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Japchae

Korea's celebration noodle: chewy sweet-potato glass noodles, every vegetable cooked separately so it keeps its own character, tossed in sesame and soy at the end.

D
35 min active 40 min total serves 5 vegetarianvegan kids eat it

Ingredients

  • 8 oz Sweet potato glass noodles
  • 3 tbsp Canola oil
  • 1 Yellow onion, sliced thin
  • 2 Carrots, cut into matchsticks
  • 1 Red bell pepper, sliced thin
  • 2 cups Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 5 cups Baby spinach
  • 4 cloves Garlic, minced
  • 4 tbsp Low-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
  • 1 ½ tbsp Brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp Sesame seeds, toasted
  • 3 Scallions (green onions), sliced

🍽 Fork in the road — for the omnivores

Add marinated beef

Thin-sliced sirloin in a spoonful of the same soy-sesame-sugar sauce, seared hard for 2 minutes, added at the end with the vegetables.

Method

  1. Boil the glass noodles 6 minutes until translucent and springy. Drain, rinse cold, and cut through the pile a few times with scissors so they are manageable. Toss with a teaspoon of sesame oil.
  2. Wilt the spinach in the boiling water for 20 seconds, drain, cool under cold water, then squeeze it dry in your fist and chop it. Dress it with a splash of soy and sesame oil.
  3. In a wide skillet over medium-high, cook each vegetable separately in a little oil with a pinch of salt: onion 2 minutes, carrot 2 minutes, pepper 2 minutes, mushrooms 4. Move each to the bowl as it finishes. Cooking them together is faster and gives you a uniform gray tangle instead of five distinct things.
  4. Whisk the garlic, soy sauce, remaining sesame oil and brown sugar together.
  5. Add the noodles and the sauce to the skillet over medium heat and toss 2 minutes until every strand is glossy and mahogany.
  6. Take it off the heat, add all the vegetables and the spinach, and toss with your hands or tongs. Finish with sesame seeds and scallions. It is meant to be eaten warm or at room temperature, never hot.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch
Cooking every vegetable on its own is the entire technique. It is twenty extra minutes and it is why japchae at a Korean restaurant looks like a bowl of jewels.
🧒 For the kids
The noodles are the draw — slippery, sweet and chewy. Serve their portion with the vegetables on the side if the mix is a problem.
🥡 Leftovers
Traditionally eaten at room temperature, so it is one of the best potluck dishes there is. Keeps 3 days.

Per serving

369Calories
4gProtein
4gFiber
2gSaturated fat
475mgSodium
504mgPotassium

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.