Korean Beef Seaweed Soup (Miyeok-guk)
A delicious and healthy Korean beef seaweed soup recipe. It has flavorful broth with tender beef and soft seaweed. Ready in 30 minutes.
If you like seaweed and wants a recipe that uses lots of it, try this Korean beef seaweed soup.
Seaweeds are great. I mean they are mega healthy food. Asians have enjoyed seaweeds in our diet for who knows how long? They are algae and grow in the ocean so they hold a bounty of sea minerals and vitamins. It is naturally fat free and full of iodine, a nutrient that is missing in a lot of other food. If you have a thyroid problem, you might want to consider consuming lots of seaweed.
Seaweeds are especially good for women since it was known to regulate estrogen hormone level. It is famous fact that for hundreds of years, Korean women have been consuming lots of seaweed in a soup form when they are nursing.
What type of seaweed to use for a soup?
Many Koreans use dried seaweed
(miyuk) in the recipe, especially for the soup. However, I would like to ask you to look for the fresh kind for this beef seaweed soup. Most Korean stores carry fresh seaweed covered with sea salt in a package (You will find them in the refrigerator section).
All you need to do is just to rinse the salt off the seaweeds. Fresh seaweeds offers very soft and silky texture in the dish, and bring the deeper flavor in the broth of your soup.
If you can’t find the fresh seaweed, use the dried kind that are more common. See my post on seaweed soup with tuna to learn how to use the dried seaweed.
Ingredients you’ll need
- fresh or dried seaweeds
- sesame oil
- beef sirloin
- water
- garlic
- Korean soup soy sauce (gukganjang)
How to make Korean Beef Seaweed Soup
Rinse the salt off the seaweeds and cut into desired length. I like my seaweeds to be rather big in size, but you can cut it smaller if you don’t want a big chunks of seaweed to chew on.
Slice the beef thinly. I highly recommend to use sirloin for this recipe. This is rather a quick soup, so the simmering time is short. Tougher cut of beef might stay tough.
Heat sesame oil gently over medium heat and quickly saute your beef until no longer in pink.
Add the seaweeds and saute together for 1 minute.
Add the water and bring to boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes until the seaweeds are tender for your liking.
When the seaweeds are tender, add the minced garlic…
and the Korean soy sauce for soup
. Taste the broth. Adjust the seasoning according to your taste by adding more soy sauce or salt.
I had my seaweed soup with wholesome brown rice and my Bachelor Kimchi which goes so well with this soup. The flavor of the broth is just so comforting and delicious, and the beef is so tender. Out of all the soups I make, the seaweed soup has to be my kid’s favorite. They can easily empty out a bowl without much fuss.
As you can see, you will have a beautiful soup, that is healthy and delicious, within 30 minutes. And it is soooooo~~ good for you. Hope you can give it a shot even if you are not a big fan of seaweed.
Oh, by the way…, the leftover is even better on the next day.
Check out other Korean Soup Recipes. Here are a few I like:
- Healthy Seaweed Egg Drop Soup Recipe
- Korean Soybean Paste Soup With Beef And Watercress
- Korean Beef Radish Soup (Sogogi Muguk)
- Korean Soup with Arugula and Potato
- Beef and Bean Sprout Soup
Korean Beef Seaweed Soup
Ingredients
- 14 oz salted fresh seaweeds, or 0.7 oz dried seaweeds
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 lb beef sirloin, thinly sliced into bite size pieces
- 7 cup water
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 2 tbsp Korean soup soy sauce (gukganjang)
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the seaweeds several times to remove the salt. Cut into desired bite size length. If using dried seaweed, soak it in the cold water for 10-15 minutes, squeeze out the water, and cut.
- Heat the sesame oil gently in a pot over medium heat. Add the beef and saute until the beef is no longer in pick. Add the seaweed and cook for another 1 minute. Add the water and bring the whole thing to boil. Cover with a lid and simmer the soup for 15-20 minutes over low heat until the seaweeds get soft.
- Add garlic and the Korean soup soy sauce. Season with more soy sauce or salt according to your taste. Serve warm with rice and kimchi.
Hi, anyway to make the beef more tender? I’ve seen other recipes, but this is exactly how my mother in law in Korea made it, so I know it’s legit.
I tried soaking it in baking soda, but that was gross.
I wouldn’t recommend soaking the beef with baking soda to make this soup. Use thin sirloin beef slices instead of cubed stew beef. This is a rather quick soup and if you want the beef to be tender, you will need to use tender cut of beef. However, is using stewing beef, give a longer simmer time. That will help tenderizing the beef. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions. Thanks!
My mom made me a ton of seaweed soup when I was nursing; so for 3 months straight, every day I ate seaweed soup. LOL
Hi there, I check your blog like every week. Your humoristic style is awesome, keep doing what you’re doing!
Thanks Les. I appreciate your sweet words!
I love eating seafood! When they`re in soup or crispy and lightly salted! This soup looks great.
Holly,
This soup is great. We always have seaweed soup with pork bones or tofu and have not tried to stew beef with it. I will have a try next time.
I’ve heard many times how healthy seaweed is, but I never eat it unless it’s with sushi or miso soup. I’m interested in cooking with it.
Simple and delish and similar to what my Malaysian cousin does.
I can almost smell this soup! I need a big bowl of this soup right now… I love seaweed and enjoy Korean beef and seaweed soup a lot. I will try your recipe next time!
I’d had seaweed dishes in restaurants, but never cooked with it. I definitely have to try this — looks so wonderful! Good stuff — thanks.
This looks great. My mom used to make this for birthday celebration in the family. Thanks for the recipe. I’m excited to try this out!
I am also a seaweed machine and would love love a hot bowl of this RIGHT NOW. Sounds like a great simple but high impact recipe.
http://thatumamilife.wordpress.com
Hello! I stumbled across your blog and love it! Thanks for sharing.
I have to laugh, I thought this was something my mom had made up!…She use to make this soup whenever someone was sick.. Unfortunately, I never appreciated it… The seaweed grossed me out.. Now, I would appreciate it…Korean soy sauce? never had/heard of it… we used the typical Kikkoman…
I am glad that you are appreciating seaweed now. Korean soy sauce for soup is literally soy sauce made for soup. It is different than regular soy sauce that we all know. It is saltier and more pungent. It adds a deep layer of flavor that is quite different than usual soy sauce.
I noticed in Korean dramas that when it’s someone’s birthday they get asked if they ate seaweed soup or someone makes seaweed sou for them Now I know how to make it : ) tks for the recipe.