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! 
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aeri, i just finished making this…it really is VERY yummy! i loved it ^^ i only made half and got a plateFUL of it! lucky i didnt make full recipe…i might finish them all tonight
I enjoy JapChae very much because it has plenty of vegetables in it. I hope you don’t mind, I modified it slightly to suit my taste/style of cooking.
1. Pre-soak cellophane noodles until soft. Boil in water for 1 minute or until soft. Drain well. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce, a little sugar)
2. Add a little ginger juice to the beef.
3. Pre-soak dried shiitake mushroom until soft. Remove stem. Parboil lightly. Squeeze out water. Sliced thinly then soak in a water with a 1 tsp sugar in it for 10 mins. This method will make the mushroom texture smooth and tasty. Squeeze out water and add to seasoned beef. Mix evenly to allow both ingredients to absorb each other’s flavour for better taste.
I hope you don’t mind me sharing tips here. I’m still learning new things everyday too.
hi Rebecca,
ginger juice to the beef sounds good… maybe it also helps to get rid of bad meat flavor and give extra flavor to it.. share more tips you have with us later.. 
Thank you very much for sharing your tip. It is good to hear new things each other.
Hi! I’m so glad I found you website. You are a lifesaver for me. I have a question. Is it okay to use ground beef and omit the mushroom for Jap Chae? Thank you.
hi Young Ji,
Nice to meet you.
You can use ground beef, just it can be more difficult to eat since it’s little pieces. You can skip the mushroom also..but if you have chance to try it with mushroom I recommend you try the mushroom in it someday also..because it gives good and unique flavor to japchae. thanks
Hello Aeri, I’m planning to self-study korean cuisine this month. I would like to ask if you can help me with it. I am no professional chef but I really just like cooking and I have this great interest in Korean culture and food, of course. I wonder if you have a recipe for sweet rice cakes made during new year’s eve. Thank you.
hi Tao Hana,
sweet rice cakes during new year’s eve ?? oops..I tried to guess what it is.. but couldn’t.. do you know the name ? it’s a dessert ?? there are many different kinds of sweet rice cakes for dessert in Korea.. please let me know more detail about what you want.. thanks
I forgot the name for it. They are shaped like half-moons. Maybe not ne year. is it thanksgiving?
hi Tao Hana,
aha.. I can guess something now.. it has filling in it ??? It calls “songpyeon” it’s for Korean holiday.. called “chuseok” that’s almost like thanksgiving in Korea.. ^^
Hello Aeri, Do you recommend a particular kind of meat for this recipe?
hi Cynthia,
any kind of beef part you like will work great.. if you ask my opinion.. the part doesn’t have much fat in it..and tender.. ^^
hi aeri! i was wondering if i can just leave the beef out, i want to try making it someday,
hi hiro,
Yes you can ^^
Hi Aeri! My Korean husband had to bring a Korean dish at work to share with his colleagues. So, not being Korean, I looked up your website and made Japchae. Everyone loved it! One of my husband’s Korean colleague said that the Japchae tastes even better than her mom’s! My husband was very proud and I was very happy! Thank you very much for sharing your wonderful recipes!
hi Lilluz,
oh…I love your story..hehe I’m sure that your husband felt proud of you. Good job..hehe thanks
Hi Aeri! I just tried making your jap chae so I can take it to share at my church’s potluck tomorrow. Oh my goodness! It came out SO YUMMY! I remember my Korean friend from high school would sometimes share this with me. It brought back happy memories! Keep sharing the recipes! They are easy to follow and easier to eat after! I love learning how to make delicious food.
Hi Aeri,
I wonder, when I prepare Jap Chae, do I need to eat on the one goal or I can keep in the refrigerator latter on. If yes, how long?
Thx
hi Kris,
The taste will be the best when it’s fresh.. but you can keep it in the refrigerator for one or 2 days.. just you can heat it on the pan ..or microwave before you serve it. ^^
I just found your website yesterday and tried to make this dish tonight. It is absolutely beautiful! It was so nice that I asked my husband to get some for my mother in law! Thanks a lot!
Hi Yen,
Nice to meet you. Thanks for trying my recipe.. hehe
oh..so your husband is a Korean?
No, sorry to make you misunderstand. My husband is Italian but he was born in Australia. My mother in law used to be Italian food teacher, so I just let her try my best food
. But my sister in law is Korean, I will cook this dish for her when she come back to Australia (she is in England now).
Thanks again Aeri, I am so glad to find this website
Hi Yen,
Oh~~ your sister in law is a Korean..hehe..wow.. you can learn many delicious Italian food from your mother in law then.. cool ~~~ I’m happy to meet you too.. Hope to see you more often. thanks
Hi Aeri,
I just tried cooking this for the first time today, and it turn out great. I’m so happy. Thanks for keeping such a great blog, it has been a inspiration for me to try korean cooking!
hi Janice,
That’s awesome.. hehe thanks
I made japchae recently for my friends and they loved it! One of them is korean and said it tasted authentic. I’ll definitely make your japchae again.
