Here I have compiled all of my best Korean vegetarian recipes all in one place. Korean food is one of my favourite cuisines and a surprising amount of Korean dishes are vegetarian or vegan.
Although there are many meat-heavy Korean meals, such as Korean bbq or beef bulgogi, there are lots of vegetarian meals too. This includes kimchi fried rice, tteokbokki, kimchi pancakes, bibimbap or japchae noodles.
Whether you are vegetarian yourself or want to cook for your veggie friends you will love these recipes. Here are my best vegetarian Korean recipes…
Vegetarian Korean Army Stew (Budae Jjigae)
Korean army stew is a sweet and spicy gochujang-based stew filled with noodles and vegetables. Traditional army stew contains meat such as spam and hot dogs. However, omit these meats and you have a fully vegetarian, or vegan, dish.
It is named army stew as it was first made using Korean ingredients mixed with foods, such as spam and American cheese, which were left by US soldiers after the Korean war.
This vegetarian budae jjigae contains tofu, kimchi, mushrooms, ramen noodles, Korean rice cakes (tteok). It is topped with slices of cheese for extra richness. Anchovy-based stock is usually added to army stew. I used vegetable stock instead.
Serve this dish over a portable stove and allow friends to gather round and share it from the pot whilst it bubbles away. Continue to add more stock and ingredients and enjoy as a long, social meal with friends.
Vegetarian Japchae Noodles
Japchae is a dish of Korean sweet potato glass noodles with stir-fried mushrooms, peppers, carrots and spinach. It is topped with sesame seeds, egg ribbons and spring onions. Soy sauce and sesame oil flavour the noodles.
Japchae is often found in a vegetarian or vegan form in Korea but can also be made with meat such as beef bulgogi.
These Korean vegetarian noodles only take 30 minutes to make and are delicious hot or cold. They make a great healthy dinner or easy lunch.
Vegetarian Tofu Kimbap
Kimbap, similar to Japanese sushi, is nori, rice and some kind of filling. It is a very popular dish in Korea and comes in endless varieties. Unlike Japanese sushi, made with raw fish and some vegetables, Kimbap is made with egg, vegetables, cooked tuna, and meats such as spam or bulgogi beef. My version of Korean kimbap contains egg, carrot and tofu.
Vegetarian kimbap are perfect as part of a dinner served with vegetarian banchan (Korean side dishes, such as kimchi) or as a fun, healthy lunch. You could also make them for a packed lunch, a picnic or even as party food if you like!
Kimchi and Cheese Korean Dumplings
Korean dumplings, or mandu, come in all kinds of varieties. Typical fillings include beef, pork, tofu, kimchi or vegetables. These cheese and kimchi dumplings are not traditional and I never saw this kind of dumpling when I visited Korea. I was, however, inspired by Korean flavours.
Almost every restaurant in Korea serves kimchi. Most restaurants have their own, unique kimchi recipe. Cheese is increasingly popular in Korean cuisine. It is often found in noodle dishes, with kimchi fried rice or with tteokbokki (stir-fried Korean rice cakes).
It, therefore, seemed obvious to me that kimchi and cheese would taste delicious in a dumpling – and I was right. I also put crumbled tofu and glass noodles in my dumplings alongside sesame oil, ginger and garlic. This is similar to what you would find in more traditional Korean vegetable mandu.
Enjoy these dumplings as part of a Korean dinner served with banchan (Korean side dishes). You can freeze the dumplings before cooking and enjoy them at anytime, no need to defrost!
Vegetarian Kimchi Fried Rice
Kimchi fried rice is a classic Korean dish which can easily be made vegetarian. This version is both vegan and vegetarian.
My kimchi rice is made with vegan bacon, pan-fried kimchi, gochujang, and leftover rice. If you don’t follow a vegan diet this dish is delicious served with a fried egg with a runny yolk. You can also top the rice with shredded mozzarella cheese.
This dish takes just 20 minutes to prepare, making it perfect for a midweek meal!
Crispy Seaweed-Wrapped Rice Cakes
Now you can’t write an article on the best Korean vegetarian recipes without including a tteok (rice cake) dish. Tteokbokki (stir-fried Korean rice cakes) is a very traditional and popular dish in Korea right now. Rice cakes, which are chewy and made from rice flour, are usually served with a spicy gochujang sauce and are enjoyed with cheese or fish cakes.
For this dish, however, I decided to wrap tteok and glass noodles in seaweed and rice paper. I then fried them until crispy and served them with a sweet and spicy gochujang sauce. This is an amazing alternative to normal tteokbokki. Try this as a fun weekend lunch to share.
Spicy noodle spring rolls
These spicy noodle spring rolls are filled with Korean noodles, cheese and mushrooms. This is not a traditional Korean dish but is made using Samyang carbonara noodles which are a popular instant ramen from Korea.
To make these you will fill rice paper sheets with the noodles, shredded cheese and stir-fried enoki mushrooms. Fry them until crispy and serve with a spicy mayo dipping sauce. I used enoki mushrooms which have a unique texture and are very popular in Korea.
These spring rolls take just 20 minutes to make and would be perfect as an easy lunch or alternative to eating noodles or their own. You could even try this recipe with your own favourite noodle brand. But, as a warning, these spring rolls are very spicy and will set your mouth on fire!
(Disclaimer: the instant noodles in this recipe use trace amounts of chicken-derived ingredients so are not 100% vegetarian).
Best Korean Vegetarian Recipes
Those are all my best Korean vegetarian recipes, I hope you enjoy making them! Tag me, @izzysvegetarianrecipes, on Instagram if you try any of my dishes!
Is it easy to find vegetarian food in Korea?
If you know where to look, finding vegetarian food in Korea is easy. I recently visited Seoul and Busan and did not struggle finding delicious vegetarian options.
Like most places there is an increasing number of vegans and vegetarians living in Korea and the number of exclusively vegetarian and vegan restaurants is growing. You do need to be careful, however, as many dishes which may look vegetarian on a menu actually contain meat products.
For example, tofu jjigae (tofu stew) will usually contain stewed pork. Furthermore, many seemingly vegetarian noodle dishes are made using beef or anchovy stock.
Some easily available and often vegetarian dishes I ate in Korea included tteokbokki, kimbap and cold noodles. Additionally, Korea is home to lots of street food stalls selling sweet treats such as hotteok (filled pancakes) and hodugwaja (walnut pastries) which are delicious and also vegetarian.
