Bugeoguk is a delicious, savory, satisfying soup made with dried pollock. The best dried pollock is dried by the wind from the sea, which is called Hwangtae (황태). The fish are caught in the cold wintertime and hung out to dry. The fish dries out in the brisk ocean breeze and as the temperatures change from daytime to nighttime they freeze and thaw out the fish over and over. When it’s finally fully dried it has a unique texture that’s both flaky and spongy.
We use this fish in many dishes, but among all the recipes made with dried pollock, this soup is the most common and eaten in Koreans’ everyday meals. It’s considered to be a soup with a lot of health benefits that can boost your energy, is anti-toxic, anti-diabetes, anti-cancer, can beat high cholesterol and cure your hangover.
If you make this soup early in the morning for your husband or wife who is suffering from a severe hangover, you will get lots of credit.
“Hey, here’s some soup for you! Have some and be yourself again, for God’s sake!”
Ingredients (for 2 servings)
- 2 ounces (60 grams) shredded dried pollock
- 8 ounces peeled Korean radish or daikon, sliced thinly into bite size pieces
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (or salt to your taste)
- 5 ounces of medium firm tofu (about 1 cup), cut into ½ inch cubes
- 2 green onions, cut diagonally into bite size pieces
- 2 eggs, beaten
Directions
- Tear each strip of pollock into thin pieces about 2½ inches long, by hand.
- Heat up a heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat. Add the pollock and toasted sesame oil and stir 2 to 3 minutes with a wooden spoon until the pollock turns light brown and fragrant.
- Add 6 cups water, radish, and garlic. Cover and cook for 15 to 17 minutes over medium high heat until the radish turns translucent.
- Stir in fish sauce and taste the soup. Add a little bit salt to your taste if you like. Add the tofu and green onion and gently pour the beaten egg into the boiling soup. Pour the egg all over the soup but don’t mix in in. Let it cook on top so we get strands and chunks of cooked egg.
- Cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until the egg is cooked.
- Remove from the heat and stir. Ladle soup into serving bowls and serve right away with rice, kimchi, and more side dishes if you desire.
Buy this recipe's ingredients online
I really like Weee! they deliver quality packaged and fresh Korean ingredients to the continental USA. Cheaper and better than Amazon! Check them out!
I know this is MANY years later, but, I based my soup off of your recipe… just tweaked it a smidge!
I used pollock I bought frozen, thawed, and dried myself in my oven over the course of a day… And then while I was cooking the pollock in sesame oil I added white onions, the minced garlic, and red pepper flakes alongside some ginger to cook together in the oil. Then, I used half of a chicken bouillon cube to make up for the fact I accidentally didn’t have enough pollock. I used cold, leftover rice as a side because it’s been over 100 Fahrenheit here and the cold rice made the soup cold with each bite so it was cool AND refreshing with a little hint of heat. Thank you so much for this!!!
Despite the hot weather, your effort to make this dried pollock soup really shows your passion for cooking! No matter how you made it, the broth looks milky and delicious. Next time, if you get a chance to find dried pollock, try following the recipe and compare the taste! https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/dried-shredded-pollock
Could I use dried powder pollock if I’m unsure about if I’ll like the texture of dried fish, or will it lose the health benifits?
Its nice to meet you Maangchi!
I got an asthma, do you have any suggestion which korean soups that suitable to cure asthma? or do you have tips to cure asthma?
I want to make 4 servings of this soup. Do I just double all of the ingredients and water amount? Thank you!
Yes, you can double all of the ingredients and cook longer until the radish turns translucent and cooked nicely. Good luck!
Hello Maangchi !
I thought at the beginning of the video I heard you say you were going to add the dried fish pieces when you make anchovy kelp stock. Dried anchovies with water and radish, and boil with dried kelp. Then add fish and make the broth really tasty. Where can I find this stock that you make? Thank you !
I didn’t make an individual recipe for anchovy kelp stock. It will be in my cookbook coming this October. Check out my soup recipes, then you will be able to find how I make anchovy kelp stock in some recipes. For example, I am showing how to to make anchovy kelp stock in fish cake soup (eomukguk). https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/eomukguk It’s delicious by itself but if you add dried pollock’s skin and head stuff to it, it will be more delicious.
Does leftover dried pollock soup reheat well?
Yes, you can refrigerate up to 3 days. Just reheat before serving.
