Korean Food Guide: Dishes Explained

Gogi-guksu 고기국수

Jeju pork noodle soup

Jeju Island's signature noodle soup: thick wheat noodles in a pork broth, topped with slices of boiled pork and chives.

Hamheung naengmyeon 함흥냉면

Hamheung-style chewy cold noodles

Thin, very chewy noodles made from potato or sweet potato starch, usually tossed in a spicy red pepper sauce. Hoe-naengmyeon comes topped with seasoned raw fish.

Jajangmyeon 짜장면

Noodles in black bean sauce

Korea's favorite Chinese-Korean dish: thick wheat noodles under a glossy black sauce of fermented bean paste, pork and onions. It's savory, slightly sweet and not spicy.

Janchi-guksu and bibim-guksu 잔치국수·비빔국수

Banquet noodle soup and spicy mixed noodles

Thin wheat noodles, served two ways. Janchi-guksu comes in a light, warm anchovy broth, while bibim-guksu is cold and tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce.

Jinju-naengmyeon 진주냉면

Jinju-style cold noodles

A southern cold noodle from Jinju: buckwheat noodles in a broth of beef and seafood, topped with strips of pan-fried meat (yukjeon).

Jjamppong 짬뽕

Spicy seafood noodle soup

A fiery red noodle soup packed with seafood and vegetables. With jajangmyeon and tangsuyuk, it's one of the three pillars of Korean-Chinese restaurants.

Kalguksu 칼국수

Knife-cut noodle soup

Fresh wheat noodles, cut by hand with a knife, in a hot, comforting broth. The name means "knife noodles".

Kongguksu 콩국수

Noodles in cold soy milk

A summer noodle dish: wheat noodles in thick, chilled, freshly ground soy milk. It's nutty, mild and very refreshing.

Makguksu 막국수

Buckwheat noodles

Chewy buckwheat noodles served cold, either in a chilled broth or with a spicy sauce. Gangwon Province, and especially Chuncheon, is its home.

Mandu 만두

Korean dumplings

Korean dumplings filled with ingredients such as pork, tofu, vegetables and kimchi. They are steamed, boiled, pan-fried, or served in soup (mandu-guk).

Milmyeon 밀면

Busan cold wheat noodles

Busan's cold noodle: chewy wheat noodles in an icy broth or a spicy sauce. It's a wartime cousin of naengmyeon, made with the flour refugees could get.

Pyongyang naengmyeon 평양냉면

Pyongyang-style cold buckwheat noodles

Buckwheat noodles in a cold, clear broth, usually made from beef and sometimes blended with dongchimi (radish water kimchi). It is famously mild: many people find it bland the first time, and its fans love it for exactly that.

Sujebi 수제비

Hand-torn dough soup

Soft, chewy pieces of wheat dough torn by hand into a light broth with potato and vegetables. It's Korea's classic comfort soup.

Wandang 완당

Busan thin dumpling soup

A Busan soup of feather-thin dumpling skins with a little filling, floating in a clear broth. It's much lighter than mandu.

Dak-bokkeumtang 닭볶음탕

Spicy braised chicken stew

Chunks of bone-in chicken braised with potatoes and carrots in a red chili sauce. It's also widely called dakdoritang.

Dakhanmari 닭한마리

Whole chicken hot pot

A whole chicken simmered at the table in a light broth, with potatoes and rice cakes. The name just means "one whole chicken". Dongdaemun has a whole alley of it.

Dwaeji-gukbap 돼지국밥

Busan pork and rice soup

Busan's signature dish: slices of boiled pork in a milky pork-bone broth, served with rice. You season the bowl yourself at the table.

Gamjatang 감자탕

Spicy pork bone stew

A big, spicy pot of pork spine bones and potatoes, thickened with perilla seed. It's a filling, late-night dish for sharing.

Gomtang 곰탕

Clear beef soup

A clear, savory beef soup made by slowly simmering meat, typically brisket. It is lighter and clearer than seolleongtang, which is made mainly from bones.

