The Costco Bibigo Beef Bulgogi Mandu are extra large dumplings with a thin wrapper filled with Korean-style bulgogi beef. Are these dumplings as good as they look? How do they compare to similar options in the freezer section at Costco?
I love dumplings and enjoy them both at home and in restaurants. The Costco freezer aisle sells many yummy Asian-style foods, including some great dumplings. I wanted to try the Bibigo Beef Bulgogi Mandu because most of the dumplings I’ve tried from Costco are pork or chicken, never beef.
Other simliar products from Costco I really like are the Costco Minh Pork Egg Rolls, Costco Siwin Chicken and Vegetable Dumpling Potstickers, Costco Bibigo Japchae Crispy Potstickers, Costco Summ! Sesame Ginger Chicken Gyoza Dumplings, Costco Bibigo Steamed Dumplings and Costco Bibigo Chicken and Cilantro Mini Wontons.
Location in Store
You can find the Costco Bibigo Beef Bulgogi Mandu in the freezer section at Costco, by all the other frozen appetizers. The item number is 5638856.
Taste
These are not your average-sized potstickers; they’re bigger than any other potstickers. There’s a decent amount of of Korean-style beef bulgogi in each dumpling. The beef itself tastes like ground beef, which surprised me as I thought it would be sliced beef.
The ground beef mixture is encased in a delicious, thin, flour dough wrapping that becomes chewy and crispy in the fry pan depending on how long you cook them.
The beef bulgogi mandu is very flavorful and in my opinion, doesn’t require any additional dipping sauce. They have a smoky, grilled flavor with a hint of spice. I taste flavors like soy sauce, garlic and sesame oil in the ground beef. The veggies in the dumplings include onion, carrot and cabbage but you can’t really taste the veggies.
I’ll mention that although these are really flavorful they’re also super greasy. Cooking them in the frying pan creates quite a mess. I think the grease is probably most likely coming from the ground beef in the center as beef tends to be fattier.
Cost
The three-pound bag of Bibigo Beef Mandu costs $15.99 Canadian.
They’re not the cheapest frozen product, but I really wanted to try them out. In a restaurant, you might pay $15.99 Canadian for a plate of eight of these as an appetizer so buying them frozen at Costco is more reasonable.
Convenience
The Costco Bibigio Bulgogi Beef Mandu come frozen and require pan frying to cook them. On the surface, that seems similar to other potsticker/dumpling products I’ve purchased from Costco, but I find these less convenient than some of those other dumplings. It’s difficult to get them to even crispiness and golden brown color all over.
Cooking these always means my kitchen is going to be a mess because grease goes everywhere but doing them in an air fryer may solve that problem. The beef mandu needs to be kept frozen and the best before date is nine months from when I purchased them.
These make an awesome appetizer, snack or even dinner or lunch. As I previously said, I don’t feel like these need an extra dipping sauce and they don’t come with any sauce in the bag. However, you could definitely make your own dipping sauce for them or use your favorite sauce you already have.
Nutrition
Calories
Six mandu contains 420 calories, 14 grams of fat, 51 grams of carbohydrates, two grams of fibre, eight grams of sugar, 23 grams of protein and 990 milligrams of sodium. I like how much protein six dumplings has, but they’re unfortunately high in calories, fat and carbohydrates. They’re extremely high in sodium as well!
Ingredients
The Bibigo Bulgogi Beef Mandu contains wheat, soy, oat and sesame. The ingredients list is pretty typical and what I’d expect to see in a grocery store-bought dumpling. Obviously, when you make dumplings from scratch you know exactly what’s going into the dumplings and can control the number of artificial ingredients and additives.
Scoring
Taste: 8.5/10
Cost: 7.5/10
Convenience: 5/10 They make sure a mess!
Nutrition: 3/10
Overall
Give it a try!
Aside from the grease, I enjoy the flavor of the Bibigo Beef Bulgogi Mandu. I wish they were a bit easier to pan-fry and weren’t quite so messy, but it’s nice to switch it up and have a beef dumpling dish rather than pork or chicken.
What do you think of the Costco Bibigo Bulgogi Beef Mandu?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
Well I have bought these several times and they are great. I use my Cosori Air Fryer, 8 mins at 400, no additional oil and they are perfect. Don’t even have to flip them.
The nutrition data is misleading. They weren’t greasy because of the beef, it was the 39 grams of fat in the 3 tbsp of oil that made them greasy and beyond unhealthy. Add that to the 9 grams of fat already in the dumplings and you are ridiculously close to the daily total recommended amount of fat (63 gms) in just one meal. This is why America is obese, these corporations producing food just want to make food yummy enough to get consumers dollars and have no incentive to produce food with appropriate amounts of fat per dish/meal. It can be a lot for busy consumers to vet every product. There’s no way I’d make these unless I tried one of the good ideas of fellow reviewers. I suggest staying away from the bag’s 3 tbsp cooking directions.