Hi Samantha,
yep try it again.
authentic… hehe that’s real compliment.. thanks
Hello Aeri!! ^^
for this JapChae.. if I dont use the meat (which is a main ingredients) then do oyu think It will still be ok? I want to make this for my grandpa<3 and e cannot eat any red meats and some other foods.. ! T____T hope he feels better soon !^^
hi Annie,
Oh.. how sweet granddaughter you are !!! Yes, you can skip the meat if he can’t eat.. if he can eat oyster mushroom..that can be good substitute though.. I hope he feels better soon too.
oh ! heehee
I think grandma tried to teach Song Hye Kyo in Full House to make this dish~!! =PP Hmm looks super delicious!! Maybe i will try to make this one day !! XD
Hi Annie,
lol I remember that scene too. ^^ Try it please ~~~
OH SORRY my website is : http://www.flickr.com/photos/14689212@N08/
Hi Judy,
oh… I visited your site.. You made me hungry so bad ~~~ hehe good job.. your kimbap looked delicious too. Thanks for sharing the picture with me. I’m very happy…
ah! thank you for the recipe I just made it The otehr time i followed another persons recipe.. it was so BLAND!!! i love ur recipe. come see the picture if you want on my webiste =]
This looks delicous hehe
But I am still confusing whether if I can cook this as well for my birthday or something else… or just mini fried chicken with rice and spaghetti hehe I dunno what to cook on my birthday hehe because it’s so hard to choose from hehe
Hi Ian aka filoguy2009,
I can’t wait to see how it turns out.. hehe
haha… make it easy. You can just make one and try other things later when you have time.
Hi Aeri! I finally found some time to make japchae and it was a hit with my extended family. My dad particularly likes the dang myun and now insists we use it with almost everything! Thanks again for another great recipe!
hi, crzycpl
Have a great week..
Wow, you tried it and liked it. I’m v~~~ery happy…hehe thanks I hope you can find more Korean food you can enjoy from my blog.
Dear Aeri,
Thank you very much for your great work.My english not so good and i can’t explain in a all way how much i found this wedsite useful to me and of course such yummy recipes:)my husband and two years old daughter love them. Thank you so so much!!! I think your husband very lucky to have such beautiful and talented wife:)
Hi, Anya
My English is not good either..but I think yours is fine. It’s great that your husband and little daughter love Korean food. wow… 2 years old girl eat Korean food..that’s cool~~~ it must be not spicy one..right ?? hehe.. Thanks for your sweet comment !!!
Hello,
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Hi, vinent
Nice to meet you !!
Thank you very much for your comment.
I just stopped at your site.. I didn’t look much,,but I can see you have a great website for cooking.
Maybe people who visit my site can get useful information for cooking from your site too.
Yes..I will check it out again..and think of what you suggested.
Thanks for visiting again.
Bye~~~
I made this again because I really enjoyed it before, but this time I added the beef and green peppers. I also added a little more sugar because for some reason I like it sweeter! I will have to say that I like the vegetarian version better, but the recipe as a whole is delicious. I’m going to make it for my sister’s birthday along with your kimbap, which she requested! Thanks again for your recipes, they are much appreciated. Next on my list, crab stick jeon.
Hi, Andrea
Oops..I was wrong.. I said.. beef and pepper will make your jap chae more delicious..hehe jap chae and kimbap.. sounds very good !!!! I hope you and your sister will enjoy kimbap also. Thanks !!!!
haha.. good luck for crab stick too..:)
I really like that you make videos of the recipe because it helps me visualize what it’s supposed to look like. I made this last night, vegetarian and without the green peppers. It turned out pretty well, but next time I’ll add the beef and pepper. Thanks again for your recipes!
Hi, Andrea
Yes, sometimes I feel like it’s difficult to make a video and take pictures at the same time..and feel lazy … but your comment encouraged me again to do my best for both video and blog. I’m very happy to hear that you enjoyed your jap chae. yep..with beef and pepper your jap chae will be even more delicious next time. Thanks !!
Hi Aeri,
I made this noodles today. Thanks so much for putting it up with very clear instructions. Truly appreciate it. Everyone thought it was made by my sis-in-law(her hubby’s korean). Everyone praised and said the noodles were excellent without knowing I made it. Thanks once again and will try more of your recipes pretty soon. Happy Chinese New Year!! God Bless!!
Hi, Jeanette
Yes, please try more recipes. Happy New Year !! God bless you 
oh..Did you ?? I hope it wasn’t too bad (difficult) to make. You did a wonderful job since everybody thought your japchae was authentic.
p.s wow.. your sister in law’s husband is a Korean. so some how, you are also related with Korea. hehe I like it.
Love yr site. Thanks for the wonderful and delicious recipes. Will be making this dish soon…..Hopefully it turns out like yours. Thanks again and Happy New Year!!
Hi, Jeanette
Thanks !! HAPPY NEW YEAR ~~~
Nice to meet you !!! You are very welcome. Yes, I’m sure it will turn out great… maybe better than mine.
I always have a little bit of trouble with making japchae
From watching your clear steps, perhaps next time I will get it perfect!! Thank you!
Hi, Jeff
Nice to meet you !!! Yes, I can understand that. JapChae is kind of complex food to make.. hehe I hope you can make very delicious japchae without much problem next time. Let me know. Good luck ~~~ hehe Merry Christmas.