Cold Spicy Kimchi Noodles Recipe (2024)

There are only two Korean spices listed - the pepper paste and pepper flakes. Why not substitute another pepper paste or pepper flake for them? There are too many kinds to list. If you don't like fish sauce, you could increase the miso a little bit to make sure it's got umami (a savory quality). (I like to cook, and I make these substitutions all the time.)

I substituted sriracha for the gochujang paste and Aleppo pepper for the gochugaru flakes. This recipe is a keeper.
I opted for a firmer egg, but will definitely try a runny yolk next time. I imagine that the rich and creamy sauce-like quality would be amazing with the tartness of the dressing.

Are there substitutes for the Korean spices?

Gochujang, gochugaru, fish sauce and red miso already live in my kitchen, so I had no problems assembling the ingredients for the sauce as written. I put everything in my food processor and gave it a few pulses to make a hom*ogeneous sauce. Immediately after blending, the brown sugar flavor was overwhelming to the point of being cloying, but it tasted much better after a few hours in the refrigerator. Next time I will cut the sugar down to one tablespoon or even less.

If you do not have and never used SEVEN ingredients from the list, it is clear that you have never tried any kind of Asian-style cooking. And yes, please just go find a recipe for pasta salad instead.

Also, I've never added radishes, but I have added Korean radishes if it's on the sweeter side. Same with the tomatoes. I have never seen this done. You can add whatever fresh vegetables to the dish or none at all. Sliced cucumbers and a boiled eggs are traditional. I like adding shredded lettuce leaves - I prefer red oak lettuce for this.

Substituting anything for the gochugaru and gochujang will not work. It's like making carbonara without the egg and cheese.

For an even simpler way of making this recipe: chop up well-aged kimchi and add it to boiled noodles that you have rinsed thoroughly under cold water. Add some sesame oil. Add some sesame seed if you have it. Mix it all up. Garnish with a hard-boiled egg sliced in half. If it's not cold enough for your taste, add some ice. Super simple and doesn't require as many ingredients.

no substituting Gochujang for Sriracha! changes the flavour completely.

I really liked this dish. I think I will add crushed peanuts as a garnish next time I make it.

You don't need the kimchi juice. Quite often I squeeze the kimchi of all the juice and then chop it up. I don't like my bibim gooksoo too watery.

I made this last night with a few changes. I substituted aleppo pepper for gouhugaru and topped each bowl with a poached egg instead of half a boiled egg. The results were outstanding.

I substituted sriracha for the gochujang paste and Aleppo pepper for the gochugaru flakes. This recipe is a keeper.
I opted for a firmer egg, but will definitely try a runny yolk next time. I imagine that the rich and creamy sauce-like quality would be amazing with the tartness of the dressing.

Very tasty! Loved the idea of adding salmon. Or maybe cubed tofu?

I made this as written but omitted the serrano chili because I couldn’t find it and forgot to add the cilantro at the end. This recipe is so delicious and not very difficult to make. It’s the perfect cold summer meal!

Delicious as written, plus some pickled shiitakes I had in the fridge. A perfect, assertive, bright but not overwhelming amount of spice for our taste. Make sure your rice noodles are well separated early on in the cooking process; they have a tendency to stick together, and the ones that do can end up undercooked.

Didn't have limes but still tasted great. Would make it again!

Returning to this recipe more than thrice in a month and a half.... I can attest it is also great with sliced cabbage in place of the noodles!

Don’t use Siracha sauce use gochujang, but if you must use Siracha, add it to hoisin sauce with a drop of liquid smoke. That would approximate the flavor of gochujang but not perfectly.

Delicious! We had bok choy and carrots on hand so added those instead of the tomatoes. Topped with some crushed peanuts as well. Other than that, followed the recipe exactly and it was perfection. New go-to summer meal!!

I live in a rural area so had to substitute some of the ingredients. Reminder to those who scoff at people asking about substitutions—many rural areas do not have quality Korean ingredients and everyone deserves to indulge in new flavors and recipes. I added edamame on the side, and a couple varieties of peppers and radishes from the garden. Very nice summer dish and my husband liked it too!

Grating garlic can be hit or miss, depending on how sharp your Microplane (or equivalent) is. I keep a container of peeled garlic in the freezer. When a recipe calls for garlic, I take out a clove and make “garlic snow”.

Delicious!! I needed some fermented help with tummy troubles and was hoping for a no cook (kills all the helpful stuff) kim chee and this delivered BIG. I thought it might be too sweet but once the flavors melded it was delicious. Fried an egg because I could wait for soft boiled. This one is a keeper!

This is a Korean dish so I recommend going to the trouble of finding the Korean ingredients to really experience the dish in all its glory.

Perfect dinner in the midst of a heatwave! Don't be afraid of the Korean ingredients, there are tons of great recipes on NYT Cooking (and out in the world) that can help you use them up! The chopped kimchi in the sauce makes it feel almost like a bright salsa or tomato sauce in texture which I loved. I didn't feel like this was overly spicy at all. I sautéed some shiitake mushrooms, let them cool for a few minutes, and added them on top with my egg/etc and it was delicious.

I made this, nothing to write home about. I found the orange zest a little overwhelming, might suggest reducing by half.

This looks delicious, but I don't usually have any miso. Is there something I could use as a substitute? Or would I be OK to just leave it out?

I needed a little more protein so I cooked some ground turkey and added the dressing to it at the end of cooking. FAN-TASTIC. Also added snow peas/sugar snap peas, the sweetness was a nice contrast.