What Is Gochugaru? A Guide to the Korean Chili Seasoning

Korean gochugaru is a Korean chili powder or chili flake, depending on how you make it or the brand you acquire. Korean cuisine uses these red pepper flakes in all sorts of dishes, including cold salads, kimchi, stews, and more. Gochugaru has a vibrant red color and a smoky flavor that is also a little fruity. The heat level varies—there are mild options and spicy options, depending on how many of the pepper seeds end up in the final product.

Red chili peppers called taeyangcho are the primary hot pepper in gochugaru. Cooks use the same pepper to make gochujang, a spicy Korean chili paste with the same distinct red color and spicy flavor. You can find gochugaru in grocery stores, specialty food stores, or Asian markets. Look for the ingredient to be labeled Korean chili flakes, Korean pepper powder, or Korean red chili powder in other grocery stores.

In addition to gochugaru, or Korean chili flakes, there are many pepper powders on spice shelves at markets, making it difficult to differentiate them. Here are six other varieties of pepper flakes and powders and how they differ from gochugaru:

• Aleppo pepper: A Middle Eastern condiment spice, an Aleppo pepper is similar to gochugaru in that they are both chili flakes made from red peppers; however, the Aleppo pepper uses the Halaby pepper and has a mild flavor that works well in marinades, dry rubs, salad dressings, and flavored oils.
• Cayenne pepper: One of the most common red pepper powders, the cayenne pepper shares a similar color with gochugaru but is a much finer powder than traditional gochugaru, which usually comes flaked. The cayenne pepper is around 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville heat units (a measure of the spiciness of peppers). For reference, the hottest pepper, the Carolina Reaper, registers 2,200,000 Scoville units, and the taeyangcho pepper ranges from 1,500 to up to 10,000 Scoville units.
• Chili powder: Usually a combination of a few different peppers, chili powder is often a general term for more specific types of chili powders, like cayenne pepper powder and Aleppo pepper powder. Chili powder’s flavor profile is mild and almost unidentifiable in terms of a specific pepper. It adds a general pepper flavor to a dish, one of the most common being chili.
• Chile de árbol: This seasoning, which uses the hot chile de árbol from Mexico, packs a punch of heat. It’s a common ingredient in many Mexican hot sauces, salsas, and adobos. Chili de árbol is similar to cayenne pepper in terms of heat, making it much spicier than gochugaru seasoning.
• Chipotle powder: You can make chipotle powder by smoking and drying jalapeño peppers, then grinding them into a fine powder that imparts a smoky flavor and less heat. While gochugaru is a vibrant red, chipotle powder is more of a deep red brown, due to the smoking process.
• Crushed red pepper flakes: A mix of peppers, crushed red pepper flakes are common in Italian cuisine and commonly include Jalapeño peppers, bell peppers, Fresno chilis, cayenne peppers, and others. The mix never includes taeyangcho peppers, making the flavor profile very different from that of gochugaru.

Many Korean recipes and Korean dishes use gochugaru seasoning as a main flavoring. Here are a few of the most common uses for gochugaru pepper flakes in Korean cooking:

1. 1. Cold salads: Korean cuisine includes many spicy foods, and cold salads help to relieve the sting from the heat. Cucumber salad is a popular dish, seasoned with rice vinegar, gochugaru, and soy sauce. Cold noodle salads also serve the same purpose, often incorporating a more mild gochugaru.
2. 2. Kimchi: A classic Korean food, kimchi is a fermented cabbage dish that uses gochugaru in its seasoning mix, along with garlic, onion, ginger, soy sauce, and other additions based on the desired flavor. Kimchi is usually a side dish, or banchan, in Korean barbecue, but it has many uses in the whole of Korean cuisine.
3. 3. Marinades: You can add gochugaru to the meat marinade for Korean barbecue dishes like bulgogi. The dried chili flakes add heat, smokiness, and a general chili flavor to the marinade. Korean barbecue isn’t always spicy, but you can adjust the heat level based on the type of gochugaru you use and how much you add.
4. 4. Stews: Korean stews can include a variety of ingredients, such as tofu, vegetables, meat, sticky rice, and others. Gochugaru is often a main seasoning not only in these Korean stews but also on the veggie and meat ingredients themselves.

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