Gochujang is a wonderful thing – it works to spice a meal up, bring some sharp bitterness to a dish, and tie different ingredients together in a great world of different tasty flavors.
There are a number of situations, though, in which you might not be able to get your hands on the relative niche ingredient that is Korean fermented chili paste. In those cases, you don’t need to work – there are always alternative ingredients that you can use! In this article, we’re going to run through a few different options, and talk about how they can be used to boost the magic that happens in your kitchen.
Best Gochujang Substitutes
No products found.
Miso Paste
No products found.
While miso paste might sound like a slightly odd choice, given that miso isn’t as hot as gochujang, they do have similar base flavors. The reason for this is that they both make use of fermented soy, meaning that miso paste can be a wonderful substitute for gochujang in a number of recipes.
To bring some heat to miso paste, you may need to add a little chili. This can come in a number of forms, of course, but we would suggest adding chili flakes or chili powder first and foremost. If you’ve got some gochugaru to hand, then use that! Gochugaru is a Korean chili powder, which can work wonderfully well to make a tasty meal in no time at all.
If you don’t have that option, regular chili powder will work, as well as cayenne powder. Start with the same volume of miso paste as gochujang paste, and then add small increments of chili powder until the flavor is ideal for you.
Spiced Date Paste
No products found.
This is another one that might sound a little odd, but the rounded, earthy flavor of dates makes for a wonderful gochujang substitute when you add some ingredients that will serve to heat up the paste a little.
The only disadvantage of spiced date paste is that you’d typically have to make it yourself. If you can find date paste, then it will work, but it’s a fairly rare ingredient. Pit and boil some dates for around ten minutes to ensure that they’re soft, and then blend the dates with a few teaspoons of your favorite chili powder. Add a little water and a little vinegar (around twice as much water as vinegar) to get the right consistency and acidity – then, you should have a paste that works as a wonderful gochujang substitute in your kitchen.
Sriracha
No products found.
Sriracha is a wonderful thing – it’s a hot pepper sauce that has spread around the world in no time at all, thanks to its blessedly tasty flavor. The heat of sriracha comes from jalapeños, however – gochujang’s heat comes from Korean peppers, which will taste a little different. The overall flavors are quite similar if you’re only using a small amount, but you may need to make a change if you’re going to be using a lot.
Add around half as much sriracha as you need for the recipe to your pot or mixing bowl. Begin cooking, tasting regularly, and adding more as you need it. Sriracha, while thick for a sauce, is quite thin compared to thick gochujang paste. This consistency difference is the reason we’d recommend adding a little less to start with.
Tomato Paste
Tomato paste is the perfect texture for a gochujang substitute – so thick that you could stand a spoon up in it. Typically, tomato paste is either canned or tubed – we’d always recommend the tubes since they can be sealed up a little better than the cans can.
Since the flavor of tomato paste is utterly different from the flavor of gochujang, you’ll need to do a little work in spicing it up. To do that, we’d recommend using an equivalent weight and volume of tomato paste to gochujang, and then adding some flavorings. Use cayenne pepper or chili powder, as well as a dash of soy sauce, and half a teaspoon of sugar. Mix these things together well, ensuring the sugar is dissolved, and you should get a great substitute for gochujang.
Thai Chili Paste
No products found.
Thai chili paste is a great ingredient that has two of our favorite main flavor notes – garlic and chili. Typically, you can pick up Thai chili paste in your grocery store, though it can be a little elusive in some situations. This paste works as a great gochujang substitute, though it does have a heavy garlic flavor that gochujang doesn’t – for that reason, it may be worth considering something else if you’re not a fan.
We would suggest using around half the amount of thai chili paste that you would with gochujang, and going from there, tasting the food as you cook. It has great heat and sweetness that make it a wonderful option to replace gochujang in a number of recipes.
We would suggest, however, that you avoid adding garlic to your food until after you’ve added this paste. It has an exceptionally strong garlic flavor to it, meaning that you run the risk of overpowering your food in no time at all by adding too much garlic. With caution, though, this ingredient is a wonder!
This is a rare paste that you might not find in some supermarkets, but it’s truly magical. Try looking in the Asian or worldwide foods aisle and, if that fails, check out an Asian supermarket near you.
Sambal oelek has a potent heat and acidity to it, which makes it a great option to replace gochujang. The thing that detracts from this paste is that it isn’t fermented – so it doesn’t have the complexity that gochujang naturally possesses. For that reason, we’d suggest considering whether that’s an essential part of the dish you’re making. If not, then you’re in the clear.
Bear in mind, also, that this gochujang replacement is spicier than the Korean paste – only use a little to start with, and increase from there.
We hope that this short article has provided you with some great options that you can use to make yourself a tasty meal in no time at all – even if you’re low on ingredients, you’ll have some great ways to make food yourself.
Hi, my name is Kunal Sharma, and I am a self-certified foodie. I love everything about food - from its preparation to cooking, raw ingredients to final dishes.
Some people relax by taking a walk outside or painting, but my release from the day is when I get to come home and cook for my wife and kids. Luckily they aren’t fussy eaters, because it’s a different meal every night!
If you are like me and can’t get enough of all things food related, then I invite you to come on a journey through my website.
