Hwangtae Seaweed Soup, a Light Korean Soup [Recipe]

Hello! The simple soup recipe I want to introduce today is hwangtae seaweed soup — a refreshing seaweed soup made with dried pollack (hwangtae) instead of beef. Simmering seaweed soup with hwangtae makes a great hangover cure or a light, non-greasy soup and meal! It’s very simple to make, and you can adjust the amount as much as you like, so it’s a really handy recipe to know! So shall we take a look at how to make it?

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📋 At a Glance

• Dish: Hwangtae seaweed soup
• Servings: 2–3
• Time: about 30 min (15 min prep + 15 min cooking)
• Difficulty: Easy
• Main ingredients: 35–40g hwangtae strips, ~10g cut wakame, 0.5 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tbsp soup soy sauce, 1.5 tbsp sesame oil, 700mL water
• Optional: 1 tsp doenjang, 0.5 tbsp yeondu (cooking essence), a little salt and pepper
• Key point: Dried pollack instead of beef for a clean, refreshing broth; a little doenjang at the end removes any fishy off-note — perfect for hangovers or a light meal!

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Hwangtae Seaweed Soup: Ingredients

First, let’s check the ingredients. I bought the hwangtae strips and seaweed as the small-pack products commonly sold at supermarkets these days! You just need to soak these two ingredients in water ahead of time, and there’s not much else to prepare.

[Ingredients for hwangtae seaweed soup, serves 2–3]

• 35–40g hwangtae strips
• 0.5 tbsp minced garlic
• 700mL water
• Cut wakame for 2 servings (around 10g)
• 1 tbsp soup soy sauce
• 1.5 tbsp sesame oil
• Doenjang (optional) 1 tsp
• Yeondu / cooking essence (optional) 0.5 tbsp
• Just a little salt and pepper

[Recipe summary for hwangtae seaweed soup, serves 2–3]

1. Soak 2 servings of dried wakame in water ahead of time, and rinse 35g of hwangtae strips once under running water, then soak them lightly.
2. Tear the prepared hwangtae strips into small pieces and squeeze out the water firmly, and shake the water off the wakame too. You can also set aside and strain the hwangtae soaking water to use it.
3. Drizzle 1.5 tbsp of sesame oil into a soup pot, add the torn hwangtae, and stir-fry so it doesn’t burn. It can stick easily, so stir-fry gently over low heat.
4. Next, add half a tablespoon of garlic and the drained wakame and stir-fry them together.
5. Add only about 100ml of water and boil once over high heat until the water turns milky white.
6. Once the water boils, pour in 600ml of water. Then add 1 tbsp of soup soy sauce and a little salt and pepper, and bring it to a rolling boil.
7. Taste it once. It will probably be a bit bland, so adjust the seasoning with salt, yeondu, MSG, or whatever you like. To taste, you can add just about 0.25 tbsp of doenjang.

🍲 When you do the final seasoning, adding just a little doenjang instead of salt can tame any off-note the hwangtae might have. The doenjang flavor comes through less than you’d expect.
🍵 These days they also sell cut wakame and pre-prepped hwangtae strips. Cut wakame in particular has a good texture and rehydrates quickly, so it’s convenient to cook with!
🐟 Even if it turns a little cloudy, if you want a deeper hwangtae flavor you can use the hwangtae soaking water.

🍴 Prep time: 15 minutes
🍳 Cook time: 15 minutes

Here I’d also recommend a cooking essence like Yeondu — hard to leave out in Korean cooking — and a little doenjang! Yeondu adds savoriness to a soup that can be a bit plain, and doenjang is good for taming any off-note the hwangtae might occasionally have, so prepare them according to your taste!

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Hwangtae Seaweed Soup: Preparing the Ingredients

Alright, let’s prepare the ingredients. Earlier I rinsed 35g of hwangtae strips once under running water and soaked them lightly! Put on food-safe gloves and tear them into small pieces. These days they also sell fully prepped hwangtae strips, so it’s good to buy a suitable product and use that!

Usually people throw away the hwangtae soaking water! But when I want to bring out more hwangtae flavor, even if it’s a little cloudy, I sometimes use the hwangtae soaking water. If there are any bones or bits, just strain it once. I’ve found this works well when making it as a hangover cure!

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Just shake off the excess water from the wakame to prepare it. I won’t use the water the wakame was soaked in separately. These days there are wakame products you can use conveniently, like cut wakame, so prepare it to suit your taste.

