Spicy stir-fried octopus

Nakji-bokkeum 낙지볶음

Spicy stir-fried octopus, called nakji-bokkeum in Korean, is loved by many Koreans. It’s also one of my all-time favorite dishes.

If you love spicy seafood, this is what you’re looking for. The najki (octopus) we use to make it has long thin arms and a small oval head. It’s found in the shores of North East Asia, and also in the frozen section of Korean grocery stores (or fresh if you can find it). Peak season for nakji is winter, and that’s when the nakji restaurants in Korea fill their freezers with octopus, enough to use for the upcoming year.

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I did a lot of experiments to come up a good sweet, salty, smoky, and spicy balance for the seasoning in this recipe, but the nakji was always tough. Finally I figured out the special ingredient: a 2 minute vigorous massage. it worked perfectly and the octopus was very tender.

Developing this recipe was important, not only do I get to share this with you, but I also get to use it for the rest of my life. Whenever I want to make delicious nakji-bokkeum, it’s right here waiting for me! I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I do!

Ingredients

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For seasonings:

Directions

How to handle the nakji:

  1. Cut open the heads and remove the intestines and beaks.
  2. Put in a large bowl. Add flour and scrub vigorously for about 2 minutes until it foams. This process not only tenderizes the octopus but also cleans any dirt or mud stuck in the suckers.
  3. Rinse in cold running water until it’s not slippery anymore. Drain.
  4. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the octopus for 10 to 12 seconds, drain, and then transfer to a cutting board.
  5. Cut the heads and arms into bite size pieces. Set aside.

Make seasoning sauce:

  1. Combine all the seasoning ingredients (hot pepper flakes, soy sauce, sugar, potato starch, rice syrup and ground black pepper) in a small bowl.
  2. Mix well with a spoon.

Stir-fry:

  1. Heat up a large pan over high heat. Add vegetable oil.
  2. Stir in garlic, ginger, green chili pepper, onion, and green onion for about 3 minutes until the garlic turns a little brown and the onion translucent.
  3. Add nakji and seasoning sauce. Stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
  4. Remove from the heat and stir in sesame oil. Transfer it to a serving plate and serve right away with rice.

nakji-bokkeum

Posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2018 at 5:38 pm. Last updated on August 11, 2021.
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17 Comments:

  1. neko-noir UK joined 12/21 & has 1 comment
    Posted December 19th, 2021 at 11:29 am | or create a profile.

    I’m wanting to make this recipe but I can only get frozen baby octopus, will that work? also I just used up all of my gochugaru in my kimchi (using your recipe turns out amazing every time) would I be able to sub for gochujang instead?

  2. gemplee Singapore joined 4/20 & has 3 comments
    Posted September 19th, 2020 at 7:11 am | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi,

    I finally tried this recipe and it is absolutely delicious.
    Thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us.
    Much love to you.


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  3. Jung Ah Los Angeles, CA joined 6/20 & has 2 comments
    Posted August 18th, 2020 at 10:02 pm | or create a profile.

    made this tonight with your Potato pancake and they paired well. I did add Zucchini / carrot slices and somen noodles to the octopus recipes and it tasted terrific. Thank you

  4. Kazmara Australia joined 5/18 & has 1 comment
    Posted May 19th, 2018 at 6:40 am | or create a profile.

    I made this today and it was delicious! I used honey instead of rice syrup and it worked really well but I overcooked the octopus a little, but it was so tasty!

    Thank you Maangchi for inspiring me to cook Korean food!

  5. geckos Oregon joined 5/18 & has 5 comments
    Posted May 1st, 2018 at 2:44 pm | or create a profile.

    Hello,
    I wonder what the sauce is that is used with the cucumber?

  6. rrbwestu Houston joined 4/18 & has 2 comments
    Posted April 9th, 2018 at 10:53 pm | or create a profile.

    I tried your recipe this evening and it turned out great! The massage and blanch resulted in very tender octopus. The flavors were very balanced. I got too excited about cooking najki for the first time and forgot the sesame seed oil. I will be cooking this again. With the sesame seed oil it will be even better. Thanks for such a straightforward and easy recipe.

  7. stonefly Olympia WA joined 11/11 & has 61 comments
    Posted April 8th, 2018 at 12:07 am | or create a profile.

    Maangchi: I tried this last week, but could only find precut frozen octopus (about 1-3 inch pieces). I gave it the same treatment in your recipe, but it came out a little tough. But still delicious. Any thoughts?

    Thanks!
    Tom

  8. LiljaS Iceland joined 3/18 & has 16 comments
    Posted April 6th, 2018 at 7:15 pm | or create a profile.

    I saw this and thought I just HAVE to try this. Never tried octopus before. Unfortunately I could not find nakji here, but I found the large octopus. So I probably made muneo-bokkeum (문어볶음).Since it was so big I just used half for this recipe and made octopus slices with sesame dipping sauce, muneo-sukhoe (문어숙회) with the other half. My teenagers actually fled to their rooms when they saw the raw octopus ;D but I LOVE these dishes. Soooo good. And of course served with rice and kimchi and some vegetables ;) I just love your recipes Maangchi, thank you, thank you, thank you ❤️


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    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,047 comments
      Posted April 14th, 2018 at 9:53 am | or create a profile.

      “My teenagers actually fled to their rooms when they saw the raw octopus” lol!

      This table setting looks perfect and I’m so impressed by your substitution of large octopus, because nakji was not available. You made kimchi, too? That’s a real Korean style meal! You must be good at cooking.

      • LiljaS Iceland joined 3/18 & has 16 comments
        Posted April 17th, 2018 at 1:53 pm | or create a profile.

        Thank you <3 Your kimchi was the first Korean recipe I tried, never tasted it before but was very curious about it. Last weekend I was abroad and got my first chance to go to a Korean restaurant and taste (I hope) authentic Korean food, and I’m proud to say that I think my kimchi quite measures up to the restaurant one. I actually think mine was a little bit better ;)

  9. stonefly Olympia WA joined 11/11 & has 61 comments
    Posted March 27th, 2018 at 9:08 pm | or create a profile.

    Maangchi:

    This looks yummy! I will have to try it this week, because i love spicy Korean!

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