Spicy Japchae is a fiery take on the traditional Korean dish that's a delicious cross between a stirfry of slippery bouncy sweet potato starch noodles and salad of colorful vegetables. In this spicy version, we cook everything in one pan and double the vegetables to make it easy, healthy and of course, delicious. Shall we?
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What is Japchae?
Japchae, 잡채 in Korean and sometimes spelled "jap-chae," is a classic Korean dish of noodles and stir-fried vegetables that are dressed with a savory garlicky, slightly sweet soy-based sauce. The specific kind of noodles for japchae called "dang myun" are made of sweet potato starch and are clear when cooked similar to glass noodles and cellophane noodles.
In the traditional recipe, each of the individual components are prepped and cooked separately. Because this requires a little more work than say your standard "throw it all in a pan and stir fry," Koreans often reserve japchae for big batches for special occasions and parties.
What is Spicy Japchae?
Here's the thing with traditional japchae. It is delicious. It's my number one all-time favorite Korean food. But I also LOVE spice and one day, I stirred a heaping spoonful of gochujang straight from the container into my little bowl of japchae and it was a revelation.
Now, while simply stirring gochujang into japchae is pretty good, why not make an entire platter of Spicy Japchae great? So here we are, with spicy additions to the japchae seasoning sauce and a couple of adjustments to the instructions so that Spicy Japchae is easier and faster to make in one pan.
Is Japchae Healthy?
Yes! Japchae is healthy, especially this modern version with amped up amount of vegetables and reduced sugar.
Depending on your health needs and dietary considerations of course. To be honest, I can't really think of a case in which this Spicy Japchae recipe would not be healthy, unless maybe the spice affects your GI tract, or you eat the entire 4 servings yourself because it tastes so good.
Dietary Considerations of Spicy Japchae
As printed, this Spicy Japchae recipe is:
- 100% plant-based, vegan
- vegetarian
- dairy-free
- gluten-free
- refined sugar-free
Healthy, Modern Updates to the Japchae Recipe
Traditional versions of japchae treat the dish like a noodle-heavy stir fry that includes sliced beef along with the vegetables and a seasoning sauce that has quite a bit of sugar for sweetness as well as a thick, glossy texture.
This modern recipe makes japchae more of a salad by replacing meat with extra mushrooms and increasing the proportion of vegetables to noodles. Instead of plain sugar as sweetener, there is maple syrup or date sugar and much less of it.
Perhaps the most important update to Spicy Japchae is how it's cooked. In traditional version of japchae, each of the vegetables is individually stir-fried in oil to account for the differing required cooking times. To make Spicy Japchae faster and a little easier, we simply soak the dangmyun noodles in hot water instead of cooking them and sauteing the vegetables all at once rather than in individual batches.
How to Pronounce "Japchae"
Personally, I think "job chae" is a better translation of the Korean characters, because it literally sounds like "job cheh," rhymes with "mob meh." But if you pronounce "jap chae" the way you read it, it might come out as "japp chay" and guess what, it's good enough that we all know what you're trying to say.
By the way, I used to be super self-conscious about pronouncing ANY non-English word Spanish Korean and otherwise and that held me back a lot from learning about cultural cuisines. How stupid was that. Now I go around and do my best, learn, do my next best and keep learning. You should too.
Ingredients You Need for Spicy Japchae
Spicy Japchae ingredients:
- Korean sweet potato starch noodles aka dang-myun, 4 ounces
- Red bell pepper, 1 pepper
- Carrots, 2 large or about 4 ounces
- Cabbage ¼ head or Tuscan kale 4-5 stalks
- Onion, ½ medium onion
- Green onions, 2 stalks
- Mushrooms, about 12 ounces any mix of shiitake, oyster, or maitake
- Avocado oil, 2 tablespoons
Spicy Japchae Sauce Ingredients:
- Tamari or soy sauce, 4 tablespoons
- Gochugaru, 4 tablespoons
- Gochujang, 2 tablespoons
- Maple syrup, 2 tablespoons
- Garlic, 4-5 cloves
- Sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons
- Sesame oil, 1 tablespoon
- Water
What Kind of Noodles Do You Use for Spicy Japchae?