I boil them in chicken broth for lunch. I am currently trying to get rid of them because the “USDA Choice Beef” is full of gristle and tissue…yuck!
Replying to myself:
I had these for lunch again today as before…in spicy chicken broth with small tomatoes, curry powder, and a shot of Siracha. The really aren’t bad and certainly not greasy. The filling is coarse and occasionaly there is a smokey bit of something that is not in every dumpling. They really arent “yuck” and not “full of gristle and tissue”, just coarsely ground.
These are really awesome steamed. I steamed it in a bamboo steamer and they
turned out great. No splattering of oil or grease. They tasted delicious on their own and I would not go back to frying them.
I usually get the Bibigo chicken potstickers and LOVE them. I got the Mandu beef for the first time on sale and wanted to try them .i fried them in one tbsp oil, just as I fry the chicken potstickers. They were good, the wrapper is typical Bibigo, but I did not care for the look and taste of the filling. I will finish the bag, using some in soups or other, but will not get the Korean Mandu again. Sticking to chicken.
I thawed them, then boiled them in chicken noodle soup, dry mix, for a couple mins then simmered for 15 mins. Drained & served. They melted in your mouth. Excellent. Not fatty at all. 10/10
I boiled them in hot water for 3-5 minutes. Then place in air fryer for another 3-8 minutes for it to turn golden and crispy. I found it drain lots of excess fat and no mass. We like the taste, its yummy but dislike some of ingredients. Will just be occasional item in our freezer.
I’ve taken to using the air fryer, 360 for 8-10 minutes. It’s amazing how much fat drains away!
I’m wondering if they’ve changed their recipe at all. I got them last year and they had more flavour. This year they seem sweeter. More sugar added?
You can try cooking them as potstickers (which is a cooking technique, not another name for dumpling). It sitll involves pan and some oil, but most of the cooking is done by steaming when a bit of water is poured into the pan and a cover placed over it. The bottom is browned and the rest of the wrapper is still tender soft.
Slow frying over low heat and minimal oil. No chemical propellant oil spray should be used. Alternatively, boil and slow fry to make them soft and not chewy.
Wondering if anyone has tried boiling them instead of frying?
Replying to myself!
We boiled them yesterday for dinner and did not find them oily at all. They were a hit and a nice change from the standard dumpling/gyoza.
These are the best potstickers I have ever tasted. The filling is awesome. Other potstickers type items always feel like they are full of “cabbage filler”. I spray a skillet lightly with Pam, no need to add any oil to the pan. I then let them cook over a very low heat for 30 to 45 minutes while I am busy with other things. I turn them over once. They are perfect this way, and because they are large and tasty, eating a portion of 4 to 6 dumplings is filling and satisfying. No sauces needed, they are delicious on their own. If I wanted to cook them faster, I’d defrost them, and cook them post-thaw, but I’d still not use more than a medium heat. This will get them cooked and with a nice crisp.
I purchased the Mandu awhile back when they were on sale. They were on sale again and I passed. The Mandu was too sweet & salty, yet it lacked flavor. I doubt I’ll purchase these again.
I love these but hate cooling in oil–can these be cooked in the oven and if so what temp. and how long?
I cook mine in an air fryer. 375° for 15 minutes, turning every 5 minutes. I will never pan fry again!!
I don’t fry these at all. There are alternative methods for cooking on pkg: try using them actually as potstickers. Place them in boiling beef broth and then simmer 8-10 min. depending upon how many you’ve placed in the pot. Costco’s “Better Than Broth” (beef) is an excellent shortcut for the beef broth, BTW. And, prepped this way, there’s just a little oil. Yummy! (If I had some oriental chili oil, that could make things even more tasty.)
I love those pot stickers and use a mesh screen skillet cover while frying which eliminates the splatters and pops on me and my cook top.
Almost anything one cooks using oil will spatter from an open pan. I, too, use a mesh screen over and escape unharmed with a clean stove/floor.
Sorry: mesh screen COVER.
I agree with the greasiness problem! I followed the directions and 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil to fry them in is ridiculous. One tablespoon would be plenty. I don’t like being spat at by my frying pan. I thought they were delicious though, very tasty and satisfying. I think I’ll try them again by steaming them next time. Hopefully they taste as good, otherwise will not buy again. No food is worth getting spat at with hot oil!
Maybe a good way to cook would be the air oven….it would be like fried, the spatter would be contained, and perhaps more of the greasiness would drain off…I have a nu wave, and to cook a goodly amount would work well, I would think.
Great idea!
My kids are dumpling nuts. It’s their go-to comfort food. They HATED these.