I’m so excited to share this simple and nutritious soup with you today! Soybean paste soup with napa cabbage (baechu-doenjangguk), a favorite of all Koreans. It’s warm, hearty, savory, filling, healthy, made with doenjang (fermented soybean paste), and inexpensive and easy to make. It’s a staple of Korean life and diet. If you ever meet a Korean who doesn’t like baechu-doenjangguk, be sure to let me know because it’s pretty much impossible.
There are many types of soybean paste soup (doenjangguk) in Korean cuisine. A typical Korean meal consists of rice accompanied by soup and various side dishes, such as kimchi, and doenjangguk is a common soup to make. And this soup is the king of doenjangguk!
The traditional way to make baechu-doenjangguk is to make the soup broth with the water from washing rice (called tteumul: 뜨물 in Korean) instead of just plain water. This makes the broth a little milky. I used to watch my grandmother making it this way: every morning she made a huge amount of rice to feed her family. When she washed, rubbed, and rinsed her rice grains, she got tteumul. Then when she made doenjangguk, she used that milky rice water in her pot. We can do the same thing in this recipe, on a smaller scale. However if you don’t want to make rice for this you can just use plain water, and then mix in around 2 tablespoons of flour to make it thicker and milky.
As I mention in the video, I used to live next to an early morning one-woman restaurant where the only dish she served was baechu-doenjangguk and makgeolli (Korean rice liquor)! She made this soup exactly the same way I’m showing you here. The only thing she added that I skip is MSG. : ) Instead of MSG, I use more dried anchovies. Whenever I have this soup I think of her and miss her a little. We lost connection a long time ago when my family moved.
I hope you enjoy this soup. Make it for your friends and family, with some rice and side dishes, and enjoy it together!
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 2 pounds of napa cabbage with the leaves split
- 10 large dried anchovies, heads and guts removed
- ¼ cup doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste)
- 1 or 2 green chili peppers, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 7 cups of tteumul (or water with 2 tbs flour)
- 1-2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste) (optional, if you want it more spicy)
Directions
Collect tteumul (water from washing rice)
- Place some rice (at least 3 cups) in a washing bowl and cover it with cold water, stirring the rice carefully.
- Tilt the bowl and slowly pour out the water, ensuring not to lose any rice (alternatively, drain the rice through a strainer and return it to the bowl). Repeat this process once more.
- Swish the wet rice around in the bowl with one hand, then fill the bowl with about 7 cups of cold water. Pour the white rice water into a separate bowl to collect it. Measure 7 cups for your baechu-doenjangguk and set it aside.
How about the rinsed, damp rice?
Make fluffy white rice with it, of course! It’s already rinsed and ready, so you can use a rice cooker or make rice on the stove. It will go well with this soup.
Prepare the cabbage
- Place the anchovies in a soup strainer or wrap them in cheesecloth. Set aside.
- Blanch the cabbage in a large pot for 1 minute, stirring with a wooden spoon.
- Strain and rinse the cabbage in cold running water in a large bowl, changing the water a few times until very clean. Drain and gently squeeze out excess water.
- Chop the cabbage into small pieces and transfer to a large pot.
Make soup!
- Add doenjang, green chili pepper, and garlic to the cabbage, mixing well by hand. Add the strainer of anchovies.
- Add the tteumul (rice wash water) and cover. Cook for 15 minutes over medium-high heat.
- Stir the soup with a ladle, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for additional 15 minutes. If you want a spicy version of this soup, you can add 1 or 2 tablespoons of gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste), depending on your taste.
- Remove the anchovy strainer and serve the soup with rice, kimchi, and more side dishes!
Enjoy your hearty and healthy baechu-doenjangguk!
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
I love this soup, it’s simple and tasty.
I replaced the anchovies with dried shiitake mushrooms and kelp/dashima and it turned out fine.
I get cravings for baechu doenjang guk on a regular basis in winter, so today I made some for the second time this week.
Yum :)
I want to make this using potato. Should I skip the blanching and mix the raw potatoes with the soybean paste and flour?
yes, you don’t have to blanch potatoes and skip flour.
will regular cabbage work too? I can’t get Nappa cabbage where I live. I was also wondering if I can make kimchi with regular cabbage. I don’t live in the city anymore and the closest korean market is a 3 hour drive!
