51 Best Korean Dishes| TravellersQuest

Separated from the Democratic Republic of Korea in 1945, the Republic of Korea is a country that is located in the east of the Asian continent. With beautiful cities and extensive history, Korea is one of the Asian countries that most preserve its traditions and promote its culture in an impeccable way.

Its cuisine has been transformed over the years, and although they are no longer a single country, it is very likely that some culinary customs that were in times before the separation from Korea, still remain.

Do you love Korean food recipes and want to learn more about its influence and history? Korea is a beautiful country with an interesting culinary history. Throughout this article we review the best Korean dishes including side dishes, rice dishes, egg dishes, tofu dishes, and more!

Table of contents

Best Korean dishes

Korean cuisine is one of the largest in Asia. It has a wide variety of dishes and recipes of different flavors, smells, and aspects. Most of its meal is of high culinary quality, which makes it a bit difficult to select with precision the best dishes in your kitchen. However, here you will find the highest quality recipes for Korean food.

Kimchi jjigae

This Kimchijjigae dish is a strong and powerful flavor stew made from Kimchi. Kimchi is a fermented preparation of some vegetables, which it acquires through its preservation, a flavor that makes the dish have a different touch.

This preparation not only includes Kimchi, but it is also accompanied by pork and fresh tofu. All this will go in a substantial broth, which will be spicy – flavored by the gochujang (a Korean spicy paste). Onions, green peppers, garlic, and soy sauce typically accompany this broth.

Mandu

This popular Korean dish consists of a steamed or baked empanadilla filled with different ingredients. Its dough is quite basic – made from flour, eggs, salt, oil, and water. Despite its simplicity, no one can deny that this meal is delicious.

Generally, the Mandu are stuffed with pork or veal, although sometimes they are stuffed with both! In addition, Manducan contain soft tofu, onions, red peppers, garlic cloves, and chopped shitakes mushrooms.

Nothing in this dish should be sautéed or fried because all the ingredients will cook inside the dough.

Sundubu jjigae

The word Jjigae means ‘stewed preparation.’ Depending on the word that accompanies it, this Sundubu Jjigae Korean cuisine dishes may include different ingredients. Kelp seaweed, fresh tofu, and beef are the main and most important ingredients of this dish.

First, the seaweed along with some pieces of anchovies and shitake mushrooms make a concentrated broth. This broth will then be combined with sautéed veal, onions, and shitake mushrooms. Then spicy Korean peppers and fresh tofu are added next, to enhance the broth’s density and flavor.

Doenjang jjigae

This soup is quite similar to Japanese miso soup. This is because Japan strongly influenced some aspects of Korean cuisine and culture. Doenjang pasta is what gives its flavor to this typical Korean broth, through the fermentation of soybeans and thick broth.

Tofu, shrimp, onions, hot peppers, garlic, potatoes, and small anchovies are combined to make a broth. This broth will concentrate when it starts to boil, at which point the pasta is added and the dish will culminate.

Japchae

Another of the best Korean dishes is Japchae. This consists of a noodle dish with vegetables. However, these noodles are made from something other than wheat flour; they are made from sweet potatoes.

The noodles cook first, and then vegetables including carrots, onions, green and red peppers, mushrooms, spinach, and garlic are stir fried separately. All this sautéed in sesame oil and sprinkled with a sauce based on soy sauce and honey. Finally, the noodles are added and sautéed until they acquire a slightly dark color.

Korean noodle dishes

Noodles are ingredients that greatly identify the culinary culture of Asia. That is why in countries like Japan, China, and Korea noodles play a significant role in each country’s cuisine.

Jajangmyeon

This noodle dish is derived from the Zhejiang Mian of Chinese cuisine. However, it is a creation of Korea. These noodles contain a thick sauce called Jajan made of veal, black bean paste, and some vegetables.

The wheat flour-based noodles are paired with black bean paste sauce. This sauce is made by sautéing the veal with onions, chives, green and red peppers, grated ginger and finally this pasta is added, which is diluted with abundant soy sauce and little water. After it is reduced, it is served on top of the cooked noodles.

Kalguksu

This Kalguksusoup with noodles is made with shrimp, anchovies, and clams.Together this combination makes a fairly complete and interesting dish.

First, sauté the anchovies and onions in sesame oil. Then pieces of radish, shrimp and some seaweed are added to this mixture and water is added to make a broth. Finally, noodles, clams, carrots, potatoes and soy sauce are added.

Budae jjigae

Originating in the post-war period of Korea, BudaeJjigae despite not being consumed in such large quantities is one of the best dishes. The noodles in this dish of military origin and make a good combination with spam meat and various vegetables.

