JapChae is a traditional Korean holiday food. You need special Cellophane Noodles called “Dang Myun” in Korean. The way to cook this food is a little complex but the delicious taste will reward your time and effort for cooking. If you are a vegetarian, you can skip the beef. 😀
Yield: 4 Servings
Short Korean Lesson
- NahmJah (남자) = Male
- YeoJah (여자) = Female
Video Instructions
Main Ingredients
- ⅓ Carrot
- ½ Onion
- ⅓ Sweet Pepper (Optional)
- 2 Eggs (Optional)
- Olive Oil
- Salt & Black Pepper
Beef Ingredients
- 1 Cup Beef
- ½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
- ½ Tbsp Cooking Wine
- 1 tsp Garlic
- 1½ tsp Sugar
- A pinch of Black Pepper
Mushroom Ingredients
- 3 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
- 1½ tsp Soy Sauce
- ½ tsp Sugar
- ¼ tsp Garlic
Spinach Ingredients
Noodles Ingredients
- 1 Handful (4.6 oz) Cellophane Noodles (Dang Myun)
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- ½ Tbsp Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Seasoning Ingredients
- 1½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
- ⅛ tsp Black Pepper
Directions
Cut about 4.6 oz (1 cup) of beef thinly.
In a small bowl, mix the beef, ½ Tbsp of soy sauce, ½ Tbsp of cooking wine, 1 tsp of garlic, 1½ tsp of sugar, and 1 pinch of black pepper. Set it aside for at least 30 minutes.
Soak 3 dried shiitake mushrooms in the water for 3 hours, and then squeeze out the water.
Remove the stems and slice the mushrooms thinly.
In a bowl, mix the mushrooms, 1½ tsp of soy sauce, ½ tsp of sugar, and ¼ tsp of garlic. Set it aside.
Add 3 oz of spinach in boiling water with some salt to keep the color green. Boil for about 30 seconds, and then rinse in cold water.
Squeeze out the water.
Mix the boiled spinach, 1 tsp of soy sauce, and ½ tsp of sugar. Set it aside.
Cut ½ of an onion thinly. Julienne ⅓ of a carrot thinly. Slice ⅓ of a sweet pepper thinly.
In boiling water, add the noodles and boil for 11 minutes. Drain the water.
Fry the carrot for 10 seconds with a little salt.
In a nonstick pan, add 2 Tbsp of olive oil, then add the noodles and stir them. Add 2 Tbsp of soy sauce, ½ Tbsp of sugar. Fry for 2 minutes or until the noodles are evenly colored by the soy sauce.
Cool the noodles. This makes the combination of colors and flavors be good and the noodles will be shiny.
To get better color for this dish: Separate the egg yokes and egg whites, and add 1 pinch of salt for each one. Beat the eggs. Fry and slice them thinly.
Fry the marinated beef until it is completely cooked.
Fry the marinated mushrooms until they are completely cooked.
In a lightly oiled pan, fry the onion for 20 seconds on high with a little bit of salt. Fry the sweet pepper and carrot for 10 seconds with a little salt.
In a large bowl, mix all of the noodles, vegetables, and meat.
Add 1½ Tbsp of soy sauce, 2 Tbsp of sesame oil, 1 Tbsp of sugar, 1 Tbsp of sesame seeds, and ⅛ tsp of black pepper.
Mix all of the ingredients together.
Wow, this looks very pretty and delicious. Enjoy! 🙂
Hi Aeri ! Japchae is delicious. It’s the third time I make this recipe, i’d like to know if japchae can be served cold or lukerwarm? I want to cook japchae for my friene but It’s summer and it’s so hot that I was wondering if we could eat this cold….
hi Karen,
We normally eat japchae hot or warm..but it can be also room temperature.. I will not like that much when it’s cold though. ^^ Just cook some and let it cool down little bit and serve. so at least you will not eat hot noodles.. ^^ thanks
Hi Aeri! Stumbled on your blog and the recipe looks amazing! Would like to make it but would it be possible to substitute the beef with seafood? If yes, what seafood would be better? And also, what seasoning should I use?
Thanks for the recipe and hope you can give me some advice!
hi Tricia,
Sure you can use seafood also. You can just season with salt and black pepper for your seafood since other ingredients and sauce will have enough flavor for your japchae. Thanks
Hello Aeri!! It’s been a long time since I commented on one of your recipes! I hope you and your family are doing fine.
I would like to ask a question about Japchae.
When my boyfriend and I would go out and eat japechae, they would always make it a little moist. When I cooked this japchae, it was a little dry but it still tasted like japchae.
