Three words: Korean Tacos Recipe. I think I could just leave it at that with all the drool worthy pictures, but I won’t. Because I seriously have to tell you how bomb diggity this recipe is and how I have to plan on everyone eating double the serving because they’re so mind blowingly awesome!
I know, I just used lots of dorky words that aren’t even words, but that’s how good they are. I lived in Korea for three years, so love this type of Korean fusion food. Plus, Larkin helped make the tacos, which is totally cuteness times ten. Trust me, this post is worth reading!
CROCKPOT BBQ PORK FOR KOREAN TACOS
So the pork for the tacos can really be its own recipe. In fact I think I’ll also post it separately, because you could use it on buns for a Korean pulled pork sandwich, on rice, or stir fried veggies, and maybe just eat it on its own with a fork, straight from the crockpot. Because I’ve done that.
What makes this so addicting is the sauce that the pork is cooked in. While it looks complex with more than 10 ingredients, it’s super easy to just dump them in and get an incredible marinade of complex flavors that is truly irresistible.
The pork shoulder (you could also use a beef roast if you want) is basted in the sauce, and then cooked in a crockpot, while the rest of the marinade is reduced on the stove to make a thick and glorious Korean BBQ sauce.
QUICK PICKLED RADISHES CONDIMENT
Quick pickled radishes are a great condiment for Korean BBQ because the vinegar in the radishes really balances out the umami sweetness of the Korean BBQ sauce.
We spent the last week at the ocean with Eric’s family, so decided to have Larkin pickle the radishes when we served these tacos one evening. Notice the great dad technique of making sure her nose is clean before she’s on camera.
First Eric showed her how to shake the salt in.
“Wait, is this the GOOD sea salt?”
“It is dad. You know we have to use quality salt.”
“I got this.”
Next comes the vinegar. And this is where things started to go horribly wrong.
We should have just had Eric continue holding the bottle. But no, we wanted the perfect shot of her doing it herself.
I didn’t get a picture of the aftermath but the good news is that no one got cut, and the bottle broke in a way that none got into the jar so the radishes were still good to go.
EASY KOREAN TACOS BAR
When I’m making these for just our family, I’ll go ahead and make tacos for everyone. But when I’m serving a crowd, I like to lay everything out in separate dishes so that people can build their own tacos exactly how they like them.
Larkin went for LOTS of pork and a few veggies.
Actually she had lots of veggies, but she ate most of them instead of putting them on her taco. I’m good with that!
I really love that the kids enjoyed these Korean tacos as much as the adult, and had a lot of fun building their own.
Once you’ve stuffed your tacos with slaw (I like a broccoli slaw mix that has carrots and red cabbage in it), pickled radishes, cucumber slices, and cilantro, it’s time for the sauces.
Drizzle each taco with your irresistible Korean BBQ sauce. A little goes a long way.
The final touch for the Korean tacos is creamy, spicy sriracha mayo. It’s got a good kick to it, but once it’s on the tacos with all the other flavors, it’s not overwhelming at all.
My kids and I kind of want to just drink it from the bottle.
By the way, Korean tacos go amazingly with ginger beer for a non-alcoholic pairing. Like, AMAZING!
Even the kids love it, though we water it down quite a bit for them to reduce their sugar intake.
And there you have it, the best Korean tacos ever. No you can open your own food truck!
OUR FAVORITE INGREDIENTS FOR KOREAN TACOS
Here’s some links to our favorite ingredients and supplies for Korean tacos. By clicking through one of these links to buy ANYTHING from Amazon, you don’t get charged extra, but we make a small commission from whatever you buy. Thank you for supporting our family business!
CROCKPOT KOREAN BBQ TACOS RECIPE
Crockpot Korean Tacos Recipe
These Korean tacos are filled with flavorful crockpot pulled pork, crunchy veggies, and sweet and spicy sauces. I used powdered spices and lemongrass paste so I could just dump everything without doing any chopping or prep, and not need to blend the sauce. Feel free to substitute with fresh if you have some on hand, just know you will need to blend the sauce once it's reduced. Adapted from Food.com
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork shoulder or pork tenderloin
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1 onion, cut into large chunks
Marinade/Sauce
- 2/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemongrass paste, I love the Gourmet Garden brand
- 1 tablespoon rice wine, shaoxing
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
Toppings
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 cups broccoli slaw
- 1 cup quick pickled radishes
- 1 English cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 30 mini corn tortillas
- sriracha mayo
Instructions
- Sprinkle the pork shoulder all over with salt and pepper.
- Place the onion chunks in the bottom of a crockpot and lay the pork shoulder on top.
- Whisk the hoisin sauce, honey, soy sauce, water, mirin, sesame oi, lemongrass paste, rice wine, ginger powder, garlic powder, and five spice powder together, then pull out 1/4 cup.
- Spread the 1/4 cup of marinade all over the pork shoulder, put the lid on, and start cooking it for 3-4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.
- Heat in the remaining marinade in a sauce pan on low heat for about 30 minutes, until thickened, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- Pour the sauce into a jar and refrigerate to cool.
- Just before meal time, whisk the mayonnaise and rice vinegar, then toss it in a bowl with the broccoli slaw.
- Remove the meat from the crockpot and shred it into a large bowl.
- Put out the meat, broccoli slaw, pickled radishes, cucumber, cilantro, bell pepper, tortillas, sriracha mayo, and chilled Korean BBQ sauce for everyone to build their own Korean tacos.
Love that this is a crockpot recipe! What a time saver!! Sounds so delicious too!!!
I should have probably ensured l was not hungry before checking your post out. Amazing! I could easily have a few of those and still ask for more. Simply delicious! And when you have such a cute little helper, you know the food can only be fantastic
Classic mistake to make! Haha, yes she is quite the cutie. Thanks Daniela!
Aweeeeee, you got such a cute lil helper who’ll be turning into a masterchef soon 🙂 The Taco’s look delicious n flavorful.
Thanks Molly! Yes she and her brother both LOVE to cook!
Love love love everything about this recipe! Those pickled radishes look divine and that pork omg sooo good. Where is Korea did you live? Backpacked for 2 weeks in South Korea back in 2012 Busan, Seoul, Haeinsa, etc and loved it! Such an interesting culture.
Hi Vicky, thanks! I lived in Seoul in preschool and kindergarten, and got to go back about ten years ago and was amazed by how at home I still felt.
First of all, your daughter is adorable 🙂 Second of all, I am so psyched for this recipe! We used to live near the best Korean taco place, but we moved away. I can’t wait to make them at home, in my slow cooker no less!
Aww thanks Lucy. And it’s so rough to move away from favorite food spots. Hope this recipe helps with those cravings!
You are right, those three words, Korean Taco Recipe left my mouth watering, but then those beautiful pictures just put me over the edge!! They look amazing.
Oh thank you Michelle!
These tacos look fabulous! Love that they are made in the slow cooker!
Holy cow, those tacos DO look to die for! Love, love the flavor combo in these and your pics are gorgeous!
We have a Korean taco house near us and they’re SO good! I should try making them at home!
Love the model in your pix 😉 These sound so good — I need to break out my slow cooker more! Nice!