This Vegan Japchae (잡채) recipe is a delicious gluten free and vegetable packed dish ready in under 30 minutes!
Hey everyone! First, I just wanted to welcome you to my new and re-branded food blog! You can read more about Okonomi Kitchen, the story behind it and what to expect moving forward but for now, let’s dive into todays delicious recipe: Vegan Japchae. I think as of today, I only have one Korean recipe on the blog which is the Korean BBQ Jackfruit Bowls using my Sugar-Free Korean BBQ Sauce. That needs to change because I LOVE Korean food! Bibimbap, jajamyeon, kimchi, ddukbokki, banchans (korean side dishes)… you name it. SO GOOD!
What is Japchae?
Japchae is a super popular Korean noodle dish you will find at any Korean restaurant. It’s popular for good reason, Japchae uses glass noodles made from sweet potatoes. They have this unique bouncy texture which works perfectly with the crunchy texture from all the vegetables. Typically, meat is used as the protein source but it can easily be replaced with tofu for a vegan or vegetarian version . You can find glass noodles in Asian markets in the Korean aisle, or where they sell all kinds of Asian noodles. They’re also very inexpensive to buy, making this dish really budget friendly!
Korean Cooking
Watching my Korean friends parents cook, I learned that it is very common to prepare and cook each ingredient separately. This may sound like a lot of work but if you have the time and patience, it’s totally worth it! You can ensure each ingredient is cooked properly and seasoned well so that nothing is undercooked or over-cooked.
How to make Vegan Japchae
However, if you’re like me (lazy and always in a hurry) you can get away with cooking the vegetables in one pan as you go IF you know how to time each vegetable correctly. I learned to time each vegetable by first cooking each ingredient separately so I highly recommend doing the same so you know what Japchae is suppose to taste like. The perfect Japchae has bouncy noodles, vegetables that retain their structure with a well balanced flavours of sweet, salty and nutty.
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Vegan Japchae
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 25
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
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This Vegan Japchae (잡채) recipe is a delicious gluten free and vegetable packed dish ready in under 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 package sweet potato noodles (250g)
- 1 package smoked firm tofu (300g)
- 1 medium zucchini (200g)
- 1 small carrot (130g)
- 1 medium onion (150g)
- 3 scallion stalks
- 3 garlic cloves
- 6 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated
- large handful of spinach
- sesame seeds
Sauce
- 5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook sweet potato noodles following the directions on the package. Once cooked, drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Add 1 tsp of sesame oil to coat the noodles, and then use scissors to cut the noodles (around 3-4 times). In the same pot, add in the spinach and blanch for 30 seconds. Rinse with cold water and squeeze the excess liquid out using a towel. Chop the bundled up spinach in half.
- Slice all the vegetables into match stick sized pieces. They should all be relatively the same size. Cut the tofu into thin rectangles.
- Put all the sauce ingredients into a small bowl and stir.
- In a large wok, over medium high heat fry the smoked tofu with a little bit of sesame oil just until lightly browned on each side. Transfer into another bowl and set aside.
- In the same wok, fry onions and garlic for 1 minute. Then add in the shiitake mushrooms and carrot and fry for another minute. Add in the zucchini and scallions and fry for one more minute. Slightly turn down the heat and add in the noodles, spinach tofu and sauce. Toss and cook until all the sauce is all soaked up.
- Serve and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
Notes
Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
- Category: Entree
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 484
- Fat: 11g
- Carbohydrates: 22g
- Protein: 16g
Keywords: vegan japchae
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I made it as a meal prep ! This is the best korean dishe ^^ Japchae is very conforting and satisfying for healthy meal that give good nutrients and energy 🙂
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Hi Cheima,
Yes, Japchae is so good super happy you liked it 🙂
Very delicious and perfect for meal prep! 🙂 Will cook it again for sure!
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Hi Carina!
Thank you so much, so glad you enjoyed!
Just made this tonight and it turned out very well! It made more than I expect– is this a dish that can be frozen easily?
Hi K!
So glad you enjoyed! I’m not sure how the noodles would be defrosted but if you do let me know how it goes!
Such an easy recipe. Swap out whatever you don’t like for veggies you do like. Super yummy. The sauce can be used for other dishes as well. I will definitely make this again.
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So delicious! Simple to make and turned out great. This will be a new household staple
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AMAZING recipe! Definitely going to be made on repeat. Vegan/healthy never tasted so good. My boyfriend loves it too 🙂
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Can I use normal firm tofu? I haven’t been able to find smoked.
Yes! I would stir fry it in some sesame oil and soy sauce first so theres more flavour 🙂
I’m making this again. It’s an excellent vegan recipe but I think I’ll add a little chicken breast this time. I love the glass noodles, they are my favorite noodles. * * * * * – five stars!
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Yay I’m so glad you enjoyed this Sherry! 🙂
Such a delicious combo – I didn’t have glass noodles, so just subbed a half package (half of 454g pack) of rice noodles.
★★★★★
So happy to hear you enjoyed!
I made this dish about a week ago, and my husband and I LOVED it – really delicious! The store was out of tofu, so we added some extra veggies – YUMMY!!! *We also put the mushrooms on the side because my husband loves them, but I can’t eat them. We’ll definitely make this again!
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My husband and I made this a couple weeks ago, and it was delicious! The store was out of tofu, so we added in extra veggies – YUMMY! *Will definitely make this again!
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So happy to hear you both enjoyed!
Sooo good, just made this for the family and I will definitely be using this recipe in the future!
Really yummy! I used soy curls instead of tofu and it was delicious! I can eat tons of this for some reason…so light and comforting!
★★★★★
This recipe was simple and delicious! It’s a great base recipe to build off of and use whatever produce you have on hand — swapped smoked tofu with marinated tofu, zucchini with red bell pepper and marinated portobello mushrooms for dried shiitake.
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I loved the recipe so much! It was so delicious, I made it twice already. Thanks again for the recipe!
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Turns out really well ! If you’re using light soy sauce like me, just go ahead and sprinkle some salt on top !
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This recipe is so delicious and versatile! It turned out so well, and it was super simple to make as well!
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Love japchae and this was super easy to make, and our results were awesome – love having smoked tofu in the dish too. Thanks!
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Easy to find ingredients and super easy to make and super delicious
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Followed this recipe and it turned out amazing!
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This was so delicious and easy to make. I got all of the ingredients at my usual grocery store. I love how adaptable it is. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand!
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so easy and so delicious!!! A go to of mine when craving Asian but want to keep it healthy!!
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LOVED this recipe. I will make vegan japchae again soon. Thank you for sharing.
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Recently tried JAPCHAE at a Korean/japanese fusion restaurant by my house. And LOVED it.
I actually had a package of sweet potato noodles I was trying to sort outward to make for supper. And the recipe in the back was JAPCHAE. The original recipe calls for meat. And since I’m vegetarian I decided to look up a vegan one on Pinterest!
This recipe was so easy, simple and delicious. My boyfriend and I kept going back for more. And the sauce ingredients were minimal.
Can’t wait to make this again!
★★★★★
Absolutely love this recipe! I’ve made this dish at least three times now, it’s becoming one of my favorite meals, it’s so easy to make and it’s packed with flavors! So grateful that I know about this blog, all the recipes on it are too bomb! Thank you for everything Lisa!
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