Haejangguk 해장국

Hangover soup

The name means "soup to chase a hangover". It is not one recipe but a family of hearty soups that Koreans eat after a night of drinking, or simply as an ordinary meal with rice. Common kinds are made with pork backbone, ox blood, dried pollack or bean sprouts.

Kimchi-jjigae 김치찌개

Kimchi stew

A bubbling, sour and spicy stew made from well-aged kimchi, usually with pork and tofu. It's one of the most common home-style dishes in Korea.

Kongnamul-gukbap 콩나물국밥

Bean sprout soup with rice

A clear, lightly peppery soup of soybean sprouts and rice, famous as Jeonju's breakfast and as a hangover cure.

Momguk 몸국

Jeju pork and seaweed soup

A Jeju soup of rich pork broth thickened with mom, a sea plant called gulfweed. It tastes of both land and sea.

Nakgopsae 낙곱새

Spicy octopus, intestine and shrimp stew

A Busan one-pot of small octopus (nakji), beef intestines (gopchang) and shrimp (saeu), simmered in a sweet and spicy red sauce and spooned over rice.

Samgyetang 삼계탕

Ginseng chicken soup

A whole young chicken stuffed with glutinous rice and simmered with ginseng, jujubes and garlic. Koreans traditionally eat it on the hottest days of summer.

Seolleongtang 설렁탕

Ox bone soup

A milky-white soup made by simmering ox bones for many hours, served with sliced beef and rice. It comes almost unseasoned: you season it yourself at the table.

Sundubu-jjigae 순두부찌개

Soft tofu stew

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

Bibimbap 비빔밥

Mixed rice with vegetables, meat and chili paste

A bowl of rice topped with seasoned vegetables, usually with meat and an egg, that you mix together at the table with gochujang (red chili paste). The name simply means "mixed rice".

Gimbap 김밥

Korean seaweed rice rolls

Rice and fillings rolled in dried seaweed, sliced into bite-sized rounds and eaten at room temperature. Koreans pack it for picnics, grab it for a quick lunch and pair it with tteokbokki.

Bulgogi 불고기

Marinated grilled beef

Thin slices of beef marinated in soy sauce, sugar, garlic and sesame oil, then grilled or cooked in a pan. The name means "fire meat".

Dakgalbi 닭갈비

Spicy stir-fried chicken

Chicken marinated in a spicy sauce and stir-fried at the table on a big iron pan with cabbage, sweet potato and rice cakes. It's the famous dish of Chuncheon.

Eobok-jaengban 어복쟁반

Pyongyang-style beef hot pot on a brass platter

A sharing dish from northern Korea: sliced beef, vegetables and dumplings simmering in light broth on a wide brass platter at the table.

Galbi 갈비

Grilled short ribs

Galbi means "ribs". On its own it usually means beef short ribs, often marinated in a sweet soy and garlic sauce and grilled at the table. Pork ribs are called dwaeji-galbi.

Galmaegi-sal 갈매기살

Grilled pork skirt meat

A rare cut of pork from between the ribs and belly, grilled at the table. It's meaty and chewy, not fatty, and each pig gives only a small amount.

Gopchang and makchang 곱창·막창

Grilled beef intestines and stomach

Grilled beef offal, a beloved drinking food in Korea. It's fatty, chewy and full of flavor, and each cut has its own name.

Jokbal and bossam 족발·보쌈

Braised pig's trotters and boiled pork wraps

Korea's two great boiled pork plates. Jokbal is pig's trotters braised in soy sauce; bossam is plain boiled pork belly or shoulder. Both are sliced, wrapped in lettuce and shared.

Korean fried chicken 치킨

Chikin, Korean-style fried chicken

Extra-crisp fried chicken, either plain, glazed in a sweet and spicy sauce, or fried whole in the old style. Chicken with beer has its own word: chimaek.

