I’d like to introduce you to my family’s special kimchi soup recipe today. It’s called kimchiguk in Korean, is very easy to make and it’s a well-balanced “one pot meal” when served with rice. You get the vitamins and minerals from well-fermented kimchi, and protein from pork and tofu. It’s great for the winter: nutritious, warm, and satisfying.
I don’t worry about making any other side dishes when I make kimchiguk. It’s so delicious that I don’t pay attention to anything else, I just keep eating the soup and rice until it’s done. : )
Before there were modern methods of preservation and farming in Korea, we had to prepare food for the long, cold winter when vegetables were hard to come by. Neighbors would get together right before winter starts and prepare huge batches of napa cabbage kimchi together, enough to last all of the families involved for the whole winter. This kind of event was called a kimjang. To make sure the kimchi didn’t freeze over the winter, we stored it in onggi crocks and buried in the ground so the temperature was always above freezing and our families could eat nutritious kimchi all winter.
Of course, nowadays we have vegetables all year long and electric refrigerators, but many Koreans still make winter kimchi in late November because napa cabbage is in season so it’s fresh, delicious and cheap. It’s still the best time to make napa cabbage kimchi.
When I lived in Korea, I usually made winter kimchi in the beginning of December and would eat it until late March of the following year. Like many Koreans living in apartments, I’d keep my onggi on the balcony. When I made kimchiguk, the first thing I did was put on my long red rubber gloves. Then I’d take a stainless steel bowl out to the balcony and get some kimchi. Oh, I’ll never forget the feeling of pressing down on the top of the kimchi in the onggi after taking some out!
You’ll never get tired of this soup. Make this soup and you’ll soon realize why Koreans make such a huge batch of kimchi at the kimjang: we can make hundreds of different delicious dishes with it.
Ingredients (for 2-3 servings)
- 2 cups of chopped kimchi
- ½ pound of pork shoulder (or pork belly), cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 Tablespoons of hot pepper paste
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 5 cups of water
- 2 stalks of green onions, chopped
- 1 package of tofu (14 ounces:396 grams), cut into bite sized cubes
Directions
- Combine the kimchi, hot pepper paste, kimchi juice, pork, and sugar in a heavy bottomed pot.
- Add water and bring to a boil over hight heat and cook for 30 minutes.
- Add tofu and lower the heat to medium low. Cook for another 10 minutes.
- Add green onion and remove from the heat.
- Serve hot with rice and a few more side dishes if desired.
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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.
Hi Maangchi!
Do you think would be good with ramyun noodles added to it?
I think that would be an awesome addition!
I would make my noodles and then scoop and pour all over my yummy soup! My saliva glands are activated right now!LOL!
This soup was the first dish I made multiple days in a row because I had all the ingredients available to make it every time. Nothing special. Ground pork, pork roast, chicken, no meat at all, whatever I have on hand is fine to go with the tofu and kimchi. Super easy to make. Start the rice cooker going early on and they finish at almost the same time. Nice quick meal to make when you come home and don’t want to put in a huge effort, and yet still get something that tastes great.
Will white kimchi work for this recipe? I’d love to cook it for a friend who can’t eat spicy food atm. Love you Maangchi and your work. You have inspired me to cook Korean food which I now share with my workmates, and my mum (who normally doesn’t eat any other food other than her native Portuguese). Every week is an adventure getting new ingredients and cooking new recipes. I especially like the rice! So simple and soooo good <3 xx
My husband can’t tolerate spicy foods very much. Can I decrease the hot pepper paste or omit? Thanks!!! I love your YouTube channel. You are so pretty.
I made kimchi soup for dinner and its delicious. Thank you Maangchi!
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This is delicious! I left out the tofu and added short grain rice during cooking to bulk it out. Also added some chopped gim. Thanks for the recipe, Maangchi!! :)
i’ve made the recipe,
it was very tasty,
will the recipe still be good without tofu?
yes, I sometimes make kimchi stew without tofu. It’s still delicious.
Pretty simple as long as you got the hang of making kimchi. Thanks for tge recipe Maangchi. You r so clear cut with directions. You never seem to fail me
Hi Maanchi! I want to make this soup. Now I have soooooo much flavorful Kimchi juice saved from two large batches of your Kimchi. Can I use just the juice and not the cabbage leaves, and add some fresh vegetables instead? Would that work? What vegetables could work and how much juice do you think I should use for 5 cups water? The juice is sooo good I dont want to discard it! Thank you!
Hi! Thank you for everything, you are amazing.
What is a red after seaweed salad?
Maangchi씨 안녕하세요!
Your 김치국 recipe never fails me! There was just enough broth & rice at the end for me to soak it up! I wonder how that happened! ^_^
As always, thank you for your delicious recipes and your good cheer!
고맙습니다~
Dave
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I’m glad to hear that you enjoy this recipe. Kimchi soup and rice, ummm~ it makes my mouth water!
Delicious! I love all types of Asian food, and I have tried many of your recipes (10lb of kimchi in the fridge), and with each (of course) as you get more comfortable with them ever cook makes changes. Sadly pork is not on my diet at the moment, but I do make a version of this on the spicy side using a savory broth instead of water (similar to kimchi stew broth) and I use cod and previously frozen tofu cubes (firmer texture and absorbs flavor better). I have also gotten to sometimes adding pineapple and leaving out the sugar as I personally like the savory/spicy/sweet flavor that brings with the kimchi.
So that is my personal kimchi soup.
Thank you very much for your website. I love your recipes!
I haven’t been to your website for a while. Love the new doo.
Welcome back! : )
Maangchi, it is a cold winter day here at the beach and I have been dreaming of making your kimchi soup from the kimchi you showed us how to make. I am now addicted to this soup. Thank you very much for helping us cook.
This kimchi soup is my family’s favorite soup made with winter kimchi, pork, and tofu. I’m glad you enjoy the recipe and I feel like you belong to my family. haha!
Hi Maangchi! I love your kimchi soup . May I know how much for grams is 2cups of kimchi? Coz I use to buy kimchi at supermarket. They have kimchi per packet of 150g.
I weighed 2 cups of chopped kimchi for you! It says 400 grams.
Thanks! Thanks! Can’t wait to cook this for my husband .
Hi Maangchi I don’t have pepperpaste can I use pepperflakes with water instead?
PS: Cant wait to tryout this recipe later on after my kimchi fermented!!
Ooooh yummy!! Maangchi, could you possibly show us how you make multigrain rice? Do you mix different grains together or do you buy it already mixed? It would be so useful to see how you make it, it’s so pretty with all the different colours and textures! Thank you so much!
I love making this soup because it’s so simple!
Besides the pork shoulder, how does this differ from Kimchi JJigae?
You can use pork shoulder cut in either kimchi soup or kimchi stew.
Kimchi jjigae (Kimchi stew) has less liquid than Kimchi soup. And also the soup is less salty than the stew, so you can add your rice to the soup and eat all.
Hello Manngchi,
Would like to ask you is the hot pepper paste the same as hot pepper bean paste?
hi maangchi! love this site…. made my very first batch of kimchi… soooo excited about eating it already… but i was wondering will it be alright if i made this kimchi soup with fresh kimchi? i am so happy that i dont need to pay AUD12 for a bowl of my favourite korean soup at restaurants !
No, wait until your kimchi turns sour to make delicious kimchi soup.
this is making me excited to make my next batch of kimchi!!! I just finished up the first batch that I made by making kimchi-fried-rice –my family loved it so much I had to use up half a jar of kimchi. I knew I should have used 10 pounds of kimchi instead of 4 pounds :)) Anything I do with your kimchi is an instant hit at home! Thank you maangchi :)
I will save a portion to ferret longer so I can make this KIMCHIHUK!!! How exciting <3
That’s great! It sounds like you know how to use kimchi in many dishes just like Korean housewives! : )
hi.. why is mine turn out totally different taste? haha… sorry as this is my first try…
Don’t worry. Follow each step tightly next time. You can modify it to your taste. Good luck!
Hi, I have tried the recipe and the soup taste awasome. but i have a question, the soup turn clear at the top after a while. Is it because i have added egg or is it because i did not cook as long as suggested (Mine is around 15 – 20mins total). Thanks
It’s only natural. Stir the soup and reheat it before serving.
If the broth is thin, over time the solid particles are going to settle out to the container bottom. As suggested, a stir will redistribute them. You can also add some starch or flour dissolved in cold water to increase the viscosity of the broth which will considerably slow the settle-out of suspended solids in the broth. I find this is also the only way when adding a beaten egg to get a “long threads” texture as the egg is gradually added and slowly drawn throughout the soup. Without modifying the viscosity of the broth, the resulting texture of the egg winds up as a foamy custard on top of the soup rather than long drawn threads fully integrated into the soup.
I made this for friends yesterday, and it turned out excellent! I used my homemade kimchi that I made from your recipe (2nd batch actually). Thanks so much for sharing all these great recipes that I grew up eating!
Awesome! You are an excellent cook! : )
I tried this it was very good. I also added 1 tsp. of red pepper flakes to make it SPICY! delish.
Question though, only the video tells you how much sugar to put in, it is not listed in the ingredients.
Thank you for pointing it out! I fixed that part! Cheers! : )
This looks wonderful! I just received a quart of homemade kimchi and I am going to make a pot of soup today. How much sugar do I add?
1 teaspoon! : )
I just made this soup a few nights ago for my boyfriend and it turned out so delicious! I had kimchi that had been sitting in my fridge for several months and making this soup was a perfect way to use it up! I was surprised at the depth of flavor this soup had with so few ingredients. Thanks again for the recipe and for helping me keep my man’s need for food from home satisfied :)
I am away from Korea over two year and six months! I love to have it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 울 엄마가 해준 김칫국이 최고!!으캬.. 제가 만들면 완젼..ㅠ..우겍.
hi maangchi! i’m vegeterian. any suggestions on what to replace the pork with?
I really like making this and eating it with rice noodles. It tastes better than my favourite Shin Ramyun!
Another great recipe – I make this all the time, nice and spicy. One question though: your rice added at the end looks amazing! Have you ever discussed this rice or offered a recipe? It looks purple!!!
Thank you, it is multi grain rice. I posted the recipe on the forum: https://www.maangchi.com/talk/topic/korean-multigrain-rice
Today I posted a new video for making rice in a pot. Check this out please.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/rice
Thank you so much!!!
Nomnom!! I fried about 1 tb of red pepper flakes in sesame oil for the broth and placed about 5 dried anchovies for a delicious broth!!! :) I used beef because that was all I had, but kimchiguk is best enjoyed with pork guys! Thank you for the recipe maangchi ^__^ it was delicious like always.
Adding dried anchovies sounds wonderful!
Oh, I love onggi! One of my great regrets was not being able to take an onggi home from NY when I was there so I could make proper kimchi. Do you also put kakdugi in them?
I must make some more kimchi later. Thank you for your recipes!
<3 Kerri
Kerri, yes, I will use it for kkakdugi, too! : )
hi maangchi! how is kimchiguk different from kimchi jjigae?
kimchiguk is soup and kimchi jjiage is stew.
hi maangchi :) can i replace the pork to beef?
Of course we can…. Hehehe…..