The best way to describe mukbang is like watching someone eat. A Korean term, the word literally translates to “eating broadcast”. The concept of eating on camera isn’t new, but it’s taken off in Korea and other Asian countries where they’ve made it into a popular internet trend.
There are plenty of great foods out there that you can try yourself if you want to get started with your own mukbang experience.
11 Best Mukbang Foods
We’ve created a list of the 11 best foods for mukbang that we think you should check out.
1. Kimchi Fried Rice
Kimchi Fried Rice is a Korean dish made with pan-fried rice, vegetables, kimchi, and eggs. It’s a lot like fried rice that you’d find at any Thai or Chinese restaurant, but the addition of kimchi gives it a nice twist on the flavor.
What makes this the perfect mukbang food is it’s extremely easy to make. Everyone can cook fried rice. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and cook, which makes it the perfect thing to eat while you entertain your viewers.
If you’re going to make kimchi fried rice make sure to add plenty of kimchi because the Kimchi flavor is what makes this dish special.
2. Tteokbokki
Tteokbokki is a spicy Korean rice cake dish. You can find this in many restaurants and cafes around Korea, but it’s also extremely easy to make at home.
What makes this the perfect mukbang food is that you’re going to eat a lot of rice cakes which are both soft and chewy. You can add plenty of other ingredients such as fish cakes, ramen, eggs, and more.
Make sure to add a spicy component to your dish to keep things interesting. You can also buy pre-made tteokbokki sauce or make one yourself with gochujang (Korean chili paste), sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and rice syrup.
3. Japanese Ramen
Japanese Ramen is a dish of noodles in a broth with a variety of toppings. It’s extremely common to see this on many mukbang channels, and it’s pretty easy to understand why.
What makes this the perfect mukbang food is that you can eat it for hours without getting bored or tired of it. You can also add different toppings each time which keeps things interesting.
For example, you could start by adding green onions, pork slices, eggs, seaweed, mushrooms, and spam. Once the ramen is done cooking you can pour kimchi juice into your bowl which will give everything an extra spicy kick.
4. Fried Chicken
Fried Chicken is a popular dish in many parts of the world. It’s widely regarded as comfort food because it’s so easy to eat and you can flavor it however you want.
What makes this the perfect mukbang food is that chicken goes well with pretty much everything, especially when it’s fried.
You could also experiment with different sauces like honey mustard sauce or buffalo sauce if you’re only eating one piece of chicken at a time.
Fried chicken is popular and very appealing because it has that crunchy noise without being too messy. It’s also easy to eat.
5. Sushi
Sushi is a Japanese dish which consists of rice and seafood prepared with vinegar. It looks fancy but it’s actually easy to make at home, especially if you’re only making one piece at a time.
Sushi also has that classy look which appeals to viewers who want to see your dinner without looking too messy. Plus, it’s pretty simple to eat, just use chopsticks.
What we like about sushi is that it’s very easy and fast to eat. Most people can finish a piece of sushi in just a few seconds.
It’s also one of the most popular Japanese dishes to date.
6. Hamburgers
Hamburgers are a quintessential American dish, and there are plenty of ways to make them. You can experiment with different styles like the classic hamburger or try something fancier.
Make sure to make the hamburgers yourself this will make it even tastier. But if you don’t have the time you can also order the burgers from any fast food restaurant.
What we really like about hamburgers is that they’re easy to eat and can be cooked in a short amount of time.
In addition, there are plenty of ways to make them which makes them an appealing dish for viewers.
It’s also cheap to make which is great for people who are looking to save some money.
7. Pancakes
Pancakes are a type of food that people have been eating for centuries. It’s not just your ordinary pancakes but also different flavored ones with fruits, chocolate chips, and other ingredients which you can add yourself.
Everyone loves pancakes for breakfast. They’re tasty, filling and people can eat them all year round.
It’s very popular among the youth too because you can include lots of ingredients in your pancake mix which makes it delicious no matter how it looks.
However, what we found interesting about this dish are the different ways to make it. From savory pancakes with meat inside to sweet flavors with fruits or chocolate, there are plenty of options when making this tasty foodstuff.
But people should be careful not to overdo the use of sugar in their pancake recipe though because that can end up being unhealthy after a while.
8. Cheesecake
Cheesecake is a type of food that people have either eaten before or not. It’s very delicious and can be made in different ways with different ingredients.
What we like about this dish is that it’s suitable for different age groups not just children but adults can enjoy its sweet taste too.
However, the main reason why we chose to feature this food on our list is that there are many famous recipes you can try at home. From blueberry cheesecake to banana-flavored ones, people will surely be impressed by how good they look once finished.
It looks complicated to make (thanks mainly to the decoration) but actually, cheesecakes are easy to cook especially if you follow the recipe properly.
9. Ice Cream
Ice Cream is a very popular dish in almost all countries. People enjoy eating them not only during the hot season but also when it’s snowing outside because of its delicious taste.
What we found interesting about this food are many things. For instance, there are many kinds of ice cream flavors you can choose from depending on your preference. It could be chocolate, vanilla, caramel, strawberry, or even cookies and cream if you want to take it up a notch.
You can make ice cream with your household appliances like mixers or even make it by hand which will require too much effort especially if you’re making different flavors at the same time.
10. Instant Noodles
If you’re a fan of fast foods then we recommend trying out instant noodles. You can make this dish in less than 10 minutes, and the outcome is always delicious.
What’s good about noodles is that they come in different shapes and sizes so people will not get bored easily when eating them.
It’s the perfect dish for a mukbang show because you can combine different flavors and put anything inside it.
Make sure to give it a go.
11. Pizza
Pizza is another popular mukbang food which you can try to make at home. It’s the perfect mukbang dish because of its countless flavors and different toppings.
You can go with classic recipes like Margherita or choose to deviate from the regular ones and cook pizzas with meat, pineapple, or even pesto sauce as a starter.
The best thing about mukbang pizza is that you don’t need to eat all of it to feel satiated; you can simply take a slice and stop there.
Who Is the Most Famous Mukbang?
The most famous mukbang YouTuber is Nikocado Avocado with more than 2.5 million subscribers. He started back in May 2014 and hadn’t even hit a million until February.
Now, mukbang has exploded worldwide, probably because of the mukbang trend coming from Asia, so mukbang YouTubers are popping up everywhere.
Conclusion
All in all, mukbang is a pretty interesting trend. We’re sure that mukbang will only become more popular in the coming years.