Slow cooker kimchi stew with beef is a perfect comfort food for cold wintry days. It’s spicy, tender and delicious!
I’ve been wanting to try a slow cooker for some Korean dishes for a while. It seems like a great idea when I run out of time to cook meals most of these days. I first tried this slow cooker kimchi stew with beef two weekends ago and it turned out quite well.
After cooking this, I was almost about to publish the recipe on my blog on that same night. But I didn’t/couldn’t. Because my husband (aka, the taste tester) didn’t give me the ‘go signal’. He said it was a bit too sour. Well, hello~! You normally make kimchi stew with aged (sour) kimchi!
FYI, he hadn’t had kimchi stew for a very long time and he doesn’t normally like eating aged kimchi at all. (He prefers fresh kimchi that’s less than a week old.)
For the sake of pleasing my picky taste tester, I decided to revise it so that it accommodates people who are not used to the sour kimchi taste. So here is the taste tester approved Slow Cooker Kimchi Stew with Beef (Slow Cooker Kimchi Sogogi Jjigae, 슬로우쿠커 김치 소고기 찌개)!
It was very delicious with a slight spicy kick and it wasn’t sour at all. Both the kimchi and the meat was so tender and it melted away very quickly in our mouth. Even the microwaved leftovers were still tender and moist.
This recipe is just perfect for anyone on the go constantly. Once you put everything in a slow cooker, you can literally forget about it for a half day. How convenient! I hope you enjoy this warm and comforting dish. 🙂
Ingredients for Kimchi Beef Stew, 6 servings
Main
- 4 cups of kimchi, cut into bite sized
- 1kg (2.2 pounds) chuck steak – (This can be substituted with other kinds of meat e.g. pork. Meat with some sorts of fat would make the meat tenderer. I tried using fatless meat before and it was a bit tough.)
Sauce – mix these in a bowl
- 2 cup water
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp rice wine
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce – reduce/limit this if you’re using aged kimchi
- 1 Tbsp gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) – reduce this to make it less spicy
- 1 Tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
(Note: In my opinion, aged kimchi is kimchi older than 2 weeks+.)
* 1 Tbsp = 15 ml, 1 Cup = 250 ml
** If you want to learn more about Korean ingredients, check my 30 essential Korean cooking ingredients list!
How to Make Slow Cooker Kimchi Beef Stew
1. Rinse the steak in cold running water to get rid of the blood. Pat it dry with some kitchen paper. Cut them into small chunk pieces.
2. Add all ingredients in a slow cooker. In the order of 2 cups of kimchi – steak – 2 cups of kimchi – Sauce. The order of placement shouldn’t really matter too much, but I thought steak would absorb the kimchi and seasoning taste better by being sandwiched.
3. Set the slow cooker on low heat and cook it for 8 hours. Stir it a bit occasionally. (The food is ready to eat from the 5th hour. However, an additional three-hour simmering makes the kimchi and the meat even tenderer.)
4. Serve the stew with rice once it is cooked.
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Slow Cooker Kimchi Stew with Beef
Ingredients
Main
- 4 cups kimchi cut into bite sized
- 1 kg chuck steak (2.2 pounds), This can be substituted with other kinds of meat e.g. pork. Meat with some sorts of fat would make the meat tenderer. I tried using fatless meat before and it was a bit tough.
Sauce – mix these in a bowl
- 2 cup water
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp rice wine
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce – reduce/limit this if you’re using aged kimchi
- 1 Tbsp gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) - can reduce this to make it less spicy
- 1 Tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
Instructions
- Rinse the steak in cold running water to get rid of the blood. Pat it dry with some kitchen paper. Cut them into small chunk pieces.
- Add all ingredients in a slow cooker. In the order of 2 cups of kimchi – steak – 2 cups of kimchi – Sauce. The order of placement shouldn’t really matter too much, but I thought steak would absorb the kimchi and seasoning taste better by being sandwiched.
- Set the slow cooker on low heat and cook it for 8 hours. Stir it a bit occasionally. (The food is ready to eat from the 5th hour. However, an additional three-hour simmering makes the kimchi and the meat even tenderer.)
- Serve the stew with rice once it is cooked.
Notes
Nutrition Info (per serving)
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
