Korean Red Bean Rice (Steamed Rice with Adzuki Beans)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 44 min
- Level
- Easy
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 4
About this dish
Pat-bap is Korean red bean rice, a traditional dish that has been tied to the winter solstice for centuries as a food believed to ward off misfortune and bad spirits for the coming year.
Read more
Dried red beans are boiled until they are nearly at the point of splitting, then removed from the liquid so the deep-tinted cooking water can be used to soak and cook the rice, staining every grain with a soft reddish hue that sets the dish apart visually from plain white rice. The beans are folded back into the pot during cooking, and their starchy, earthy sweetness blends with the sticky bite of the short-grain rice, deepening with each chew in a way that plain rice does not. A light dusting of salt draws out the beans' natural, understated sweetness and sharpens the overall flavor without overpowering the grain's own character. The dish is deliberately plain in approach, and that simplicity is the point: a bowl of pat-bap alongside kimchi forms a complete, filling meal grounded in centuries of Korean seasonal food culture. Though historically associated with ritual occasions and seasonal festivals, pat-bap is equally suited to everyday meals.
Ingredients
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Control
Rinse 1/2 cup red beans and place them in a pot with plenty of water.
Bring to a boil over high heat, cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then discard this first water to soften the bean flavor.
- 2Control
Return the beans to the pot with 3 cups fresh water and simmer over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.
Stop before the skins split widely, when the beans are tinted and tender but still hold their shape.
- 3Heat
Drain the beans through a sieve and save the red bean broth separately.
Let the broth cool until warm, because very hot liquid can start cooking the outside of the rice grains before the pot is properly set.
- 4Prep
Wash 2 cups rice in several changes of water, then drain it in a sieve for 10 minutes.
Soak it in the warm bean broth for about 20 minutes so the reddish color reaches the grains evenly.
- 5Season
Mix the soaked rice with the cooked beans and 0.3 teaspoon salt.
Adjust the cooking liquid slightly lower than for plain rice, since the soaked grains already hold moisture and can turn mushy with too much broth.
- 6Finish
Cook the rice in a rice cooker or covered pot, then let it rest for 10 minutes after cooking.
Fluff gently from the bottom with a rice paddle so the beans do not crush, and serve while warm.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Dark adzuki soaking water tints each grain of rice a traditional, warm reddish hue.
- Finish cue
- Stop before the skins split widely, when the beans are tinted and tender but still hold their shape.
- Avoid this
- Adjust the cooking liquid slightly lower than for plain rice, since the soaked grains already hold moisture and can turn mushy with too much broth.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official cooking and food safety guidance.
This recipe
44min, 4 ingredients
Category median
40min, 8 ingredients
Based on 309 recipes
Use-up ingredient planner
Turn these ingredients into two more meals
The overlap excludes basic seasonings. Open the next recipe and your selected dishes will stay with you.
Avgolemono Soup (Greek Egg-Lemon Chicken Rice Soup)
rice
Neer Dosa (Mangalorean Thin Rice Water Crepe with Coconut)
rice
Chagayu (Yamaguchi Bancha Rice Porridge)
rice