Hello everybody!
I am so excited to show you how to make vegetarian or vegan kimchi today. It’s from my new cookbook! How long have you been waiting for this recipe? Or maybe you made your own adaptation of my traditional kimchi recipe or my easy kimchi recipe? When people asked me how to make vegetarian kimchi in comments I always suggested to use soy sauce but I wasn’t totally satisfied with my own answer because soy sauce alone couldn’t replace the deep savoriness of fish sauce or salty fermented shrimp that I use in my kimchi.
So I developed this recipe for my cookbook, the secret is in the vegetarian stock I created. It works perfectly. It gives the kimchi a delicious savoriness. Even if you are not a vegetarian you should try this for a change, you will be surprised how delicious it is. Even though I’m not a vegetarian, I love to make vegetarian kimchi because I never miss much of the taste from my traditional kimchi made with fish sauce and fermented shrimp.
It’s also a small portion of kimchi! You need only 1 head of napa cabbage (3 pounds), and then you can modify this recipe to adapt to how much you want to make. Enjoy the recipe! Let me know how your kimchi turns out!
Ingredients
Makes about 4 pounds
- 3 pounds napa cabbage
- 9 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons chapssalgaru (glutinous rice flour, aka sweet rice flour)
- 1⅓ cup vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 9 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon peeled ginger
- 1 medium onion, cut into chunks
- 1 cup gochu-garu (Korean hot pepper flakes)
- 6 ounces Korean radish, cut into matchsticks (about 1 cup), or daikon
- 3 ounces buchu (Asian chives, aka garlic chives), chopped (optional)
- 6 green onions, sliced diagonally
- 2 ounces carrot matchsticks (about ¼ cup)
Directions
Salt the cabbage:
- Cut the cabbage lengthwise into quarters. Cut away the core of each quarter.
- Cut the leaves crosswise into 1-to-1½ inch bite size pieces. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Toss with 6 tablespoons of the salt and 1 cup water.
- Let stand for 2 hours, tossing the cabbage every 30 minutes to salt evenly.
Make the kimchi paste:
- Combine the glutinous rice flour and 1 cup of the vegetable stock in a small saucepan and place over medium high heat.
- Stir until the mixture begins to bubble, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the sugar and stir until the mixture is slightly translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool thoroughly.
- Put the cooled porridge, the remaining ⅓ cup vegetable stock, the remaining 3 tablespoons salt, the remaining 1 teaspoon sugar, garlic, ginger, and onion in a food processor and process to a puree.
- Transfer the puree to a medium bowl.
- Add the gochu-garu (hot pepper flakes) and mix it well. Set aside.
Wash the salted cabbage:
- Rinse the cabbage 3 to 4 times with cold running water to remove any dirt and excess salt. Drain well.
Mix it all together and make kimchi:
- Well dry a large bowl with kitchen cloth.
- Add the cabbage, radish matchsticks, green onion, chives (if used), and carrot. Add the kimchi paste and mix all together by hand (wear disposable gloves if you like).
- Transfer to an airtight container or glass jars. Press down the on the kimchi so it’s well packed and no air can get inside, then put the lid on the container.
Ferment the kimchi:
- You can serve the kimchi right away, sprinkled with sesame seeds. Or you can let the kimchi ferment. It takes about 2 weeks to ferment in the refrigerator; for faster fermenting, leave it at room temperature for 1 to 2 days, depending on the warmth of your kitchen, until the kimchi smells and tastes sour.
- Once the kimchi is fermented, store in the refrigerator until it runs out. After 2 weeks, the kimchi will have fermented nicely, and it will continue to ferment and become more sour as time goes one. It never goes bad and you can enjoy it at every stage.
- Whenever you take some kimchi out of the container, be sure to press down on the remaining kimchi with a spoon to prevent it from being exposed to air.
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Dear Maangchi, thank you for the recipe. I do not have access to Kosher salt and used fined sea salt. However, I feel that my Kimchi is very salt.
1. Can I fix the current batch that is too salty?
2. What salt should I use next time instead of Kosher salt?
Many thanks
If your kimchi tastes too salty right after you make it, you can cut up some radish and mix it in to dilute the saltiness. But if the kimchi was made a few days ago, it’s better to just let it ferment. As it ferments, the flavor will turn pleasantly sour and it will be fine.
