🍲 Budae jjigae (Korean army stew)

Name: Budae jjigae (Korean army stew)
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: South Korea · Uijeongbu
Ingredients: 200 g well-fermented kimchi, chopped; 200 g canned luncheon meat (canned ham), sliced; 2 sausages, sliced diagonally; 1 block instant ramen noodles (without the seasoning packet); 1 slice of cheese; 1 onion, sliced, and 2 spring onions, cut into lengths; 1–2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes), 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp sugar; 800 ml water

Origin: South Korea · Uijeongbu

1035kcal

per serving · 450 g

230kcal

per 100 g

45 gProtein10 g / 100 g

54 gFat12 g / 100 g

90 gCarbs20 g / 100 g

Budae jjigae is a spicy Korean fusion stew that combines kimchi and Korean chilli flakes with canned luncheon meat, sliced sausages, instant ramen noodles and a slice of melting cheese on top. The broth is red, tangy and rich, the noodles soak it up, and the cheese makes it creamy. It is cooked at the table in a wide shallow pot and shared straight from it.

Diets

Not vegetarianbecause of: spam, sausage

Not veganbecause of: spam, cheese, sausage

Contains porkbecause of: spam

Contains glutenbecause of: ramen noodles

Contains dairybecause of: cheese

Not keto20 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Crustaceans ⚠ Fish ⚠ Soy ⚠ Milk

What it is made of

kimchispamramen noodlescheesesausagegochugaru

Recipe

4 servings30 min

Ingredients

200 g well-fermented kimchi, chopped
200 g canned luncheon meat (canned ham), sliced
2 sausages, sliced diagonally
1 block instant ramen noodles (without the seasoning packet)
1 slice of cheese
1 onion, sliced, and 2 spring onions, cut into lengths
1–2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes), 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp sugar
800 ml water

Method

Mix the gochugaru, crushed garlic and sugar with 2 tbsp of water to make a quick paste.
Arrange the kimchi, luncheon meat, sausages and onion in sections in a wide, shallow pot. Spoon the chilli paste into the centre.
Pour in the water, bring to the boil and simmer for 8–10 minutes.
Add the noodles and spring onions and cook 3–4 minutes until the noodles are just soft.
Lay the slice of cheese on top, let it melt and serve straight from the pot.

How to make it lighter

A 450 g bowl is around 1,000 kcal; share the pot between more people and fill up with extra vegetables.
Use half the luncheon meat and sausages and add mushrooms, cabbage and courgette to keep the pot full.
Skip the cheese slice and use half a block of noodles — the kimchi broth still carries plenty of flavour.

History

The stew is usually traced to the years after the Korean War, when food was scarce and processed meats such as canned ham and sausages found their way out of US military bases. Cooks around Uijeongbu, a city near a large base north of Seoul, combined them with kimchi and chilli in a spicy stew; the name budae means military unit. Instant noodles and cheese were added later, and today it is a popular comfort food across South Korea.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →