Side dishes

Side dishes Recipes

636 recipes. Page 21 of 27

Everyday Korean side dish recipes

Korean Radish Greens Kimchi

Thick, fibrous radish green stems grip the seasoning and keep their chew long after the leaves soften. The stems get a ten-minute head start in the salt before the leaves join them, so both end up evenly seasoned. Cooled glutinous rice paste holds the chili mixture in place as the kimchi ripens, and sliced onion tempers the heat with sweetness. Longer cold fermentation softens the fibers and deepens the sour aroma, which makes older batches good for chopping into doenjang stew or soup.

At least 1 day 1 hr 30 min 4 servings

Side dishes Medium

Korean Poached Octopus Slices

Dip the tentacle tips into the boiling water three or four times and they curl inward; that curl is the shape the octopus keeps on the plate. After that the water stays at a gentle simmer, because a hard boil toughens the flesh. Thick diagonal slices go out with chogochujang, a vinegared chili sauce.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 15min Cook 25min 4 servings

Stir-fry Medium

Korean Garlic Scape Chicken Breast Stir-fry

Garlic scapes are crisp with a slight chew, which gives lean chicken breast something to bite against. Oyster sauce and soy leave everything glossy.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 15min Cook 11min 2 servings

Steamed Medium

Korean Spicy Steamed Squid

Thick-cut onion and green onion line the pot so the squid sits above the bottom while a gochujang and chili-flake sauce steams it from the top. Gochujang gives a thick heat that clings to each piece, and the flakes add a sharper spiciness over it. Compared with stir-fried squid, there is no oil, and the moisture the vegetables release loosens the sauce enough to spoon over rice. Because squid toughens quickly, the whole cook stays around ten minutes, ending when the flesh turns opaque and the edges curl slightly. Cutting the vegetables thick and spreading the squid out without overlapping pieces is what lets both finish properly in that short window.

Prep 18min Cook 12min 2 servings

Kimchi Easy

Korean Radish Sprout Kimchi

Radish sprouts are so thin that any pressure squeezes out water and a grassy smell, which keeps the tossing down to about 20 seconds with the fingertips, and the vinegar is added last for a brighter tang. Eaten right away, before the sprouts wilt, it is light and crisp; leftovers keep, chilled and sealed, for a day or two.

Prep 20min Cook 5min 4 servings

Side dishes Easy

Korean Gochujang Grilled Anchovies

Medium dried anchovies are toasted in a dry pan for a minute before any sauce touches them, which drives off moisture and fishy smell and keeps them crunchy under the glaze. Once the anchovies are in the sauce, the coating takes under 2 minutes, and any longer sets the glaze hard.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🏠 Everyday

Prep 12min Cook 8min 2 servings

Stir-fry Medium

Korean Garlic Scape Clam Stir-fry

Clam meat is mixed among crisp, oyster-sauce-glazed garlic scapes, and since the clams are barely more than warmed through, they stay plump and tender.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 14min Cook 9min 2 servings

Steamed Medium

Korean Braised Squid with Radish

Radish and squid cook at very different speeds, so the radish half-moons simmer in soy broth until nearly tender before the squid rings go in for a brief final braise. Chili flakes and gochujang give a clean, peppery heat, while the radish softens it with its own sweetness. What's left in the pan is a small amount of thick, spicy sauce that tastes of both squid and radish, good spooned over rice.

Prep 20min Cook 30min 4 servings

Kimchi Medium

Korean Salted Anchovy Jeotgal

The salt is kept at twenty percent of the anchovy weight, and the jar stays in the fridge for the whole cure. The jar stays shut until brine rises over the fish, and only then do garlic, ginger, chili flakes, and rice wine go in, their aroma sitting on top of an already mellowed, salty base. A little stirred into kimchi paste adds savory depth, and a spoonful over hot rice works as a side dish on its own.

At least 19 days 4 servings

Side dishes Medium

Korean Pollock Roe Rolled Omelet

Instead of stirring the pollock roe into the eggs, this version lays it in a single line before rolling, so each slice shows an orange stripe in the middle of the yellow. Bite in and the roe pops with salty little beads against the soft egg. Roe varies in saltiness, so there is no added salt, and low heat keeps the omelette from cracking.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🏠 Everyday

Prep 10min Cook 10min 2 servings

Stir-fry Medium

Korean Butterbur Stem Stir-fry with Perilla

Even boiled butterbur stems often keep tough outer fibers on the thicker pieces. Snap each one, and if strands come away with it, peel them off then and there. The ground perilla seed goes in while a little broth still covers the pan bottom, so it wraps the stems in a thick coat instead of clumping in one spot.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 25min Cook 10min 4 servings

Steamed Easy

Korean Perilla Braised Tofu

Ground perilla seeds (deulkkae-garu) thicken the soy braising liquid into a creamy, nutty sauce, a world away from the red, spicy versions of Korean braised tofu. Searing the tofu on both sides first firms the surface so the sauce coats it thickly and the slices hold their shape. Green onion and a few drops of sesame oil at the very end lift the earthy perilla flavor. Perilla powder is sold at Korean grocers and is not the same thing as sesame.

