'The 7 Korean ingredients I always keep in my kitchen'

I'm a Korean-born food writer who's watched as Korean cooking and fermented foods have boomed in the UK.

From gochujang to kimchi, Korean ingredients are easy to find in shops here now, thanks to the growing interest.

Whether you're looking to cook authentic dishes or just experiment with Korean flavours, here are the ingredients I urge you to buy, as well as some ideas for how to use them.

Doenjang is made from simmered soybeans that are mashed down.

It's hung outside to dry and ferment and formed into dried blocks called meju. It's then submerged in heavily salted water which eventually separates into doenjang and the liquid, guk-ganjang (Korean soup soy sauce).

It's heavily pungent and carries deeply complex, umami flavours. Used as an ingredient to cook with and raw as a condiment, it's salty and earthy, and usually comes in a brown tub next to gochujang in the supermarket or specialist grocers.

When cooked, the smell often reminds me of well-aged parmesan. Combine with peanut butter and mayonnaise and you have a perfectly nutty dipping sauce for crudités.

Or, mix it with butter and you have a flavour bomb which can be stirred through noodles or warm potatoes.

Visit a Korean supermarket and you'd be shocked by the number of soy sauces available. Jin-ganjang is the most versatile. It's robust enough to stand the heat and is great for stir-frying or braising.

Yangjo-ganjang typically goes through a longer fermentation period and the result is a richer, sweeter sauce. Use it for dishes that don't require cooking.

Guk-ganjang is lighter in colour and salty, similar to a Chinese light soy sauce.

There are also ready-seasoned varieties, where ingredients like fruit, vegetables or seafood are added to enhance the flavour. Japanese soy sauce works well, though, if you can't find ganjang.

Now widely available, gochujang (often found in a red tub) is a chilli paste, with a flavour that's unique to Korea. There's no substitution for it.

The spice comes from gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes) which is balanced with fermented soybean powder (meju garu) and sweet rice syrup.

The level of spice can change dramatically depending on the types of chilli used but gochujang will always have a smoky undertone with a salty-sweet umami taste.

Korean sun-dried chillies are smoky, fiery and have a touch of sweetness. Coarse flakes are used for general cooking but are best known for making kimchi.

You can also buy it as a finely ground powder and this is preferred for soups and stews such as yukgaejang (spicy pulled beef soup), to give the broth a smoother finish. Ground Aleppo pepper makes a decent substitute.

Korean sesame oil is nutty in flavour and aroma. It's used as a finishing oil and is great with beef and dark greens. It has a low smoking point, so when cooking with it combine with an oil with a higher smoking point, like sunflower oil.

Sesame seeds add a great crunchy texture. You can also lightly grind them down; this brings out another level of nuttiness. Then stir them into noodles with soy sauce.

While crispy roasted seaweed thins are mostly enjoyed as snacks in the UK, in Korea, they are regarded as a powerhouse ingredient that can add so much flavour to any dish. I crumble them into dishes to add a salty-sweet umami flavour.

Look for pre-crumbled bags of seaweed labeled as gim jaban from Korean supermarkets or online. Once opened, store in the freezer to keep them crispy.

Tomato ketchup paired with gochujang became popular in the 1980s in Korea and has remained so.

It's often used to add tanginess to kare (Korean curry) or in brown sauce for donkkaseu (Korean pork cutlet).

Originally published January 2024. Updated September 2026.

Want more? Visit BBC Food on Instagram, external, Facebook, external and Pinterest, external or watch the latest Food TV programmes on BBC iPlayer.