The noodles used for Spicy Japchae are called dang-myun, which are made from sweet potato starch. The noodles start light grayish brown when dried, and cook up translucent similar to cellophane noodles and glass noodles. Dang-myun are, by nature, gluten-free.
Korean markets sell dang myun in the dried noodle/pasta section. This is the organic brand I currently have in my kitchen. This is another organic brand of dang-myun from one of my favorite Korean food brands in general.
If you can't find dang-myun, you can substitute another type of transparent noodles labeled "glass noodles" or "cellophane noodles," as long as they are about the same thickness/width. Anything thread-like noodle will be too thin and fragile to stand up to the stirring with the vegetables.
One quick note: dang-myun noodles for japchae are not the same as naeng-myun noodles. Both look slightly brownish gray when dried and packaged, but dang-myun are made from sweet potato starch and naeng-myun noodles are made from buckwheat.
How to Use Dang-myun Noodles
- Healthy Japchae
- Dak Jjim, Korean Braised Chicken
- Dak Dori Tang, Spicy Braised Chicken
- Galbi Tang, Korean Short Rib Soup
Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources
Tamari or soy sauce. Tamari is Japanese-style soy sauce that has little or no wheat. Therefore, tamari can be gluten-free, though not always. If you eat gluten-free, make sure to read labels. I use this organic gluten-free tamari. This brand is also great, though might be a little harder to find in-store.
Gochugaru: Gochugaru is a bright red Korean chili pepper powder made from a specific variety of Korean chili pepper. Its heat level ranges, but gochugaru is generally considered a medium spicy chili powder. Look for gochugaru that is made from Korean peppers that are sun-dried, and for this recipe specifically, a coarse grind, or flakes, not a fine powder. You can find gochugaru in Korean grocery stores like H-Mart and other Asian grocery stores. I have also seen some independent, new-ish spice companies like this and this at Whole Foods. This organic brand and the one in the photo above, purchased at HMart, are currently what I have in my pantry.
Gochujang. Gochujang is a Korean hot pepper paste made by fermenting chili peppers with rice and/soybeans. This brand is sweetened with tapioca syrup rather than corn syrup, and does not contain wheat in the ingredients, though the label indicates that it's made in a facility that also processes wheat.
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 usually find organic like this one in natural and higher end grocery stores.
Maple Syrup. I use an organic maple syrup that is amber in color. You can substitute any other sweetener of choice or, honey, though the Japchae will no longer be vegan then.
Sesame seeds. Sesame seeds add texture and when toasted, a layer of umami in addition to the toasted sesame oil. You can buy sesame seeds plain or toasted. 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.
Avocado oil. I use this Avocado Oil as my every day neutral-flavored cooking oil. If you don't have avocado oil, use olive oil, though olive oil has quite a distinctive flavor.
All other fresh herbs and produce from either the Santa Monica Farmers' Market on Wednesday, or Whole Foods Market when I can't find what I need at the farmers' market.
Instructions for How to Make Spicy Japchae
Jap Chae is fairly straight-forward to make, though there are a few steps, and doing them in a specific way helps to keep the number of pots and pans you have to use and wash to a minimum.
Prep Japchae Noodles
In a large sauté pan or frying pan with high sides, bring about 6 cups of water to a boil, and cook the noodles until completely translucent and soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn off heat.
Drain noodles then rinse under cold running tap water. Tap strainer to full drain noodles and transfer to mixing bowl. Mix noodles with 1 teaspoon sesame oil to keep the noodles from sticking together.
Prep and Cook Japchae Vegetables
Make Spicy Japchae Sauce: (You can do this while the noodles are boiling.) Combine the sauce ingredients—4 tablespoons soy sauce, 4 tablespoons gochugaru, 2 tablespoons gochujang, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 4-5 minced garlic cloves, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil—in a small bowl.
