What kind of seaweed is miyeok?

Miyeok is the same seaweed as Japanese wakame. Buy the dried, cut kind sold for soup.

Yes — it keeps 3–4 days in the fridge and tastes even better reheated.

Is there a vegetarian version?

Sauté the seaweed alone in sesame oil, simmer it in a kelp-shiitake broth and stir in a spoonful of ground perilla seeds for richness.

Soups & Stews

Miyeok-guk (Korean Seaweed Soup)

미역국mi-yeok-guk

The birthday soup of beef and seaweed simmered in sesame oil

Miyeok-guk is a clean, savory soup of seaweed and beef, gently sautéed in sesame oil before being simmered. Koreans eat it on their birthdays and new mothers eat it for weeks after giving birth, so for many people it tastes like care and celebration.

30mPrep

30mCook

4Serves

EasyLevel

Looking for a twist? See 5 miyeok-guk variations ↓

🥘 Ingredients for classic miyeok-guk

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Main

Dried seaweed (miyeok)20 g

Beef brisket or flank, thinly sliced150 g

Sesame oil1½ tbsp

Minced garlic1 tbsp

Soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)2 tbsp

Water6–7 cups (1.5 L)

Salt or fish sauceto taste

🧺 Korean ingredients in this dish

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📝 How to make miyeok-guk

Soak the seaweed in plenty of cold water for 20–30 minutes until fully expanded. Rinse it two or three times, squeeze out the water and cut it into bite-sized pieces.

Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces.

Heat the sesame oil in a pot over medium heat and stir-fry the beef for about 2 minutes, until browned on the outside.

Add the seaweed and 1 tablespoon of soup soy sauce and stir-fry for 3 minutes.

Add the water, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20–30 minutes — the longer it simmers, the richer it gets.

Add the garlic and season with the remaining soup soy sauce and salt to taste. Simmer 5 minutes more and serve with rice.

💡 Tips for the best miyeok-guk

Dried seaweed expands about tenfold — 20 g is plenty for four people.
Soup soy sauce seasons without darkening the broth; regular soy sauce will make it brown and sweeter.
For seafood versions, skip the beef and sauté mussels, clams or shredded dried pollock in the sesame oil instead.

Why Koreans eat seaweed soup on birthdays

Seaweed is rich in iodine and minerals, and for generations Korean mothers have eaten miyeok-guk after childbirth to recover. Eating it on your birthday is a way of remembering your mother — and "Did you have seaweed soup?" is a common way of asking whether someone celebrated their birthday.

There is also a playful superstition that students should avoid it before exams: slippery seaweed might make you "slip" and fail.