Creamy Gochujang Noodles Recipe (Korean Spicy Carbonara-Style Noodles)
Buldak Carbonara Noodles but make it homemade: Creamy, spicy gochujang noodles made with heavy cream, garlic, bacon, and butter for a rich Korean-inspired carbonara-style fusion dish that’s bold, silky, and addictive.
Ingredients
- 150 g chopped bacon (less sodium preferred)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1-2 tbsp gochujang (depending on how spicy you want it)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 stalks green onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 blocks your choice of noodles (150g)
- 1/2 cup water from the noodles
Garnish
- 1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano grated
Instructions
- Cook your noodles according to the package instructions. You can use either udon noodles or, in my case, Taiwanese hand-cut noodles. Once cooked, rinse them in cold water to help keep them al dente. Make sure to save 1/2 cup of the noodle water!
- Fry your bacon in a pan until slightly crispy.
- Remove the bacon, chop it into small pieces, then set it aside.
- Using the bacon fat for extra flavour, sauté the green onions and garlic over medium heat.
- Add the gochujang and cook it until it starts sticking slightly to the pan, similar to how you would cook tomato paste.
- Pour in the heavy cream and mix well. Stir continuously and let the sauce come to a gentle simmer.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter and mix well. You’ll instantly notice the sauce become glossier, which helps it coat the noodles really well.
- Your sauce will start to thicken, so gradually add your noodle water and mix it in.
- Mix in the noodles and top with the chopped crispy bacon.
- Finally, garnish with bacon (if you haven’t used it all), cheese, and green onions. Enjoy!
I like placing the bacon in a cold pan and cooking it over medium-low heat. This helps render the fat and allows the bacon to cook in its own oil.
I like removing the bacon once it’s slightly golden brown, as it will continue to cook from the residual heat and become perfectly crispy.
Sometimes bacon can render a lot of fat, so if you feel like there’s too much oil, you can remove some of it. My rule is to keep about 2–3 tablespoons of fat in the pan.
Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan because that’s where a lot of the flavour is! I personally like using a whisk for this step, so a stainless steel pan works really well.
You don’t need to use all of the 1/2 cup of water. Once you reach your desired consistency, you can stop.
You can save some of the bacon for garnish as well. I like doing this so there are crispy bits in every bite.