Although the star of this dish is dangmyeon (sweet potato starch noodles), japchae means “mixed vegetables” in Korean. The noodles are translucent, bouncy, slightly chewy in texture, and the variety of vegetables is a perfect complement to the noodles. Traditionally, each ingredient is prepped and cooked before everything is assembled together. This includes an extra step of stir-frying the noodles after they have been cooked. While growing up, I would watch my mother laboriously make batches of japchae for special occasions.
Making japchae in the Instant Pot has been a game changer. Since the Instant Pot traps moisture, it creates an environment for the noodles to cook into the marinade and is a lot faster to make. For the Instant Pot, just make sure the noodles are cut to fit inside the pot and laid in a criss-cross pattern to prevent clumping. At the end of pressure cooking, just a few extra minutes on the sauté mode with sesame oil and spinach will give you the same stir-fried taste as the traditional method.
Japchae is versatile and people often add protein like marinated beef or shrimp, but I don’t miss the protein in this dish because it’s so flavorful on its own. So have fun with it and add a variety of your favorite veggies.
Ingredients
Serves 4 as a side dish, or 2 as a main
Preparation
Step 1
If dangmyeon noodles are long, carefully cut the noodles with scissors to fit the diameter of the inner pot. Lay the noodles in a criss-cross pattern to prevent clumping.
Step 2
Lay the carrots, onions, and mushrooms on top of the noodles.
Step 3
In a small bowl, whisk sugar, soy sauce, vegetable oil, and ¾ cup of water until well-combined. Drizzle the liquid mixture over the vegetables and noodles.
Step 4
Turn and lock the lid and move the steam release valve to the sealed position. Select Pressure Cook on High and program for 3 minutes. When the cooking is complete, quick-release pressure manually and press Cancel. Unlock and carefully remove the lid.
Step 5
Select Sauté on Low. Add ¼ cup water, baby spinach, scallion, sesame oil, and black pepper. Mix thoroughly with the noodles. If the noodles are clumped together, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to loosen it up. Keep sautéing ingredients together until the baby spinach has wilted and water is absorbed, about 2 to 3 minutes. Press Cancel.
Step 6
Transfer japchae to a bowl. Garnish with roasted sesame seeds and serve.
If possible, purchase 7- to 8-inch straight dangmyeon noodles for ease and convenience.
Leave a Review
Reviews (23)
Back to TopSorta shocked how well this worked out. It was so delicious, and we're already thinking of how we could riff on it. Our noodles were cooked perfectly. And the flavors really came through. The best part was how easily it came together.
erika
Austin, TX
4/3/2023
I was pleasantly surprised that this recipe worked. The noddles were a perfect consistency. I was worried about the softness of vegetable but 1/4 inch slices for the onion and a slightly larger julienne on carrots did the trick. We did cook bulgogi and added it at the end. If I don’t do the bulgogi again, I will take the advice of one of the other reviewers and add grated garlic and ginger in the final step with the spinach and scallions. This is not japchae that you will be serving your Korean neighbors but it makes a very satisfying and quick weeknight meal.
Sastchikens
Vancouver BC
11/24/2022
I followed this as written (just threw in a yellow pepper) and it was exactly like I’d get for take out in KTown in New York. Folks adjusted once served (a bit of chili garlic sauce for me); can definitely play with the veg but great & easy technique.
Hanna
Catskills, NY
6/30/2022
Definitely a game changer. But it's a little too sweet for my taste. I'd reduce the sugar or leave it out entirely. I used 3X as much spinach because I like it. So good.
simple cook
Toronto, Canada
6/17/2022
The cooking process burned the noodles on the bottom of my IP. LIke the other reviewer, the onions and carrots were mushy. Also it was a bit of work cutting the noodles and putting them in the pot. Not a ton of flavor in the end, either. I'd probably do this stovetop next time, or not at all.
Karin
El Cerrito
4/28/2022
This was excellent. I sub'd out the mushrooms and added chunks of chicken. For the chicken, I used salt, pepper and some garlic powder then sauteed it in my IP. The cook time depends on how much chicken you use, but I have a family of 4 so I used 3 large breasts and cut in to 1" cubes. Par cooked in batches left wonderful faun on the bottom. Dump any left over oil and use the whisk sugar, soy sauce, vegetable oil, and ¾ cup of water mixture to deglaze the IP. When you have all the yummy off the bottom, pour that back in to your measuring cup and then layer your noodles, carrots, onions and chicken. Pour that cooking mixture over top and cook for as long as the recipe says. It was amazing.
Tom
Detroit, MI
2/16/2022
I am confused on how people got a perfect dish. I feel like these had no flavor and I was really disappointed at how soggy the carrots and onion were. I also feel like the spinach added also did not let it get the flavor that would be found in more like a spinach banchan. This might be a great way to cook noodles, but I would definitely sauté the onion, carrots, and mushrooms separately and add them in later.
Anonymous
New York, NY
2/10/2022
I am always super-skeptical of recipes that look this easy, but in fact it worked just right as written. The noodles I could find at the store were in 3.5oz packages and since I was cooking two I did add about 1/4 cup more water to the pot before cooking. Also, couldn't find oyster mushrooms so I sauteed some crimini separately and used them as a topping for the noodles. I also cooked some bulgogi to go with it.
Anonymous
1/22/2022
I tried this last night and thought it was terrific. Very easy. Like any good recipe reviewer, I made some modifications, but am only including this to let you know it worked. I sliced up one chicken breast thinly, threw that on top of everything (before adding the sauce) and didn't alter the pressure cooking time. Towards the end, I cracked one egg in the middle of pot while it was on sauté, set the IP lid on top for a bit, then stirred the egg in. The yolk made it extra slurpy. I did struggle to cut up my noodles, which were long and bent in half. I was able to get them done with kitchen shears on 4-6 noodles at a time. Kind of took a while. I also wasn't 100% on what adding the noodles criss-cross to the pot meant, so in the end I just threw them in like a bird's nest. No sticking.
Anonymous
St. Louis, MO
1/5/2022
Looks so simple and easy... I'lll definitely try to cook the dishes
Pld
Bali, Indonesia
11/19/2021
Since your contact us page won't submit I'm leaving this here. I wonder if for printing purposes you couldn't make the picture smaller so that your recipes print on one page (two-sided) instead of 3. The extra page fills my recipe binder too quickly.
Anonymous
Oregon
11/4/2021
oh damn, this tasted actually better than my usual pan fried japchae AND was so much easier?! Sold.
ML Character
Los Angeles
10/25/2021
Do I need to pre soak the noodles beforehand?
Chrissie
Melbourne
10/21/2021
I was so skeptical, but it was great! I added cubed chicken and some chili flakes - so good!
SallyAnne
Bellingham Washington
10/19/2021
Good noodle consistency and timing. The recipe uses the right amount of liquid. I added a little grated garlic ginger with the spinach and scallions. I might shorten the last step to one minute then remove from pot as quickly as possible to avoid overlooking vegetables and tweak sauce ingredients. Will definitely make again.
Louise
Toronto
10/16/2021
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