Kimchi Soondubu Jjigae features soft tofu, fermented kimchi, and pork belly in a spicy and comforting broth. This easy and delicious stew is ready in minutes for weeknight dinners or hangover cures.
Soondubu jjigae is a popular Korean stew known for its incredible variety. Some restaurants in Korea specialize and dedicate their menus to this dish to showcase the diversity and range of flavors depending on the ingredients used.
White Soondubu is the delicate and nonspicy version that highlights the fresh ocean taste from the seafood, and the Classic Spicy Soft Tofu Stew combines spice and richness coming from both seafood and pork.
For this recipe, we start with the fragrant sauteed aromatics creating a spicy and flavorful base, add the perfect pairing of fermented kimchi and pork belly, and then complement with the creamy thickness from the soft tofu and egg. This is, hands down, my favorite soondubu flavor!
Ingredients for Kimchi Soft Tofu Stew
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- Aromatics – Great dishes like this start with the trifecta of scallions, onion, and garlic sauteed until fragrant. The flavor from these even after adding water is through and through!
- Fermented Kimchi – You need fermented kimchi so the juice imparts that spicy and sour kick!
- Pork – Use thinly sliced pork belly or pork shoulder to make it quicker to cook, but thick chunks are also great as long as you cook it longer. You can also swap this for beef!
- Vegetables – Use onion, zucchini, and/or any type of mushroom. Add more or less of these according to your preference.
- Soft Tofu – The main star of the dish! Get newly produced to ensure it’s fresh and has no funky flavor. This will make the soup creamy, add protein, and it will carry the flavor of the soup really well especially if you let it boil a little longer.
- Pepper Powder and Pepper Flakes – These are both gochugaru but powder is fine grind while flakes are coarse grind. These will impart spice, smokiness, and a fierce red color, especially after sauteing.
- Seasonings – Use soy sauce, fish sauce, and hondashi for a deep umami flavor, then adjust with salt and pepper.
- Water – To make the soup, you can also use Korean soup stock for more flavor.
- Garnish – Finish the soup with scallions and egg for freshness and more creaminess.
How to Make Kimchi Soondubu Jjigae?
Prepare the ingredients: Chop the scallions, onion, and garlic. Slice the zucchini into moon or quarter shapes and the mushrooms thinly. Using a bowl and scissors, cut the kimchi into small bitesize pieces. Lastly, roughly chop the pork belly to make it bitesize.
Make the soondubu base: In high heat with a bit of oil, saute scallions, onion, and garlic until fragrant. Add the pepper powder and pepper flakes and saute to make the soondubu base. This will create something similar to a chili paste and it is where all the flavor will come from. Be mindful not to burn it as it can get bitter. Afterward, add water.
Season the soup: Add soy sauce, fish sauce, and hondashi to the soup base, then taste and adjust with salt and pepper. At this point, it should be slightly spicy, savory, and very flavorful, but don’t worry as it will even out as you add the other ingredients.
Add the ingredients: Let the soup base come to a boil, then add the pork belly and kimchi and let it infuse flavor for about 5 minutes. Once the pork is cooked, add the onion, zucchini, and mushrooms. Let it cook for a couple more minutes.
Finish the soup: Once the veggies are cooked, add the soft tofu and break it into big chunks since it will continue to break apart later. Garnish with egg and scallions.
Serve boiling hot and enjoy!
Serving Kimchi Soondubu
If you’re trying out this recipe, I highly recommend you cook the soondubu in a ttukbaegi. This is the Korean restaurant style of making it. It’s great for a single serving, and it keeps the soup hot while you’re eating it.
Enjoy this soup boiling hot with freshly cooked white rice or multigrain rice, fried fish or seafood pancake, and other vegetable side dishes like the soybean sprout salad and cucumber salad.
Other soup recipes you might like:
- Udon Noodle Soup
- Korean Pork Bone Soup
- Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup
- Tuna Kimchi Stew
- Hand-torn Noodle Soup
Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!
Kimchi Soondubu Jjigae
Equipment
- Ttukbaegi Optional
Ingredients
- 75 grams Thinly Sliced Pork Belly or Shoulder
- 100 grams Fermented Kimchi Cut to bitesize
- 100 grams Vegetables White Onion, chopped; Zucchini, sliced to quarters or moon shapes; Mushrooms, sliced
- 250 grams Soft Tofu
Soondubu Soup Base
- 2 tbsp Vegetable or Canola Oil
- 2 tbsp Scallions Chopped
- 1 tbsp Onion Chopped
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic Minced
- 1/2 tbsp Pepper Powder
- 1/2 tbsp Pepper Flakes
- 1 cup Water
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Fish Sauce
- Hondashi
- Salt and Pepper To taste
Garnish
- Scallions For garnish
- Egg For garnish
Instructions
- Chop the scallions, onion, and garlic, and slice the zucchini into moon or quarter shapes, and the mushrooms thinly.
- Cut the kimchi to bitesize using scissors and a bowl, and roughly chop the pork to bitesize as well.
- In high heat, add oil to the ttukbaegi and saute a tablespoon of scallions, 2 tablespoons of onion, and garlic. Soute this until fragrant.
- Add pepper powder and pepper flakes, then mix it thoroughly until it forms a paste.
- Add water and let the water boil.
- Season the soup with soy sauce, fish sauce, and hondashi, then taste and adjust with salt and pepper.
- Add pork and chopped kimchi, and let it boil until cooked and the flavors are infused.
- Add the vegetables, and let boil until slightly cooked.
- Add tofu, break into 4 big chunks, and let boil until the soup is a bit absorbed.
- Garnish with scallions and egg.
- Serve boiling hot and enjoy!
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