Today I’m introducing you to jjamppong, a spicy noodle soup full of seafood, meat, and vegetables. As you see from the video, it’s made with a lot of different ingredients, which makes it a hearty, filling meal, served spicy steaming hot.
This is a Korean Chinese dish, developed by Chinese immigrants living in Incheon, Korea and adapted to Korean tastes. Jjamppong and jjajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce) are common dishes for Korean Chinese delivery. They are usually served in huge portions and both use the same noodles.
The key to this recipe is in the delicious, savory, anchovy and kelp stock. I learned this tip from the owner of a Korean grocery store when I lived in Columbia, Missouri many years ago. His wife was very kind, and one day when I stopped by the store she invited me to go into the back room where her husband was making jjamppong. I had never heard of anyone making jjamppong at home before, everyone orders it from Chinese restaurants. But he showed me how he made his stock, and in what order everything should be cooked, and for how long. He was a real gourmet and his jjamppong was delicious. I’ve used his recipe ever since.
Many years later, when writing the jjamppong recipe in my book Maangchi’s Real Korean Cooking, I wanted to get a few details from him. I hadn’t talked to them for a long time, but looked up their store online and called them. She recognized my voice right away! But she was too busy with customers to talk much, so she asked me to call her in a few hours.
But I forgot to call her and eventually my book was published and life went on. Much later I remembered her and called her again. The number didn’t work anymore. I Googled the store and found her obituary in the local paper, she had passed away! Her husband must have retired, because their son took over the store. I feel sad about not calling her back!
I’m grateful that she invited me to have jjamppong that day, so now I can pass this recipe along to all of you. It’s a little modified from the one in my cookbook because I simplified a few things, but it’s still delicious! I hope you enjoy it!
Serves 2
Ingredients
For stock:
- 1 ounce of large dried anchovies (about 24 anchovies) with the heads and guts removed
- 1 piece (about 6×6 inch) dried kelp
- 12 cups water
Vegetables:
- 1 daepa (large green onion), or 4 green onions, cut into 2 inch length
- 2 ounces leek, washed and cut into ½ x 2 inch strips
- 4 ounces bok choy, washed
- 3 large cabbage leaves (about 3 ounces), cut into bite-size pieces
- 4 ounces onion, sliced
- 1 small carrot, peeled and cut into 2-inch strips
Seafoods and meat:
- 8 mussels, scrubbed, debearded, soaked in salted water for a few hours, and washed
- 4 large shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 4 ounces squid, just the body with guts removed and sliced into rings
- 24 small clams (optional), soaked in salted water for a few hours, and washed
- 4 ounces of thinly sliced beef (or pork or chicken), cut into bite-size pieces
Noodles and seasonings:
- 2 bunches (1 pound) fresh or frozen jjajangmyeon noodles, thawed if frozen, and uncoiled
- 5 tablespoons gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
Make stock:
- Combine the water, anchovies, and kelp in a large pot. Cover, and cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low and cook for another 20 minutes.
- Strain the stock and you will have 8 to 10 cups’ worth. Set aside.
Make the hot pepper flakes mixture:
- Combine 2 tablespoons of hot pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil in a small bowl.
- Mix with a spoon until well incorporated. Set aside.
Make jjamppong:
- Heat a large wok (or pot) over high heat. Add the vegetable oil, garlic, ginger, and stir about 20 seconds with a wooden spoon until the garlic starts to turn a little crispy.
- Add the beef and stir until slightly cooked.
- Clear a spot in the wok by pushing the garlic, ginger, and the meat to the side. Tilt the wok so that the excess vegetable oil slides into the cleared area. Put 3 tablespoons hot pepper flakes into the hot oil and stir and mix with the wooden spoon for about 1 minute, until it creates a smoky flavor but not long enough to burn. Then stir everything in the wok together into the hot oil.
- Add green onion, leek, cabbage, and onion and stir for 3 to 4 minutes until the vegetables are wilted.
- Add 6 cups stock and all the seafoods and bok choy. Cover and cook 7 to 8 minutes until the mussels and clams are open and the shrimp and squid are well cooked.
- Stir in the fish sauce, kosher salt, and the reserved hot pepper flakes mixture. Cover and let it simmer over low heat.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and stir a few times so that they don’t stick to each other.
- Cover and cook 5 to 8 minutes until tender but still chewy.
- Strain and rinse the noodles in cold running water to make them nice and chewy.
Put it together and serve:
- Heat up the soup over high heat.
- Divide the noodles into individual serving bowls. Add the soup over top and include cooked seafood, vegetables, meat over top of the noodles. Serve right away.
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.
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Maangchi! Thank u so much! This is so delicious!! I use shrimp stock instead of anchovy stock. I just used their skin and some garlic then simmer for about 10mins. I just can’t stop eating that. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
can i use the normal (non-korea brand) chili powder or chili paste found at supermarket? it’s quite hard to find korean ingredients at my place here in malacca.
For this recipe, you could use different chili powder but be careful it may turn out too spicy.
Hi maangchi, thanks for your reply… today i managed to buy a korean brand chili paste in 1 of our supermarket. Will try out this recipe very soon. Another question i want to ask… i cant find dried kelp now, wat can i substitute? Tq!
Hi Polly,
You can use the Chinese 海带 or Japanese konbu. It’s the same. You can get the Chinese 海带 at any Chinese medical shop. Konbu can be found in most supermarkets. You will definitely find it at Aeon.
I made this Jjamppong again tonight .. it was so delicious , rich thick sauce with seafood , veggies and noodles .. yum ! Thanks Maangchi for all the yummy korean food recipes ! We really enjoy your recipes !
hi maangchi!! ^^ can i use curry instead of hot pepper falkes? we don’t have any here in greece :( ^^ thak youuu
I just made this, It’s delicious. Only thing I forgot to buy noodles so were using rice. But if my 10 year old likes it then it passed the test. My husband is Korean and his mother went to Korea for one month. I am white and she left me in charge of cooking for my father in law! Thanks to you I have been making him some delicious korean food, instead of pizza everyday, jk.
Your 10 year old is your food tester! : ) Your mother-in-law will give you a great compliment when she comes back from Korea! Good luck with your Korean cooking.
I was so excited to fin this recipe and can’t wait to try it. I’m wondering what kind of noodles you use in it? i searched for noodle recipes but was unsuccessful.
Here you go! : ) https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/jja-jjang-myun-noodles
This recipe is delicious, thank you for sharing it! I made the spicy version w/o the pepper flakes (I guess its not spicy then), and added a little sesame oil to keep it from being bland. Dried anchovies are very expensive here so I use anchovy paste. I braved the head-on shrimp, but the muscles looked bad at the store today. I love that Korean food works so well with what looks fresh each day. Fresh ingredients seems more important than than the exact ingredients in these dishes.
” I made the spicy version w/o the pepper flakes (I guess its not spicy then), and added a little sesame oil to keep it from being bland.” Great job! You can modify the recipe to your taste! You are a smart cook! ; )
Hi! I don’t eat pork.what other meat I can use?
Use beef or chicken then.
Hello that such
My name is Mary and I’m from Monterrey Mexico … really thank you for having found your channel on youtube, because I always wanted to learn to concina Korean food and you put it well in spite English is not much to see and understand it perfectly prepares achievement …
Thanks and hope to send pictures of what I do ^ O ^
Hi I have a question what can i substitute for dried anchovy?
Use chicken or beef broth then.
JJampong is my most favourite Korean dish. I have tried it all over Toronto, searching for the perfect broth. In my opinion, the best is at Todamgol Korean Restaurant on Cummer & Yonge. After years of adoring this dish, I finally tried it out myself. I followed Maangchi’s recipe to about 85%. For instance, instead of making the broth with the dried anchovies, I bought a packaged seafood stock (gamchimi) and mixed in a few tablespoons of roasted beef hot pepper paste (beef gochujang) and some red pepper flakes. Other than that, I pretty much followed the recipe as shown in the video. It was an impressively delicious concoction, so delicious that I made it last night for two friends who are regular Korean food eaters (one Korean, one English Canadian). They more than approved of this recipe and raved about how yummy it was. Thanks, Maangchi!
I made jjamppong last night and it was the best we’ve made at home. I think that I should have added more hot pepper, but I know I added too much broth, so that is why.