Prep Vegetables: Slice onions lengthwise ¼-inch wide. Cut green onions into 2-inch pieces. Slice shiitake mushrooms caps and oyster mushrooms into ¼-inch wide strips. Julienne red bell pepper and carrots. Shred cabbage or Tuscan kale.
Sauté Vegetables: Heat 2 tablespoons avocado oil over medium heat. Add onions, green onions, shiitake mushroom caps, and oyster mushrooms and stir fry until the onions are translucent about 2 minutes.
Add red bell peppers, carrots, and cabbage and cook until cooked through but still tender-crisp, about 3 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium-low.
Drain the dang-myun-noodles and add to the pan with the vegetables.
Pour in the spicy sauce, then stir everything until well-coated.
Continue cooking while stirring gently until dang-myun noodles become completely transparent, about 3 minutes.
If the noodles and vegetables become dry, add vegetable broth or water and continue stirring.
Remove Spicy Japchae from heat and into a serving bowl or platter. Garnish with roasted sesame seeds.
Can You Make Spicy Japchae in Advance?
Yes! You can cook this Japchae in advance! You can prepare each of the individual components of Spicy Japchae 1 day in advance, and then combine right before serving.
Cook the recipe as directed, then follow these steps to store in refrigerator for up to two days.
How to Store Prepped or Leftover Japchae
Refrigerator. You can keep leftover or pre-prepped Japchae in air-tight containers in the refrigerator for 2 days. Normally, a cooked vegetable dish can keep a couple of days longer, but cooked spinach has a shorter shelf life.
Freezer. You can freeze Jap Chae for about 2 months. The way that works best for how I maintain my freezer is portioning the Jap Chae 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.
To re-heat Japchae: defrost frozen japchae overnight in the refrigerator then sauté in a little bit of oil over medium heat on the stovetop, adding a few tablespoons of water if the pan dries out.
Ingredient Substitutions and Variations
Here are a few suggested substitutions for some of the slightly harder-to-find ingredients, as well as suggested additions, and variations. I have tried all of these and the family truly does love all of them!
Dried Mushrooms for Fresh. If you want to use dried mushrooms, soak dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Or use any other full flavored mushroom like oyster mushrooms or hen of the woods mushrooms in the same amount.
Kale. Substitute nutrient-dense kale for spinach, or substitute out half the spinach for the health benefits of both kale and spinach in Jap Chae.
Green cabbage or Napa cabbage for the purple cabbage.
No Tamari. Substitute with regular soy sauce.
Best Korean Noodle Dishes
Spicy Japchae, Korean Glass Noodle Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Korean potato starch noodles dangmyeon, 당면
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or other neutral flavored cooking oil
- 2 green onions
- 12 ounces shiitake or oyster mushrooms
- 2 carrots about 3 ounces
- 1 red bell pepper
- ¼ head cabbage, red or green
- 2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds garnish
Spicy Japchae Seasoning Sauce
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons gochugaru
- 2 tablespoons gochujang
- 4-5 cloves garlic grated or very finely minced
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or brown sugar You can use a little less if you want.
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- water as needed for texture
Instructions
- Prep Japchae Noodles: In a large sauté pan or frying pan with high sides, bring about 6 cups of water to a boil, and cook the noodles until translucent and soft, about 6 to 8 minutes. Turn off heat. Using tongs, remove noodles to a colander leaving the water in the sauté pan. Rinse noodles under cold running tap water. Tap strainer to full drain noodles. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and mix noodles with 1 teaspoon sesame oil.
- Make Spicy Sauce: Make the Spicy Japchae Sauce while the noodles are cooking. Combine the sauce ingredients—4 tablespoons soy sauce, 4 tablespoons gochugaru, 2 tablespoons gochujang, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 4-5 minced garlic cloves, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil—in a small bowl.
Cook Japchae Vegetables
- Wipe out sauté pan if necessary. Heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil over medium heat. Add green onions and stir fry until the onions are translucent about 2 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the noodles.
- Drizzle the pan with another 1 tablespoon cooking oil. Add the shredded cabbage and carrots and stir fry until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Do not overcook. Cabbage and carrots taste best when slightly crisp. Transfer cooked cabbage and carrots to the bowl with the noodles.
