Kimchi Jjigae, the BEST use for Super Ripe Kimchi

The best dishes for busy days are like this one, Kimchi Jjigae, a Korean hotpot that you can make by throwing a bunch of hearty ingredients into a pot then simmering on the stovetop for just bit! Shall we?

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• What is Kimchi Jjigae 김치찌개?
• Health and Dietary Considerations of Kimchi Jjigae
• Ingredients You Need for Kimchi Jjigae
• What Kind of Kimchi for Kimchi Jjigae?
• Instructions for How to Make Kimchi Jjigae
• How to Store Prepped or Leftover Kimchi Jjigae
• FAQ
• Kimchi Jjigae Recipe

What is Kimchi Jjigae 김치찌개?

Kimchi Jjigae is a spicy, deeply flavorful stew made with very fermented kimchi in an umami-rich broth. It is a great way to cook and eat any kimchi you have that might be a little too sour to be comfortable eating straight up.

I said "might" because honestly for some of us, the more sour straight out of the jar, the better.

The stew often includes fatty cuts of pork to make Kimchi Jjigae a heartier dish for a full meal. This recipe, and my personal preference, is to skip the pork and add firm tofu and/or canned tuna as the protein source.

You can also make kimchi jjigae vegetarian or even vegan with just kimchi , tofu and adding vegetables like broccoli, mushrooms, and zucchini.

Difference Between Korean Jjigae, Gook, and Tang?

All the dishes—Jjigae, Gook, and Tang—are types of broth-based Korean soups and stews. The differentiating factors are usually preparation methods, how brothy the base is, and the way the dish is served and eaten.

Jjigae is commonly referred to as a "stew" in English. The broth base is slightly thicker and saltier than a classic soup. Traditionally, jjigae is cooked in an earthenware pot and served in the same pot at the table. Everyone at the table shares the jjigae. Well-known jjigaes include: Kimchi Jjigae, Soon Tofu Jjigae (silken tofu), Doen-jang Jjigae (soybean paste), and Budae Jjigae (Korean "Army Base" stew).

Guk and Tang are two different words that refer to brothy soups. The differences between the two types of soup are almost too subtle to be described.

• Tteok-guk Korean rice cake soup
• Mandoo Guk, Korean dumpling soup
• Mu Guk, light, brothy Korean radish soup
• Galbi Tang, Korean short rib soup

Health and Dietary Considerations of Kimchi Jjigae

As printed, this Kimchi Jjigae recipe is:

• dairy-free
• gluten-free
• refined sugar-free

Depending on the type of tuna, one serving of this dish can have anywhere from 45 to 55 grams of protein!

Healthy, Modern Updates to the Kimchi Jjigae Recipe

Depending on your health needs and diteray considerations, Kimchi jjigae can be healthy! Kimchi is rich in antioxidants and gut-friendly probiotic bacteria from the fermentation. My Kimchi Jjigae recipe made with tuna is healthier for me and others of us who are following an anti-inflammatory diet because the tuna provides leaner protein, and anti-inflammatory omega3 fatty acids.

Ingredients You Need for Kimchi Jjigae

Fresh ingredients you need from the refrigerator:

• Kimchi + brine
• Tofu
• Onion
• Green onions

Dry ingredients you need from the pantry:

• Canned tuna
• Broth or stock
• Gochugaru Korean red chile pepper
• Gochujang Korean red chile pepper paste
• Avocado oil
• Sesame oil
• Sea salt as needed

The beauty of Kimchi Jjigae is that once you get the kimchi and base broth down, you can customize your pot by changing the type of protein and adding any other vegetable to the dish. Hearty root vegetables like potatoes, Korean or daikon radish, and shiitake mushrooms are personal favorites. But I have made this dish many times even with not-so-obvious for stew vegetables like butternut squash, broccolini, kale, and baby bok choy.

Is There Sugar/Sweetener in Kimchi Jjigae

There is no added refined sugar in this recipe, nor in most other Korean recipes on this site!

However, different brands of kimchi have different ingredients and some brands add sugar and/or rice flour. There isn't much, and the kimchi itself, nor the final dish, will actually taste sweet.

If You Prefer a Sweeter Taste

If you do, however, prefer a sweeter taste, or like a lot of caramelization, stir 2 tablespoons of brown sugar into the kimchi liquid when you first add the vegetables to the pot.

Sugar/Sweetness in Korean Food in General

If you eat or are familiar with Korean food, you know that Korean dishes whether grilled or braised or otherwise, like kBBQ favorites bulgogi and galbi, and definitely braised dishes like Braised Shortribs Galbi Jjim and Braised Chicken Braised Chicken Jjimdak, can taste fairly sweet, and sometimes even veer into too sticky sweet. My family has always tended toward much less sweetness in Korean foods, and only add natural sweetness in the form of dried or fresh fruit as much as possible, and sometimes with maple syrup or honey.

