Easy Korean Army Stew (Budae Jjigae)

Learn how to cook this easy Korean-American hotpot recipe. Korean Army Stew (Budae Jjigae) transforms simple everyday ingredients like noodles, kimchi and veggies into a mouth-watering spicy stew. Budae Jjigae is perfect for sharing and entertaining too – if you have a table top cooker, why not cook it all together with friends!

Why We Love This Recipe

This is such an easy recipe to make at home because it’s so flexible! Make use of the ingredients you have, or the ones you love the most, and make it your way! If there’s something you don’t like, or it’s not easy to source, you can leave it out. 

This addictive recipe is the perfect remedy on a cold winter’s night, when you just want a fiery, spicy dish to warm you up from the inside out! (That said, we’re so addicted we’ll eat it on a steamy summer’s afternoon. So I guess this one is just about perfect to enjoy all year round.)

All you need are a few tasty ingredients, a hotpot or deep frypan, and some hungry friends to eat it all up! 

What is Budae Jjigae – Korean Army Stew?

A blend of east-meets-west, this spicy Korean stew recipe infuses the flavour-packed intensity of Korean cuisine with American processed foods such as spam, sausages and cheese.  The base for the recipe is a simple mix of chicken stock and gochujang. If you prefer, you can swap the chicken stock for dashi powder (1 tsp for every cup).

This is probably one of our most cooked recipes in our Wandercook’s household. We always have most of the ingredients on hand to whip up a batch for lunch or dinner. Somehow we think the base has a spicy-peppery-tomato flavour, and with the addition of spam, sausages and cheese it tastes like a hotdog stew!

If you’ve eaten everything and just have the soup left, save it and pop in some two minute noodles or veggies the next day, it’s even more delicious.

What You’ll Need

• Chicken stock
• Gochujang
• Minced garlic – or fresh, we just prefer the convenience
• Soy sauce
• Chinese cooking wine
• Korean red chilli flakes or regular chilli flakes
• Sugar

For the main stew ingredients:

Here are a few signature inclusions, feel free to pick and choose!

• Processed meat – such as spam, frankfurters, sausages or ground meat
• Cheese – you can use pre-sliced cheese, but we like spreading generous amounts of grated cheese aaaalllll across the top
• Korean rice cakes (tteok) – there are two main shapes often used in Korean dishes such as this stew as well as Tteokkboki – sliced rice cake and cylinder rice cake.
• Instant ramen noodles – just plain ol’ regular instant ramen or udon noodles
• Fresh kimchi
• Green onion – aka spring onion
• Tofu – soft or firm, both work well. We usually prefer firm tofu which holds its shape better in the hot broth
• Mushrooms – enoki, oyster or shiitake  (or all three if you’re a mushroom fiend like us!)

How to prepare Korean Army Stew

For the rice cakes:

• If you’re using Korean rice cakes (tteok), place in a bowl and cover with hot water to soften them first while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

For the stock:

• This spicy Korean stew is made with of a range of tasty ingredients cooked in a spicy broth. The simmering blend of gochujang (spicy Korean chilli paste), chilli flakes, rice wine, sugar, garlic soy sauce and chicken stock will set your mouth watering before you even take a bite!
• Add all the stock ingredients into a large frypan, wok, fondue hot or hotpot, mix together over low heat. 

To assemble:

• Layer your main ingredients in the pan (in artful sections, or mixed in all together – it’s totally up to you!)

• Turn up the heat and layer everything with generous amounts of cheese.
• Cook on high heat until ingredients such as noodles and frankfurts are cooked through. 
• Serve your Korean Army Stew just how you like it – either hotpot style in the middle of the table and allow everyone to help themselves, or dish out into individual bowls.

Tips

• If you have a hotpot, fondue pot, or an electric frypan like us, this dish is fun and easy to cook on the table, which makes it perfect for friends to enjoy delicious food and fun conversation! But you can also just as easily cook it on the stove and dish out into small individual bowls. 
• In the below recipe we’ve included quantities for stock ingredients, but not for the main ingredients. This is because it really depends on how much you want to cook (and/or how hungry your friends are). You can easily prepare as much or as little as you like, and add more ingredients to cook as you go if your friends are still hungry or completely, totally, hopelessly addicted.

FAQs

Can I prepare budae Jjigae ahead of time?

