Kimchi stew is one of the most-loved of all the stews in Korean cuisine. It’s a warm, hearty, spicy, savory, delicious dish that pretty much everyone loves. As long as they can handle spicy food, I never met a person who didn’t like kimchi-jjigae.
I learned this recipe from a restaurant famous for kimchi-jjigae in Korea. The restaurant was always full of people eating and sweating over kimchi stew. There was only one item on the menu, so everyone was there for the same thing: a steaming pot of spicy kimchi-jjigae, a few side dishes, and a bowl of warm rice. Customers would call out: “Please give me another bowl of rice!”
What really made an impression on me at the time was the fact that they brought the stew out to the table uncooked, and then fired up a burner and cooked it at the table. This way we could sit and talk and watch it cook. I could get a good look at the ingredients: kimchi, onion, green onion, thinly sliced pork on top, and seasonings. There was some white granules (salt, sugar, and probably MSG) and also they used water at the broth base.
From this I developed my own recipe to make at home, which was very delicious.
My kimchi-jjigae recipe served me well for years and years and I even made a video of it in 2007. But since then I developed this version, which is even more delicious. The secret is in the savory anchovy stock.
I hope you make it and enjoy it for years and years to come!
The difference between kimchi soup and kimchi stew
Kimchi stew is thicker than kimchi soup. Kimchi soup is less salty than kimchi stew.
Also, soup is always served in individual bowls, with rice. Traditionally in Korean cuisine stews were served in a big pot on the table, and the family would eat communally from the pot. These days, some people (including me) get a little freaked out by double-dipping, so for stews I put individual bowls on the table, and a large spoon so that diners can take what they like from the pot and put it in their bowls.
Ingredients
(serves 2 with side dishes, serves 4 without)
- 1 pound kimchi, cut into bite size pieces
- ¼ cup kimchi brine
- ½ pound pork shoulder (or pork belly)
- ½ package of tofu (optional), sliced into ½ inch thick bite size pieces
- 3 green onions
- 1 medium onion, sliced (1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)
- 1 tablespoon gochujang (hot pepper paste)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 cups of anchovy stock (or chicken or beef broth)
For stock (makes about 2½ cups’ worth):
- 7 large dried anchovies, heads and guts removed
- ⅓ cup Korean radish (or daikon radish), sliced thinly
- 4×5 inch dried kelp
- 3 green onion roots
- 4 cups water
Directions
Make anchovy stock:
- Put the anchovies, daikon, green onion roots, and dried kelp in a sauce pan.
- Add the water and boil for 20 minutes over medium high heat.
- Lower the heat to low for another 5 minutes.
- Strain.
Make kimchi stew:
- Place the kimchi and kimchi brine in a shallow pot. Add pork and onion
- Slice 2 green onions diagonally and add them to the pot.
- Add salt, sugar, hot pepper flakes, and hot pepper paste. Drizzle sesame oil over top and add the anchovy stock
- Cover and cook for 10 minutes over medium high heat.
- Open and mix in the seasonings with a spoon. Lay the tofu over top.
- Cover and cook another 10 to 15 minutes over medium heat.
- Chop 1 green onion and put it on the top of the stew. Remove from the heat and serve right away with rice.
Amazing recipe! I was skeptical that it would come out the same as my favorite Korean restaurant, but it was almost even better. I will probably cook the stew longer next time, as my pork belly was pretty tough. I didn’t have anchovy stock, so I used water, a stock cube, and a couple teaspoons of fish sauce for a quick substitute. Used my kimchi from your “easy kimchi” recipe as well. Will definitely make this often considering how easy it is.
It seems like your kimchi jjigae was delicious! If you make the stew again, consider either cooking the pork longer or slicing it even thinner for a better result. Good luck!
Hi Maangchi! I love this recipe. It is the first one I made after buying your big book of Korean food. However I have a question. I have made this using pork belly cut into medium size chunks and after cooking it around 25 min I feel the pork belly is still quite firm. Is it OK to cook it for longer (like > 2 h)? Or maybe cutting the pork belly into thinner slices would do the trick in less time? What do you think? Thank you!!
Yes, cook the stew longer until the pork turns tender. You may add more water or stock. Or cut the pork more thinly so that you don’t have to cook it longer.
Hi!!!
New registered user! I love this site and the recipes. Curious — for Jigae — I’ve seen about a tablespoon of soy sauce added…what are your thoughts on this?
Thanks!!!
It sounds good to me!
Thank you, Maangchi! I made this with homemade kimchi today and it is SO GOOD!
I had to change it a bit because I was either missing something (I was out of radish, for the anchovy stock, so I left it out, and also used little pieces of dried seaweed snacks instead of dried kelp) or because I can’t eat certain things (white onions and tofu/soy hurt my stomach – my homemade kimchi is even from a recipe that doesn’t have onions or garlic in it – so I just added more green onion stems and some 된장 because I can tolerate that better). I also had a tiny little bit of leftover sauces and juices from a few 반찬 (깍두기, garlic stems, dried seasoned radish) that I added in because I have a Korean ex who would do that so they wouldn’t be wasted and would add flavour. And wow! I love kimchi jjigae, and this was probably the best I’ve ever had (sorry to my ex, who made it pretty good, but not THIS good).
THANK YOU!
maangchi! i made this soup 4 times in the past 2 weeks it’s so good! thank you for sharing and i hope you share more soups and stews soon
Hi Maangchi!
I made your kimchi recipe and then this stew about 2 weeks later for my family and we all devoured it – it is so delicious!
We also had fresh spring onions in our garden which was great… hopefully in a few months time, I can make this entire recipe from produce grown in our garden
Thank you for sharing such great recipes.
The kimchi stew made with your own homemade kimchi should be precious and delicious! Congratulations!
My daughter and I enjoyed making this for supper tonight. We then enjoyed it with my wife. This was everything I hoped it would be. Thank you so much for creating this recipe!
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a recipe on the Internet with a 5/5 rating and over 65,000 votes, but here’s one more 5 from me. This stuff is terrific. It’s the perfect dinner for a cold night (or what passes for a cold night in California). I followed the recipe closely; I did bump up the umami by adding a slug of shio koji to the stock, but it would have been just fine without it. I really wouldn’t change a thing. I did use store-bought kimchi; if I used homemade, which tends to run a little spicier, I might cut back on the gochugaru a bit, but the quantities here are perfect for the commercial stuff.
By the way, I just popped in to refresh my memory about how the recipe goes, and I noticed that it says “serves 2 with side dishes, serves 4 without.” Unless there’s a Korean tradition of serving double portions of stew when it’s accompanied by side dishes, I’m thinking that might be backward. ;)
Wow! I followed the instructions exactly and turned out a deep rich stew. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Thank you so much for sharing this with us all. Also, I’ve made a new friend at my local Korean Market. She was so thrilled I was attempting a new type of cuisine at home. Looking forward to discovering other recipes here. Bon Appetite!
Awesome! Happy cooking!
Hi
I’d like start experimenting with Kimchi and this looks like a good recipe -thanks. However I don’t eat Pork. What could I use instead? Also what would be a regular equivalent for the korean pepper flakes and paste?
Many thanks :-)
You can double the tofu and not use the pork. A lot of broth flavor comes from the anchovies and the sea weed.
You could sub regular hot pepper flakes for the Korean ones, but you will need the gochujang for the recipe. I wouldn’t substitute that.
Chamchi Kimchi jjigae is popular in my home as well. Chamchi = Tuna. Add some canned tuna. Mackerel and even canned sardines, I’ve seen. You can def keep it just tofu, too. Or add some kind of meaty mushroom. So many options.