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When it comes to plant-based meals that comfort, nourish, and pack a punch, few dishes deliver quite like kimchi jjigae, a spicy Korean dish traditionally made with aged kimchi. In a recent YouTube video, Joanne Lee Molinaro, known as The Korean Vegan, shares what she confidently calls “literally the best kimchi jjigae I have ever eaten.” It also happens to be entirely vegan and impressively high in protein.
According to her website, Molinaro, a former trial lawyer turned James Beard Award–winning cookbook author, lives by the motto “I Veganize Korean Food. I Koreanize Everything Else.” On her YouTube channel, she invites viewers into her kitchen with dishes that honor her heritage while aligning with a plant-based lifestyle.
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In this video, she walks us through a step-by-step process for making a deeply savory, hearty, and easy-to-make kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew). Traditionally made with pork or beef, kimchi jjigae is reimagined here as a lighter, deeply flavorful vegan dish. Using aged homemade kimchi, shiitake mushrooms, soft tofu, black beans, and a few unconventional but inspired add-ins, Molinaro builds a dish that’s not only nourishing but also “outrageously delicious.”
How to make the kimchi jigae
Molinaro begins in a familiar place: her garage, retrieving a precious container of homemade, well-aged kimchi. “That’s aged kimchi right there,” she says, holding up the vibrant cabbage that forms the flavor base of her dish. Aged kimchi is key to developing the bold, tangy backbone of the stew – “I have used not-aged kimchi,” she says, “and it was one of the worst kimchi jjigaes I ever ate.”
Next, she builds her stew with an impressive lineup of vegetables and proteins. Shiitake mushrooms provide the meaty umami, joined by fresh garlic, red onion (or whatever you have on hand), scallions, and – surprisingly – potatoes. “If you’re Korean, you’re like, potato?” she laughs. “Look, I love potato and I will put it in every savory dish imaginable.”
She also adds black beans, a move that might shock jjigae purists. But don’t knock it until you try it: “It actually tastes really good and it adds more protein,” she says. Combined with tofu – soft, silken, or firm – this becomes a stew with serious nutritional heft.
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Molinaro uses a Korean earthenware pot called a ttukbaegi, but a Dutch oven works just as well. She starts with sesame oil and gochugaru (Korean red pepper powder), sautéing the mushrooms, onions, garlic, and potatoes until coated in fragrant spice. Then comes the kimchi, gochujang (Korean chili paste), and a splash of soup soy sauce. Even the kimchi juice joins the party, ensuring every layer of the stew is infused with fermented flavor.
To mimic the depth of seafood-based broths often used in traditional versions, she adds dashima – dried kelp – which enriches the stock without overpowering the vegetables.
After simmering, the stew is ready for its protein power-ups: tofu gently arranged atop the bubbling broth and basted to soak up the spicy goodness, then black beans folded in. But Molinaro doesn’t stop there. She adds frozen mandu (dumplings), thick udon noodles (“I got this directly from my dad – he adds udon noodles to every jjigae ever”), and enoki mushrooms for a restaurant-worthy finish.
Scallion greens are sprinkled on top, and the whole pot is left to simmer just a little longer — giving the tofu time to soak in what Molinaro calls an “absolutely ridiculously outrageously delicious broth.”
A stew that nourishes and comforts
This jjigae isn’t just delicious, it’s a nutritional powerhouse. Loaded with fiber-rich vegetables, gut-friendly fermented kimchi, and multiple sources of plant-based protein (tofu, black beans, and mushrooms), it delivers on both flavor and function.
Served with a heaping bowl of rice – “It’s really hard to eat kimchi jjigae without rice ’cause it is such a bold, intense, and spicy flavor,” Molinaro notes.
As she looks at the bright red broth simmering on the stove, she reflects: “Tell me your mouth isn’t watering.” Spoiler alert: it is.
Find more mouthwatering plant-based recipes on Molinaro’s YouTube channel.
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