kimchi fried rice

An easy weeknight meal that comes together in under 30 minutes and satisfies the craving for comfort food! With the right tips and ingredients, you can make it even better than most restaurants’.

Kimchi fried rice is one of the easiest and one of my favorite weeknight staples — it uses ingredients I always have on hand! It’s savory, a little spicy, has a touch of acidity from the kimchi, and the occasional bites of corn keep it balanced and delicious.

What kind of kimchi do I use?

It’s most common to use fermented napa cabbage kimchi for kimchi fried rice (though there is such thing as a radish kimchi fried rice). I prefer the kimchi to be pretty sour for the most flavorful kimchi fried rice, especially since we’re using the kimchi brine (juices) in this dish as well!

How can I make delicious kimchi fried rice?

To get the best-tasting kimchi fried rice, take your time cooking each ingredient to build more depth in the flavors! Let the spam get golden and crispy before adding the onions, which should caramelize before adding garlic and fermented kimchi. Sautéing the kimchi for a few minutes before adding the rice rounds out the acidity and deepens its flavor. 

It takes a few more minutes this way, but trust me that it makes a noticeable difference in the finished dish!

Kimchi Fried Rice

The perfect, simple weeknight meal: it comes together in under 30 minutes and is packed with flavor.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutesmins

Cook Time 15 minutesmins

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine korean

Servings 4people

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• 3-4cupscooked ricecooled or day old
• 1/2canspamor any other protein
• 1cupfermented kimchi
• 1/4cupkimchi brine(if there's not enough, add some water)
• 1.5tbspgochujang
• 1/2yellow onion
• 3-4clovesgarlic
• 1/2cupsweet corn
• 1tspsugar
• saltto taste
• 1tbspsesame oil
• 1-2tbspbutteroptional
• 1eggper serving
• 2-3stalksscallions
• neutral oil for cooking

Instructions

Prepare the ingredients

• In a bowl, cut kimchi into smaller pieces (about 1 inch) with scissors. This helps avoid staining your cutting boards with kimchi juice. 
  1 cup fermented kimchi
• Mince garlic and dice onion. Dice spam into 1/2 inch cubes.
  1/2 yellow onion, 3-4 cloves garlic, 1/2 can spam
•  In a separate bowl, mix gochujang and kimchi brine until homogenous. 
  1.5 tbsp gochujang, 1/4 cup kimchi brine

Cook the fried rice

• Heat up pan to medium heat and add 1 tbsp of neutral oil (I.e canola, vegetable, avocado). Once warm, add diced spam and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.
  neutral oil for cooking
• Add onion and sauté until lightly caramelized, or 3-4 mins. Add minced garlic and cook for another minute. Once fragrant, add kimchi and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes. 
• Turn up the heat to medium high, and add cooked rice, breaking it up gently and evenly across the pan. Add the kimchi juice and gochujang mixture, and mix it well into the rice. 
  3-4 cups cooked rice
• Season with salt to taste (start with 1/4 tsp), and sugar. Add the corn, butter, scallions, and sesame oil, and mix until butter is melted. 
  1/2 cup sweet corn, 1 tsp sugar, salt, 1-2 tbsp butter, 2-3 stalks scallions, 1 tbsp sesame oil
• Lower heat back to medium to ensure rice doesn't burn at this step. Push the rice aside to cook a fried egg for each serving. While the egg cooks, the rice will get crispy on the bottom. 
  1 egg
• Garnish with more scallions and enjoy! 

Video

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Keyword fried rice, kimchi, kimchi fried rice

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