22 Must-Buy Items for Your First Trip to H Mart

For myself and many other Asian Americans, H Mart has stood not only as a gold standard for Asian supermarket chains but also as a cultural hub for finding delicious food, ingredients, and cookware items that connect us with our heritage. In my time growing up in Southern California, H Mart was the only grocery store my family shopped at on a regular basis.

The company was founded in 1982 with its first store in Woodside, Queens. Over time, H Mart has expanded into having over 97 locations across the United States, staking its claim for being a premier Asian grocery store on both the East and West Coasts. The supermarket chain has a wide selection of Asian sauces, seasonings, grains, fruits, vegetables, and proteins that can be pretty difficult to find in American-style grocery stores. From condiments to Korean side dishes, H Mart helps preserve and spread knowledge about Asian cuisine and culture. As an avid and senior H Mart shopper, these are the 22 items you should buy on your first trip to the legendary supermarket.

Roasted sesame oil is an oil that’s derived from sesame, which has been either toasted or roasted before pressing. The roasting process gives the oil a deep dark brown color compared to unroasted sesame oil, which has a lighter brown color and a high smoke point. Besides the coloring, roasted sesame oil has a distinctly rich, nutty flavor and a delightful sesame aroma, whereas unroasted is much milder in flavor.

Roasted sesame oil is typically used as a finishing oil for stir-fries, noodles, rice bowls, and soups. It can also be used as a marinade for meats or as a base for dipping sauces. It is one of the pillar condiments of East Asian cooking and is an item you should definitely pick up on your trip to H Mart.

An essential purchase for any first-time H Mart shoppers is a bag of gochugaru, the iconic Korean red chili powder. Gochugaru is one of the most used spices in Korean cuisine. It’s well-known for giving classic dishes like kimchi, tteokbokki, and kimchi-jjigae their vibrant red color and delicious, spicy flavor. 

Gochugaru is made by drying out Korean red chili peppers, removing their seeds, and grinding them into a fine powder. It has a distinctive, fiery, smoky flavor with an underlying sweetness. Gochugaru has a moderate level of spiciness, so it’s a great option for anyone looking to increase their spice tolerance without completely setting their mouth on fire.

Spam musubi is such a popular snack in Hawaii, so if you’ve ever visited the islands, you’re probably familiar with the beloved canned product. For those of you who don’t know, Spam is a canned meat made from a mixture of pork shoulder and ham. When you’re searching around the aisles of H Mart, you can easily find it from its bright blue can with bold yellow labeling.

The canned meat is a staple in Asian households and is a saving grace during busy weeknights, supplying a tasty source of protein for rice bowls, stir-fries, noodle dishes, and soups. If you’re looking to ditch the canned tuna, pick up a can of Spam instead at your local H Mart!

Probably one of the most notable attributes of H Mart is its endless display of various instant ramen brands. H Mart has everything from the spicy Korean brands with carbonara and kimchi flavors to the classic Japanese brands like Nissin and Maruchan. You can even find instant ramen brands from Indonesia, like umami-packed Indomie, and the shrimp-flavored Mama brand from Thailand. 

Alongside the wide selection, H Mart is the perfect one-stop shop to grab some extra ingredients to level up your bowl of instant noodles. So if you’re feeling like you want to stock up on some meals that require the least amount of effort in the kitchen, then head to H Mart and explore its extensive instant ramen selection.

Without a doubt, H Mart has some of the best produce for a grocery chain in the United States. The company focuses on sourcing produce from its country of origin while maintaining high quality control and a quick turnover rate. Anytime you’re in the produce section at H Mart, it’s easy to spot an employee inspecting the quality and appearance of the fruits and vegetables. 

The produce section at H Mart is also a haven for produce that’s harder to find in standard American grocery stores, like jackfruit, durian, bok choy, shiso leaf, or persimmons. Whether you’re looking to pick up a massive napa cabbage for your next batch of kimchi or fresh mangoes to make a Filipino Icebox Dessert, H Mart’s produce department has got you covered.

Not picking up a bag of rice at H Mart is like purchasing a theater ticket without watching the show. Rice is essential in Asian cooking, and with H Mart’s extensive variety of brands and types, you’re sure to leave with a bag or two.

As you approach the cash registers at H Mart, a wall of bagged rice awaits customers ready for checkout. At most locations, the store conveniently locates the rice at the end of your shopping experience, ensuring you’re not lugging a huge bag of rice throughout the store. You can find a vast assortment of short-grain, jasmine, basmati, and sticky rice. Whether you need rice for sushi rolls, onigiri, or to accompany your butter chicken and curries, H Mart has it all.

The soy sauce display at H Mart is absolutely jaw-dropping. And in case you weren’t aware, not every soy sauce on the market is the same. Each country has its method of production and regional variations of ingredients, resulting in an array of flavors, textures, and colors.

