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Dish guide · Soups and stews

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Sundubu-jjigae

순두부찌개

Soft tofu stew

♨️ Served hot🌶🌶 Spicy🥬 Vegetarian versions exist: ask

A bubbling stew of silky, uncurdled tofu in a spicy broth, usually with seafood or meat. It's brought to the table still boiling.

What it is

  • Clams and shrimp are the classic additions, and pork or beef are also common. The broth is usually made with anchovy or kelp stock.
  • At many places a raw egg comes on the side to crack into the hot pot.
  • Plain white sundubu, mild and unspiced, is common at tofu specialists.

Styles & local versions

Chodang sundubu초당순두부

In Gangneung's Chodang-dong, tofu is set with untreated seawater from the East Sea, which is rare. It's best fresh in the morning: many people eat the plain white curds with a little soy sauce, though shops also serve fuller stews. A local story credits the official Heo Yeop (pen name Chodang) with the method, but KOREA magazine calls it implausible and says the trade really began with widows who made tofu after the Korean War.

Jjamppong sundubu짬뽕순두부

A newer Gangneung dish: soft tofu in the spicy seafood broth of jjamppong, the Chinese-Korean noodle soup. Donghwa Garden in Chodang-dong is the shop most people know it from.

How to eat it

  1. 1Crack in the egg right away, so the heat cooks it, then eat with rice.

History

  • Its origins aren't clearly recorded, though it's now counted among Korea's great everyday stews, with kimchi-jjigae and doenjang-jjigae.

Allergies and diet

Usually contains

soyshellfishfisheggpork
  • Anchovy stock is common, so "vegetable" sundubu may not be vegetarian. Ask first.
  • Jjamppong sundubu is full of shellfish and other seafood.

Recipes differ between restaurants. If you have an allergy, always ask the staff before you order.

🗣️ Allergy card for the staff

Pick your allergy to see the sentence in Korean.

📍 Where to try it

Sources

We check every fact against at least two sources and write it in our own words. Last checked: 2026-11-04.