in the Instant Pot. Cook with the same amount of liquid on high pressure for 60 minutes and then pressure release naturally for 20 minutes. (We haven’t tried it this way yet, but it should work. We’ll update when we know for sure the best way to cook this in the InstaPot.)
Making Korean BBQ Taco Sauce
Let’s talk BBQ sauce. I love sauce. Like, love love. So when I set out to make Korean tacos, I knew it was going to need a dynamite sauce to go along. This BBQ sauce recipe once again combines my favorite Korean flavors all in a sweet, smooth sauce. I make this ahead of time and keep it on hand to dip everything into. So now I’m working on a Korean style chicken tender and this will definitely be my dipping sauce. But on these Korean BBQ Tacos, it really takes it to the next level!
Can I Make These Gluten Free?
Absolutely! Since I became gluten intolerant I was still able to make this recipe using Tamari sauce instead of soy sauce. Gluten free soy sauce is my favorite, but I’ve only been able to find that at our specialty Asian store. Tamari and Coconut Aminos are widely available and are great substitutions. Be aware that some of these are NOT low in sodium, so you’ll want to water it down or omit any additional salt. Every brand is a bit different, so you’ll have to taste and adjust as needed.
Making Quick Kimchi
I absolutely love this quick kimchi. I originally created this recipe to go with my Korean BBQ Sliders recipe. And I didn’t change it at all for these tacos. It tastes great 5 minutes after you make it, and is still delicious 2 days later. Just throw it in the fridge and let the rice vinegar soften it and make it more and more “kimchi-like”.
If you want to take these to the next level, make these homemade tortillas to go with these tacos. Outstanding!
Can I make these tacos for a crowd?
Absolutely! That’s what I love about using pork shoulder, it makes a TON of meat. I usually cook a 3-4 pound piece and then shred and freeze half for another meal. A 4 pound piece of pork shoulder yields about 8 cups of shredded meat. This will allow you to make about 32 tacos (at 1/4 cup of meat per taco) and feed about 10-15 people. This can easily be multiplied by making your pork shoulder ahead of time and cooking as many as you need. Then simply reheating before serving. This would make a GREAT dinner for a big party, served with some simple appetizers, and easy desserts and refreshing drinks.
Loving these Korean BBQ Tacos? Try these other Asian-inspired recipes!
Simple Cream Cheese Wontons 
Spicy Chicken & Cool Soba Noodles
Korean BBQ Tacos with Quick Kimchi
Equipment
- CrockPot
Ingredients
For the Pulled Pork
- 2-3 lb pork shoulder/butt
- 1/2 C reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 C water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp pepper
For the Korean BBQ Sauce
- 1/4 C low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 C water
- 1/4 C brown sugar
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp chili paste such as Sambal Oelek more or less to taste
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp water
For the Quick Kimchi
- 6 C shredded cabbage 16 oz bag of store-bought works great!
- 3 Tbsp canola oil
- 6 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp chili paste such as Sambal Oelek more or less to taste
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger fresh or powdered
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper more to taste
For Serving
- 1 package corn tortillas
- 1 C Mexican shredded cheese store bought
- 1/2 C diced green onions green part only
- sesame seeds to sprinkle on top
Instructions
For the Pulled Pork
- Place the pork butt/shoulder in a slow cooker. In a separate bowl stir together the remaining ingredients. Pour over pork, cover and cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high—until it falls off the bone.
- Once meat is cooked through and falls apart easily, shred with a fork and discard bones. Return meat to slow cooker to soak up the sauce.
- Turn broiler on to high and let heat for a few minutes. On a dark baking sheet, lay out a single layer of shredded pork, draining some of the sauce when you transfer to the cooking sheet.
- Place on the top rack of the oven and let meat get some slightly crisp areas. This takes about 5-10 minutes, stirring once. Check it often so you don't burn it. This step adds flavor intensity and texture variation.
- Once meat has been broiled, transfer to a bowl to store for later or serve now.
For the BBQ Sauce
- Add all ingredients, except for 2 Tbsp water and cornstarch, to a skillet over medium heat. Bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, combine water and cornstarch until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Add cornstarch mixture to sauce and continue to boil until sauce thickens (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside to serve. (If you like sauce, then double this recipe, it's amazing and you'll want a lot of it!)