At H Mart, you can find a variety of these different types of soy sauces, hailing from countries all over Asia. The market offers soy sauces ranging from dark to light, with some even flavored with fish and shiitake mushrooms. With H Mart’s wide selection of the sauce’s many versions, you’ll be able to explore new levels of this umami-packed condiment even further.

Alongside soy sauce, vinegar is another condiment that H Mart is stocked with a large and diverse variety of. In Asian cuisine, particularly in Chinese and Japanese cooking, vinegar is widely used. 

For first-time shoppers, Japanese rice wine vinegar is a great choice. This delicate, white vinegar can be used for seasoning sushi rice, pickling, marinating, or dipping sauces. Another one you should add to your shopping cart is black vinegar, also referred to as Zhenjiang vinegar. Hailing from China, black vinegar is often used as a dipping sauce in dim sum or in dishes like hot and sour soup or chow mein to add a bit of acidity. There’s more to life than balsamic vinegar and distilled white vinegar, and H Mart will help you discover that.

Miso paste’s versatility is unmatched. The fermented soybean paste is packed with savory, salty, and umami flavor that can enhance any dish to the next level. It can be used as the base for marinating meats and seafoods or as the foundation for soups and stocks like the classic Japanese dish, miso soup.

At H Mart, you can find an array of miso pastes based on color and flavor. The three most common miso pastes you will find are the white (shiro), yellow (shinshu), and red (aka). White is the mildest while red has the boldest, most intense flavor, and yellow falls in between the two. You can also find the Korean miso paste known as doenjang, which has a thicker consistency and funkier fermented flavor.

Every seasoned H Mart shopper knows that it has one of the best frozen food sections compared to any other grocery store. On your first shopping trip, you should definitely allocate a substantial amount of time to check the wide variety of authentic, high-quality, and affordable Asian frozen foods.

You can find loads of items like frozen eggroll wrappers, marinated meats for Korean BBQ, and various types of fruits and vegetables. They’ve also got a broad selection of mouthwatering frozen prepared food like dumplings, scallion pancakes, Korean corndogs, kimbap, and rice cakes. Besides savory options, you can find unique frozen sweet treats like red bean-flavored ice cream, melon popsicles, and matcha crepe cakes.

When you walk down the sauce aisle in H Mart, you might be a bit overwhelmed by the abundance of unique condiments the store has to offer. If you’re puzzled and don’t know where to begin, a great one to grab is a bottle of ponzu, which is a Japanese citrus-based sauce.

This flavorful condiment is made from a combination of citrus juice (either yuzu or orange), rice wine vinegar, bonito flakes, kombu, and soy sauce. It’s typically used in Japanese households as a dipping sauce for sashimi, tempura, dumplings, and shabu-shabu (hot pot) or as a garnish for a bowl of steamed white rice. Another example is tataki, a Japanese-style steak that shines with citrusy sauces. The bright flavor of ponzu cuts through the rich flavors of the tataki perfectly. 

Looking to amp up your condiment shelf in your fridge? Well, then you should pick up some yuzu koshō, the vibrant, Japanese citrus paste made from fermented green chili peppers, yuzu, and salt. Yuzu koshō is known for its zingy, spicy flavor and bright, citrusy aroma. The flavorful paste is typically used to enhance the flavor of dishes like sashimi, grilled meat, and shabu-shabu.

It might be hard to find yuzu koshō in the United States. However, H Mart has got you covered. In the seasoning aisle, you can find yuzu koshō packed in squeezable tubes, fancy glass jars, or even mixed in with mayonnaise!

If you’ve got a savory tooth rather than a sweet tooth, H Mart is the ideal place to stock up on some delicious snacks. Since H Mart is an Asian grocery store, you can find an array of unique and diverse salty snacks from all over the continent.

The snack aisle almost seems decorated with the brightly colored bags of chips, crackers, and popcorn. From Korean honey butter-flavored chips and Japanese seaweed and salt potato chips to Vietnamese shrimp shell crackers, the flavor combinations are unbelievable. The H Mart snack section will open your eyes to a new realm of munchies.

Nori is a dried edible seaweed made from a type of red algae called Porphyra. It has a strong and distinct umami flavor with a crisp, crunchy texture. Nori is a staple in Japanese and Korean cuisine, where it’s commonly used to wrap sushi rolls, onigiri, and kimbap.

At H Mart, you can find nori in the form of large sheets, flakes, stripes, or even ground into a fine powder. The store also has miniature snack packs of sliced nori to munch on when you’re on the run. Nori is a great way to add a salty, savory flavor to your rice bowls, noodle dishes, or even salads.

If you’re looking to try napa cabbage kimchi for the first time, H Mart is a fantastic place to pick up your first jar of this funky, fermented Korean ingredient. It’s a staple side dish (known as “banchan”) from Korean cuisine made from fermented and seasoned napa cabbage. The supermarket carries an enormous variety of brands for it, ranging in different spice levels, fermentation ages, and flavors.