Now I have a reason to go to H-Mart or Paldo World, to get dried pollack! Yum! Thank you Maangchi!
Hi Maangchi! I tried making this recipe, but the soup was rather bland for me. Is there a spicy version of this soup?
You can add hot pepper flakes right before serving if you want. This soup is usually eaten non-spicy version. If it’s too bland, add more dried pollock.
Aslo if you could include the calories from fat (not the calorie count, just the calories from fat) I would appreciate that! Love this site!!!
How much does this dish cost to make? I would really appreciate the prices being included in the information :)
Aloha 이모,
If I substituted dried pollock with raw instead how would the soup differ?
You need dried pollock to make bug-eo-guk. Fresh pollock has a different recipe. I will post it someday.
Aloha 이모,
If I don’t have dried pollock but raw instead, how would the taste of the soup differ if I cooked it the the same way?
Thank you maangchi! i love all your recipe!
Already done make this recipe!
it turns out really well!
i want to show you the picture if i can! LOL
I amazed with the taste of the dried pollock after taste this soup…what a chewy and tasty dried fish! i love it, only 1 problem that i have…i make the portion too much for one person!
:( so i can’t finish it all…although i already reduce the amout of the water
and i also i used salt instead the fist sauce, but it turns out kinda plain :(
but after all i kinda satisfied with the result and the taste! also practice makes perfect, right? ;)
Just got all of the ingredients, going to make it tonight!
I will take pictures for sure!
Someone added jalapeños and tofu to this soup and it was sooo good! Also one recipe from a Korean cook book coats the pollack strips with flour. Have you heard of this Maangchi?
Hi Maangchi! Thanks so much for this recipe. It’s one of my favorites since I moved to Korea. I just bought a bag of dried pollock to make it and I was wondering how to store the rest of the dried pollock once the bag has been opened. Would it keep fresher in the freezer?
Keep it in the freezer. It will always be fresh and moist.
Hi Maangchi!!
I am so super wonder wif the taste of bugeoguk! Just seeing ur video, I can feel the smell of soup is so good! (drolling until now,lol). Cant wait to make it :)!!
What I wanna ask is will it work perfect too if we use carrot instead of radish?
Just bcoz our country is a tropical place, we dun hv four seasons, so most of the people here dun hv to drink soju or wine. Im just curious that too often eating radish, does it affect for our healthy? Seems radish is a cold vegetable.
Yes, this soup is very delicious! ” will it work perfect too if we use carrot instead of radish?” no, you need radish or daikon. Radish and dried pollack are main ingredients for this soup.
Just made this for breakfast. It was amazing. Thank you for your work. It reminds me of the time I had gone drinking with my cousins in Korea and sweating out our hangovers with a sauna and some bugeoguk.
Link to picture here http://fishism.org/2011/01/23/bugeoguk/
“.sweating out our hangovers with a sauna and some bugeoguk.” lol Your bugeoguk looks so yummy! I will twit about it now.
It’s so simple, it beats making a bowl of instant ramen.
We made this tonight and it is DELICIOUS! I will be taking some to work tomorrow for lunch, too. I love your website, Maangchi, thank you for sharing your recipes!
I love this soup so much and often cook for my husband and friend all the time.Thanks for sharing this soup with me.
I’m glad to hear that you enjoy the recipe! cool!
Dear Maangchi, please tell me how do I know the dried pollock fish is not in good condition. In Sabah (Malaysia)my hometown here we have limited korean grocery shop and I would like to learn how to differentiate the unsatisfied condition of the dried pollock fish.
Mmmm so tasty. You’re right the smell in the house while cooking this is great! I don’t like to have my cat in the kitchen while cooking but he won’t leave when I make this! I love radish so I put some extra in. I also love spicy food so sometimes I add green chili at the end or even ground black pepper.
“I don’t like to have my cat in the kitchen while cooking but he won’t leave when I make this!” : ) cute!
Hi Maangchi!
I love dried pollock soup – I eat it all the time but I just can’t seem to make it well. I know it’s such a simple recipe but it always tastes a bit greasy and flavourless. I keep going back to the packets of instant soup but I really want to make my own – what am I doing wrong?
“it always tastes a bit greasy and flavourless” no problem!
