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Chef Chris Cho making kimchi fried rice — This is how you make Kimchi Fried Rice!

This is your ultimate guide to making Kimchi Fried Rice. It is quick, easy, and very customizable—you will be making it every time!

Kimchi is a Korean staple and every Korean has some sort of fermented vegetables in their home. We love kimchi so much that we even have dedicated refrigerators for it!

Having said that, when I was growing up, kimchi bokkeumbap was something that I ate most days. My mom would often make this when we needed something quick and easy. Shoutout to my mom because by the hundredth time she made this for us, I’d gotten to know the tricks on how to make it.

Ingredients for Kimchi Fried Rice

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Choice of Meat

Spam and kimchi — Our choice of meat is spam

When it comes to the choice of meat, you can use spam, bacon, or sausage for processed meat. You can also use chicken, pork belly, short rib, or canned tuna! The easiest route is to use processed meat, but the best results come from using pork belly. Simply put, pork + kimchi + sesame oil = fire!

Nevertheless, feel free to use what you prefer or what’s available to you. And if you want to make kimchi fried rice vegan or vegetarian, just skip the meat and just use the vegetables and/or add fried tofu!

Choice of Vegetables

Chopped spam, scallions, carrots, and white onion — Scallions, Carrots, and White Onion!

Just like the choice of meat, you can also add any vegetables you like. I’d commonly add scallions, onions, and carrots. Onion and scallions are essential because the fragrance and taste it yields when you saute it will make the fried rice more flavorful. Aside from carrots, you can also add zucchini or make it Keto altogether like this Keto Kimchi Fried Rice!

Kimchi is the main star of the dish! If you have one that has been fermenting for a long time, that would be perfect for this dish! In chopping it up, I’d recommend you use the scissors and cut it in the bowl so the color doesn’t stick to the chopping board and make a mess.

Additionally, we want every last drop of the kimchi juice in the fried rice! Make sure to sauté them really well because the taste will continue to develop as the juice reduces into a nice little sauce~

Other ways to use up your kimchi are by cooking kimchi jjigae, kimchi pasta, or kimchi pancake!

Choice of Seasoning

Kimchi fried rice seasoned with nori and perilla leaves

For the seasoning, truth be told, if you have good-quality kimchi, sesame oil, and seeds, you’re good to go!

However, you can also season your fried rice with salt, soy sauce, or gochujang (Korean Red Pepper Paste) to make it more savory. You can also add sugar to balance the spice or some gochugaru (Korean Red Pepper Powder) to kick it up a notch!

To finish the rice, I like to add nori, perilla leaves, cheese, and a perfect sunny-side-up egg for different textures, layers, and flavors.

Tips to Make the Best Kimchi Fried Rice

How we used to eat it: On top of the pan, divided by three!

In making fried rice, I personally like using freshly steamed rice. However, if you find yourself having wet fried rice, use leftover/day-old rice so it’s dry and crumbly, perfect for when you want to ace this!
In any fried rice recipe, keep it 1:1 ratio, meaning 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of all the toppings combined. That way, you get a little bit of everything in every bite.
Finish this off with some butter to make it velvety and creamy.
Serve your kimchi fried rice in a ttukbaegi or just keep it in heat for a little bit longer so it continues to toast the rice underneath!

Other rice dishes you might like:

Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!

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5 from 2 votes