11 Banchan Recipes To Add More Flavor To Your Korean Meal

Cabbage isn’t the only kind of kimchi. You can ferment almost any fruit or veggie with salt, spices and time. Here, the often discarded rind of watermelon is used to make a crunchy pickle banchan.

Seasoned and steamed or marinated vegetables are called namul. This version lightly blanches bean sprouts then seasons with garlic, oil and sesame. Add gochugaru pepper flakes if you like it spicy.

Another seasoned vegetable or namul recipe, this popular dish is quickly made with a thinly sliced cucumber and a lot of seasoning, including soy sauce, vinegar and spicy gochugaru powder, similar to those viral TikTok recipes.

Jorim is a banchan cooked in seasoned broth. These potatoes are boiled, fried, then tossed with honey, soy sauce and seasoning until they form a glaze.

Bokkeum is a saucy stir-fry dish. This zucchini version is a popular one as it’s very simple with a salty punch from jarred saeujeot (salt shrimp).

Also namul, radish dishes like this one are ubiquitous when it comes to banchan. Julienne the radish, salt and rinse to remove moisture, and then season with the usual suspects — scallion, garlic, ginger, gochugaru, sugar and white sesame.

This namul is steamed and seasoned eggplant — that’s all that there is to it. With recipes this easy, churning out several dishes is less daunting.

A pickled dish, this is different from the other radish as it’s simply cubed radish soaked in sugar, salt and vinegar. Try this pickling solution with other crunchy veggies, too.

Lots of banchan are vegetarian, but this sweet and spicy pollack is a fun fishy dish.

Just like American barbeque goes well with potato salad, this Korean fluffy potato salad is a great pairing with Korean barbeque. Instead of potato chunks, they are mashed and mixed with familiar ingredients like veggies, eggs and mayo.

Thinly slice green onions vertically for long strips and then toss with sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, gochugaru and — you got it — more sliced scallions.