Samgyeopsal 삼겹살

Grilled pork belly

Thick slices of pork belly grilled at your table and wrapped in lettuce. The name means "three-layer flesh", for the stripes of fat and meat. It is Korea's everyday barbecue, usually shared over soju.

Suyuk and dombe-gogi 수육·돔베고기

Boiled sliced meat

Meat boiled until tender and sliced. Pork belly is the most common kind. Dombe-gogi is Jeju's version, served on the cutting board it was sliced on.

Tangsuyuk 탕수육

Korean sweet and sour pork

Crisp battered pork with a glossy sweet and sour sauce, usually shared on the side of jajangmyeon or jjamppong.

Yukhoe 육회

Korean beef tartare

Raw beef cut into thin strips and seasoned with sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and a little sugar, usually topped with an egg yolk and served with Korean pear.

Bokguk 복국

Pufferfish soup

A clear, clean soup of pufferfish with bean sprouts and minari (water dropwort). It's a Busan specialty and a well-loved morning-after meal.

Galchi-jorim 갈치조림

Spicy braised hairtail

Hairtail, a long silver fish, simmered in a spicy sauce with radish. It's a Jeju specialty and the star of Seoul's Namdaemun Market hairtail alley.

Ganjang-gejang 간장게장

Soy-marinated raw crab

Raw crab cured in a soy-based brine until silky and savory. It's nicknamed bap-doduk, the "rice thief", because it makes you eat so much rice.

Jeonbok-ttukbaegi and jeonbok-dolsotbap 전복뚝배기·전복돌솥밥

Jeju abalone stew and abalone rice

Jeju's abalone specialties. Jeonbok-ttukbaegi is a soybean paste seafood stew in a stone bowl; jeonbok-dolsotbap is rice cooked with abalone in a stone pot.

Jogae-gui 조개구이

Grilled shellfish

Clams, scallops and other shellfish grilled at your table, a classic seaside meal. Sauces like cheese or garlic butter often go on top.

Mulhoe 물회

Cold raw fish soup

Slices of raw fish or seafood with vegetables in an icy, spicy, vinegary broth. It's a coastal summer favorite.

Bindaetteok 빈대떡

Mung bean pancake

A thick pancake made from ground mung beans, mixed with bean sprouts, kimchi and often pork, and fried in plenty of oil until crisp outside and soft inside.

Nogari and golbaengi-muchim 노가리·골뱅이무침

Dried pollack and sea snail salad

The two classic Seoul beer snacks. Nogari is small dried pollack, grilled and dipped in spicy sauce; golbaengi-muchim is sea snails tossed with vegetables and spicy sauce.

Pajeon 파전

Green onion pancake

A big savory pancake loaded with green onions. Haemul-pajeon adds seafood, and it's the classic rainy-day partner for makgeolli.

Sundae 순대

Korean blood sausage

A sausage of pig intestine stuffed with pork blood, glass noodles or sticky rice and vegetables. It has nothing to do with ice cream, and it's pronounced soon-deh.

Tteokbokki 떡볶이

Spicy simmered rice cakes

Chewy cylinders of rice cake simmered in a sweet and fiery red sauce, usually with fish cake. It's Korea's best-loved street snack.

Danpatjuk 단팥죽

Sweet red bean porridge

A smooth, sweet porridge of red beans, usually with chewy glutinous rice balls. It's a warming dessert at old tea houses.

Hotteok 호떡

Filled griddled pancakes

A griddled dough pancake with a sweet, molten filling of brown sugar and cinnamon, often with peanuts. It's a winter street food favorite.

Makgeolli 막걸리

Cloudy Korean rice wine

A milky, lightly sweet and tangy rice wine, usually about 6 to 8 percent alcohol. It's Korea's oldest style of alcohol, and a classic match for savory pancakes.

Ssanghwa-cha 쌍화차

Korean herbal tea

A dark, slightly bitter and sweet herbal tea with no tea leaves in it, made from roots and bark. It's closely tied to Korea's old-style dabang tearooms.