Best Gochujang Brand? CJ Haechandle vs Chung Jung One vs Wang
Grab three tubs of gochujang off three different shelves and you'll get three different pastes. America's Test Kitchen ran a blind panel on supermarket gochujang, and the brand that actually won isn't the one sitting in almost every Asian grocery store in the US. That's CJ Haechandle. The panel's favorite was Wang.
Being the easiest one to find on a shelf isn't the same as being the best one in the jar.
CJ Haechandle Is the Default for a Reason
CJ Haechandle is what shows up first at H Mart, at most Walmarts that carry a Korean sauce section, and on Amazon, usually in mild, medium, and hot (sometimes labeled "very hot") versions of the same 500g tub. ATK's panel rated it complex and fermented, with heat described as slow-building but hitting hard once it does. Sodium came in at 383mg per serving, on the lower end of the brands tested. A separate taste test from Sporked rated CJ's version "Best for Cooking," calling it the smokiest and most fermented of the group without tipping into cloying sweetness.
The label backs that up. On most US-sold tubs, corn syrup is listed as the first ingredient, but the red pepper paste component still runs around a quarter of the total on the standard 500g size. That exact percentage moves around by SKU and size, so don't be surprised if the tub in your cart reads slightly differently. The balance stays fixed: fermented depth over sweetness. That's why Haechandle works better in a pot than in a bowl — in jjigae, or a marinade that sits on the stove, where the paste holds its own against broth or protein instead of standing alone.
Chung Jung One's Regular Tub Skews Sweet
Chung Jung One, sold under the O'Food label in the US, traces its identity back to Sunchang, the region in Korea most associated with traditional gochujang-making. ATK tested two different Chung Jung One products, and the naming trips people up: the everyday tub is the sweet one, and the product labeled "Sunchang" on ATK's chart is the step-up version below.
The regular O'Food tub was the sweetest thing on the ATK panel: 6g of added sugar and 474mg sodium per serving, enough that tasters flat-out called it "gochujang candy." That's not a knock if what you're making is bibimbap sauce or a quick dip, where sugar is doing useful work. It's a real problem if you're building a stew and expecting fermented depth; the sweetness just sits on top instead.
The step-up version — the one ATK's own chart lists as "Sunchang" — tested with the highest sodium of the whole panel, 758mg per serving, alongside a milder heat and genuinely good umami. Worth seeking out if the regular tub tastes thin to you (edit, Sept 9: an earlier version of this piece called this the "Gold" version; ATK's own label reads "Sunchang," corrected above).
Wang Won the Blind Test — Here's Why That Matters
That's the line ATK's tasters used on Wang, and it beat out the two bigger, more heavily marketed names.
Wang runs around $12 for a 1.1-pound tub, with 490mg sodium and 5 grams of sugar per serving. That's squarely between Haechandle's restraint and Chung Jung One's sweetness. It's marketed as all-natural, non-GMO, and MSG-free, and the tasting notes back that up: fruit-forward umami rather than straight sweetness or straight ferment. A separate write-up from Sporked landed on almost the same read, naming it "Best Dip" for an assertive, smoky quality one reviewer compared to beef jerky.
If you're only keeping one gochujang in the fridge, this is the one the actual data points to. Not the brand you'll see first on the shelf.
When There's No Korean Import Nearby
Mother-in-Law's, a US-made small-batch brand out of Portland, sells gochujang in 9- to 10-ounce jars running $8.88 to $11.50. That's a real premium per ounce over the 500g Korean imports, and it's a legitimate option when there's no Korean grocery within reach, but it's not a one-to-one substitute. ATK described the texture as loose, closer to sriracha, with the heat building at the finish instead of sitting throughout. Sporked's take on the garlic variety went further, calling it "more sauce or marinade than paste" with noticeably less fermented funk.
That texture difference matters for anything counting on gochujang to be sticky and clingy: a glaze for dak-galbi, ssamjang you're mixing by hand. Mother-in-Law's works fine in a dressing or a wing sauce where pourable is actually what you want. It's a downgrade anywhere the recipe needs the paste to hold its shape. If Haechandle isn't stocked, Sempio is another option — described on the same panel as "tasty and complicated," with dried-fruit notes and 533mg sodium. Closer in spirit to Wang than to either of the two market leaders.
Where to Find Each Brand Outside Korea
H Mart stocks Haechandle across its heat tiers for roughly $5 to $8 for the 500g tub, and it's also the easiest place to find Chung Jung One's regular and Sunchang lines side by side. Outside a Korean grocery, Walmart, Target, and Amazon all carry CJ Haechandle and Chung Jung One nationally, and Instacart delivers from whichever of those has a nearby store. Wang shows up at general Asian markets as often as Korean-specific ones and ships reliably through Amazon. Mother-in-Law's is the one you're most likely to find at Whole Foods or through a specialty retailer like Market Hall Foods rather than a Korean aisle at all.
None of these brands print a Scoville number anywhere on the packaging. Heat here gets sorted into mild/medium/hot tiers instead. A blind taste test tells you more than the label does. Prices above are what's listed as of this writing; gochujang, like everything else in a grocery aisle, moves.
Buy the Wang if you're stocking one tub. Keep a hot Haechandle around too if stews are a regular thing at your house. That's the gap Wang's balance doesn't quite close.
This is a running news series, not a one-off post — new stories go up twice a day, roughly 7am and 7pm Korea time.
More Korea coverage from our network: Hallyu Now · Korea Travel Planner · K-Sports Global · Seoul Skin Notes
Comments
Post a Comment