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    Fitsian Food Life » K-Town at Home

    Easy Soondubu Jjigae Recipe (Is Soondubu Healthy?)

    Published: May 19, 2022 · Modified: Jan 19, 2023 by Clara · This post may contain affiliate links · 6 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Soondubu jjigae is a classic Korean dish that I often make every time I crave a comforting and easy to make, protein packed meal. The delicious stew, mixed with soft tofu, crunchy vegetables, and egg yolk makes an amazing combo. Soondubu is definitely delicious, but is soondubu jjigae healthy?

    Soondubu can be a very healthy dish given that it predominantly consists of protein from the soft tofu, meat and egg, and probiotics and nutrients from the kimchi and vegetables making it a very nutritious meal. A serving of soondubu is 353 calories, with 38 grams of protein, 18 grams of fat, and 12 grams of carbs, following the recipe and portions below. However, the key to making this dish help rather than hinder progress towards your fitness goals is to mindfully select the mix-ins for the stew.

    Healthy Soondubu

    If you liked this recipe, check out the following:

    • Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe for another classic Korean recipe, made low calorie and delicious
    • Korean Oxtail Soup for another Korean soup recipe
    • Kimchi Udon Carbonara for a delicious fusion udon recipe featuring Kimchi
    • Fast and Fit Recipe Collection for more quick and healthy recipes
    • Healthy Korean Recipes for more healthy low calorie Korean recipes
    • Dakdoritang another simple Korean soup recipe that is easy to put together

    🍎 Calories and Nutrition Facts - Is It Healthy?

    To understand the calorie and nutrition content of soondubu jjigae, it’s useful to look at the core ingredients that make up the popular soft tofu stew dish. Soondubu jjigae is made of four main components: soft tofu, additional protein, vegetables, and the soup base.

    • Soft Tofu: The star of the dish is the soft tofu with an impressive nutrition profile -- 1 pack of Soon Soft Tofu runs at 140 calories largely from protein. I personally use the Soon soft tofu packs given they are perfectly portioned for an individual meal. You can also use the soft tofu that comes in the brick-sized package, but they often are a larger portion so adjust portioning as needed.
    • Protein: Soondubu is often served with additional protein mix-ins, including but not limited to beef, pork, seafood, chicken or mandu (Korean dumplings). It is also commonly served with an egg, complementing the salty taste of the stew well. If your goal is to keep calorie count low, using a lean protein such as skinless chicken or seafood is ideal. Certain proteins, such as pork, can be about 200 calories a serving, more than 100 more calories than chicken for the same serving size, with the additional calories coming largely from fats. For purposes of weight loss, it's best to opt for chicken or seafood.
    • Vegetables:The vegetables that come in soondubu is very low in calories and adds a variety of micronutrients. Some that are often included are garlic, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms.
    • Soup Base: The soup base of soondubu usually consists of anchovy stock broth, seasoned with condiments including soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil, all of which are relatively low in calories except for the sesame oil. If using sesame oil, be sure to portion carefully as 1 tablespoon of sesame oil runs at a whopping 130 calories.

    Looking at each component, it’s easy to see that soondubu can easily be made to be a high calorie dish if the mix-ins for the stew are not chosen correctly, making it less than ideal for dieting purposes.

    Additionally, it's easy to run the risk of not consuming enough protein if you don't add enough protein mix-ins.

    However, it’s not hard to make it low calorie and macro conscious — this recipe will show you some tweaks that will make soondubu easy to fit into your everyday diet.

    You can also pair this soup with a side of Spicy Chicken Bulgogi or traditional Dak bulgogi for a great protein side to go with this dish.

    Healthy Soondubu

    🍏 How To Make It Healthy

    In this recipe, I use a more protein heavy ratio to make this a more macro friendly and calorie conscious dish. Here are some key tweaks I made:

    • Used 1 Soon Tofu pack, which adds 140 calories and 14 grams of protein
    • Portioned 3 ounces of boneless, skinless chicken thigh for a lean protein source
    • Added an egg for additional protein and deliciousness
    • Bulked up the dish with vegetables including enoki mushrooms, garlic,  kimchi and onions to make it more satisfying 
    • Portioned the soup base to be only 20 calories
    • Omitted a side of rice. It's worth noting you can still make this recipe healthy with a side of rice - one portion of rice (¼ cup uncooked) is only about 150 calories so feel free to add this if it suits your dietary needs

    For a detailed breakdown of each ingredients, their portioning, and how they make up the nutrition profile of this Korean tofu stew recipe, you may refer to the table below:

    Korean Tofu Stew Nutrition Breakdown

    💭  FAQ's, Tips, and Tricks

    Is soft tofu high in calories? 

    Nope, soft tofu is not high in calories - a pack of Pulmone soon tofu runs at about 140 calories, with 14 grams of protein, which is approximately the same calorie density as chicken. Therefore, this makes soft tofu a great lean protein source.

    Want an even easier way to make soondubu?

    BCD Tofu house, a well renowned soondubu chain restaurant, has began to sell BCD branded tofu packs and can be found at most Asian grocery stores. It comes with a pre-made soup base and tofu, so all you need to do is add in proteins, vegetables, and water. This makes the dish even easier and faster to put together! I would just note that the tofu that comes in the pack is a lot bigger than the Pulmone brand, so I would account for the additional calories and protein. If you want to minimize calorie intake, you can reduce the additional protein you mix in. You can also get them at various spice levels. 