What Kind of Kimchi for Kimchi Jjigae?

Any nappa cabbage kimchi that is well-fermented, aka "ripe," is best for Kimchi Jjigae. It should be sour to the point that eating it straight up makes your mouth water and maybe your eyes and nose crinkle slightly. If you buy kimchi from the grocery store "fresh," and keep it in the fridge, it will be "ripe" in about 2 weeks.

Pro-tip: If your kimchi is starting to get really eye-wateringly sour, put it, along with tis brine, in a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze it to make Kimchi Jjigae later! You can keep kimchi in the freezer for as long as 6 months!

Best Brand of Kimchi

Kimchi is a huge category with many brands and producers, from large-scale commercial brands to jars made by a bunch of tiny Korean grandmas in the back room of a hole-in-the-wall market.

Even CostCo sells kimchi! Normally, I recommend against buying packaged refrigerated products from Costco** because of the way high-volume production increases the chance of food-borne illness. However, because we cook the kimchi, there is much less risk of food-borne illness. So in the case of kimchi, Costco offers an unbeatable price and I say go get that bulk discount!

^{** I am highly in favor of buying almost anything and everything else at Costco!}

I have tasted a LOT of different brands that are available to us in southern California grocery stores, and have a semi-detailed review of them all, along with my favorite, here: Best Kimchi Taste-Test and Reviews.

What Kind of Tuna is Best for Jjigae?

Use any canned tuna that you may already have in your pantry, and don't discard the water or the oil! There is flavor and sometimes protein in there! I personally like using "chunk light" tuna, which is easy and affordable. And since the tuna breaks into pieces in the pot, it doesn't have to be big solid, perfect flakes.

The one thing I will mention about canned tuna is for sutainability reasons. Look for "pole and line caught" tuna. This means fisheries catch the tuna in a way that does not harm other ocean life, and slows down overfishing. "Troll-caught" or trolling is also ok. Currently all canned tuna are wild-caught; farm-raised tuna exists, but it is not yet commercially viable (as of 2023).

Korean grocery stores also carry Korean brands of tuna, many of which are seasoned with spices like gochujang.

Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources

Chicken stock. I will always recommend that you make your own bone broth, but like the Barefoot Contessa says, store-bought is fine. Read the ingredients list and get one with chicken as the first ingredient, and without added sugar.

Gochugaru is a chili pepper powder made from a specific variety of Korean chili pepper. Its heat level ranges, but generally considered medium spicy. You can find gochugaru in Korean grocery stores like H-Mart and other Asian grocery stores. Independent spice companies like this and this are also at Whole Foods. This organic brand I purchased at HMart is what I have in my pantry.

Gochujang is a Korean hot pepper paste made by fermenting chili peppers with rice and/soybeans. It has a deep-toned, savory umami flavor with a subtle background sweetness. Use any gochujang that suits your taste and preferred heat-level. This gochujang brand is the one I use/recommend bc it has no corn syrup and no wheat. Read the labels to look out for any ingredients to which you are sensitive.

Avocado Oil. Avocado oil is a neutral flavored oil with a high smoke point that's generally a little less processed than other refined or conventional seed oils. This is the brand I use. You can use any neutral oil with a high smoked point.

Sesame oil. Use toasted, not regular, sesame oil. Toasted sesame oil is dark brown and is used as a finishing oil, not as a cooking oil. This is the Japanese brand that everyone and their mothers' have been using for years. You can find organic like this one in natural and higher end grocery stores.

Toasted Sesame Seeds add texture and a layer of umami. Make sure the seeds are toasted, otherwise toss them in a hot, dry skillet over medium heat for about 90 seconds or until they are fragrant.

Instructions for How to Make Kimchi Jjigae

Kimchi Jjigae is fairly straight-forward to make. You literally put everything in a large pot, bring to boil, then simmer for until whatever meat is cooked through. And if you're using canned tuna, it's even easier!

Here are the high-level steps to make a gloriously rich and tangy Kimchi Jjigae:

Can You Cook Kimchi Jjigae in Advance?

Yes! You can cook this Kimchi Jjigae in advance to store in the refrigerator and eat the next day. Cook the recipe through simmering the onions, kimchi and stock. There is no need to add the tuna and tofu until just before serving. Cool the mixture and refrigerate.

To re-heat, return the soup to a pot, bring to a boil, add canned tuna and tofu, turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish and serve immediately.