- Drizzle the pan with another 1 tablespoon cooking oil. Add the mushrooms and cook until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the noodles.
- Pour Spicy Japchae Sauce over noodles and vegetables. Mix to combine. You can use tongs, but hands are actually the best "tool" to really evenly distribute all the vegetables and sauce. Taste and adjust with additional soy sauce if needed.
- Garnish with roasted sesame seeds.
Notes
Nutrition
Food for Afterthought
Unemployment has been a welcome break.
However, when you remain unemployed for longer than a few weeks, a strange physical phenomenon occurs. You become complacent, content with the check that comes in the mail that is but a mere fraction of what you used to receive, but is still enough to survive. Financial complacency then bleeds into the rest of your life, wreaking havoc all over your apartment, your desk, and most noticeably, yourself.
Your appearance goes through an evolution, and though the changes are gradual from one day to the next, when you look at yourself in the mirror today and compare the reflection to a photograph of yourself six months ago, there is absolutely no resemblance. Who was once a trim, energetic, outgoing, radiant beauty standing confidently tall in all her five feet and six inches (in heels) is now an unshowered mess of flabby cellulite hiding under a rumpled, crumpled mess of unlaundered sweats, permanently hunched over from sequential marathon three-day sessions at her laptop. Glowing? If the bright blue glow from the computer screen at 2 am reflecting off of pallid, ashen skin that hasn’t seen the light of the sun is glowing, then yes.
Helter Shelter
Such is what happens to a foodblogging hermitess who rarely, if ever, sees the light of day. My mind has has denatured and sloppily folded back into itself, my body has withered into a weak and flimsy ragdoll, and my skin has faded to a deathly pale. At least, that’s what happens to an extraordinarily unemployed food blogger, I, she who rolls out of bed at noon and makes coffee in the darkness of my apartment that is shuttered by vertical blinds that are thick with dust because they have been motionless for days.
Then at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, I may actually brush my teeth because I have to go down to the mailbox and sift through my junk mail for that one envelope from the EDD, and I might be forced to spend 39 seconds in the small cubic volume space of the rear building elevator with a neighbor, which I might secretly look forward to because it might be my only chance to actually use my vocal chords and speak to another human being. Might. Sometimes I don’t step foot outside my apartment. Human beings sheltered from all outside contact? From sunlight? It’s scary. I should get out more.
Porcelain or Pasty
But protection from the elements, shelter from environmental disturbances, solitary habitation is a beautiful thing if you are...a garlic chive. It is pampering, luxurious coddling, indulgence, a quiet Asian Zen. Your dark green blades are trimmed down to the soil-level, then lovingly protected from the glaring, burning rays of the white hot sun with perhaps some straw if its rustic, or maybe a homemade lean-to. In fact, the gardener may go all out for you and grow you in a darkened greenhouse from the get-go. For without sunlight, for without setting root under the powerful UV rays of the Death Star, you will most certainly grow with water, fertilizers, and gentle, encouraging nurturing by your gardener, but you will be thin, flexible, lithe, and fair.
And where I am a perfectly pathetic example of how unemployment drains all color, saps all energy and reduces to a lethargic lump, the yellow chive is a pristine balance of pure white and pale, pale yellow, bathed in slippery, shimmering oil and like willowy strips of silk and satin, gracefully somersaulting over its faintly garlic self in a fragrant dish.
Where the Son Don't Shine
Garlic chives are slightly different from the oniony regular dark green chives that we finely chop and add to a baked potato, or God forbid associate, along with sour cream, as a potato chip flavor. Okay, that was hypocritically underhanded, since I love sour cream and chive potato chips. Garlic chives have a flatter blade, like grass, and rather than having an onion flavor, they taste like bacon. Are you paying attention?!??! Of course they have a garlic flavor, that’s why they’re called "garlic" chives!
(Apparently, becoming a food blogging hermit also turns one into a sarcastic, funny-only-to-self bitch).