Besides the standard baechu-kimchi that’s given to you alongside your meal at most Korean restaurants, you can find some underrated kimchi varieties at H Mart, such the unique baek-kimchi, sometimes referred to as “white kimchi”. This one features the same fermentation process as standard kimchi. However, it omits the gochugaru, resulting in a kimchi that’s milder in spice and flavor.

It would be a shame to walk out of H Mart and not grab a few different banchan from the premade food section. To provide some context for the people who are unfamiliar with Korean cuisine, as previously mentioned, banchan are side dishes served along with steamed rice and the main entrée. It’s a crucial element of Korean dining, where almost every meal is accompanied by these little side dishes.

Banchan can include an array of dishes from fermented vegetables like napa cabbage kimchi, pickled radishes, and seasoned cucumbers to sliced scallion pancakes or stir-fried anchovies. Thankfully, H Mart has your back since it carries a plethora of different banchan that you can choose from.

It’s quite rare nowadays to find supermarkets selling fresh noodles. Once you’ve cooked pasta with fresh pappardelle or enjoyed a bowl of soba with hand-cut buckwheat noodles, you understand how much of an impact it has on your meal. Thanks to H Mart’s wide range of fresh noodles, you will never have to wonder.

At H Mart, you can find everything from fresh egg noodles for your bowl of ramen or chow mein to vermicelli noodles waiting to be added to pho broth. You can also find freshly made naengmyeon noodles if you want to try making the Korean noodle soup that’s ideal for hot weather. H Mart’s fresh noodle selection is unlike any other grocery store. On your first trip, ditch the dried noodle section and head straight to the refrigerated fresh noodle section instead.

Potato starch or katakuriko is a fine white powder that’s extracted from potatoes. It functions the same as cornstarch, though it’ll give your fried food an even crisper, crunchier finish. Most fried food dishes in Japanese and Korean cuisine, like chicken karaage, use potato starch as a dredge instead of all-purpose flour or cornstarch. It’s a great alternative for gluten-free folks or people looking to ditch the usual ingredients for batter and try something else for a change.

Potato starch is also widely used as a thickening agent for curries, stews, soups, and dipping sauces. It can be used to replace cornstarch in various desserts, too, like puddings, custards, and pies without altering the flavor profile. Potato starch is just one of the many unique dry ingredients you can find at H Mart.

You might get gochujang confused with gochugaru due to their similar names. However, they are quite different. Gochujang is a bright red, thick, spicy paste widely used in Korean cooking. The primary ingredients of gochujang include gochgaru, which is red chili powder or flakes, fermented soybeans, salt, and glutinous rice powder. Traditional gochujang goes through a process of fermentation, lasting anywhere between six months to a year or more, depending on the desired strength of the flavor.

You can find gochujang being used in numerous dishes like kimchi-jjigae, tteokbokki, galbi-jjim, and many more. If you’re looking to put on your chef coat and dive into the realm of cooking Korean food, it’s essential to pick up a tub of gochujang. Luckily, H Mart has a wide selection, ranging in different spice levels and brands for you to choose from.

Heading to a dinner party and want to pick up something other than a bottle of wine and a case of craft beers? It might be a good idea to take a peek at H Mart’s wonderfully diverse alcohol section.

It carries an extensive range of alcoholic beverages from all over Asia. If you’re a big fan of soju (the Korean distilled alcoholic beverage made from rice, wheat, or barley), you’re in luck since H Mart carries a variety of different flavors. You can find ones flavored with Asian pear, plum, mango, strawberry, or even just the plain, unflavored version. It has a wide range of different imported beers from the well-known Japanese brands like Sapporo and Asahi to the Korean pale lager, Terra. Trade in your bottles of natural orange wine, and pick up something a little bit more unique at H Mart.

If you’re familiar with cooking Asian cuisine, you probably know that most standard American supermarkets don’t carry the majority of cuts of meat required in traditional recipes. However, at H Mart, you can find thinly sliced beef for bulgogi, thick cuts of pork belly for bossam, pork loins for making tonkatsu, and chicken that’s perfect for following a Korean dry-rubbed chicken wing recipe.

If you want to try doing a Korean BBQ night at home, H Mart is an excellent place to start. From marinated short rib to thinly sliced wagyu beef, H Mart’s meat section will be your go-to shop for cooking the best Korean BBQ out there.

Looking for a new rice steamer? Head to H Mart’s kitchenware department, and you’ll be able to find not only the best rice steamer on the market, but also a plethora of other items you didn’t realize you needed.

H Mart’s home goods section has everything you might need if you want to amp up your cooking gear. It has a broad selection of various kitchen tools, gadgets, and appliances like bamboo steamers, long cooking chopsticks, bamboo sushi mats, and hot water dispensers. You can also find tons of dishware like large soup bowls, tiny rice bowls, and small ceramic dishes for all of your Korean side dishes.