Try these Korean Doenjang Recipes featuring hearty stews, creamy pasta, and barbecue!
What is Doenjang?
Doenjang, or Korean soybean paste, is a strongly flavored, thick, brown paste made from fermented soybeans and salt.
It's a pantry staple in Korean kitchens and is typically sold in large brown tubs at the store.
What does it taste like?
Doenjang has a strong fermented taste and an aroma similar to ripened blue cheese. It's sour, nutty, and salty, with plenty of umami.
It's somewhat like miso but more robust. When fermented longer, it becomes richer in umami, with a slight increase in sweetness and bitterness.
How to cook with it?
It's used to enhance stews and soups, marinate barbeque meats, and make ssam jang, an essential condiment for Korean BBQ.
Try this Doenjang Marinated Pork for an easy Korean BBQ option! The marinade adds a rich, umami taste to the pork without being too strong.
You can serve this with lettuce leaves and ssamjang sauce for one of our favorite recipes using doenjang!
Gamjatang is a spicy and hearty soup that's perfect for cold weather!
It's made by simmering pork bones and seasoning the milky bone broth with chili flakes and doenjang.
One tip is to choose pork bones that have plenty of meat. They add flavor to the broth and fall apart, giving the soup a better texture.
You know a Korean recipe will be good when the author is Eric Kim. This flavorful pasta only takes 30 minutes to make!
It features a creamy sauce made with doenjang, milk, and starchy noodle water. It has a delicious, cheesy quality to it.
This jjigae recipe combines thinly sliced beef brisket with soybean paste, gochugaru (Korean chili pepper flakes), and soy sauce to create an umami-packed broth.
Two essential ingredients, anchovies and kelp, are added for extra depth and richness.
The stew also includes a variety of vegetables such as squash, enoki mushrooms, potatoes, and tofu!
This is a classic Korean dish featuring boiled pork belly served with accompaniments like cabbage leaves, radish salad, salted shrimp, and green onions.
The pork is boiled in a brine infused with the umami of doenjang. Coffee and beer help to enhance the flavor and prevent odors.
Once tender, the meat is sliced thinly and enjoyed wrapped in cabbage leaves with the condiments!
This Grilled Eggplant recipe takes around 30 minutes to make and features a sauce made from doenjang, gochujang, and miso!
The eggplants are grilled with their skin to make them extra creamy. One tip is to not grill them for too long, about 7 minutes in perfect.
They should be soft and tender but not mushy.
7. Ssamjang
Ssamjang is a Korean sauce for lettuce wraps. It's a simple sauce with a few basic ingredients!
The perfect Ssamjang has a good balance of doenjang and gochujang. A good starting point is a 2:1 ratio, which usually works well.
If you like a little crunch and a nutty flavor, add finely chopped nuts like almonds or peanuts.
This Korean fusion pasta combines doenjang with creamy fettuccine, mushrooms, and bacon!
It's easy to make โ just prepare the sauce and toss it with cooked pasta.
You can serve it with radish sprouts and freshly cracked pepper for one of my favorite doenjang recipes!
Doenjang jjigae is a staple Korean stew made with fermented soybean paste! This recipe features tofu, zucchini, radish, and thinly sliced pork.
For extra flavor, try lightly pan-frying the tofu first. It'll make the tofu firmer and help the skin absorb the flavors of the broth.
10. Doenjang Guk
Learn how to make this Doenjang Guk that features zucchini, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, tofu, and more. It's an easy recipe that takes about 20 minutes to make.
Pro tip: When adding the soup seasoning, push it through a sieve so it blends well with the soup. Or pre-mix a small amount of water with the seasoning so it's more runny.
Did you enjoy these Doenjang Recipes? Be sure to check out the other delicious recipes on this blog by checking out our Recipe Index.
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