Gochujang Substitute — How to Fake It When You're Out

Gochujang is one of those ingredients that seems impossible to replace. It's spicy, sweet, fermented, and thick — all at once. No single condiment in your pantry does all four of those things. But you can get surprisingly close by combining a few everyday ingredients.

I've run through these substitutes in real recipes — bibimbap, tteokbokki, marinades, dipping sauces — and here's what actually works.

Sriracha + Miso — The Best All-Around Substitute

This is the combination I reach for most often. Sriracha brings the chili heat and garlic, while miso adds the fermented depth and thick texture that gochujang is known for.

The ratio that works best:

• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1 tablespoon red or white miso
• 1 teaspoon honey or sugar
• ½ teaspoon soy sauce

Mix everything into a smooth paste. This gives you roughly 2 tablespoons of gochujang substitute, which is enough for most recipes. The honey is important — gochujang has a natural sweetness from the rice that it's fermented with, and without it, your substitute will taste one-dimensional.

This blend works great in bibimbap sauce, dakgalbi marinade, and any stir-fry where gochujang is mixed into a sauce. It's less ideal for tteokbokki where gochujang is the primary ingredient, but it'll still produce something tasty.

Tomato Paste + Chili Flakes + Soy Sauce — The Pantry Staple Version

If you don't have miso or sriracha, this combination uses things that are probably already in your kitchen:

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes (gochugaru is ideal, but any red chili flakes work)
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon honey or brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon rice vinegar

Tomato paste gives you the thick texture and a subtle sweetness. It doesn't taste like gochujang, but it fills the same role in a recipe — adding body, color, and a base layer of flavor that the other ingredients build on.

This substitute works best in marinades and sauces where it's cooked. I wouldn't use it raw as a dipping sauce — the tomato flavor is too noticeable when it's not heated.

Sambal Oelek + Honey — Quick and Easy

Sambal oelek is a chunky chili paste that's widely available (Huy Fong is the most common brand — same company that makes sriracha). It's basically just ground chilies, vinegar, and salt.

To make it work as a gochujang substitute:

• 1 tablespoon sambal oelek
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ½ teaspoon soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil (optional but nice)

This gives you heat and sweetness, which covers two of gochujang's four dimensions. You'll miss the fermented funk, but for quick weeknight cooking, it's absolutely good enough. I use this one for bibim-guksu when I don't feel like pulling together a more complex substitute.

Thai Chili Paste (Nam Prik Pao) — The Underrated Option

Thai roasted chili paste has more in common with gochujang than you might think. It's sweet, spicy, and has depth from roasted shallots and dried shrimp. The flavor profile is different — more Southeast Asian than Korean — but it fills the same functional role in a recipe.

Use it 1:1 as a gochujang replacement. It works especially well in fried rice and stir-fries. I wouldn't use it in a traditional Korean soup where the gochujang flavor really needs to be authentic, but for fusion cooking or casual weeknight meals, it's a solid choice.

Look for Pantai or Mae Pranom brands at Asian grocery stores.

What About Just Using Hot Sauce?

Regular hot sauce (Tabasco, Cholula, Frank's RedHot) is too thin and vinegary to work as a gochujang substitute. Gochujang is a thick paste — it clings to food, it thickens sauces, it caramelizes when grilled. Thin hot sauce does none of those things.

If hot sauce is literally all you have, you can add it for heat, but you'll need to thicken your sauce with something else (a bit of cornstarch or tomato paste) and add sweetness separately.

Adjusting by Dish

Different recipes are more or less forgiving of substitutes:

• Bibimbap sauce: Any of these substitutes work well. The rice, vegetables, and egg carry a lot of the dish.
• Tteokbokki: The sriracha + miso blend is your best bet here since gochujang is doing heavy lifting in the sauce. Use a generous amount.
• Dakgalbi: Tomato paste blend works surprisingly well since everything gets cooked together and the chicken absorbs the flavors.
• Bibim-guksu: Sambal oelek + honey is quick and works great with cold noodles.
• Dipping sauces: Sriracha + miso is the only substitute I'd use for raw dipping since it has the right thickness and complexity.

Stock Up When You Can

Gochujang lasts basically forever in the fridge. A 500g tub from brands like CJ Haechandle or Sunchang will run you about $5-7 at H Mart or on Amazon, and it'll last months of regular cooking. Once you have it, you'll start putting it on everything — grilled cheese, roasted vegetables, eggs, pizza. It's that versatile.

But when you're caught without it, these blends will get you through. The sriracha + miso combination is the one I'd memorize — it covers the most ground with the least effort.