Easy Soondubu Jjigae Recipe (Is Soondubu Healthy?)

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.

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

🍎 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.

🍏 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:

💭  FAQ's, Tips, and Tricks

📋 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!