I am introducing Ssamjang to you today, a kind of Korean dipping sauce. I’ve posted ssamjang recipes in the past, always as a side dish for things like grilled beef (soegogi gui) and grilled pork belly (samgyeopsal gui), but the ratio can vary depending on your personal preference and mood. This is a special ratio for ssamjang that I think the most delicious so far. But it’s your choice. If you don’t want to make your ssamjang sweet, you can skip sugar, honey, or syrup or use less of it.
You can also buy premade ssamjang in Korean grocery stores, but I guarantee this will be fresher and more delicious. It’s best just after you make it, but you can store it in the fridge about 10 days, if you need to.
As I show in the video, you can make a simple, light meal with ssamjang, lettuce, and rice. Wrapping some rice and ssamjang in a lettuce leaf and pop it into your mouth. Enjoy! : )
Ingredients
: (4 servings)
- ¼ cup doenjang (fermented soybean paste)
- 1 tbs gochujang (hot pepper paste)
- 1 stalk of minced green onion
- 1 clove of minced garlic
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 2 ts honey
- 2 ts toasted toasted sesame seeds
- 2 ts toasted sesame oil
Directions
- Use a spoon to mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.
- Transfer it to a small bowl, and serve with rice and lettuce, or with meat BBQ.
Maangchi, your recipes are always amazing, and what I love most is how easy they are to customize!!! I use 3 times the garlic, and maple syrup, plus 1 to 1 miso and gochujang. The kkaennip, peppers, and tomato are all from my garden. Your tongbaechu kimchi is also a hit (modified with tons of garlic, hot peppers, and ginger). Thank you again for sharing your wisdom and culture <3
You’re the best!
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So delicious! We ate it with rice and bulgogi in a lettuce wrap :)
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Wonderful dipping sauce and so easy to make. We love ssamjang with textured stir fried soy meat and azuki bean rice Patbap! Thank you for the recipe!
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Spicy beyond meat breakfast sausage patties rock it with ssam! Vegan korean food is da bomb :-)
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Hi Maangchi, before i saw your Youtube channel a few years back, i used to hate cooking Korean food. Even when i follow the recipes stated on other sites, many times it didn’t taste delicious. I am Indonesian married to Korean, living in Canada. So sometimes i cook Indonesian or Korean food for the family, because i want my kids to know their culture. Unlike others, the recipe you give is ALWAYS right on! I can’t remember how many times my husband and kids praised my cooking, and it’s all because of you, thank you!! This summer we are having barbeque and i thought, why not make ssamjang? We had such a delightful meal!
I’m so happy to hear that your family loves your Korean cooking. If you like this ssamjang, check out this other ssamjang recipe that I developed with apples: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sagwa-ssamjang
Continued good luck with your Korean cooking!
Made Ssamjang for my Samgyeopsal-gui today. Wow, soo yummie! Just added a little more honey and garlic (I´m a “Garlic-Eater”), and some sugar, to add sweetness. But to my taste, something was missing…. Ginger! So I tried adding Ginger, and the result was perfect! It combines so well with Doenjang and Gochujang taste.
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Great sauce! I decided to use this for my bibimbap and anything else I can think of.
For the chopped onion, use red onion :) Much better than yellow or white..
Yummm! I made this last night and it was FANTASTIC! I used 2 TBSP honey, sesame oil, and sesame seeds (instead of 2 tsp of each). And I used 2 cloves garlic. I think the video says 1 (the printed recipe is missing the garlic). Awesome! the fresh chopped onion really does add alot to this recipe. I know that when I finish this batch I’ll be ready to mix up a new batch. Lots of uses. Even just with rice it’s great.
Hi from New Zealand! I’m very new to Korean cooking so I tried making ssamjang and dwaejibulgogi for the first time tonight – super yummy! Thanks so much for your easy to follow recipes!
Hello Maangchi,
thanks for all your hard work here. I would like to ask for how long i can
conserve Ssamjang in my refrigerator? I was boying Ssamjang at my grocery-store
yet i like to make it on my own because of all the preservatives.
thank you
goodcat
You can keep it in the fridge up to 1 week.
I think if you just cook it for a couple of minutes, and put it in a glass can, like you do when making marmelade, you´ll be able to keep it for weeks in the fridge.
I´m gonna make a big batch this week for Bulgogi, and I´ll try it out. At least it works with sauces for Dakgangjeong and Yangnyeom Tongdak, which I can keep for weeks (or at least while they last…).
Cooked the leftover Ssamjang from my Samgyeopsal-Gui, and put it hot in a glass jar, which I had sterilized in the microwave with boiling hot water. Keeping it in the fridge, sealed and in vacuum,, it should be preserved for months (if it lasts that long ;) ).
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I quadruple the recipe, substitute more white onion (actually sweet Vidalia or sweet Texas onions) for the green onion, run the whole batch through the blender, then keep this in the fridge for weeks. Use it on scrambled eggs, french fries, lettuce wraps, whatever. I could eat this stuff on a shoe. So very yummy.
Hello Maangchi! It turns out my soybean paste is a lot more darker than yours and really strong in taste (it even has chunks of beans). What can I do to use it for this recipe?
Check out the expiration date of your soybean paste please. chunks of beans are ok but dark brown color is not good.
It expires on November this year. I also thought it was weird, the taste is really really strong. This is the one I got
http://gourmetkart.com/image/cache/data/Shangi/sempio%20bean%20paste-500×500.JPG
You can return it to the store where you bought. Show them the dark brown paste.
Hi, Maangchi! I want to thank you for this wonderful recipe as well as for many other recipes that you’ve posted. My family is korean and earlier we lived in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. So during all of that time we cooked aka Korean-Uzbek cuisine. And when accidentally I’d discovered your site this added “a new wave” to our usual menu. We regain authentic taste of Korean cuisine and my family and me loved it so much. Thanks God, korean ingredients are also available now, so ssamjang and namul and soups and rice cakes I cook only by your recipes. Besides we like to watch Korean dramas and always interested in preparing different dishes that we have seen and your site always help us. Thank you very much for your work, we keeping on watching!
I can’t find any doenjang :(
If you can find shiro (“white”/light brown) miso (白味噌), use it instead. You’ll probably have and easier time finding it.
Two caveats: The texture will be different, since miso is smooth and doenjang is (usually?) not, and since the miso could be more subtle in flavor, you may need to use more of it.
If you want a stronger, deeper flavor, try aka (“red”/dark brown) miso (赤味噌).
Do you need to refrigerate doenjang after it has been opened?
Hi Maangchi – very tasty recipe! Just to clarify with you, I saw the 1 minced garlic on screen but not on your recipe written… I guess your screen is correct? Thanks!
Thank you so much for pointing it out. I’m fixing now. Thank you again! : )