Its preparation is quite simple. There is no sautéing that unifies the dish – it is literally made from a common broth. This broth includes mushrooms, bean sprouts, carrots, onions, and green peppers.

In addition, a traditional Korean spicy paste called gochujang makes a very good combination with noodles and spam meat.

Seolleongtang

This Seolleongtang Korean noodle dish includes the quintessential Korean lunch soup. It consists of cooking large quantities of ingredients for and long periods of time, including beef bones, veal, and even beef.

First, all meat ingredients are cooked with water. The meat will need to boil for several hours over low heat. After cooking the meat, you will add a sautéed onion, green peppers, chives, carrots, and potatoes. Finally, add the noodles to the broth so that they finish cooking in this consommé.

Nakji bokkeum

Octopus and noodles highlight in this Korean comfort food. This dish is a spicy stew and very tasty. Its consistency is thick so that it is a penetrating and blunt sauce.

Gochujang paste, soy sauce, mirin wine, and corn syrup are the ingredients that will bring the spicy and powerful flavor to the dish. This sauce will be added to a sautéed chopped octopus along with carrots, green peppers, onions, chives and noodles that have been cooked previously.

Ramyeon

This Ramyeon soup is a Korean derivation of the Ramen soup. However, as is logical, it differs in several ingredients that the original ramen soup does not contain. This adaptation is original to Korea and despite not having invented ramen, is the Asian country that consumes it most.

Kimchi pasta, Gochujang and Gochugaru are the Korean ingredients that perfect this dish. The ingredients are sautéed together with bacon, onions, garlic and green peppers and then merged with water and form a broth.

In this broth-based dish, noodles tie the meal together.

Naengmyeon

This Naengmyeon noodle dish consists is refreshing to all those who consume it. Naturally, it is prepared mostly in the summer to appease high temperatures.

Naengmyeon noodles are cooked, then cooled in the refrigerator. While this is happening, a cold sauce should be prepared, consisting of chopped onions and garlic along with the gochujang paste, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, and gochutkaru.

The sauce is served on the noodles with some slices of fresh cucumber that helps to refresh this delicious meal.

Korean side dishes with potato

Potato is an ingredient that can be used in almost any meal. Mashed potatoes bring consistency, chopped potatoes add flavor, and potato puree can be an ideal side dish. Potato is an ingredient that has several uses in Korean cuisine, however, this time they will focus on the side dishes that have it.

Jeon

This Jeondish is one of the most interesting and best Korean dishes in terms of cultural significance as it was created to honor deceased people. That is why it is prepared only for solemn ceremonies.

Potato and wheat flour are unified to make the dough of this tortilla. So that the mashed potatoes acquire a firmer consistency when mixed with the flour.The tortilla is then filled with certain vegetables and pieces of beef and seafood.

Gamja-jorim

Being a sweet flavoredentrée, this potato side dish is a type of Bachan. A Bachan is a name given to the side dishes in the Republic of Korea.

This dish is made with baby potatoes that are lightly sealed with sesame oil before being caramelized. Then add honey, soy sauce, and garlic, plus a touch of sesame seeds to decorate.

Goguma Mattang

This Korean potato side dish is similar to the previous one, only instead of being made with honey and potatoes, this is done using sweet potatoes and sugar. The texture of this dish should be crispy and with a sweet taste.

First, the starch must be removed from the sweet potatoes, so they are soaked in water for a long time. Then they are dried and chopped into cubes and then fried in plenty of oil. Finally, the sugar will be joined with hot oil and the sweet potato dice will be sautéed in this sauce.

Korean hot dog

Although its name seems to be an American invention in the style of Korean cuisine, this is genuinely one of the best dishes. It is very popular in fast food stalls throughout Korea. Although it may be believed that this in itself is the main course, this Korean hot dog is just a snack.

Korean hot dog preparation is simple, first, you must place the sausage on a bamboo stick so that it can be held. Then the sausage should be covered with the traditional banderilla mixture based on cornmeal, wheat flour, and milk. After this, it is covered with already fried potatoes and it is fried again for a few minutes so that its texture is crispy.

Potato and scrambled eggs with Kimchi

Finally, there is this potato omelet with beaten eggs. It is a side dish of the common Korean breakfast. As is explicit in its name, it is covered with Kimchi fermented pasta once all the ingredients are cooked.

First, they saute sesame seeds with soy sauce, white wine, chilies, sesame oil, and sugar. Then to this sautéed, the beaten eggs with grated potatoes and corn starch will be incorporated to give it a good consistency.