These yellow chives are something relatively new in The Delicious Life. My brother in law James introduced my family to them only recently, and since then, we can’t seem to get enough of them. When we go to Chinese restaurants, yellow chives are now part of our standard “rotation” – beef or pork stir-fried with yellow chives, which, when they are on the table, even steal my attention away from one of my ATFs, deep-fried tofu. We haven’t yet cooked with yellow chives, as they are somewhat difficult to find at local farmers markets, and I don’t think any of us would actually know what to do with them.
But perhaps I’ll venture to the market this Spring with a freshly cashed check from the EDD, ask one of the farmers for a job, then come back and home and play with my garlic chives.
JoAnna says
You could always "apply" for a job with me, and I could turn you down on a regular basis. :-) I hear that the trick is to apply for jobs that you are way underqualified for, and create a paper trail. Good luck!
JoAnna says
You could always "apply" for a job with me, and I could turn you down on a regular basis. :-) I hear that the trick is to apply for jobs that you are way underqualified for, and create a paper trail. Good luck!
sarah says
joanna: awww...that's sweet! but i might actually want to work with you! getting paid to cook? what a dream!
Catherine says
awww sarah, sorry to hear about the U.E. situation. i remember filing for unemployment right after college - LOL - i kid you not. it was a bad job with an even worse crack-head employer - and when i say crack-head i'm not kidding. i recently found out he lives just across the street from me and a neighbor of my hairdresser so i hear all sorts of (hillarious) horror stories! yikes! anyway, i managed to collect EDD without a single face-to-face interview. i can't remember how, but if there's a will there's a way. :p
Maure says
sarah, i feel your pain. i too was recently diagnosed with EDD. so misunderstood and so confusing.
i choose to go against conventional wisdom and went with an alternative approach to my
"problem": watching plenty of daytime tv (molto mario & blind date on at the same time - why?!?),
following the nasdaq quotes like a soap opera, and of course, long coffee breaks at the internet cafe thinking of how my new food blog:
The Desultory Life - may lead me to
become the next food network star!
Anonymous says
Hey Sara - hang in there but beware of the EDD checks running out. I am not up to date with the current law but I believe there is a 12 week limit on federal unemployement checks (there may be a current extension in place but check it out). The last and only time I was unemployed back in 2002 my EDD benefits actually ran out before I got another job. Big bummer. One thing when you are unemployed you definately get more creative on the cooking front. Try all those recipes you have been meaning to make because you will never have time again when you start punching the clock. Good luck.
sarah says
cat: it really isn't all that bad. it's just another thing that lets me do what i do best: whine. LOL! yes, hopefully someday soon, i will write my cookbook about being a korean-american with no seoul, and then i will be rich and famous and of course, will invite all the blog readers to the fabulous book-signing parties :)
maure: funny, i always have the foodnetwork or travel channel ON, but i never really pay attention unless it's one of my favorites (mario is one of them, btw).
anonymous: yeah, actually, i think unemployment checks go for 12 months. can you believe that? but then again, i think the amount of each check is reeeeeally small. just barely enough to let me buy ingredients :)
Anonymous says
Hi Sarah - me again - the detail freak. State of CA UI max benefit up to 26 weeks. Federal UI can extended up to 13 weeks. Hey at least you are getting $450 a week back in 2002 I only got $300 max per week. Happy blogging.
Xiao-bo says
Sarah, your description of unemployment made me think of this great short story by Thom Jones, called "Mouses," which is about an unemployed engineer who begins doing loony experiments on rodents to amuse himself. It might be depressing in your situation, but it's also really funny and offers hope at the end, so maybe you should check it out if you haven't read it. It's in the collection "Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine."
In the meantime, your food-blogging continues to be awesome. Mmmm...garlic chives...
hermz says
Who was once a trim, energetic, outgoing, radiant beauty standing confidently tall in all her five feet and six inches (in heels)... Who is this goddess? I must meet her.
Sven says
Good Job! :)
Sven says
Good Job! :)
oOGiOo says
Well said~
Muriel Blumberg says
Thanks for sharing this information.