I used little myulchi when I made the broth instead of the large dried anchovies and I think the broth tasted right, but I think my husband thought it was lacking something. I guess I need to buy some anchovies already because they keep popping up the your recipes that I am making. :)
We just ate more of the jjamppong this morning and it seemed like it tasted even better the second day. I think my kids would have liked it if they had been willing to try it (especially since it wasn’t so spicy the way I made it). Anyway, they did eat the seafood, carrots and pork from it.
Finally I tried your Jjamppong recipe, Maangchi. It’s delicious…:)! If you want, you can check out my Jjamppong adapted from your recipe here: http://cookinggallery.blogspot.com/2010/08/jjamppong-korean-spicy-noodle-soup.html
I included your video in my blog so that people can see how to make Jjamppong. Once again, thanks a million! CG
I’m very impressed with your jjampong that you made! It shows very exact measurements and it looks very delicious!
I love your blog not only for the jjampong recipe but your Barcelona trip photos! Some scenes in the photos remind me of my trip to Barcelona in 1999. I think you and I have a lot in common! seafood pallela is one of my favorites since the trip!
Nice meeting you through my website! I will twit about your blog now. thanks!
Maangchi, you’re just too kind about the tweet…!:) Greetings from Germany!
Maangchi…Thank you for the recipe!! I used to eat this soup in a Korean restaurant in Sydney. It was red hot and spicy with udon-like noodles – I guess it must be Jjamppong right? It was sooo yummy, I hope I would be able to recreate the same soup here using your recipe :).
I hope you like this recipe!
thanks so much for the recipe! i’ve been researching and experimenting for a month for a jjampong recipe that actually end up tasting like jjampong! finally, i found it! i read your recipe yesterday and this afternoon when my friends were over, i impulsively decided to go for it. i didn’t have all the ingredients at home (such as the dried anchovies or kelp so I just used chicken stock i’d made two days ago. Also, I only had in my fridge shrimp and scallops, so I used only those as my seafood components). Literally, it took me less than 15 mins to complete the dish and all my friends (complete foodies, by the way and very much into jjamppong) LOVED it. Wish i took a photo of it before we dove into the bowl, but it was pretty much finished when i realized i should have done that :P
Anyway, thanks again :)
“it took me less than 15 mins to complete the dish” awesome! I am happy to hear that your jjampong turned out delicious! “..we dove into the bowl,..” haha, I do the same thing. : )
Hi Maangchi, thank you for such lovely recipes.
I really want to make the spicy jjamppong, but i can’t find dried anchovies anywhere; they had some at the local korean grocery store, but only a huge box that went in the freezer so i couldn’t buy it, so i was just wondering if it’s at all possible to use canned anchovies aswell??
if not i shall just have to have the non-spicy :) they both look delicious.
no, canned anchovies are not used for making stock. You can use a can of chicken broth instead.
Hi Maangchi~ I’m Korean and live in Korea.
You are the best cook I’ve ever seen.
I have a question for you. Could you tell me what kind of fish sauce do I have to use? I’m sure there are a lot of kind of fish sause in Korea.
sorry about the late reply. You can use kanari aekjeot sold in Korea.
I’ve made the spicy soup once before, (along with several other of your recipes) and am making it again tonight. I love it, and it’s wonderful on these cold winter nights. Thanks for all your hard work introducing some of us to things we normally wouldn’t get to try.
Thank you for your nice comment! Happy New Year!
greetings to you maangchi….i always watch your video in youtube and everywhere and ilove it!..and i love you too.thank you for sharing this for us.God bless!you are a genius in cooking.
Thanks a lot! Happy New Year!
I love this recipe. I’m a Korean American living in Norway where the Asian food sucks and I have to make it myself. Now I’m making everything from this site and it’s even better than the restaurants in California. Thanks!
nice! I hope you can find Korean ingredients easily there. Thanks!
No, it’s really hard to get Korean ingredients. I have to ask my family that whenever they visit, they must bring me a box of things on my “wish list”. I substitute whatever I can. Even then, your dishes turn out great. Even my Norwegian husband love spicey Korean food.
I was so happy to find this recipe. My favorite korean restaurant closed a few years ago and I couldn’t even find a recipe online to replicate their jjamppong. Now I can make it at home which is great since flu season is here and spicy jjamppong is so great at keeping me from getting too sick. Thanks!
