The exact origin of bibimbap (비빔밥) is unknown. People could have started mixing bap (rice) with banchan (side dishes) after the outdoor jesa (rites), such as sansinje (rite for mountain gods) or dongsinje (rite for village gods), where they needed to "eat with the god" but did not have as many cooking pots and items of crockery to hand as they would normally have at home. Jeonju Bibimbap is an old-fashioned and delicious dish. Some scholars assert that bibimbap originates from the traditional practice of mixing all the food offerings made at an jesa (ancestral rite) in a bowl before partaking of it.
Ordinary people ate bibimbap on the eve of the lunar new year as the people at that time felt that they had to get rid of all of the leftover side dishes before the new year. The solution to this problem was to put all of the leftovers in a bowl of rice and to mix them together. Farmers ate bibimbap during farming season as it was the easiest way to make food for a large number of people. Bibimbap was served to the king, usually as a lunch or a between-meal snack. There was more than vegetables in this bibimbap.
Bibimbap was recorded as hondon-ban (混沌飯) in the history book Historical notes of Gijae by the Joseon scholar Bak Dong-ryang (1569–1635). In the Diary of Cheongdae by another Joseon scholar Gwon Sang-il (1679–1760), it was recorded as goldong-ban (骨董飯). The dish was also recorded in Complete Works of Seongho by Yi Ik (1681–1764) as goldong (骨董), in Complete Works of Cheongjanggwan by Yi deok-mu (1741–1793) as goldong-ban (汨董飯), and in Works of Nakhasaeng by Yi Hak-gyu (1770–1835) as both goldong-ban (骨董飯) and goldong (骨董).
The hangul transcription beubwieum (브뷔음) first appears in the 1810 encyclopedia Mongyupyeon by Jang Hon. The 1870 encyclopedia Myeongmul giryak states that the dish name is written as goldong-ban (骨董飯) in hanja but is read as bubaeban (捊排飯), a probable transcription of the native Korean bubim-bap (부빔밥).
In Collected Works of Oju written by Yi Gyu-gyeong (1788–1856), recorded varieties of bibimbap, such as vegetable bibimbap, miscellany bibimbap, hoe bibimbap, shad bibimbap, prawn bibimbap, salted shrimp bibimbap, shrimp roe bibimbap, marinated crab bibimbap, wild chive bibimbap, fresh cucumber bibimbap, gim flake bibimbap, gochujang bibimbap, soybean sprout bibimbap, and also stated that bibimbap was a local specialty of Pyongyang, along with naengmyeon and gamhongno. The first known recipe for bibimbap is found in the Siuijeonseo, an anonymous cookbook from the late 19th century.
The late 20th century brought about the globalization of the Korean culture, traditions, and food to many areas of the world with many restaurant chains being opened up in various international airports that encourage the sale of bibimbap.

Bibimbap is an extensively customizable food with a variety of ingredients that can be used in its creation. It has existed in Korea for centuries and even has a place in society today. It came from early rural Koreans taking leftover vegetables, sometimes having meat, with rice and mixing them in a bowl. This was cheap and didn't require all of the time and space of a traditional meal. Bibimbap was originally written in Hanja due to the use of Chinese characters in Korea. There are two separate ancient writings that suggest the original reasoning behind the creation and use of bibimbap. The first one, "People's Unofficial Story of Jeonju" (全州野史), tells of Jeonju bibimbap being used in occasions such as parties that included government officials of provincial offices. The second being, "Lannokgi" (蘭綠記), which told of bibimbap being made by the wives, of farmers, who had no time to prepare meals the traditional way with many side dishes, and instead they were able to throw most of the ingredients in a bowl sometimes adding whatever they happened to be cultivating.
Bibimbap had very few ancient records relevant to its usage prior to King Sejong due to the illiterate state of society before then. It is mostly recorded in Chinese texts under many different names.
The division of Korea in the 20th century caused a cultural divide in the creation of bibimbap with two types related to both North and South Korea. The most famous regions for traditional bibimbap happen to be Pyongyang for its vegetable bibimbap in the North and Jeonju for its Jeonju Bibimbap. In the late 20th century, bibimbap started to become widespread in many countries in the West, due to its simplicity, cheap cost, and delicious taste. Many airlines connecting to South Korea via Incheon International Airport began to serve it, and it was accepted more globally as a popular Korean dish. Bibimbap has also been described as a symbol of the Korean culture to non-Koreans due to Korea becoming more acceptable to foreigners and multicultural traditions.

The origin of the many names of bibimbap come from its hanja or Chinese based records. Originally appearing in Yokjokumun (歷朝舊聞) of Kijae-jabki (寄齋雜記) by Park (朴東亮) in the end of 16th century (around 1590). This record associated the original bibimbap as "hondonban (混沌飯)" This later went on to become bubuiembap (브뷔음밥) nearly 200 years after the hanja record, and was documented in a Hanguel record. The Chinese Character Dictionary (漢大字展) contained "bubuida (부뷔다)" or "bubuiem (부뷔움), Dong (董)" in hanja, which meant "mix" or "bibida" in Korean. In the late 19th century the two names were recorded for the recipe being bubiban (捊排飯) and koldongban (骨董飯), with the recipe being written in pure Korean. Other various recordings after this include (in Hanja) koldongban (骨董飯, 汨董飯), hondonban (混沌飯), and bubiban (捊排飯) and also banyuban (盤遊飯); then in Hangeul, bubiumbap (부뷔움밥), bubiembap (부비음밥), bubuimbap (부뷤밥), bubeimbap (부븸밥), bubuinbap (부뷘밥), and bubimbap (부빔밥).