When you stir fry dried pollack strips, use less sesame oil,then the soup won’t be greasy. It doesn’t have much flavour? Then add more dried pollack strips.
hello maangchi~
i’m new to your recipes site but i love all your recipes here!
i’m glad that i found your website =D
i can cook more yummy food now !
thank you =)
Welcome to my website!
my mom gave me half of a bag of dried pollack she got today (she uses it as an addition to her chinese stocks) so i’ll be making this in the near future!
i see you mincing garlic a lot of the time, if not all the time, so let me share a tip with you i learned from Joanne Weir: to mince garlic really finely, first mince it with the back of your knife (i.e. turn your knife upside down), then mince it with the blade of your knife. hope this helps.
Hi Maangchi! I love going through your website and making all the delicious dishes. I have a question about cutting radish. While I was watching your recent video for the pollack soup, you mentioned (in text) that you cut the radish and throw the inside part away. Why is that? I usually just cut the entire radish, but I am wondering if the outside is the tastier part. Please explain.
Thank you so much and looking forward to watching more videos!
Jennifer
Jennifer,
If your radish is fresh and good, you don’t have to throw away anything. The radish I used for the video was not fresh because I kept it in the fridge for more than 10 days.
I’m copying and pasting the answer that I gave for my another reader here.
“Yes, I found the inside of the radish that I used in the video was not good but the outside was ok. I still can use the inside but the texture of radish will turn out bad like chewing sponge if I use it in soup. Outside of the radish was ok, so I used only outside part.”
hello! maangchi.
this is seung keun who is from south korea in gunsan.
how have you been? I have been fine well.
well, maangchi! actually,I need your help that will be my dream in the future. it is just small things as this connetion each other. I know you have done lots of activities as having special topic for korean foods. I think this is culture in the world. that is why I will give you some kind of information like custom of foods from korea including
points of each area. I will do this with person who is the expert in korea. I hope you will be more professional and famous in the world.
I respect you because have done this job that nobody try before.
cheers.
MAANGCHIII! i’ve been following you since the first kimchi recipe.. but ive never signed up.. (little idiot D: lol ) i love your recipes! Im from chile, and sometimes is hard to find some supplies! T__T
ive just made this niceee soup! yum yum
hugs from Chile!
I know most of my readers cook my recipes quietly. But I know they like my recipes and like me! That’s cool enough.
Maangchi, I have a question, why do you throw away the middle of the radish in the video? Was the middle of the radish gone bad or should we throw away the middle of the radish when we cooking this dish?
Yes, I found the inside of the radish that I used in the video was not good but the outside was ok. I still can use the inside but the texture of radish will turn out bad like chewing sponge if I use it in soup. Outside of the radish was ok, so I used only outside part. : )
Maangchi,after watching this video,when my parents lived together,I remember now when my mom used to make this for me!Its so good!I think Im gonna make it tomorow and send you the picture:D
nice, you love soup! You made baechu doenjangguk for your family and got lots of compliments a few months ago.
I love your hangover story. Very entertaining. LOL xxx
lol, I’m glad you like the story.
Had my dinner with this recipe, and its Yummylicious!
But, I’m a bit hesitant to say if its the same bugeoguk, thats because I didnt use bugeo, but dried squid instead. After reading this recipe and seeing the video this morning, well, I get a litte excited and rushed to my nearest grocery store to buy all the necessary ingredients, everything was perfect except they run out of radish and didnt have dried pollock. To be honest, I searched for dried pollock at the dried food section for around 20 minutes and then spend around 10 minutes figuring how am I going to make bugeoguk without it. I never had it before, so its kinda hard to imagine substitute. In the end, I took the dried squid and some carrots for radish substitue. During my childhood, I used to call radish as white carrot. All the rest, I follow religiously with an addition of some ginger (I love ginger) and at last, with such wonderful recipe, my soup turned out great! It tasted delicious and I get a hint of wine, like when my mother used to cook crab soup or chicken soup, she always add some cooking wine. Hot soup with rice and some kimchi, mmhmmmmm!
I believe the original one will taste much much MUCH delicious!
Thank you for sharing your culinary experience with me and my other readers. : )
I could use some of this soup today :)
I can’t wait to try this one, I love beef and radish soup and this looks just as easy and delicious.
When I posted this recipe, I got the feeling you will like it! : )
I’m with you, Sylvia – I could have used some bugeoguk this morning as well ;)