Korean Chili Peppers
고추go-chu
Fresh green and red chilies, from mild to Cheongyang
Fresh chilies (gochu) appear in Korean cooking constantly: sliced into stews, minced into dipping sauces, laid on pancakes for color, or eaten raw with a dab of ssamjang. Several varieties are sold, and they differ a lot in heat.
- Korean name
- 고추 (go-chu)
- What it is
- Fresh green and red chilies, from mild to Cheongyang
- Storage
- Refrigerate in a container lined with paper towel for one to two weeks.
- Substitute
- For Cheongyang, use serrano or a smaller amount of Thai bird’s eye chili.
- Recipes
- Used in 205 recipes on coo K food
The main varieties
Put-gochu, the common long green chili, ranges from mild to medium. Cheongyang-gochu is small and very hot and adds a sharp, clean heat to stews, ramyeon and dipping sauces. Asagi or oi-gochu (cucumber chili) is crunchy and barely spicy, eaten raw. Kkwari-gochu is wrinkled like a shishito and is stir-fried with anchovies or steamed. Red chilies (hong-gochu) are the ripe form — sweeter and used mostly for color.
How they are used
Chilies sliced on a diagonal are the standard garnish for soups, stews and jeon, usually one green and one red for color. Minced chili goes into soy and vinegar dipping sauces, whole chilies are pickled in soy sauce (gochu-jangajji), and larger chilies are stuffed with seasoned meat or tofu and pan-fried (gochu-jeon).
To tame the heat, split the chili and scrape out the seeds and pale ribs. Wear gloves when handling a lot of Cheongyang chilies.
🧊 How to store it
Refrigerate in a container lined with paper towel for one to two weeks. Sliced chilies can be frozen and added straight to soups.
🔄 Substitutes
For Cheongyang, use serrano or a smaller amount of Thai bird’s eye chili. For put-gochu, use Anaheim or jalapeño. For asagi, use a mild Italian frying pepper. For red chili, use Fresno or red jalapeño.
🛒 Where to buy
This is a fresh ingredient, so it is best bought in person at a Korean or pan-Asian grocery store such as H Mart, or through an online Asian grocer that delivers fresh produce in your area. Look for it under its Korean name, 고추 (gochu).
