Best Korean Army Stew Recipe (Budae Jjigae Recipe)

With the weather cooling down, all I want these days is a hot bowl of soup. One of my favorite Korean soups is army stew (also known as army base stew, or budae jjigae.) This soup is by no means healthy, but it sure is comforting, and it is perfect for serving up on those lazy weekday nights. Today I’ll be sharing my much requested Korean Army Stew Recipe with you all! 

My grandma always used to tell me that she hated this soup, because it reminds her of the hard times she faced in as a child during the Korean War. This soup is simple, but it is rooted in history. The origin of this soup can be traced back to the Korean War when food was scarce and Korean people had to resort to eating leftover food from the American army bases (hence the name: army base stew.) Koreans took the ingredients from these army bases, which included SPAM, canned beans and sausages and combined it with Korean flavors such as kimchi, tofu and gochugaru to make this fusion dish!

Nowadays, army stew is enjoyed by people as a comfort food dish. My budae jjigae features SPAM, sausage, tofu and mushrooms, but the beauty of this dish is that you can throw in whatever else you would like! A lot of people like to add canned beans to their budae jjigae, but I personally chose not to add them to my stew. 

My budae jjigae recipe is something that I have perfected over many years and it is always a hit. My secret to the perfect stew is my sauce ratio and most importantly – a bone broth base. I don’t care if you change literally everything else in this recipe but make sure to use bone broth as your base (you won’t regret it.)

Give my Korean Army Stew Recipe a try and let me know what you think in the comments down below!

Print Recipe

Best Korean Army Stew Recipe (Budae Jjigae)

Comforting Korean stew with sausage, tofu, mushrooms, ramen in a spicy broth.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Korean

Keyword: army base soup, budae jjigae, budae jjigae recipe, korean army base stew, korean army soup, korean army stew, korean stew

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 Can Spam I like to use Lite Spam
• 8 Vienna sausages I don't use the canned sausages, I purchase these sausages from Asian markets: https://bit.ly/2Ux2atT
• 8 oz Soft tofu
• 1 handful Korean rice cake ovalettes
• 5 oz Enoki mushrooms
• 3.5 oz Shimeji mushrooms
• 2 stalks Green onion
• 1/3 White onion
• 1/4 cup Kimchi
• 4 cups Beef bone broth Sagol yuksu in Korean. I use this brand: https://amzn.to/35lv3z5
• 1 pack Ramen

Korean Army Stew Sauce

• 5 cloves Minced garlic
• 1.5 tbsp Gochujang Korean red pepper paste
• 1.5 tbsp Gochugaru
• .5 tbsp Sugar
• 2.5 tbsp Soy sauce

Instructions

• Cut your SPAM, tofu, white onion, sausage and chop your green onion (separate white and green ends.) Wash your mushrooms and cut off the roots, separate. Put rice cakes in a small bowl and cover with water. Set aside
• Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl, add white part of green onion and set aside.
• Arrange SPAM, sausage, tofu, white onion, mushrooms, rice cakes in a shallow pot (you can make it neat, or just toss everything in.) Top with kimchi and 2/3 of sauce. Pour bone broth into the pot until ingredients are barely submerged.
• Heat over medium high heat, dispersing sauce with a ladle. Bring to a boil and allow it to reduce slightly for about 3-4 minutes. Taste and add more sauce if necessary, add more broth if too much has evaporated. Add in your ramen and cook until noodles are done. Enjoy immediately with a bowl of rice, or by itself!