How do you get a little bit more moist japchae because my boyfriend really loves it like that I guess.. haha )
Thank you so much in advance 🙂
hi Sammy,
You can add a little more oil or water ..when you mix everything together at the end.. like drizzle sesame oil at last… thanks
I made this for a party with other Korean language students and everyone loved it! Thanks for posting the recipe and video!
hi Chelsea,
Hurray !! hehe.. Thanks for your update. ^^
How many servings does this make? I’m making this for a family of about 8…
hi Millie,
This recipe is for 4 servings.. so you can double the recipe for your family.. thanks
I made it for the first time and it was successful. Thanks for making it so easy to understand especially for new cooks like me. Can’t wait to try another one soon!
hi Shampoo47,
Congratulations for your first successful japcahe.. hehe.. Thanks for sharing it with me. 🙂
So I finally had the time to try japchae after wanting to for so long! I cooked it tonight for my roommate and I and my roommate couldn’t stop saying how much she loved it! It was really good. Thanks for the recipe!
hi Jackie,
That’s awesome to hear that you and your roommate enjoyed it. Thanks 🙂
Hi I love your recipes! Can I replace prawns and other seafood with the beef? 🙂
Hi Ika,
Sure you can use seafood instead also. 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe!!! I am Vietnamese and never made Korean dishes until I found your YouTube videos, then I found your website! My husband and sister-in-law (who are Korean) said the Jap Chae tasted like their mother’s home cooking! I really appreciate this website and how you break everything down! And the videos are helpful as well!
Thank you Aeri! We appreciate you so much!
Hi Aeri!
I stumbled upon your website and wanted to make japchae, but I can’t seem to find the cellophane noodles in any of my grocery stores or specialty stores! Is there something else that would be a sufficient substitute?
thanks!
hi Brenda,
My husband doesn’t like this chewy cellophane noodles much. so recently I start to use different kinds of rice noodles instead for him.and he loves it. So you can try it.. just make sure that you have to reduce the saltness.. since rice noodles absorb the soy sauce more.. easier than cellophane noodles.. so it can be too salty if you use same amount for rice noodles in this recipe.. thanks
Hi Aeri,
I love your website. Thank you for uploading lots of Korean recipes. I have a question though. I see that you use cooking wine in some of the recipes. So instead of using cooking wine, what other alternatives would you recommend?
hi Shikin,
If it’s more than 2 Tbsp of cooking wine I use in my recipe.. you can replace it to water… if it’s less than that.. you can just skip it..
I usually use cooking wine for tender..and get rid of bad flavor from meat..but it is not critical.. ^^ thanks
Hi Aeri! I just made this japchae and I really love it!
Thanks for the idea of different noodles because my husband doesn’t enjoy the glass type either.
Thanks so much for all your videos and recipes 🙂
Hi Aeri,
I just discovered your website.
I’m very excited to try your recipes, because I usually buy Korean food sold very expensive here in my country.
And japjae is one of “must food” I often buy, I was glad I found you here, …… so I can start learning to cook a lot of my favorite foods 😛
Hi aeri I just found out about ur website n very excited to see all ur recipes 🙂 but I have a question here kinda awkward but is there a difference between Chinese, vietnamese n korean soy sauce or no, or maybe it just my taste?!
hi linh,
Nice to meet you. ^^ Yes, I think there are some slight differences between soy sauces from different countries. It can be saltness and some flavor..but not huge difference.. so you can use for Korean cooking too. I think Korean and Japanese soy sauce are most similar among them. Chinese soy sauce has dark soy sauce..and light soy sauce depending on the color and saltness..so consider that if you use them for Korean cooking. thanks
Waow!! I will try it~ it looks easy
hello aeri~
for the japchae, which part of beef do you recommend to use / which part did you use?
thanks!
hi sam-chan,
As you can see in the picture.. it is nice to use lean meat… not too much fat or other thing.. thanks
Hello Aeri, thank you for this delicious recipe. Usually I’m very bad at cooking but this time everything went well, everyone liked it 😀
I tried your recipe and it worked perfectly!!! Thanks for a great recipe!!!!
Aeri, I love your website so much that I look at it almost everyday! Thank you SO MUCH for your awesome recipes! This, along with everything else I have tried from your site has turned out so well that I can hardly believe I made them! Kamsa-hamnida! 🙂
Hi Aeri, I just wanted to report that I was so inspired by your blog (just found it last Saturday) – that I went to a Korean market today, bought some Dang Myun, and made your JapChae tonight! I did exactly as you directed in your recipe… and came out FANTASTIC!! (to the point that I can’t believe I made it! hehe) Thank you for your awesome recipe and making me feel like cooking again.
Aeri, I love your website. I can’t wait to make this recipe. I was wondering, could you substitute chicken for beef?
hi Hannah,
Yes, you can..but I want to recommend pork more.. if you can’t eat beef.. ^^ because pork and beef taste more match with this dish than chicken.
Hi Aeri!
This recipe kind of like the the thai dish
called Pad Woonsen. Is it the Korean version? This recipe looks delicious and my parents just bought some cellophane noodles so I’m thinking about making this!
Keep up the awesome videos! 😀
hi Lisa,
I don’t know much about Thai cuisine..but.. yes.. it’s Korean food. I want to try that Thai food called Pad Woonsen also.. ^^
LOVE your website!!! I use a lot of your recipe for cooking. Your recipe is clear and easy. Thank you so much for your posting. 😛