“Red pepper paste” is the usual English translation of gochujang, the fermented Korean chili paste. A red pepper paste seasoning is a ready-made flavouring built on it, designed to be mixed into a snack or its coating. Recipes are not published, but such seasonings typically combine gochujang or chili paste with sugar or syrup, soy sauce, garlic, salt and starch, and they may be dried into a powder.
The result is rounder than pure chili: it adds sweetness, a fermented savoury depth and a slow-building heat. In Samyang’s Extreme Buldak Zzaldduk, it is listed fourth, after wheat flour, palm oil and sugar and ahead of a hot chicken flavour seasoning, with gochujang itself appearing further down, so the snack layers several forms of Korean chili.
Because gochujang is made with fermented soybeans and often wheat, seasonings based on it usually contain soy and frequently wheat.