Good luck with your Jjampong making!
Hello Iron Chef I was just wondering if you knew how to make San Nakji Dol Pan? lol I saw this on the Anthony Bourdain NYC Outer Boroughs it looks really good Korean Food you should check it out on youtube… If you know how to cook it you should show us how to…
“san nakji” means live small octopus and “dolpan” means stone plate. I have never tasted the dish. You should leave your question here in the forum. https://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/general-discussion
maangchi thanks i learn to cook korean dish ahaha a point for my crush hehe
hello
nice meet you. i’m really happy to watch your recipe. i like jjamppong but i couldn’t make it. i have a some foreigner friend. i would like to tell the recipe of korean food to them. they absolutely might be happy.
thanks a lot.
Thank you very much! It sounds like you made delicious jjampong! Congratulation!
maangchi,
forgot to add in my last question that i’m making this dish for two people…sorry.
since the recipe is for one serving, do i double the amount of hot pepper flakes/vegetable oil mixture, as well as the amount of stock, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and black pepper?
thanks
Yes, double the amount of all ingredients! :)
Hi Maangchi,
In your video you say that the mussels were pre-cooked…how do you do this? Do you buy the that way?
Thanks,
Anna
oh, it’s a package of mussels cleaned and precooked, so I didn’t have to clean them. It will be better if you use fresh mussels.
do i then add the raw mussels when you say so in the recipe? will they be cooked enough?
yes, raw mussels are cooked fast. Cook until all they are open.
Hi Maangchi!
20 years ago, when my kids were little, we tried a delicious Korean soup called”Sam sung Jam Bong”. It was a magic cure for colds — better than chicken soup!
The korean restaurant closed years ago and we haven’t found as good a version anywhere. Your soup looks just like the one I remember. I can’t wait to try your recipe. Thanks for the great video.
hi maangchi! i stumble over your youtube site and wow all of your dishes look so delicious! i have never eaten korean foods before n want to try some. my fam have so many chicken broth in the cabinet. we just leave it there and it piles up every year since we only use chicken broth for thanksgiving. thanks to you i am gonna make some of your foods and get to eat korean foods!!!^0^
Welcome to my website!
hello maangchi,
wondering if the stock made for the soondubu is just as good to use for jjamppong (i have some left over)…
thanks,
anna
Here you go, you are getting smarter and smarter! lol
Yes, the stock comes in handy for many recipes
Hi Maangchi
I Been To Korean store Today I seen Packets Of Instant Jjampong Noodle Soup
Do It Taste good
Is it Similar to Jampong Which You Made..?
Thanks
I have never tried instant jjampong noodle soup, so I can’t compare the taste. Leave your question here https://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/general-discussion
Someone else may give you good answer.
I am big fan from S. Africa I Bought one pair of chopsticks about costing 4 US $
I dont know how to use them I try to learn from some videos and pics but no they are not helpfull
Please Can You Show how To use them :(
$4.00 for a pair of chopsticks? Are they stainless steel chopsticks? Anyway, I usually use chopsticks to taste some food that I make at the end of my video recipes. Check my videos please.
Jen,
I have never used oak mushrooms but I’ve looked up the internet and found this:
http://www.oakmushroom.or.kr/eng/life/recipe06.html
So it looks like you can use it for stock.
I should try oak mushrooms soon. : )
Hi Maangchi! I’ve started looking at korean recipes a lot more now and often they will use oak mushrooms when making the anchovy stock. Does using oak vs shitake mushrooms make a big difference?
Thanks!
보글보글,
hoho, it sound like you are a jjamppong guru!
I’m in LA now. When I go back home tomorrow, I will check the photos on my facebook. I haven’t checked my email for a day and now reading more than 40! : )
Anyway it’s very easy to make anchovy stock. Boil large anchovies, kelp, onion, radish, dried shiitake mushroom, and water! You can use only dried anchovies and water. But you will have to get a good quality of large anchovies . It should be white and firm looking, and the smell should not be too fishy. I think the anchovies you used may be not good quality.
I have my facebook account, but no time to check it, so leave your comments or questions on my website.
I usually answer quickly.
Thank you!