Korean dishes with chicken

This time Korean cuisine and culture focus on the cooking and presentation of one of the most faithful poultry for cooking, chicken. It can be done in multiple ways, fried, stewed, baked, roasted and even steamed. Regardless of the form of its preparation, Korean cuisine presents its best dishes with chicken below.

Dakgangjeong

This Korean food staple consists of a sweet-tasting chicken. Although it may sound somewhat crazy, this dish is one of the best that Korea has to offer. The contrast of between sweet and spicy flavors with chicken is really incredible.

The chicken will be marinated with ginger, green peppers, white wine, lemon juice, chopped garlic, and black pepper. It is then coated with corn starch and fried until its crust is golden and crispy. Finally, this chicken dish is covered with a sauce based on soy sauce, rice wine, gochujang paste, honey, sesame oil, grated ginger, pepper, almonds, and sugar.

Dakgalbi

DakGalbi is a meal based on fried chicken with a strong flavor. This flavor is usually spicy and is usually one of the best Korean dishes. Even some version of this dish is usually used melted cheese to give it a special and different touch.

The chicken must be deboned and chopped to be sealed with sesame oil. After having removed all the bones, the chicken is sealed with onions, scallions and chopped garlic. Finally, it is lightly browned, and a little soy sauce is added along with black pepper, sugar, gochujang paste, and a touch of curry. The dish will be ready when this stew thickens and is a broth of greater volume.

Samgyetang

This time it is not about fried chicken or sweet chicken. Instead we present a chicken meat soup dish called Samgyetang. This preparation is a classic of Korean food and is ideal to refresh diners who taste it.

This dish consists of a chicken in stuffed broth. Its interior is filled with Korean ginseng and white rice roots. Then a consommé is made with this stuffed chicken and garlic cloves, chopped onions, sesame seed oil, sesame seeds, and black pepper.

Maeun-dakbonggui

Something that characterizes great Korean food is its strong flavors, especially spicy. In this case, the spicy flavor takes over chicken meat to make this popular Maeun-dakbonggui Korean chicken dish.

The secret of this dish is in its flavoring. The key ingredients of its marinade are the spicy pasta of gochugaru and gochujang, in addition to grated ginger, garlic, onions, honey, sesame, and black pepper.

After this extensive marinade, the chicken meat is grilled to preserve its flavors.

Bibimbap

This Bibimbap Korean food is one of the most dispersed. Regardless of where it originated, bibimbap is based on a portion of white rice and chicken.

The ingredients that are positioned on top of the rice are grated carrots, zucchini and spinach sautéed with sesame oil and soy sauce, sliced chicken cooked on the plate and served with sliced cucumbers.

In addition, gochujang pasta manifests itself in a small amount. Finally, this dish is crowned with egg that is placed raw on top of this dish and will be cooked with its heat.

Korean dishes with rice

As in all of Asia, rice grain is one of the most consumed in Korea. This is because it can be combined with almost any ingredient, even after being cooked it can be included in a stir fry and will not affect the taste of other ingredients.

Tteokbokki

This Tteokbokkidish consists of a preparation of rice cakes. These small but delicious cakes based on glutinous rice are decorated with some vegetables and a sauce with a strong and spicy flavor.

First, the cakes are made with glutinous rice flour and wheat flour. After being fried or baked, pour a gochujang pasta sauce over these cakes and some chopped onions and peppers.

Kimbap

Sure by the appearance many people who see this dish for the first time will think that it is Japanese sushi rolls. However, this Kimbap Korean dish with rice is an original version of the Japanese sushi rolls.

Its wrap is actually made of algae; however, its interior is not only filled with fish. It’s filling is accompanied by spam meat, crab, cheese, carrots in sticks, and pickled radishes.

Jeyuk deopbap

The rice appears hand in hand with chopped and seasoned pork. The pork is cooked and served with white rice. Pork is seasoned with soy sauce and then sautéed with gochujang paste, onions, carrots, green peppers, chives, and black pepper.

Finally, it is served with white rice and is accompanied by beaten eggs.

Kimchi bokkeumbap

To conclude with the best Korean dishes with rice is the Kimchi Bokkeumbap. This dish also has pork, but this time it is made jointly with scrambled rice and pork.

Kimchi is the seasoning that gives pork meat flavor along with some onions, carrots, chives, garlic, potatoes and green peppers. Finally, the pork is chopped and sautéed and the white rice is added to this mixture acquiring a reddish color and a light flavor despite having Kimchi.

Korean Vegetarian dishes

Vegetables are the healthiest ingredients that can exist. Of course, this depends on your combination when cooking. In Korean cuisine, there is a wide variety of dishes with vegetables included and that have an incomparable flavor.

