Hi! Unnie

Hey everyone. If you’re into Korean food, you probably already know doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) is one of the essentials. It’s already great on its own, but today I wanted to share a version that takes it up a notch — doenjang jjigae made with woo-samgyeop (thinly sliced beef belly). The rich, savory fat from the beef belly meets the deep flavor of doenjang, and it hits completely different from your regular doenjang jjigae. Fair warning: it’s the kind of dish that gets stuck in your head once you start eating it. Hope this one’s a good addition to your Korean food journey!

📝 Ingredients

• 150g woo-samgyeop (thinly sliced beef belly) — this amount works well, but feel free to add more
• 1/2 zucchini
• 1/2 onion
• 1 stalk green onion
• 2 cheongyang chili (Korean hot green chili)
• Tofu is optional (I swapped tofu for enoki mushrooms for extra texture)
• Sauce: 2 tbsp doenjang (Korean soybean paste), 1/2 tbsp gochujang, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tbsp gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes), 1/3 tbsp myeolchi dasida (Korean anchovy stock powder)

✅ How to Make It

• Add the woo-samgyeop to a pot and cook until golden brown.
• Once browned, cut the beef into bite-sized pieces — makes it easier to eat later.

• Add the prepped zucchini, onion, green onion, and cheongyang chili, and cook for about 3 minutes.

• Once the vegetables have softened slightly, add the minced garlic, doenjang, and gochujang, and cook for another 2–3 minutes. Sautéing the sauce ingredients with the meat and vegetables first — before adding water — is what concentrates the umami and makes the stew taste so much richer.

• Add the gochugaru and 2–3 cups of water. (Adjust the amount based on how much of everything else you’re using — you want a gentle simmer, not a flood. Too much water and you end up with soup instead of stew.)
• Once it starts bubbling, add the myeolchi dasida, then toss in the tofu or enoki mushrooms and simmer for another 3–4 minutes, and you’re done! I skipped the tofu and went with enoki mushrooms instead, and it was genuinely delicious that way too.

🛒 Where to Find Woo-Samgyeop Abroad

Most Western grocery stores cut beef into thicker portions by default, so thinly sliced beef belly like woo-samgyeop is hard to come by. Your best bet is a Korean or Asian grocery store — H Mart is the big one in the US, and it’s almost always stocked in the frozen section. No store nearby? Weee! delivers Korean groceries across most major US cities — search “beef belly” or “woo samgyeop.” If you really can’t track it down, thinly sliced beef short plate (chadolbaegi) makes a solid substitute, or you can ask a butcher to custom-cut beef belly about 2-3mm thick.

💬 A Note From Unnie

I made kongnamul woo-samgyeop bokkeum (spicy bean sprout and beef belly stir fry) with woo-samgyeop not long ago, and this doenjang jjigae is just as good. If you’re curious about that recipe, check out the post linked below.

I had this doenjang jjigae with steamed egg and rice, and it was so good I had to talk myself out of going for a second bowl. Make this at home and you can enjoy as much woo-samgyeop doenjang jjigae as you want. Buying the woo-samgyeop while it’s still slightly frozen makes it much easier to cut, and it releases its fat more gradually while cooking, giving you an even richer flavor. I’ll be back soon with more delicious recipes — likes and comments always welcome!