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Gamjatang is definitely in my top 5 favorite Korean soups, and if you know anything about Korean culture then you know it’s the nation of broth! Soup is fundamental to Korean cuisine & culture- there are so many to choose from and I would choose gamjatang every time!
Made with pork neck bones, this soup is hearty, spicy, and so comforting especially on a rainy day.
Why is it called gamjatang?
“Gamja” means potato and “tang” means soup in Korean, so up until I started my r&d for this recipe, I thought gamjatang meant potato soup. Apparently thats not the correct translation!
“Gamja” is also a Korean word that refers to part of the pork spine. Some readers have also told me that the original gamjatang didn’t even have potatoes in it, but restaurants started adding them because of the confusion over the name.
I know I can’t be the only one who didn’t know this. I avoided this dish on Korean menus for most of my life because I didn’t grow up eating it, so I didn’t know what it was. When I would see gamjatang on a menu, I really thought it meant potato soup and just wasn’t interested in it, so I never ordered it.
Funny enough, my mom thought the same thing even know she actually grew up in Korea. She didn’t try gamjatang until she was in her late 40’s! So we learned how to make this dish together and this is the recipe we came up with 🙂
Ingredients
- Pork neck bones- gamjatang is best made with pork neck bones. These have a lot of flavor and the meat is so delicious and tender! Look for bones that have the most meat on them.
- Aromatics– onion, large green onion, ginger, garlic, & dried shiitake mushroom.
- Seasoning paste- gochujang (Korean red pepper paste), gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), perilla powder, fish sauce, plum syrup, black pepper, and Knorr chicken bouillon.
- Young radish greens- this is actually my favorite part of this dish, besides the soup! The radish greens take on the flavor of the broth really well. You can also use napa cabbage instead if you prefer.
- Perilla leaves- even if you don’t really like perilla leaves, you should definitely add them because it is really delicious with this soup!
- Potato– one large russet potato cut into 6 pieces.
More soup recipes
If you like this recipe, try some of my other soup recipes on the blog!
Gamjatang (Pork Bone Soup)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork neck bones
- 8-10 cups water
- 2 tbsp doenjang, (fermented soybean paste)
- 1 oz sliced ginger, or 3 bay leaves
- 1 small onion
- 1 dried shiitake mushroom
- 1 daepa (large green onion), or 2 green onion
- 10 perilla leaves
- 1 large russet potato, peeled & cut into 6 pieces
- 1/2 lb young radish greens, or napa cabbage
- 1 serrano pepper, or Korean spicy pepper if you can find it
Seasoning paste
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp gochugaru, (Korean red pepper flakes)
- 1 tbsp gochujang, (Korean red pepper paste)
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 tbsp perilla powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp plum syrup
- 1 tbsp Knorr chicken bouillon
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Soak the pork neck bones in cold water for an hour, changing the water once or twice.
- Meanwhile, prepare the minced garlic, chopped green onion, sliced ginger, sliced onion, and washed young radish stems. Tip: Potatoes oxidize when peeled, so you can either wait to peel it until you need it, or peel and cut them and hold them in a bowl of cold water to prevent browning.
- Make the seasoning paste: combine the garlic, gochujang, gochugaru, fish sauce, perilla powder, black pepper, plum syrup, water, and Knorr chicken bouillon. Set aside.
- After 1 hour of soaking the pork neck bones, drain and add them to a pot with enough room temperature water to cover them. Bring it to a boil- this will take about 10-15 minutes, and once it starts boiling, only let it boil for a couple minutes. This is an asian technique for blanching meat. It gets rid of the gaminess and impurities in the pork.
- Drain and rinse the pork bones thoroughly, making sure to get all the gunk out of the crevices of the bones.
- Put the pork bones back in a cleaned pot. Add 8 cups of water, ginger, onion, dried shiitake mushroom, and fermented soybean paste. Bring to a boil, skim off any remaining impurities that float to the surface, then reduce the heat to medium and cover for 90 minutes. Tip: thoroughly mix the fermented soybean paste with 1/2 cup of water before adding it into the pot, so it mixes in easier.
- In a separate pot, bring water a boil then blanch the young radish greens for 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
- After 90 minutes, throw away the ginger and take out the shiitake mushroom to slice it.
- Add 1 to 2 cups of water to the pot, then add the seasoning paste and mix well. Then add the potatoes, green onion, blanched radish greens, sliced shiitake mushrooms, and sliced serrano pepper. Cover for another 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes the potatoes should be chopstick tender. Add the sliced perilla leaves last to finish, and thats it!
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
One of my favorite soups and an easy recipe to follow along!
Comfort food delicious, your recipe helped cook and now my kids love your foods thank you
One of the best recipes. Thought it would be harder to make but you made it simple.
It’s my favorite . i love gamjatang so much. This recipe is solid and authentic.
This is seriously delicious. I have a lot of your recipes bookmarked for my weekly meals. Thank you!
I made your gamjatang tonight! I doubled it because I knew my husband would ask for more. The only thing I didn’t have on hand was the chicken bullion and it still tasted amazing! So easy and the pork is fall off the bone perfect. Thank you so much, Stella!!! I can’t wait to try the raw crab recipe soon.
So hearty and full of flavor!
Omg! This recipe was actually easy to make. Delicious and very flavorful. It’s cold right now, so it’s the perfect weather for soup too! Thanks for sharing!
I love love love your content and recipes! Love that you share recipes for both Mexican and Korean. Two of my favorite foods! I tried out your raw marinated crab recipe and it exceeded my expectations. Also tried out many of your side dish series and none of them disappointed.
The Best recipe I’ve ever made! Its so tender and delicious! I went to Seoul last November and I had plenty of soups and this was one of them. I cant believe I made it as close to what I had back there. Thanks to your masterpiece! A true genius, indeed.