Kimchi on barbecue

Kimchi Korean food consists of fermented cabbage. The Kimchi can serve as a companion in different preparations or it can be prepared as an independent dish as in this case it is made on the grill.

The Kimchi is chopped and then placed on the coals until it browns a little. Finally, soy sauce is poured over it for a final touch before consuming.

Gosari Namul

The word Namul is a Korean term that indicates a meal made with spiced vegetables. A Namul dish is one of the best Korean dishes because it can be made fried, boiled, baked, steamed, stewed or even raw.

The Gosari Namul, in this case, is a Korean dish that is prepared with fern sprouts. These are seasoned with powdered ginger, black and white pepper, salt and soy sauce. This preparation can be battered with corn starch and then fried.

Kongnamul

This Korean Namulis generally served cold during the summer months. The Kongnamul is made from bean sprouts, these are sealed in sesame oil and then sauteed with onions, curry powder, ground ginger, salt, and white pepper.

Finally, some water is added to this Korean vegetarian dishand they are finished by steaming.

Sigeumchi Namul

Another good Korean Namul is the Sigeumchi, which is made with fresh spinach. These are first boiled only with salt. Then they are sautéed with soy sauce, sugar, honey, white pepper, sesame oil and some pieces of green peppers.

Musaengchae

Finally, there is a last vegetarian dish originated in Korea. Despite not having the word Namul in his name as one catalog, since it is spiced. This dish is prepared with white radishes and noodles.

Radishes are sauteed with soy sauce, sugar, mirin wine, black pepper, and sesame seeds. Then the cooked noodles are added and sauteed with more soy sauce.

Dishes with beef

Korean cuisine has various ways to prepare meals with beef. Korean cuisine actually uses more beef steak than many other Asian cuisines.

Gogigui

The description of this Gogigui dish is basically the same as a barbecue but in the style of Korean cuisine. The meat used is beef that is marinaded for a few hours with some condiments that make it acquire a greater taste.

This marinade is made of soy sauce, chopped garlic, sugar and sesame oil. Then the meat is cooked on a gas grill and can be accompanied by any type of noodles.

Bulgogi Korean Food

The protagonist in this beef dish is the meat. It is cooked roasted and cut into julienne, accompanied with different seasonings and vegetables that give more life and flavor to this dish.

The meat must first be marinated, the condiments used for this process are soy sauce, mirin wine, rice wine, ground ginger, black pepper, sesame seeds, honey, and sugar. Finally, it is cooked on the plate with sesame oil accompanied with chopped onions and garlic.

Beef Galbi

Being one of the most popular and best dishes, Veal Galbi is one of the tastiest in this country. Made with beef steaks, Galbi is a roast made with vegetables, which is accompanied by a delicious sauce.

First of all, meat should be boiled with water until its fat is completely released. Then it should be marinated in a sugar sauce, honey, rice wine, mirin wine, onions, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and soy sauce. These are cooked until the sauce is reduced considerably.

Manduguk

This dish is usually made during the coldest parts of winter because the maduguk naturally warms up its consumers.

Manduguk is a Korean beef soup dish. This meat is seasoned with soy sauce and ground ginger. In addition, this soup has small bags of rice flour stuffed with vegetables such as carrots and potatoes.

Ssambap

This Korean meal is basically a feast of various chopped and grilled ingredients. However, among all these different flavors, the beefsteak stands out.

Meat and white rice will be served on spinach-like edible leaves. The final meal will be seasoned and accompanied with soy sauce, gochujang paste and white pepper.

Korean dishes with fish

Korea has very similar versions of Japanese recipes, however, when you look carefully at the ingredients you can see that they are different. Fish is one of these ingredients that can have various types of derivations of Japanese recipes and also their own Korean recipes.

Eomuk

This Eomukdish is a specialty of Korean street food. They consist of spongy fish meat cakes, which are fried and dipped in gochujang sauce.

The cod meat along with shrimp pieces make up this dish. The fish and shrimp are crushed in a food processor with wheat flour, eggs, corn starch, sugar, black pepper, salt, and onions. Finally, this mixture is fried in sesame oil.

Ddeokbokki

Ddeokbokki is one of the best dishes with fish, and is quite similar to tteokbokki. The difference is that fish meat is incorporated into this dish. But it is the same in many ways, it is based on glutinous rice flour and wheat flour.

Mackerel fish meat is added to the mixture is very thin and uncooked pieces. This will be cooked when it is baked or cold.

Jorim Myung Tae

This Korean fish dish basically consists of a tuna stew. This tasty fish is a type of meat that easily adapts to any flavor. In this case, the stew will be spicy.