This soup is a great, fast dinner. I skipped the blanching step and just added all but the water to the pot, mixed it up and then added the water. It came out so well. Went great with the Dubu buchim yangnyumjang and some steamed black rice. If I ever get sick again (I rarely do) this is going to be my recovery food! Only used about 1/3 green chili and it was just the right amount of heat. Those things sure do pack a punch! But the heat has a great crescendo and then is muted a little, unlike oilier chilies which hang in your mouth forever. My first time using the green chili and I am a fan :D
It sounds like you are busy Korean cooking these days!
looks very delicious..but i was wondering what the purpose of the anchovies were? can you just do soybean paste and cabbage or do you have to use the garlic, pepper , and anchovies too?
Dried anchovies make good stock.
ya it was Dae Jang Geum love it
I love this recipe! We love all your recipes though, you are so great to have this site too. I made this for the first time tonight and it was delicious. I subtracted anchovies because I only had the very small ones and my boyfriend won’t eat them whole ( I added a couple to my bowl while the soup was still very hot ;) To make it a complete meal we added scallops and shrimp and to make it more spicy, some kimchi and kimchi juice, plus extra pepper. It was soo delicious! Thanks again for your instruction and great advice.
Any substitute for Anchovies?
You can use beef or chicken broth.
Just made this for lunch today. So simple yet delicious! You’re recipes are great Maangchi! Thanks so much.
This soup is a regular staple dish for our household—I make it regularly as I love cabbage. I add jalepeno or hot pepper flakes to make it spicy or most of the time it’s eaten just the way the recipes calls. ummmmmm!
“I make it regularly as I love cabbage…” yes, baechu doenjangguk is very popular in Korea.
Hmmm this soup is sooo good!
We’re living in a household of only 3 persons so it would be hard to find use for a whole cabbage; therefore I like using some freshly made kimchi that’s only a few days old and not sour at all. It makes the soup a little spicy gives a really good flavour especially on such cold winter days. :)
Also, whenever I make sujebi, I always make three or four times the amount of noodle dough I need. Then I roll it into flat circles (about the size of a small pizza) and freeze them so whenever I feel like making it, I just take them out of the freezer and within a few minutes, I can cut it or tear it right into soup. I love adding these noodles to the baechu doenjang guk as well. :)
awesome tips!
Loving the Dae Jang Geum music <3
oh yeah.. i wanted to add – I love what you wrote for this entry about your childhood days & your neighbour.It’s interesting to know what the locals eat. I assume that was back in Korea?
Hi Emily,
I tried your recipe for this awesome soup – baechu doenjang guk, and it’s awesome! It’s so easy yet the taste is just like what I taste in Korean restaurants. I’m looking forward to make Doenjang jjigae tonite!
Thanks! ;)
Hi, what’s name of the song?? thx
PS thx a lot. now i can survive in miserable grey England wit korean food. : D
Hi Miserable! : )
It is ‘Onara’ (theme from ‘Dae Jang Geum’) The music in my videos is always posted at the top of the recipe page.
woah im a pro of this dish,,before mt dwenjang che gea is always a mess not until i saw this site,,thanks Maangchi for always making ur recipe fun and simple,,,i didnt use flour by the way i use tofu instead .oh speaking of tofu the pan fry tofu with special sauce is so amazing im like eating it everyday for a week now..im gonna cook it when i get home this holiday…Happy pepero Day..
Thank you for your update!
Hi Maangchi
Thank you so much for all your recipes!! I’ve tried many and all came out delicious :)
This recipe reminds me of the doenjang guk my mom used to make us but with potatoes and onion,
I always finished it till the last drop! I saw the doenjang in the fridge today and it made me crave it, so like all the other times I’m craving to make some Korean food I looked on your website for the recipe. And subbed the cabbage
for some potatoes and onion. It was delicious, my husband and 3 yr old son loved it also!!
Thank you so much for your wonderful website of authentic and delicious Korean recipes!!
Hannah :)
Hannah,
I’m so happy to hear that your family especially your 3 year old son loves the soup! He will always remember your food when he grows up. Yes, I sometimes make doenjangguk with potato and onion. It’s yummy and very authentic style of soup.
Cheers!
Dear Maangchi, I sucessfully make this soup and I put this recipe in my weekly meal for my husband. By the way, I didn’t use the head of dried anchovy, I just save them for other usage. After throwing the gut I cut the dried anchovy like what you did in the recipe of Stew tofu, so that it doesn’t waste, we eat everything in one goal.Is that okay ??
