Maangchi's Amazon picks for dried anchovies
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 some products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
Dried anchovies are sold in plastic bags or boxes, sorted by size. Smaller anchovies (mareun janmyeolchi 마른 잔멸치) are used in stir-fries and toasted whole with soy sauce and chili paste to serve, bones and all, as a side dish with rice or as a snack. Large anchovies (gukmulyong mareunmyeolchi 국물용 마른멸치), around 3½ inches long, are used to flavor soups and stews.
Store in a zipper-lock bag or airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 year. Before using larger anchovies, remove the heads and guts (the black innards).
Personally I like to eat the larger dried anchovies by themselves (after removing the heads and intestines, or course : )). I dip them in hot pepper paste and eat them with rice. Very delicious! The tiny bones of myeolchi contain a lot of calcium and are really good for you.
Medium dried anchovies on the top shelf, and large anchovies on the lower shelf
Tiny little anchovies
Large dried anchovies
I love your website!. I accidentally bought the small anchovies instead of the big ones (I should have read this page before shopping!) Do you think I could still make stock with them if I used a large enough quantity?
How do you store the dried anchovies after you have opened the package? How about dried kelp and dried shitake mushrooms? I’m asking in reference to your soondubu video… ^^ Thank you!
I Keep my dried anchovies in the freezer, but I keep dried kelp and dried shiitake mushrooms in the pantry.
are you able to substitute japanese “dashi” instead of using dried anchovies to make fish stock?
Hi Maangchi,
How do you gut a dried anchovy? TIA!
Check out this video recipe. You will see how I remove the guts.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kongnamulguk
maangchi..i cant get kelp for soondubu..so what can i use to subsitute the kelp..i really want to make this soondubu!thanx you.
You still can make good stock with dried anchovies and dried shiitake mushrooms. skip the kelp if it’s not available.
New to the site, and first off thank you for all the inspiration :-) secondly, I was wondering what a good substitute for dried anchovies would be. I am allergic to fish :-( thanks so much!
Welcome to my website! Substitution for dried anchovies? : )
How about using chicken or beef broth?
Thanks! :-)
When I was in Korea, we ate this for breakfast..So delicious!
I seem to have a problem making stock out of dried anchovies (I use exactly the same brand as on the bottom photo on this page). I have made stock out of these before and it always turned out great, really deep fishy taste, but today I tried to make stock but I tasted only water! I thought ‘hm perhaps I put too much water and too little anchovies’ so I gutted some more anchovies and put them in. But the stock only tasted slightly salty and a bit bitter, and not at all delicious as I remember it. Cooking it for a longer time didn’t help.
Did I do something wrong, for example perhaps I accidently left a gut in on an achovy (but why would all the taste be ruined because of one gut…) Or are the anchovies spoiled or is it just me? I always try to remove head and guts and I always store anchovies in the freezer, but maybe I did not gut well enough… I’m really very concerned about this, so any help would be appreciated.
I think the dried anchovies are not good quality. Taste it by itself. It must be very bland taste. Make it dried anchovy side dish after removing the heads and the guts and get better large dried anchovies to make stock.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/myulchibokkeum
Good day Maangchi!
Thanks a lot for sharing these wonderful recipes! I love anchovies very much and in order to keep me updated, I read blogs about them and any ideas how to cook them – and good thing I found yours! Thanks!
Yes, I recall this treat – anchovies with tomato sauce is HEAVEN – a very rare flavor!
Hello, I have a question.
I couldn’t find whole dried anchovies, so I bought dried anchovies powder from the korean shop. It works very well for stocks, but I think I have problems with amounts.
Let’s say: a tiny teaspoon of anchovies powder equals “?” whole dried (medium or large) anchovies? One? One and a half?
Don’t want the exact correspondance, just an approximate one.
Thank you!
I don’t know much about the powder. If you want, please copy and paste your post here on the forum. Someone else may give you the answer. https://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/general-discussion
Maangchi: Can dried anchovies be substituted with dried sardines? I see a lot of dried sardines from tiny- to large-size sardines, sold in packages next to the anchovies. The Korean store that I go to does not sell packages of TINY dried anchovies – the tiny dried anchovies are only sold in the freezer section in boxes for $16.00. I want to make the stir-fried dried anchovies, but don’t want to buy such large quantity of anchovies making this for my first time. What do Koreans used the sardines for and which tastes better? Thanks for answering all my questions.
I always stock 2 kinds of dried anchovies in the freezer: small and large. Small anchovies are used for myulchi bokkeum and large ones are used for stock.
But what about sardines? Can dried sardines be used in place of dried anchovies?
no, sardines are not used to make stock. I have never seen dried sardines at a Korean grocery store.
Maangchi: Two Korean markets I shop at have packages of both dried sardines and dried anchovies. I was confuse because you have already mention that Koreans do not use dried sardines in their cooking and only use dried anchovies.
Well, today I ask the owner of one Korean market I shop at, how do Koreans used packages labeled “dried sardines.” The owner replied that both packages contains the same dried anchovies. The Japanese brand label their packages as “dried sardines” even though the packages contains dried anchovies. The Korean brand label their packages as “dried anchovies.” So I am no longer confuse.
I had this problem as well. I actually bought the same package of dried anchovies that Maangchi has pictured above that the two asian food stores I went to labeled as sardines. It was very strange. I asked the woman working in the store if they were the right item for making stock for Korean soups and she said they were. I don’t know why they label them as sardines! Must have been a mistake.
Check my kongnamulguk (soybean sprout soup)recipe where I’m showing how to clean dried anchovies’gut.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kongnamulguk
Same like “D”, I too don’t have the nerve to remove anchovy’s intestines. Where are their intestines anyway? Can I replace it with fish sauce instead? I want to make Dukbokki.