How to Store Prepped or Leftover Kimchi Jjigae

Refrigerator. You can keep cooked Kimchi Jjigae in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Freezer. You can freeze Kimchi Jjigae for about 3 months. The way that works best for how I maintain my freezer is portioning the Kimchi Jjigae directly into freezer-safe quart-sized bags, squeezing out all the air, sealing, and laying flat in the freezer until it freezes. Then I stand the bag or multiple bags up and line them up like thin books on a bookshelf. If you're looking to reduce single-use plastic, these are re-usable ziptop bags.

Suggested Additions and Variations

Add 1-2 cups of any of the following vegetables along with the onions at the beginning of the recipe. Make sure to cut the vegetables into 1-inch pieces:

• Korean radish or daikon radish
• white potatoes
• pearl onions instead of sliced regular onions
• butternut squash or kabocha squash.

Make it Extra Spicy by adding sliced fresh jalapeño, serrano, or other hot pepper, depending on how spicy you can handle, into the pot when you first add onions and kimchi. Add more of either or both ingredients to make it even spicier!

Tools and Equipment

• Dutch Oven. This is the large, oval Dutch oven I use for braising.
• Stock Pot: If you want a slightly lighter weight pot, I like this very large stock pot by this cookware company. It has a heavy bottom and easy-to-hold handles. Any large pot that fits the ingredients will do.
• Slow Cooker: I have this 6-quart programmable slow cooker. If you are going to use a slow-cooker, I highly recommend getting/using a slow-cooker that has a timer or auto-shut-off so you can truly "set it, and forget it," which is kind of the point of a slow-cooker, imho.
• Stainless steel tongs
• Strainer
• Large bowls, one that fits within the other. I use both stainless steel and glass mixing bowls.
• Thermometer
• Quart sized mason jars
• Plastic sealing lids for jars. Get rid of those annoying two-piece metal lids that come with mason jars (unless you're doing actual canning) and get wide-mouth lids for the larger jars, and wide-mouth smaller jars
• Plastic storage containers: I keep a decent supply of these plastic quart (32 ounces) containers for any- and everything. The containers are technically "disposable," but they can be used a few times with hand-washing between uses. The best thing, though, is freezer-safe glass. Always make sure the stock is cool before pouring into any type of storage container.
• Large format ice cube trays. If you plan to make and freeze bone borth for the rest of your life, these "souper cube" trays specifically dedicated to broths and soups are great to have.

FAQ

What to Serve with Kimchi Jjigae

Kimchi Jjigae is technically a one-pot meal, so you don't really need anything else to serve and eat with it. However, it wouldn't be a Korean dish if you didn't serve fluffy steamed rice and some kind of banchan along with it. Serve with any of these alongside:

• Oi Muchim, Korean Spicy Cucumbers
• Spicy Cucumber Salad with Avocado
• Din Tai Fung Dupe Cucumbers
• Korean Sesame Spinach

Best Korean Main Dishes

Food for Afterthoughts

After a long night of hard drinking, I always need a "chaser," something to eat at 2, 3, 4 am, that I always say is going to keep me from being too hung over when I get up in the (late) morning. There are many other hangover prevention measures out there. But somehow, over many drunken iterations, it got twisted. Drink water! No, drink gatorade for electrolytes! No, electrolytes are salt, so eat something salty! And this is how I ended up reasoning with myself that grease and salt "cuts through the alcohol." It's a great excuse to get french fries or nachos at naughty hours.

But, drive-through windows and benito's only really "do" because negotiating Wilshire blvd. all the way to koreatown is pretty risky by the time i'm in need of a chaser. what i really want, what really does prevent that hangover, is a Korean soup. The broth rehydrates, the spice clears the head, and the salt wipes that liquor coating from the tongue. Everyone has their favorites: suh-lung-tahng, gom-tahng, gal-bee tahng, dduk mahn-doo gook.

My favorite is a spicy kimchi and tofu soup/stew called Kimchi jjigae.

Gettin' Jjigae with It

Just looking at Kimchi Jjigae makes my mouth and eyes water. It's spicy. The broth is a deep reddish brown from not just the kimchi but added gochugaru, korean chili powder, and gochujang. Nowadays, I've seen recipes with jalapeños and other hot peppers to increase the heat. It makes me sweat. It numbs my tongue and throat. When it's so hot it hurts so good, I know I've got the stuff to sober me up since Tuesday.

Every restaurant has a version of it, and every Korean cookbook has a recipe for Kimchi Jjigae, but nothing comes out quite like Mom's. Her recipe is hard to document, since it's done by taste, as are all Korean foods. She makes an enormous pot of it, then freezes it single-serving size containers. All i have to do is let it defrost in the fridge, then heat it up on the stove top. How cool is a mom who actually gives you hangover cures?