I’m a nutritionist, doing research on the korean food, hope to learn more from you. Thanks.
great! This soup is eaten by Koreans on regular basis. It’s healthful and delicious soup. “we eat everything in one goal.Is that okay..” yes, of course! “I didn’t use the head of dried anchovy, I just save them for other usage.” great! You can use a strainer with them to make good stock for later use. https://www.maangchi.com/kitchenware/tea-strainer
Hey, Maangchi, I would really like to make the soup today, but I don’t have anchovies. Can I just make the soup without them ?? If not with what should I replace them ?? Oh, and can I just put some hot pepper paste instead of green chili pepper ??
hmm, dried anchovies make this soup delicious. How about using vegetable stock, chicken stock, or beef stock? Yes, add hot pepper paste to the soup, it will be delicious.
Hi Maangchi! I absolutely love your site! I was wondering for this dish, is there a vegetarian alternative to the anchovies? I wasn’t sure if kelp would give it a bit of “seafood flavour”….will appreciate any ideas!
I actually first made this last winter and it was so delicious! I don’t know why I didn’t leave a comment on here. I suddenly got a craving for this, so I went out today to buy the ingredients. I’m so excited to eat this again! Thanks, Maangchi, for sharing a wonderful and healthy recipe!
yes, this soup is very popular among Koreans. “I suddenly got a craving for this..” oh yeah? : )
this is my 2 year old daughter’s favorite food. my mom used to make it for her pretty often when we lived with her. now I know how to make it for her! I omitted the baechu and put instead 1 pkg of firm tofu cut into cubes and 1/3 of a stalk of muu sliced and cut in half, since my daughter also happens to love muu and tofu :) it was a hit! i tried eating the anchovies but they were too fishy for me so i’m going to use the strainer ball next time. thank you so much maangchu!! i can’t wait to try more of your recipes. next up is soondooboo chigae!!
“I omitted the baechu and put instead 1 pkg of firm tofu cut into cubes and 1/3 of a stalk of muu sliced and cut in half, since my daughter also happens to love muu and tofu :) it was a hit”
You are proving some recipes can be modified to your taste. Wonderful variation!
I live in Seoul and my son attends daycare here. He eats this soup at daycare all the time. Sometimes at home he only wants to eat Korean Food (even though his daddy and I are both American)! So I am really glad I found this recipe to cook for my son – thank you so much for posting it!
“Sometimes at home he only wants to eat Korean Food (even though his daddy and I are both American)! ..”
Aww! so cute! : )
Wow, this soup was easy and very delicious! Thank you, Maangchi, your recipes are amazing =D
great news!
your dried anchovies seem different thn mine.. did u do something to them before putting it in the tea strainer n taking the guts out..and if so are u supposed to do it to ever dish with dried anchovies??
Thanku sooo much i totally love korean food now i eat my container kimichi when i watch my korean dramas/movies lol
To make delicious anchovy stock, you will need right dried anchovies.
https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/dried-anchovies-myulchi
Check the recipe step 4!
… 10 large dried anchovies (after removing heads and guts)..
Good luck with making delicious baechu doenjangguk! : )
I made this yesterday and it was Awesome! The napa cabbage at the store was old and nasty so I used savoy instead. It came out great anyway. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
Thank you for your update! Good news!
Im really having a HARD time finding the Green Chili Pepper and the tea strainer for the dried anchovies(hve the dried anchovies though).. is their anythin i can substitute to make the dish? I went to Toronto no luck finding it…HELP ME lol plz..
No problem!
Use jalapeño instead of green chili pepper. Put the anchovies into the soup and take them out before serving. (Some friends of mine eat the cooked dried anchovies from the soup! lots of calcium! ^^) Or tie them up in cheesecloth before boiling in the soup.
Wow. I just found this recipe today and knew my Korean husband would love it (he has loved 99% of the things I’ve cooked from your site). His reaction to the first spoonful? MMMMMMMM! You can make this every day! You can freeze it and save it for later! He was so excited to have this soup. We had it with 멸치볶음 myulchi bokkeum, 대구전 / Daegujeon (for me, I don’t like mackerel), broiled mackerel and some other side dishes (bellflower root, seaseoned dried seaweed, 깍두기 kaktugi kimchi – your recipe!). My daughter (9) loves your myulchi bokkeum so much, I have to have it at the table for every meal! :-P (Today she made it herself.) THANK YOU, MAANGCHI!