CG: It’s not so bad to remove the intestine afterall. If I can do it (which I didn’t want to at first), anyone can do it. Just pull the head off the anchovies and you will see a dried black glob closed to where the head was removed. It only takes seconds to do that. I was a bit squeemish at first, but I do it all the time now. It really does make a difference to used dried anchovies in the soup stock. It makes the soup stock taste authentically good. Just do it! I love Maangchi’s soybean sprout soup and I make it all the time. It’s so healthy and good.
I went to an Asian store this weekend and saw the dried anchovies, both large and small sizes. It was not very expensive and I wanted to purchase it for the soybean sprout soup. After looking at it, my nerve could not stand the thought of removing he head and intestines so I did not purchase the anchovies. was. How important is the anchovies in the soybean sprout soup? Will the soup taste fishy tasting (like bottled fish sauce)? Matter of fact, for the soybean soup, since my nerve cannot overcome the sight of the large anchovies, can I use canned chicken broth for the soup and add fish sauce?
haha,”my nerve can’t overcome the sight of the large anchovies” cute! I would like to clean them for you!
Some people don’t use dried anchovies in soybean sprout soup because they are not accustomed to the flavor of dried anchovies. Just skip it then. For me, I always use dried anchovy in the soup.
hii
where i live only smallest size of anchovy is available this time
is it good for stock for example for 1 cup how much i have to use..?
I never use the smallest dried anchovies sold at a store for stock, so I can’t give you exact answer. Leave your question on the forum. Someone else may give you better answer!
https://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/general-discussion
I was watching your video on making tofu stew and you were removing the heads and intestines of the anchovies. Could you tell me how to remove the intestines? Do I just take out the entire silver lining thing? You did too fast in the video that I couldn’t see probably.
Thanks,
I hope you watched my soybean sprout soup video. I am showing how to clean dried anchovies in the video.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kongnamulguk
Shelley,
Was it too fishy? Then use fewer dried anchovies next time. Large dried anchovies are good for stock.
Hi Maangchi!
I tried making your soondubu jigae with small anchovies, but it ended up really fishy!! I was wondering if this was because I didn’t remove the head and intestines??
Shelley
Katie,
I remove the heads and intestines of large dried anchovies before using them. (check out my tofu doenjang jjigae video)
However, if you make only stock using dried anchovies, you can use heads, too.
A Korean cook book I have says to get rid of dried anchovy heads and intestine. If I use large dried anchovies, do I get rid of heads and intestine or just intestine part?
Susan,
Large dried anchovies! That’s what you need. : ) I don’t know about price. Not expensive I guess.
Hi, I was wondering when you make ddukbokki, is it best to use the small or large anchovies? And also how much does it usually cost? Thanks!
Lisa,
Yes, I’m sure it’s available in any Korean grocery store.
your recipes and videos are xcellent.
Can I get the anchovies from any Korean store???
Portugalbear,
You asked the question here.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/ddukbokkie
Hi Maangchi, I asked this question before but i forgot where. hope you can answer it again. I can only find powdered anchovies. can i used still use this?
mangichivi,
haha, no way! This recipe is for dried anchovies.
hey maangchi can i use fresh anchovies??
Hi, Anonymous,
You have small size dried anchovies to make stock?
I would use maybe 2 – 3 spoons.
No need to get rid of intestine part. It’s impossible! lol
Aditu,
Yes, I always keep dried anchovies in the freezer. Thanks!
Hi Maangchi!
Do I have to put the dried anchovies in the freezer? I bought them frozen at my korean supermarket (but that could be because, according to the food-law, you have to freeze almost any kind of fish here).
And I also wanted to say that I absolutely love your videos and recipies! I even got my mom to like Korean food :-)
Thanks a lot
Hi Maangchi,
If I use the small size dried anchovies for soon dubu soup, how many should I use?
I don’t have the larger size anchovies, just small ones. And do I still need to clean them?
Thanks!
mista,
Thank you for leaving a comment under a right category. Your question may be someone else’ question, soo.
Yes, it’s called Myul chi bokkeum.
I will post the side dish video someday, but meanwhile make your “myulchi bokkeum” with this reicpe.
Ingredients:
small size dried anchovies, hot pepper paste, green chili pepper, garlic, vegetable oil, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds.
1. Toast 3 cups of dried anchovies in a pan or wok for about 3-5 minutes under medium heat.
2. Add some vegetable oil and 1 sliced green chili pepper and keep stirring for 1 minute.
3. Add 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 or 2 TBS of hot pepper paste, 2 TBS sugar, 1 TBS corn syrup, keep stirring quickly.
4. Turn the heat off and add 1/2 TBS of sesame oil and sprinkle 1/2 TBS sesame seeds.
That’s all!
If you like to use soy sauce instead of hot pepper paste, 1 TBS of soy sauce is enough.
Good luck with your myul chi bokkeum!
hey maangchi,
i m from mongolia. i really liked your recipes and videos. since a decade, lots of koreans started to live here in mongolia. they opened korean restaurants and i loved korean food, but it was absolutely mystery for me how it was made. after watching your videos i can make at home the dishes i loved. it s amazing. thanks a lot!
by the way, my wife loves anchovies side dish and i m goin to try to make it with your recipe ;)
thanks again
cool! let me know how your anchovy side dish turns out!
Hi Maangchi!
I went to a Korean restaurant a few days ago, and one of the “banchan” was the small dried anchovies in some kind of sauce. I read this statement from the anchovie post:
“The small size dried anchovies are used for a side dish called “Myulchi bok keum”, toasted with soy sauce, sugar, and hot pepper paste.”
It sounds very much like the one I had. Would it be too much to post a short instructional on how to make this? Thanks a lot!