Seasonings & Oils

Sesame Oil & Sesame Seeds

참기름 · 참깨cham-gi-reum · cham-kkae

The nutty finishing touch of Korean food

If one aroma defines Korean home cooking, it is toasted sesame oil (chamgireum). Together with toasted sesame seeds (chamkkae), it finishes namul, bibimbap, marinades and dipping sauces.

Korean name: 참기름 · 참깨 (cham-gi-reum · cham-kkae)
What it is: The nutty finishing touch of Korean food
Storage: Store the oil in a cool, dark cupboard and refrigerate it if you use it slowly.
Substitute: For seeds, crushed toasted peanuts or pine nuts work in a pinch.
Recipes: Used in 262 recipes on coo K food

Toasted, not raw

Korean sesame oil is pressed from roasted seeds, which makes it amber and intensely nutty. Pale, untoasted sesame oil is a different product with little flavor. Toasted sesame oil loses its aroma at high heat, so it is used as a finishing oil or for gentle sautéing rather than for deep-frying.

Seeds and sesame salt

Toasted seeds are sprinkled whole or crushed with a little salt into kkaesogeum (sesame salt); crushing them between your fingers or in a mortar releases far more aroma. Black sesame (heugimja) is used in porridge, rice cakes and desserts.

How it is used

Sesame oil is in almost every namul (blanched vegetables with garlic, salt or soy sauce and sesame oil), in bibimbap, bulgogi marinade and gimbap rice, and in gireumjang — sesame oil with salt and pepper — the dip for grilled beef and pork. Many soups, such as seaweed soup, start by sautéing the main ingredient in sesame oil.

🧊 How to store it

Store the oil in a cool, dark cupboard and refrigerate it if you use it slowly. Keep toasted seeds airtight in the freezer so they don’t go rancid.

🔄 Substitutes

There is no close substitute for the oil; roasted peanut oil or a little tahini thinned with neutral oil is the nearest. For seeds, crushed toasted peanuts or pine nuts work in a pinch.