Bibim Guksu Recipe: How to Make the Cold Noodle Dish

Bibim guksu is a traditional Korean food served as a main course or side dish; it’s made from cold noodles topped with a spicy mixture made from kimchi, sesame, chili paste, vinegar, and sugar. Bibim guksu translates to “mixed noodles or stirred noodles” in English. The dish, a refreshing salad side dish eaten in the summer in Korea, balances the sour flavor of fermented cabbage with some sweetness.

Some traditional bibim guksu noodle recipes include stir-fried beef, but most modern recipes omit the meat in favor of fresh, crispy veggies like cucumber. Many versions of bibim guksu include julienned cucumber and a halved boiled egg on top, but you can add extra variety and texture with other fresh vegetables, such as carrot matchsticks, avocado, and radish.

Most Korean recipes use somyeon (“somen” in Japanese) noodles to make bibim guksu. Somyeon noodles are thin wheat flour noodles with a chewy al dente texture. You can buy somyeon noodles in specialist Asian food stores and online, and they often come in serving-sized bundles secured with a thin strip of paper.

If you can’t find any somyeon noodles, you can use any thin wheat noodles to make bibim guksu. Angel hair pasta, soba noodles, or buckwheat noodles are decent substitutes. However, you may not achieve the distinctive chewy texture of authentic bibim guksu if you don't use somyeon noodles.

Bibim guksu isn’t always vegetarian or vegan. Even if the dish doesn’t contain meat, there are ingredients you should watch out for, like kimchi. The side dish features radishes, scallions, and cabbage. However, kimchi also typically contains fermented seafood. You can make a plant-based bibim guksu by purchasing vegan kimchi or making your own. Substitute the seafood ingredients with miso paste to achieve a similar umami flavor without animal products.