Prep 12min Cook 14min 2 servings

Kimchi Easy

Korean Pickled Alpine Leek Leaves

Brine poured after only three minutes off the boil lightly blanches the surface of the alpine leek leaves, keeping them bright green while the inside stays raw and garlicky. With soy sauce and vinegar at equal volumes, neither salt nor sourness dominates once the leaves soak through. Each leaf is washed front and back and dried flat, since grit left on a single one turns the whole jar bitter. The finished leaves are mostly used to wrap grilled meat.

Prep 18min Cook 10min 4 servings

Side dishes Easy

Korean Seasoned Pollock Roe Banchan

Korean myeongnanjeot is normally plain salted, not chili-cured like Japanese mentaiko, and here the chili flakes stop at a faint orange tint on the surface. Two or three folds with a spoon and the mixing is over. Burst eggs make it mushy and take away the pop.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🏠 Everyday

Prep 7min 0 2 servings

Stir-fry Medium

Korean Stir-fried Butterbur Stems

Blanched and dressed straight away, butterbur stems keep a clear bitter edge; simmered and stirred with soup soy sauce and water for five minutes or more, they turn much milder. In spring it appears on mountain-village tables next to gondre and chwinamul greens.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 18min Cook 12min 4 servings

Steamed Easy

Korean Soy-Braised King Oyster Mushrooms

Searing king oyster mushrooms until browned before adding any sauce gives this banchan two textures: a chewy, golden cut face and a juicy center. Spread in a single layer, they lose the water they release, which would otherwise thin the glaze and keep it from turning glossy. Mix the sauce beforehand and keep it beside the pan so it can be poured straight in before the mushrooms scorch. The soy and oligosaccharide syrup glaze cooks only briefly, and the heat goes off before it turns too strong, letting residual heat bring up the shine. Finished with green onion and sesame oil, it is best warm and keeps well as a make-ahead side.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🏠 Everyday

Prep 10min Cook 10min 4 servings

Kimchi Hard

Korean Salted Pollock Roe Jeotgal

Pollock roe sacs tear easily, and every stage of this jeotgal, from rinsing to coating, comes down to handling them lightly enough to keep the membranes whole. A 30-minute salt cure with a piece of kelp firms the surface before rice wine and a thin red coat of chili flakes, garlic, and sugar go on. During the cold cure the eggs tighten and pop when bitten, with the chili warmth staying behind the salty sea flavor. Slices of it go on hot rice.

Prep 30min 0 4 servings

Side dishes Hard

Naejang Suyuk

Beef tripe and small intestine share one plate, so you get two quite different chews in alternating bites. Both simmer a long time in water with doenjang (Korean soybean paste) until tender, and the sliced meat goes out hot with a splash of the cooking broth over it.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 40min Cook 90min 3 servings

Stir-fry Medium

Korean Water Parsley, Clam & Garlic Stir-fry

This one is built on sliced garlic browned slowly over low heat until it loses its bite. Clam meat and minari (water parsley) are tossed in that sweet, toasty garlic oil.

🏠 Everyday

Prep 20min Cook 9min 2 servings

Steamed Easy

Korean Braised Tofu and King Oyster Mushrooms

Pan-fried tofu and thick-cut king oyster mushrooms share the same spicy soy and gochujang sauce but feel completely different to bite: one soft, the other springy. Browning the tofu slowly over low heat until the edges firm up gives the sauce a surface to cling to.

🍱 Lunchbox

Prep 12min Cook 18min 2 servings

Kimchi Easy

Korean Water Kimchi (Chilled Radish Broth Kimchi)

The broth, not the vegetables, carries this water kimchi: it is meant to be spooned up and sipped cold. Gochugaru is steeped in a cheesecloth bundle so the water turns clear red without powder clouding it. Radish and napa cabbage are sliced into thin flat squares and salted only briefly, so they keep some crunch in the liquid. A day at room temperature brings a gentle tang, and a few more days in the fridge round it out. A spoonful next to spicy dishes cools the mouth, and in summer it drinks almost like naengmyeon broth.

Prep 20min 0 4 servings

Side dishes Easy

Korean Seasoned Shepherd's Purse

Shepherd's purse is eaten root and all, because the earthy scent lives in the root. That also means scraping dirt off each root with the tip of a knife and washing through several changes of water. Gochujang would bury the scent; the dressing is doenjang instead. The greens are around only briefly in early spring.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🏠 Everyday

Prep 15min Cook 3min 4 servings

Stir-fry Easy

Korean Water Parsley Beef Stir-Fry

The beef and minari (water parsley) go in at equal weights, which keeps the minari's slightly bitter aroma clearly present behind the soy-seasoned meat. The minari gets only 20 to 30 seconds in the pan, enough to soften the leaves while the stems stay crisp.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🏠 Everyday

Prep 10min Cook 10min 2 servings

Steamed Easy

Korean King Oyster & Quail Egg Braise

King oyster mushrooms soak up the soy broth and turn light brown, giving this quail egg braise a meaty chew alongside the soft eggs. The mushrooms braise first until they wilt and soak up plenty of seasoning, while the eggs join later and never simmer long enough to toughen. Mushrooms sliced at least 1 cm thick hold on to that chew. With no chili at all, just garlic and black pepper, it stays mild, and a spoonful of syrup at the end adds shine and rounds off the saltiness. Stored in the fridge with its remaining broth, both mushrooms and eggs stay moist, which makes it an easy side to portion into packed lunches.

🍱 Lunchbox

Prep 15min Cook 20min 2 servings