This ultimate guide will teach you how to make a delicious and satisfying Kimchi Fried Rice. It’s quick, easy, and endlessly customizable, you’ll be making it again and again!
Kimchi is a staple in a Korean household. There are different types like radish, green onion, perilla, etc. Oftentimes, we serve kimchi in Korean BBQ as a side dish, but there are also different ways to use them like turning them into kimchi stew, kimchi pasta, or kimchi pancake.
One way to use up kimchi is to make kimchi bokkeumbap. This fried rice was something that I ate most days when I was growing up. My mom would often make this when we needed something quick and easy and here I’ll share all her tips and tricks on how she makes it!
Ingredients for Kimchi Fried Rice
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Rice
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. Simply multiply according to how many people will eat.
Choice of Meat
When it comes to the choice of meat, you can use chicken, pork belly, beef, canned tuna, spam, bacon, or sausage. Literally sky is the limit! The easiest route is to use processed meat, but the best results come from using pork belly. Simply put, pork + kimchi + sesame oil = fire!
If you want to make kimchi fried rice vegan or vegetarian, just skip the meat and just use vegetables and/or add fried tofu! Feel free to use what you prefer or what’s available to you.
Choice of Vegetables
Kimchi is the main star of the dish! Make sure you have good fermented kimchi because this will be where most of the flavor will come from, and it gets even better when sauteed! The spice and kick from there is what sets kimchi fried rice apart from other fried rice.
Essentially, when you have kimchi, rice, and meat, you are good to go. But I highly recommend using onion and scallions because it makes the fried rice fragrant and flavorful. You can also add other veggies like carrots or zucchini if you like.
Choice of Seasoning
For the seasoning, if you have good-quality kimchi, sesame oil, and sesame seeds, you’re good to go!
However, you can also season your fried rice with:
- Soy sauce for savor
- Gochujang and/or gochugaru for spice
- Sugar to balance the sourness and spice of the kimchi
- Every last drop of the kimchi juice because it becomes flavorful when it reduces and gets soaked by the rice
For garnish, I like to add nori, perilla leaves, cheese, and/or a perfect sunny-side-up egg for different textures, layers, and flavors.
How to Make the Best Kimchi Fried Rice?
1. Chop the kimchi in a bowl using scissors so the color doesn’t stick to the chopping board and it doesn’t make a mess. Chop other ingredients like scallions, onion, and pork belly as well.
2. Scramble the eggs, then set aside.
3. Place your pan on high heat and put a bit of oil on it, then saute the pork belly with the scallions, onion, and carrots. Saute until slightly browned and the fat has rendered.
4. Remove some of the fat, but leave some, make a well in the middle, and place the kimchi in it so it can cook in the pork fat. This will make it even more flavorful!
5. Once kimchi juice has been reduced, saute the kimchi and pork together.
6. Add the rice, and season on top with sesame oil, gochujang, salt, and pepper so it’s easier to break apart.
7. Add the eggs back in and mix that jawn up.
8. Finish this off with some butter to make it velvety and creamy.
9. Mix, spread throughout the pan flat, and keep it in the heat for a little bit longer so it continues to toast the rice underneath!
10. Garnish with nori, perilla leaves, cheese, and/or a perfect sunny-side-up egg, serve, and enjoy! Kimchi fried rice is perfect with more grilled meat, dumplings, and/or soup.
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!
Kimchi Fried Rice
Ingredients
Toppings
- 2 strips Pork Belly Chopped
- 1 cup Kimchi Cut up to bite size pieces
- 1 stalk Scallion Chopped
- 1/2 of Whole White Onion Minced
- 1/2 of Whole Carrot Minced
- 2 pcs Eggs Scrambled
- 2 cups Rice
- Vegetable or Canola Oil For sauteing
Seasonings
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tbsp Gochujang or Red Pepper Paste
- 1 tbsp Sesame Seeds
- 1 tbsp Butter
- Salt and Pepper To taste
Garnish
- Perilla Leaves Chopped
- Nori Crumbled
- Mozzarella Cheese Optional
- 1 pc Runny Sunny Side Up Eggs
Instructions
- Chop the kimchi in a bowl using scissors and chop other ingredients like scallions, onion, and pork belly.
- Scramble the eggs, then set aside.
- Place your pan on high heat and put a bit of oil, then saute the pork belly with the scallions, onion, and carrots. Saute until slightly browned and the fat has rendered.
- Remove some of the fat, but leave some, make a well in the middle, and place the kimchi in it so it can cook in the pork fat.
- Once kimchi juice has been reduced, saute the kimchi and pork together.
- Add the rice, and season on top with sesame oil, gochujang, salt, and pepper.
- Add the eggs and a knob of butter and mix that jawn up.
- Mix, spread throughout the pan flat, and keep it in the heat for a little bit longer so it continues to toast the rice underneath.
- Garnish with nori, perilla leaves, cheese, and/or a perfect sunny-side-up egg, serve, and enjoy!
Sweet, I have just enough left over rice to do this with tomorrow! I can hardly wait to try!
So delicious! My new go to recipe !!
i’m glad you liked it!
Just ate this for breakfast (#koreans). Great recipe, ideal amount of everything.
Something new to try out and something best than the rest that I have ever tried until now.Thank you so much for putting up this kimchi rice recipe for us to try out. I have also shared it with my friends so that even they try it out.
of course! I’m glad you tried out this recipe!
This has become a go to favorite in our house. Thanks!
Yeobosayo!!!
Delicious and easy! Your written recipe forgets to add the scrambled eggs back in but I figured it out (:
Oooh thanks for pointing it out, will work on it! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
So damn good! I made a big batch so I can bring it for a few lunches this week.
One of the easiest and tastiest meal prep!! Complete with carbs, protein, and fiber!! Oooh!!