There, the ingredient prep wraps up this quickly. The hwangtae soaking water is entirely a matter of preference! If you want it clear, you can use just the hwangtae strips!

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Hwangtae Seaweed Soup: Cooking

So let’s start cooking right away! First, drizzle 1.5 tbsp of sesame oil into a suitable soup pot and heat it just slightly over low heat! Squeeze the water firmly out of the torn hwangtae, add it, and stir-fry so it doesn’t burn.

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For reference, the hwangtae strips stick easily, so don’t turn the heat up high — stir-fry gently over low heat. When the hwangtae quickly absorbs the sesame oil and starts to look like it’s sticking a bit, add half a tablespoon of garlic and the drained wakame and stir-fry them together.

Add only about 100ml of water and boil over high heat until the water turns milky white once. Until the water boils, scrape with a tool like a spatula, as if lifting up the hwangtae and wakame stuck to the bottom, so they don’t burn!

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Once the water reduces a little and starts to boil, pour in 600ml of water. I added mineral water to the hwangtae soaking water.

Next, we need to season it, right? To keep the soup’s color from getting too dark, add 1 tbsp of soup soy sauce and about a pinch of salt and pepper, then bring it to a rolling boil.

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Adjusting the Seasoning and Finishing

Once the soup starts to boil, check the seasoning. In this state it may be a bit bland! Adjust it with salt, yeondu, MSG, or whatever seasoning you like. What I recommend most is lifting the savoriness slightly with just some yeondu or MSG.

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I add only about 0.25 tbsp here! When doing the final seasoning, adding just a little doenjang instead of salt or seasoned salt tames the bland taste and the faint fishy note, which I found quite nice! Since the wakame flavor is strong, the doenjang taste doesn’t come through as strongly as you’d expect, and it’s easy on the stomach as a morning hangover cure! Above all, the broth goes down better than plain seaweed soup.

Don’t just drop the doenjang in — dissolve it lightly in something like a small soy sauce dish and it will loosen up quickly. Finally, taste it and boil it just a little more. If a soup like this seems a bit salty, you can just add more water, so don’t worry and adjust the seasoning!

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Freshly cooked hwangtae seaweed soup is, of course, tastiest eaten right away! I ate one bowl first for dinner, and froze the rest in the freezer to store.

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Hwangtae Seaweed Soup: Finished-Dish Photo Gallery

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Hwangtae Seaweed Soup: Complete

So here’s the finished hwangtae seaweed soup. With hwangtae in it, it’s much more refreshing than beef seaweed soup, and on the other hand, since doenjang went in too, it also has a slightly richer feel!

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First of all, it’s a really soothing taste on the stomach, and even though a little doenjang went in, it’s basically seaweed soup, so you can enjoy it like a slightly richer seaweed soup. You can consider there to be almost no sense of it being off!

Above all, it goes lightly alongside breakfast or dinner and is perfect as a hangover cure too, so it’s a really nice dish to enjoy anytime, anywhere. Have a bowl of freshly boiled seaweed soup, and freeze the rest — there’s no big difference in taste, which is really great! It’s a recipe you’ll never regret.

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You can learn about the origins and background of miyeok-guk, the seaweed soup this dish is based on, in the Miyeok-guk article on Wikipedia.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do you make hwangtae seaweed soup?

Stir-fry soaked hwangtae strips in sesame oil over low heat, add minced garlic and wakame and stir-fry together, then add 100mL of water and boil over high heat until the broth turns milky white. Next, add 600mL of water, 1 tbsp of soup soy sauce, and salt and pepper, and bring it to a quick boil to finish.

Q. How do you tame the off-note from the hwangtae?

When you do the final seasoning, dissolving in just about 0.25 tbsp of doenjang instead of salt tames the hwangtae’s characteristic off-note and makes the broth much cleaner. Since the wakame flavor is strong, the doenjang doesn’t stand out. If it lacks savoriness, adding a little yeondu (cooking essence) or MSG is good.

Q. Can you freeze hwangtae seaweed soup?

Yes. It’s tastiest eaten right away, but freezing the leftover soup doesn’t change the taste much. Since it’s less greasy than beef seaweed soup, it’s easy on the stomach even reheated, and it’s great to enjoy as a hangover cure or a light breakfast or dinner.