Korean Spinach Salad 2 Ways (Sigumchi Namul)
Here are two types of healthy and delicious Korean Spinach Salad (Sigeumchi Namul) that take less than 10 minutes to make and can last in the fridge for a whole week! We are making two flavors today: spicy and savory. Both flavors match well as a side dish for any meal, or a quick topping for a bowl of noodles. They’re actually super simple to make in bulk once a week, so you’ll have restaurant-quality Korean spinach banchan ready to go for the rest of the week!
Easy Korean Spinach Banchan At Home
I’ve been watching A LOT of Korean drama lately, and I always drool when I see all the Korean side dishes, or banchan. Korean Spinach Salad – Sigeumchi Namul is an easy banchan to make at home that requires only a few simple ingredients. All you have to do is blanch and season the spinach. I always make Korean Spinach Salad in bulk and store it in the fridge for the whole week. When I am hungry, I love to eat just eat these with rice and seaweed. It’s not only healthy, it is also super filling!
Spinach Salad Ingredients
- 1.5 lb Fresh Spinach with the stems on
- 4 cloves Garlic minced
- 4 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 4 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 Green Onion chopped
- 2 tbsp Sesame Seeds crushed
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 0.5 tbsp Korean Red Chili Flakes
- 0.5 tbsp Korean Chili Paste
Best Type of Spinach for Korean Side Dish
Spinach is low in calories but high in nutrients. Spinach is packed with minerals and contains vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C. It is also high in antioxidants which are good for your skin!
For this recipe, I prefer to use Taiwanese Spinach or Korean Spinach, which both have longer stems compare to western spinach. If you can’t find Taiwanese or Korean Spinach, I recommend using fresh spinach with the longer stems.
Korean Namul Seasoning: Spicy or Savory
Who said dieting couldn’t be delicious? Whether you prefer savory or spicy, you can customize Korean Spinach Salad to your liking! A few ingredients that help flavor the dish are minced garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, and crushed sesame seeds. I recommend using high-quality soy sauce and sesame oil since they are the essential ingredients for Sigeumchi Namul.
For the spicy flavor, I added Korean Red Chili Flakes and Korean Chili Paste. Depending on your spice tolerance, you can increase the amount to your liking. Keep in mind, the longer you marinate in the fridge, the more flavourful it gets, so don’t add too much at once!
How To Make Korean Spinach Salad
- Cut off the stems and rinse the spinach. Once everything is clean, drain and set aside.
- In a pot of water, add 1 tsp of salt and bring to a boil; once it is boiling, add in the spinach and blanch for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, remove and rinse spinach with cold water to stop the cooking.
- Squeeze out all the excess water and form it into two balls. Cut the spinach in half.
- Savory Flavour: In a bowl, mix 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of sesame oil, ½ of the chopped green onion 1 tbsp of crushed sesame seeds. Add in the spinach and mix everything; taste to see if you need any more additional seasoning.
- Spicy flavor: in a bowl, mix 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of sesame oil, ½ of the chopped green onion, 1 tbsp of crushed sesame seeds, 0.5 tbsp of Korean red chili flakes, 0.5 tbsp of Korean chili paste and 1 tsp of sugar. Add in the spinach and mix well
Healthy Recipes to pair with Sigumchi Namul
- Miso Glazed Salmon
- Chicken Teriyaki
- Easy Fluffy Korean Steamed Eggs
- Korean Short Ribs Bimbimbap
- Spicy Honey Garlic Chicken Tenders
Korean Spinach Salad (Sigeumchi Namul)
By Tiffy Cooks
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb Fresh Spinach with the stems on
- 4 cloves Garlic minced
- 4 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 4 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 Green Onion chopped
- 2 tbsp Sesame Seeds crushed
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 0.5 tbsp Korean Red Chili Flakes
- 0.5 tbsp Korean Chili Paste
Instructions
- Cut off the stems and rinse the spinach. Once everything is clean, drain and set aside.
- In a pot of water, add 1 tsp of salt and bring to a boil; once it is boiling, add in the spinach and blanch for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, remove and rinse spinach with cold water to stop the cooking.
- Squeeze out all the excess water and form it into two balls. Cut the spinach in half.
- Savory Flavour: In a bowl, mix 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of sesame oil, ½ of the chopped green onion 1 tbsp of crushed sesame seeds. Add in the spinach and mix everything; taste to see if you need any more additional seasoning.
- Spicy flavor: in a bowl, mix 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of sesame oil, ½ of the chopped green onion, 1 tbsp of crushed sesame seeds, 0.5 tbsp of Korean red chili flakes, 0.5 tbsp of Korean chili paste and 1 tsp of sugar. Add in the spinach and mix well
Holy moly. SO INCREDIBLY GOOD!!!
I am glad to be a visitor of this unadulterated blog! , thanks for this rare info ! .
I never leave reviews, but this is seriously so amazing!!! I love banchan and I’m trying to learn to make them at home and this is even better than most restaurants! Thanks!!
I’ve just discovered your site. I’m drooling! Quick question: at what temperature do you serve your spinach salads?
Thank you for your healthy and gorgeous recipes.
Hi Nat! You can serve them warm right away, but I like to make a ton of this recipe and store in the fridge. I take some straight out of the fridge and eat it cold as a quick side whenever I want some veggies.
What brand(s) of salt do you use it? Cuz some brands have different sodium levels. My cousin is from Vancouver and I am from NY we would like to make the same recipes from your site. We have also bought your sauces and noodles (the stickers are cute) plus your cookbook. We have not spoken for over 30 years cuz we are older and have our own family. We have started to reconnect our main topic is Tiffycooks. Food is a universal language. Thank you for making great videos and recipes.
So good!! This is one we like to make on a regular basis, so good and so easy!!
Hi Diane,
So glad you love it! I make this almost every week too!
Tiffy
We had this at a Korean restaurant, and I did a search for a recipe, right there during our meal, LOL. Yours popped up first for me. We seriously love this, and we’ve also tried the bean sprout version since then as well. We think of both as the Oh S–t side dish, because if we’ve forgotten a key ingredient for another side, and we don’t want the same old Western veg side, well, we always have the ingredients for namul at hand, so dinner rescued. We’ve also done it with cucumbers and zucchini if that’s all we had on that last day before the big grocery run.
Hi Aquarius, So glad you loved this dish. Love that you’ve done it with cucumbers and zucchini as well – I have to try that next time!
Tiffy
Love this recipe, I make it once a week now and store in fridge. Full of goodness and also so delicious.
Thankyou for sharing this dish.
I made this recipe last week and it is amazing! I was just getting ready to make it again, when I noticed something I didn’t notice the first time. There seems to be something missing in step number two, specifically how much water to blanch the spinach in along with the salt! Lol! I just added a little bit of water and my spinach looks fine so I’m ready to take it out now. But you might want to add the amount into the recipe. Thank you!