Hi guys!
Today, I’m going to share my favorite style Korean spicy cold noodles!
It’s similar with bibim naengmyeon, but different.
There are so many different style of spicy cold noodles, because every family & restaurants make it differently. Even though their names are same, you might noticed the flavor and texture is slightly different.
This version, it’s more casual, spicy, strong flavor that my home ground local hidden jam restaurant sells.
They call their bibim naengmyeon as “Gombo Naengmeyon” at the restaurant.
My sister and I used to go there when we used live close by, it was our secret place during summer time.
When either one of us having a bad day, that was the place to go. We go there together, eat the spicy cold noodles and forget about all other problems.
This restaurant’s spicy cold noodles are known for their spicy flavor.
It’s not only chili spicy, but lots of spiciness coming from raw garlic as well.
So the sauce combination is the key for this recipe.
I didn’t mellow down the flavor to fit everyone’s taste, because this spicy cold noodles meant to have strong, pungent flavor. So if you want to mellow down for your taste, please reduce amount of raw garlic and fresh chili. 😉
This sauce tastes so much better when you make it day ahead, but it’s not necessary.
The sauce is done, means you are pretty much done making this noodles!
The hardest part is done! 🙂
Now, let’s move on to the noodles.
For this recipe, you will need Korean naengmyeon noodles.
You can find dried naengmyeon noodles from online. Also if you have a good local Asian/Korean grocery store, you can find refrigerated/frozen ones.
Naengmyeon is mainly made with starch so it has very chewy and elastic texture and very very thin texture.
If you can’t find none of those, just use whatever noodles you have! That works as well.
Cook the noodles by following the directions of the package you are using!
If you are using dry ones, start cook the noodles first and prep veggies while noodles are cooking. If you are suing fresh/frozen noodles, then cut the veggies first before start cook the noodles.
The veggies for this spicy cold noodles are very cheap and simple. I love these veggies… 😀
It’s green cabbage (plus purple, if you wanna be fancy ;-), carrot and cucumber.
Just cut them thinly!
I cook the noodles after I’m done prepping veggies, since I’m using the frozen one. It takes only 1 minute to cook the frozen neangmyeon noodles!
After the noodles are done cooking, rinse under cold water or ice water, rubbing with your hands to cool it completely and get rid of the excess starch. This way, the noodles will have more elastic and chewy texture!
Drain completely, place in a large mixing bowl!
Get your plastic glove ready, because you do not want to mix this noodles with bare hand!! The spicy smell and burn will stay on your finger tips!!
Into the mixing bowl, add all the veggies and the sauce!
Time to mix mix mix!
Transfer to a serving plate, and drizzle some sesame oil, sprinkle some sesame seeds and top it up with halved hard boiled egg!
So quick and easy to make, it’s one of my go to summer lunch!!
It’s very delightful and light lunch, also amazing as a side dish with any BBQ!
Spicy Cold Noodles
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 1 Tbsp gochujang, Korean red pepper paste
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 2 Tbsp gochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes
- 2 Tbsp apricot jam (you can substitute to any fruit jam/jelly, honey or sugar)
- 3 to 5 cloves garlic, chopped (approximately 1 1/2 Tbsp)
- 1 serrano chili, chopped
- 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp sesame seeds, crushed in between your palms
For Spicy Cold Noodles
- 6 ot 8 oz dried naengmyeon noodles
- 3 to 4 handfuls green cabbage (add some purple cabbage too if you like!)
- 3 to 4 oz carrot, thinly julienne
- 3 to 4 oz cucumber, thinly julienne
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients for sauce in a mixing bowl and set a side. When you add sesame seeds, place on your palm and crush them between your palms for extra nutty flavor! This sauce will last long in a fridge for 2 weeks.
- Cook noodles by following the directions. When they are done cooking, rinse under cold or ice water, rubbing with your hands to cool out completely and get rid of excess starch. This way, the noodles will have more elastic and chewy texture!
- Drain completely, place in a large mixing bowl along with all vegetables and sauce. Mix well with your hand. Make sure wearing plastic glove, other wise the spicy smell and burn will stay on your finger tips! That’s painful!!
- Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle some sesame oil and sesame seeds! Top it up with halved hard boiled eggs and you are done! Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
13 comments
Question: I made this and it came out fantastic! Will definitely make again since it’s so easy and quick! But I felt lik I had more noodles than sauce; the ratio didn’t seem right. I weighed out 14oz of dried noodles with my scale, but that made about four servings. Should it be 14 oz of cooked noodles, not dried, for that amount of sauce? Thank you!
sorry, there were miss measurement of the noodles! It’s 14 oz for the frozen/fresh noodles, not dried one! I believe dried noodles are only 1/2 weight then the frozen/fresh noodles.
This looks delicious! I’m so surprised by the addition of jam in the recipe. Could you do mul naeng myun sometime? It’s my favorite summer dish!
Yes! I’ve been working on Mul naengmyeon recipe, it’s just not a simple recipe so it takes a while. lol! Even in Korea, we never make mul naengmyeon at home, because it makes more sense to eat at the restaurant but just wait for me, I’ll be sharing sometime!!
I made this last night per the recipe, not the video. I noticed in the video that you used Nectar AND Apricot Jam, but in the written recipe, there is just the use of Jam or nectar, not both. It turned out amazing either way, but are you suppose to use nectar AND jam?
I Don’t have those noodles now. Can I use others? I have jap JE noodles and buckwheat. Would they work?
This is by far the best sauce for cold noodle ever (my new favorite). I eat this even in winter time. Thank you.
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve made this recipe – I love it! It’s simple, tasty, and looks stunning. My husband always has to have a meat so I cook up pork chops, slice them thin and arrange them on top of the noodles, then the boiled egg on top of that. We love it!
What’s the substitute for mirin
I just finished my bowl, damn, it’s so good! I just swapped the garlic for green onions (I’m not a garlic fan). I must say the apricot jam is the bomb 😍
I added finely diced boiled egg, two per serving, to the noodles. Then sprinkled with finely diced ham. Very good, spicy, rich and pepper hot.
Made this tonight with instant ramen noodles (1.5 packets)! Added some thin beef on top. It was delicious!
I love this! I might have to try this version of the cold noodles. I glad you enjoyed it so much 🙂