Hot pepper paste

Korean cooking ingredients:

Korean: 고추장
Romanized Korean: gochujang
Wikipedia entry for this ingredient

Posted Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

35 Responses to “Hot pepper paste”:

Anonymous:

Wow. Thanks for all of the pictures. Does it have to be these brands or could they be other brands?
March 1st, 2008 at 12:56 am
maangchi:

Hi,
You could use other brands.
Thanks, you are the first commenter here. : ) I made
this ingredient blog for those who have no idea what the ingredients look like. I went to my favorite grocery store and took all these pictures.
March 1st, 2008 at 7:38 am
Anonymous:

Hello! Is the hot pepper paste the same as the powder you use in your Kimchi video? Or are those two different ingredients?
March 5th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
maangchi:

hi,confused, : )
Yes, hot pepper flakes and hot pepper paste are different.
You need hot pepper flakes or powder to make kimchi. NO hot pepper paste.
Check it out my ingredient blog to find out the difference between those 2 ingredients.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Anonymous:

Hi maangchi,
can i use the hot pepper paste to cook the spicy tofu soup? Will it taste the same?
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:04 am
Maangchi:

Hi, anonymous,
Yes, you can add hot pepper paste in doenjang jjigae. But don’t forget to use bean paste (doen jang).
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:05 am
Anonymous:

Hi Maangchi, this red pepper paste package is red and the soybean paste is brown. I bought the green one and understand it’s a mix of the two paste, am I correct? Is it true that it’s unnecessary to buy this green one as one can just mix the above two paste together? I actually don’t know how to use it or what to cook it with, will u teach me please.

ruth
April 29th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Maangchi:

Ruth,
Yes, the green container must be mixture of hotpepper paste and bean paste. Did you see my grilled beef video? I think I made it there. Check out the video, and you will see how I eat it and make it. Oh, it’s called “ssam jang”. Of course making your own ssam jang is better and its taste is much better than the green container.
April 29th, 2008 at 5:25 am
Anonymous:

Thanks, I checked out the recipe again just now.

ruth
April 29th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
sourapril:

do you have to refrigerate it after you open the box? how long does it keep? thanks!
June 10th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Maangchi:

sourapril,
Yes, you can keep hot pepper paste for months until it’s gone in the refrigerator.
June 10th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Anonymous:

I’m in Malaysia, I don’t think hot pepper paste is available here, what’s the ingredient inside, can I make the paste by myself? Any other solutions?

Regards,
Sue
July 16th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Maangchi:

Sue,
I’m sorry to hear that you can’t find a korean grocery near you. If you are living in a big city, I’m sure you will find it though. I know many koreans are living in Malaysia. How about hot pepper flakes? I think it’s also not available if hot pepper paste is not available there. All I can say is that you should check out some Korean communities and ask them about this ingredient. You must feel frustrated and I’m sorry I can’t give you any good solution at the moment.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Anonymous:

hi!
my name is luke, im so happy to see your website, its very informative and delicious could you please post a video on how to make gochujang and doenjang paste thanks and happy cooking! take care! :)
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
Maangchi:

luke,
Sorry, I can’t show you how to make hot pepper paste and bean paste for some reasons. First of all I don’t have tools such as a huge earthen pot and other ingredients here in New York, and I don’t have space for the pot and don’t have time to check on it everyday for 1 month. To make bean paste, it takes months and months.
However, I will keep it in mind.

Check this out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doenjang

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gochujang
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Luthien:

Dear Maangchi
This is to help Sue who posted her message on July 16th, 2008 at 2:40 am.

In Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, there is a Korean town where one can find lots of Korean food products. Directions to get there can be found here: http://k-popped.com/2008/02/k-popped-visits-koreatown-malaysia.html

Or Sue can email me at iguana565@yahoo.com for further questions.