    What side dishes go with Soondubu?

    Soondubu is often served with rice, as well as a variety of banchan, or Korean side dishes. You can easily pair this recipe with 1 serving of rice for about 160 additional calories. With banchan, I would recommend opting for the vegetable based ones such as Kimchi and broccoli rather than those that are more carb heavy, such as potatoes. Or if you are making this at home, you can omit this alltogether to simplify the recipe. The stew itself is a hearty enough dish.

    What other protein can I use in soondubu?

    Soondubu can be served with a variety of other proteins including beef, pork, seafood, and mandu. However for purposes of keeping the calorie count of the dish low, I would recommend sticking with chicken or seafood. A leaner cut of beef is fine too but be aware of the higher calorie density.

    Healthy Soondubu

    📋 Ingredient Notes

    Soup Base

    • 1 teaspoon Oyster Sauce
    • 1 teaspoon Soy sauce
    • 1 teaspoon Gochugaru: This is a Korean red chili flake that can be purchased at most Asian grocery stores. Adjust based on spice tolerance. This amount will give you a mild spice. You can substitute this with red pepper flakes as well.
    • 1 cup Water
    • ½ teaspoon Sugar
    • 1 teaspoon Anchovy stock granules: This can be purchased at your local Asian supermarket or online. You can also substitute it with dashi stock or chicken stock, but the flavor won't be quite the same.

    Stew Mix-Ins

    • 3oz Chicken thigh (Boneless, skinless): You can also use chicken breast or seafood.
    • 1-2 Mushrooms: Any kinds would work here including enoki, baby bella, white button mushrooms.
    • ¼ cup Kimchi
    • 1 clove Garlic
    • ¼ Onion
    • 1 Pulmone Soon Tofu Pack: I prefer this brand given the portion size is perfect for me. These can be found in most Asian grocery stores. You can also use the brick-shaped soft tofu packs which are more widely available but are often a bigger portion size, so be sure to account for the additional calories.
    • 1 Egg
    • Black pepper and salt (To taste)
    • Sesame seeds, scallions, chilis (For garnish)

    🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions

    1. Begin by cutting the chicken thigh into small, bite sized pieces, making sure to cut off the excess fat. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
    2. Mince the garlic and onion.  Spray a saucepan with cooking spray and sauté the garlic, onion, kimchi, and sear the cut chicken pieces for about 1-2 minutes so that the aromatics begin to turn gold. The chicken pieces do not need to be fully cooked, just a light sear on the outside layers is fine.
    3. Pour the water into the sauce pan, along with the remaining soup base ingredients, the soft tofu, and any remaining vegetables, and bring to a boil. Let cook for about 3-5 minutes.
    4. In terms of adding the egg, you can also choose to add the egg towards the end of cooking the stew for a more fully cooked egg or opt for the more traditional way which cracks in the raw egg yolk after it is served.
    5. Remove the soondubu from the saucepan and top with scallions, sesame seeds, and chilis and egg yolk. Enjoy your delicious protein-packed soondubu jjigae!

    Healthy Soondubu

    Healthy Soondubu Jjigae

    Developed by Clara
    easy to make, protein packed meal. The delicious stew, mixed with soft tofu, crunchy vegetables, and egg yolk makes an amazing combo. Here's a healthy and delicious recipe that is low calorie and protein-packed.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 10 mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine korean
    Servings 1
    Calories 353 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    Soup Base

    • 1 teaspoon Oyster sauce
    • 1 teaspoon Soy sauce
    • 1 teaspoon Gochugaru
    • 1 cup Water
    • ½ teaspoon Sugar
    • 1 teaspoon Anchovy stock granules

    Stew Mix-Ins

    • 3 oz Chicken thigh (Boneless, skinless)
    • 1-2 Mushrooms
    • ¼ cup Kimchi
    • 1 clove Garlic
    • ¼ Onion
    • 1 pack Pulmon Soon Tofu Pack
    • Black pepped and salt (To taste)
    • Sesame seeds, scallions, chilis (For garnish)

    Nutrition & Macros

    • 353 Calories
    • 38 g Protein
    • 18 g Fat
    • 12 g Carbs

    Instructions
     

    • Begin by cutting the chicken thigh into small, bite sized pieces, making sure to cut off the excess fat. Season with salt and pepper if desired. 
    • Mince the garlic and onion.  Spray a saucepan with cooking spray and sauté the garlic, onion, kimchi, and sear the cut chicken pieces for about 1-2 minutes so that the aromatics begin to turn gold. The chicken pieces do not need to be fully cooked, just a light sear on the outside layers is fine. 
    • Pour the water into the sauce pan, along with the remaining soup base ingredients, the soft tofu, and any remaining vegetables, and bring to a boil. Let cook for about 3-5 minutes. 
    • In terms of adding the egg, you can also choose to add the egg towards the end of cooking the stew for a more fully cooked egg or opt for the more traditional way which cracks in the raw egg yolk after it is served. 
    • Remove the soondubu from the saucepan and top with scallions, sesame seeds, and chilis and egg yolk. Enjoy your delicious protein-packed soondubu jjigae!
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    Comments

    1. Sarah

      May 21, 2022 at 12:19 am

      5 stars
      Wow this is super informative! I always thought soondubu was heavy. Good to know it's mainly protein!

      Reply

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