For the Quick Kimchi
- Place cabbage in a large bowl. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Pour over cabbage and mix well. Set aside for serving right away, or store in an airtight container until ready.
Assemble
- Wrap corn tortillas in a wet paper towel and place on a microwave-safe dish. Microwave on high for 2 minutes or until tortillas are very hot. This step helps your tortillas stay together while you’re eating!
- Add meat, sauce, cheese and kimchi to each taco. Top with green onions and sesame seeds. ENJOY!
Notes
Nutrition
So good I’ve made it 4 times now! The whole family loves it. The only i thing i do different is fry the tortillas!
Tasha, thank you for your comment! And yay! This makes me so happy. I love the idea of frying the tortillas, I’ll have to try that next time!
Super good! I already smoked a pork butt to make pulled pork so I used the sauce and heated the leftovers in a pan until the sauce was absorbed, placed on a baking sheet and broiled about 10 minutes. Followed the rest of the directions as noted and used flour “fajita size” tortillas. Topped with Sriracha as well. I didn’t need any side dishes!
Sounds amazing! Thank you for trying one of our recipes!
This is great! My husband ate them on corn tortillas, but I had them on lettace wraps! Very good! I didn’t have low sodium soy sauce and should have reduced the amount of salt, but still amazing!! Will definitely make again!
So glad you enjoyed them! Lettuce wraps are a great idea!
AMAZING!!! This is my 2nd round with this recipe Everyone devoured them. We did both corn and flour tortillas. Yummmmmy. Will definitely continue making this
Cannot wait to try this! What do you suggest as side dishes to go with these tacos? I’m thinking of Asian side dishes, not Mexican.
Ooh, good question! Try our coconut cilantro lime rice (kind of Asian, kind of Mexican), or our cream cheese wontons!
I made these for dinner tonight. The will definitely will be a go to!
I’m so glad you liked them!
So delicious, made it for dinner tonight. I’m excited for leftovers tomorrow. In my top five favorite dinners!!
Was really good, however the barbecue sauce came out extremely salty and it kind of overpowered everything. You had to not put so much on and I don’t know what I did wrong. I followed the recipe minus the chili paste. I use a little Sriracha instead.
Hi Kristen,
Did you use low-sodium soy sauce? That makes a huge difference in the saltiness of the sauce. Let me know if you try again or if you have any other questions!
Yes, I found this very salty. Next time no salt added to the pork and only low sodium soy sauce. Also I’ll water it down more as well so 1/4 cup of low sodium and 2/3 cup water to the pork. Then the sauce will have less soy sauce and some water plus I’ll taste it.
Thank you for your comment! I’ve changed the recipe recently to reduce the sodium in the sauce. I had used a very low sodium soy sauce previously, but most low sodium soy sauce is still pretty salty. So now the recipe is 1/4 C low sodium soy sauce and 1/4 C water to help cut the salt. Feel free to play with the balance to get it the way you like it.
Hi! Do you mince the garlic in the sauce, or leave them whole?
Mince it up! Thank you for pointing that out, I’ve updated the recipe so it’s clearer.
So I totally misread the recipe and cooked the meat in the bbq sauce. They were still great! I also added cilantro to the slaw and a little Mayo to the slaw dressing (to cut the acid a little for the vinegar haters in my family). Definitely will be making them again.
So glad you loved this recipe! Glad it worked out.
My family LOVED this! Thank you so much for sharing. The sauces were fantastic so I definitely recommend doubling the sauce recipes.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Hi Tasha! Can you tell me if the nutritional information provided is for the entire recipe (sauces, kimchi, tortillas, cheese) or just the beef? Thank you!
The nutritional information on the recipe is for the whole recipe, I don’t have the breakdown for each part of the recipe at this time.
Could I substitute Chicken
Absolutely! These tacos would taste amazing with chicken! You can still marinate the chicken ahead of time, and then either dice and cook, or bbq and then dice. Let me know how it goes.
Hi! Just made this and it’s delicious! We chose to make this into a bowl and sever over rice instead of in a tortilla. We doubled the sauce because it’s so good. It’s quite thick (which is a-ok!) and I was wondering if you refrigerate the leftover sauce?
I’m so glad you loved it! I always store the leftover sauce in an airtight container and just reheat and reuse! It should stay good for up to 2 weeks (though it never lasts that long).