The tuna is crumbled and sautéed with onions, chives, green peppers and the ingredient that makes it spicy:gochujang paste. After this, the stew is served with white rice and a small stream of sesame oil.

Korean dishes with pork

Pork is used in large quantities in Korean cuisine. It may be used as different parts of the meal. For example, some of the best dishes with pork may be served as the main entree, soups, starters, or sautéedas you can find this type of meat of great flavor.

Bossam

Bossam is a Korean dish with pork. This type of meat is steamed with some vegetables and with a short marinade with certain condiments. This dish features sliced pork meat quite thinly.

Its marinade is made with soy sauce, mirin wine, black pepper, and grated ginger. Then it is lightly sealed with sesame oil and finished cooking with sauces such as Ssamjang which is made with hot peppers.

Sangyeopsal

This preparation is done on a grill with sesame oil. The meat used for this dish is the pork belly. This part of the pig animal is specially seasoned so that the result is unsurpassed.

The pork belly is seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, ginger, onions, and sesame oil. After it is cooked on the grill, it is served on top of lettuce leaves and is accompanied by gochujang paste.

Onnuriye Donkatsu

This Korean dish uses pork chops to create a culinary delight called Onnuriye Donkatsu. This meal is an adaptation of the Japanese meal.

The chops are battered with cornstarch and fried until golden brown. Then they are covered with a honey sauce, soy sauce, mirin wine, grated ginger, sugar, gochujang pasta, and black pepper.

Korean dishes with eggs

Oriental cuisine adapts eggs in elaborations quite differently to Western food. However, some of these oriental egg recipes maybe even better than many western ones. Next, egg dishes are presented in their different forms.

Gyeranjjim

This is a Korean dish that is usually served as a side dish with strong spicy flavors. It consists of a delicate and fluffy preparation based on beaten eggs.

More simply explained, gyeranjjim is a salted egg souffle. This Korean egg production has a characteristic smell thanks to oil and sesame seeds.

Bokkeumbap

This dish is one of the best Korean dishes and the origin of the Kimchi Bokkeumbap. Being the classic version of traditional Korean rice, it has chicken and rice sautéed with soy sauce, bean sprouts, carrots, onions, and green peppers. In addition, it is seasoned with some mirin wine.

After all the stir frying is complete, beaten egg is added to the mix which makes this meal textured and delicious.

Gyeran Mari

This egg dish is based on an omelet that is typical of cuisine of this country. It consists of preparing the mixture of eggs such as a normal omelet only that you first skip pieces of ham, carrots, onions, red peppers, chives, and soy sauce and then add the eggs.

Finally, the tortilla is folded when it is almost completely cooked in such a way that when it is rolled it becomes uniform and remains as a single piece when cut.

Chicken and eggs in oyster sauce

To finish the section of dishes with eggs, is this homemade Korean dish. It is easy to prepare and was originated by the fruit of an improvisation. This dish consists of a base sauce that contains gochujang paste, soy sauce, carrots, oyster broth, onions, and red peppers.

In this base, the chicken is cooked over low heat, so that finally two tortillas of beaten eggs already cooked are added.

Korean soup dishes

To conclude this tour through Korean cuisine are the soup dishes originated in this cuisine. Korea has a significant breadth in terms of soup recipes, which is why a selection of some of them is given below.

Tokkuk

Tokkuk is a Korean soupbased on a broth that contains small Toks inside it. The Tok is a kind of boiled sacks that can be filled with different types of meat.

Generally, the Tok has two filling options, pork or veal. Even the Tok can be filled with both types of meat and are always accompanied by seaweed, eggs, potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers and ginger, all in the same broth.

Miyeokguk

This Korean comfort food is energizing, this is due to its high nutritional content. That is why women who have just had a child are recommended to consume it. The main ingredient of this consommé is the Miyeokguk seaweed.

Lean beef is sautéed with garlic cloves, onions, peppers, ground ginger, and sesame oil. Then the seaweed and the water are added to the broth. Finally, it is cooked until it is reduced a little and some white rice is added.

Haejangguk

Finally, Haejangguk closes this list of best Korean dishes with different characteristics. Being a dish that significantly helps eliminate the symptoms of a hangover, Haejangguk is a dish admired by many and despised by some others.

Haejangguk consists of a broth where Kimchi and white rice are protagonists in giving flavor and consistency to this preparation. In addition, beef, carrots, cabbage, green peppers, ground ginger, and a peculiar ingredient, oxblood, interact so that Haejangguk is the savior of the consequences of an excessive party night.

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