I’m so happy to hear about your successful Korean cooking! I can imagine your dinner table where your whole family is eating delicious Korean meal!
Hey…me again..I found a link to some photos someone took and it happens to be that restaurant…..they said it was sundubu guksu. This is the link so you can see what it looks like…I guess they gave me a smaller portion to go with my noodles.
http://picasaweb.google.com/tataAbed/090910SunDuBuGukSu?feat=embedwebsite#
Darlene
Hi, Darlene,
I have never tasted and made it, but I think it will be very easy to make! : ) Make some noodle soup and add some soondubu! I will post my noodle soup recipe someday. Check my sujebi recipe. You may have an idea of making this soondubu noodle soup then.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sujebi
Thanks for the response. I looked at the sujebi recipe and I think I can make the soondubu guksu pretty easily. Off to the E-Mart for supplies this weekend. When I try it I will let you know! Thanks for pointing towards a recipe to start with.
Darlene
Hi Maangchi,
I was in a noodle shop yesterday and had bibim guksu. i wanted to ask you about the soup they served with it and how you think I could make it. It was a clear fish based broth with gim and korean chili peppers in it with chunks of tofu. I loved it! Any ideas on how I could come up with it or what the name of that soup would be? It was a Myeongdong Noodle Story pace. It has a picture of a korean halmoni on the logo. The soup was spicy and delicious. My korean is very limited so I had no way to ask the ladies that work there.
Thanks for any help.
Darlene
Hi Maangchi,
I have a lot of lettuce leftover from a previous meal, and was wondering if I could substitute that for the cabbage.
Would the dish taste weird?
Thanks!!
yeah, it sounds strange to me because I’m not accustomed to doenjangguk made with lettuce instead of baechu (napa cabbage).
But you can try it out. Why not?
I’m enjoying your recipes and will try making this tonight — it’s like watching my mother-in-law cook! I wanted to ask, why do you blanch the baechu first before adding all the other ingredients instead of using it raw?
to make the cabbage softer so that the soup will be more delicious.
I tried to buy soybean paste, but I think I bought the wrong one ><
The one that I bought looks like this
http://cfs4.tistory.com/upload_control/download.blog?fhandle=YmxvZzg4ODAwQGZzNC50aXN0b3J5LmNvbTovYXR0YWNoLzAvMjAwMDAwMDAwMDAwLkpQRw%3D%3D
Can I use this one, or will it turn out weird?
Thank you~~
oh, you bought ssamjang(dipping sauce)
The recipe is posted here:
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/samgyeopsal-gui
You could use ssamjang for this soup. It won’t be weird taste!
But someday when you get soybean paste, try it out. You can compare the taste difference.
Happy cooking!
Thank you~~~
I am going to try and make this tomorrow then :D
I made this again today, this time I added one potato cut up and some tofu cubes. Very yummy for a cold day.
The flour is the secret to a rich broth.
aww you are a smart cook! : ) Happy New Year!
Hi,
I love your recipe :D It’s really tasty! Do you think it would be possible to substitue Anchovies for small dried shrimp instead?
Thankyou Maangchi!
I think so, why not?
Thank you for the excellent recipes and the broadening my knowledge of your culture. In making this soup is there something I can substitute for the anchovy. I have a seafood allergy. Thanks for your reply
William
hmm, why don’t you skip dried anchovies and use shiitake mushrooms (2 or 3) and onion (about 1 cup amount sliced onion) in this recipe?
I think it will be good. Let me know how it turns out!
Hi Maangchi!
Sorry to trouble you, but is it possible to list down the ingredients in the fermented soy bean paste? Those that are available in Singapore are all in Korean and I do not understand the words. As I have some food allergies, hence I would need to know what are used in the paste. Thank you!
anything that says 된장 should be okay. most likely the store will carry this product – http://www.smart.co.kr/shopimages/plusrich/0760020000172.jpg and all soy bean paste is in a brown plastic container so if its brown plastic, then u should be buying the right stuff!
Why don’t you ask the shop owner? They should be able to give you accurate allergy information.
What are your allergies? I heard that sometimes ground anchovies and wheat flour is added as additive (check wikipedia for more information).