It’s possible to prepare the stock separately and heat it up when you’re ready to eat. But we think this stew is best when prepared fresh and cooked immediately. That said, once all the main ingredients are eaten, we often reserve any remaining stock and reheat it along with extra noodles and other fresh ingredients to enjoy as leftovers the next day. 

Where does Korean Army Stew originate from?

This fusion-style recipe became popular after the end of the Korean War, when food was scarce and American army surplus supplies were easier to come by.

Variations & Substitutes

• If you can’t source gochujang, you can make a paste out of regular red chilli flakes mixed with sugar and a dash of soy. (Use 1 tablespoon of chilli flakes for every tablespoon of gochujang required). 
• You can swap the chicken stock for dashi powder (1 tsp for every cup).

Try these tasty Korean recipes next:

• Dakgalbi – Spicy Chicken Stir Fry
• Tteokbokki Recipe – Korean Spicy Rice Cake Stir Fry
• Bulgogi – Korean BBQ Beef with Shiitake Mushroom
• Crispy Korean Kimchi Seafood Pancakes
• Easy Korean Kimchi

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Korean Army Stew (Budae Jjigae)

Learn how to cook this easy Korean-American hotpot recipe. Korean Army Stew (Budae Jjigae) transforms simple everyday ingredients like spam, noodles, mushroom and veggies into a mouth-watering spicy stew. Budae Jjigae is perfect for sharing and entertaining too - if you have a table top cooker, why not cook it all together with friends!

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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Korean

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 315kcal

Author: Wandercooks

Cost: $5-10

Equipment

• Knife and chopping board
• Electric frypan OR large saucepan on the stove
• Ladle

Ingredients

For the Stock:

• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 tbsp gochujang or substitute with 2 tbsp chilli flakes blended with a pinch of sugar and a dash of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp minced garlic or fresh if you prefer, we just like the convenience
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
• 2 tsp Korean chilli flakes or regular chilli flakes
• 2 tsp sugar

For the Main Ingredients

• instant noodles 1 - 2 packets
• spam or frankfurts sliced into 2-3cm pieces
• Korean rice cakes (ttkeok) sliced or cylinder version
• fresh kimchi
• cabbage roughly chopped
• enoki mushrooms base removed, separated into small bunches
• tofu sliced into small cubes
• cheese sliced or shredded

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• If you're using Korean rice cakes (tteok), place in a bowl and cover with hot water to soften them first while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

For the stock:

• Add all the stock ingredients into a large frypan, wok, fondue hot or hotpot, mix together over low heat. 

To assemble:

• Layer your main ingredients in the pan (in artful sections, or mixed in all together - it's totally up to you!)
• Turn up the heat and layer everything with generous amounts of cheese. Cook on high heat until ingredients such as noodles and frankfurts are cooked through. 
• Serve your Korean Army Stew just how you like it - either hotpot style in the middle of the table and allow everyone to help themselves, or dish out into individual bowls.

Video

Notes

Tips

• If you have a hotpot, fondue pot, or an electric frypan like us, this dish is fun and easy to cook on the table, which makes it perfect for friends to enjoy delicious food and fun conversation! But you can also just as easily cook it on the stove and dish out into small individual bowls. 
• In the below recipe we've included quantities for stock ingredients, but not for the main ingredients. This is because it really depends on how much you want to cook (and/or how hungry your friends are). You can easily prepare as much or as little as you like, and add more ingredients to cook as you go if your friends are still hungry or completely, totally, hopelessly addicted.

 

FAQs

• Can I prepare Korean Army Stew ahead of time? It's possible to prepare the stock separately and heat it up when you're ready to eat. But we think this stew is best when prepared fresh and cooked immediately. That said, once all the main ingredients are eaten, we often reserve any remaining stock and reheat it along with extra noodles and other fresh ingredients to enjoy as leftovers the next day. 

 

Variations & Substitutes

• If you can't source gochujang, you can make a paste out of regular red chilli flakes mixed with sugar and a dash of soy. (Use 1 tablespoon of chilli flakes for every tablespoon of gochujang required).

Note: This recipe was inspired by Korean Army Stew by My Korean Kitchen

Nutrition

Calories: 315kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 827mg | Potassium: 447mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 613IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 302mg | Iron: 2mg

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