Thanks
Luthien
August 13th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Maangchi:

Luthien
oh, it’s very nice of you! I hope Sue is reading this! Thank you very much!
August 13th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Tami:

Hi hi..i’m from Malaysia. I wanna ask if i can replace this with chilli paste? Will it taste the same? OMG I’m gonna make kimchi soup tmr using ur recipe!! Wish me luck!
August 14th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Maangchi:

Tami,
I don’t think so, Tami. Chili paste is different from hot pepper paste. Hot pepper paste is sold at a Korean grocery store.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Noir:

Hi Maangchi,

I’m a malaysia. Love your blog very much. Its very helpful in my korean cooking. And i would say hot pepper paste is the best ingredient in Korean cooking. Way up. Do blog more about Korean cooking.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:07 am
lisa:

I have already used the gochujang instead of red pepper powder in my kimchi making.is that edible?
September 7th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Maangchi:

lisa,
Of course it’s edible. But next time you make your kimchi, use hot pepper flakes.
Send me the photo of your next kimchi so that I won’t be worried about your kimchi making. : ) I will post your kimchi photo on my website.
September 7th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Anonymous:

hi.how are you. can i make“Hot pepper paste (gochujang)” and how to make? please tell me.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Laura:

I had Gochujang before and because I use it rarely, when I put it in refrigerator it became hard and I couldn’t eat it anymore. It okay if I don’t store it in refrigerator?
September 19th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Maangchi:

Laura,
Why don’t you ask this question in Forum on my website? I am interested in learning about it from a food expert. I always keep my hot pepper paste in the refrigerator after opening it.
September 19th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Molly:

Hi! Sometimes I have side dishes in Korean restaurants which I expect to be spicy because they have chili flakes or chili paste in them, but they aren’t spicy at all. Are there different types of chili paste and flakes that aren’t hot? Or are they using red pepper flakes instead?
September 25th, 2008 at 3:27 am
Maangchi:

I think they use red bell pepper instead of red chilly pepper for those who can’t tolerate hot spicy taste.
September 25th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Judy:

Um.. does it matter if I bought fermented chili paste? i couldnt afford the regular one.. and i bought a cheaper one thats fermented…. is it ok to use that in the kimchi soup?
October 11th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Maangchi:

Judy,
I don’t know about the fermented chili paste. This Korean hot pepper paste is also fermented. You can ask the question on the forum on my website here. Someone else may give you good answer.
October 12th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Stephanie:

Hi!! I must say firstly that I absolutely love all that you are sharing on your website! I have recently bought a box of red papper paste and soy bean paste because i went to a korean grocery store and just had to buy it since it is so common in korean cooking and i love korean food! I made kimchi chigae a few days ago but was wondering what other dishes i can use these two pastes for? (sorry if you’ve already mentioned it, as i am new to your site)
THANKS!
November 11th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Maangchi:

Hot pepper paste and soybean paste are used in many Korean dishes, you can find them by searching my website. A lot of people ask me where they can use these ingredients, I think I will make some links from ingredients to recipes soon.

Thanks for your interest in my recipes!
November 11th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Fang:

Hi Maangchi, i have so many questions for you.it’s all about the sauce.first, is gochujang for most of the spicy dishes, is it the sauce for pibimbap too??? is doenjang spicy, i want to make doenjang chi gae, and what other sauce i have to put besides doejang? when i was in Korea, i ate the steam broclies with a dipping sauce,it is little spicy/sweet, what kind of sauce is it? also there is a sauce usually come with the side dieshes when i eat the BBQ pork, i don’t know if it’s the same.
thanks so much, i love your videos! hope you understand what i’m talking about
December 6th, 2008 at 6:20 am
Maangchi:

Fang,

gochujang (hot pepper paste) is used for bibimbap.

Doenjang (soy bean paste) is not spicy. If you like to make spicy doenjangjjigae, add some hot pepper paste to your jjigae.

The sauce you had for broccoli sounds like “chojang”
check out my hwedupbap recipe. I posted the recipe for chojang.
http://www.maangchi.com/recipes/hwedupbap

The sauce for bbp pork must be ssamjang. Check out my grilled beef recipe video. I’m demonstrating how to eat it. And also I posted ssamjang recipe there.
http://www.maangchi.com/recipes/grilled-beef

thank you very much!
December 6th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
emily:

hey maangchi today i brought gochujang the box sayx sunchang gochujang is it the same which you use?
December 21st, 2008 at 9:17 am
Maangchi:

emily,
I use either sunchang or haechandeul.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:37 am

Search:

Maangchi on twitter:

Follow me on twitter

Recent discussions:

Where do you buy your Korean ingredients?
last post by Maangchi
Where to buy traditional korean kitchen utensil online?
last post by hliew0
Eun dae gu jjorim
last post by dharmachic
동치미 recipe
last post by Maangchi
go to forum...

These are photos sent to me by readers who cooked my recipes. Send me a photo of the food you make and I will put it here. You can see more photos on my photos page.