The purpose of the present study was aimed to identify dish items applicable in developing dish?based food frequency questionnaire (DFFQ) for a hypertension study of Koreans. The 24-hour recall data of 4,401 subjects aged $20{sim}65$ years from the 2001 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used for the analysis. Logistic regression model was used to identify the nutrient related with hypertension. Energy, fiber, sodium, calcium, carotene, vitamin B1 and vitamin C were associated with hypertension. Selection the top 30 dish items for these seven nutrients was performed based on their degree of contribution in supplying nutrients in terms of the cumulative percent contribution (cPC), as well as on their degree of explanation for between?person variation, in terms of the cumulative regression coefficient (cMRC). Rice supplied 43% of total energy consumption. Korean cabbage and radish kimchi were two major sources of sodium and it also covered the 27% of between person variation of sodium intake. Soybean paste soup and single item of orange?colored fruits supplied 43% of total vitamin C intake for Koreans and it covered the almost 79% of between person variation among the Korean population. Korean cabbage kimchi was the major source of fiber, calcium, sodium, carotene, and vitamin C for Koreans. In summary, the top 30 selected dish items supplying the 78% to 89% of the 7 nutrients. Those items also covered the 79% to 94% of between person variation of the 7 nutrients consumption. Therefore, the selected 30 dish items in each categories of nutrient could be applicable in developing dish based food frequency questionnaire for hypertension study.