Next time you make kimchi, try using a little less salt. Salty kimchi stays crisp for a long time, but bland kimchi can easily become soggy.
Hi Maangchi. I love this vegetarian kimchi. It tastes really good. Do you know if there is any way to use pear/apple and/or plum syrup in this recipe? Thanks.
I don’t add plum extract to my kimchi seasoning. While the sweet taste of apple or plum syrup is nice, the sourness affects the flavor of the kimchi. You can use pear juice instead of sugar, but make sure to finely grind it, then squeeze it through a fine cloth to only add the clear juice to the kimchi paste.
I don’t think I can source napa cabbage, the only kind I can get right now is the round heads of green/white cabbage. Would that kind of cabbage work with this recipe?
You can still make kimchi with regular cabbage if napa cabbage isn’t available. Try this recipe, please. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/yangbaechu-kimchi
Hi Maangchi! I use this recipe as it’s hard for me to source the salted squid but I would like to add fish sauce. How much do you suggest?
Hi Maangchi,
This is my first time trying to make vegetarian kimchi. Can I use store-bought vegetable stock instead of the homemade one?
Thanks.
Yes, you can use store-bought vegetable stock. Good luck!
Hello Maangchi,
Thank you for sharing all the amazing recipe. Every recipe I’ve tried on your page has turned out great :)
For this kimchi recipe, can I check if it is ok to reduce the salt level? I have folks at home with high blood pressure, and high sodium content isn’t good for them.
What would be the recommended reduced salt content without compromising the taste or fermentation process?
Most of the salt used for cabbage seasoning will be rinsed away later. Well-salted cabbage will help the kimchi stay crisp for a long time.To make less salty kimchi, in the step 2 of the kimchi paste recipe, instead of the suggested 3 tablespoons, maybe add just 1to 2 tablespoon of salt to the kimchi paste. Good luck, Chups! : )
I make the kimchi again!
Hi,
Tx for sharing this recipe. By far best kimchi I’ve made!
I have eaten Vegi Kimchi before, but only canned, so I decided to give your recipe a go. Thank you it was delicious and I managed to get all the correct ingredients. It was an ordeal to wait for two weeks, but it was certainly worth it, yummy.
Hi Maangchi, I was just wondering if I wanted to double the batch for the salting of the kimchi should I do 18 tablespoons of salt or will the 9 tablespoons suffice?
thank you
Thank you, Maangchi, for sharing this authentic Korean recipe of kimchi. I never thought that it would be easy to make. I love it too, that it’s a vegetarian version. Now I can make big batches of Kimchi, and I can trust more the ingredients that I use.
Great! You can mix kimchi with your bare hand! I can almost smell your delicious fresh kimchi!
I used to use glass jars but someone told me that the jars could explode when fermenting outside of the fridge (I did used to “burp” the jars every so often when I did that though). So I went and got a plastic tub with a snap on lid from the local Korean supermarket to ferment and it’s too big for the amount I make. Is this okay to have so much space in the container if I leave it to ferment for a few days on the counter? I wish I got the kind with the internal piece that I could push down to press out the air but too late now!
In the fridge, I do transfer it to glass jars though.
Thank you for the recipe!
I made it a second time. The first time.. was so horrible xD I made the paste so, so, sooooooo wrong and paniced because it wasn’t “thick” but I didn’t let it cool down.. – my bad. And I made too much paste for like 1,5-2 Pounds of Cabbage. It still tasted fine, but the consistency was weird.
My second time now: SO GOOD. I made it the right way and used 3 pounds Cabbage, like the recipe says. It’s sooooo much better now. I can’t wait. But I NEED to wait for like 5-14 days :( So good, recommend 500%!!
Your kimchi looks so good! Juicy and delicious!
Hi Maangchi, I’m enjoying your recipes very much!
If I’m looking to reduce the saltiness of this recipe, would it be OK to reduce the 3 tablespoons salt in the sauce to 2 tablespoons? I’m concerned about the effect on the fermentation and preservation.
If not, would there be a different way to reduce saltiness?
Many thanks!
If you are using table salt instead of kosher salt, you should reduce the salt. Kosher salt is a lot less salty.
Good afternoon Maangchi and y’all
I was thinking, that when I bake rye sourdough bread I always have a starter in my fridge to give it a headstart.
Would it also work for kimchi? I have leftovers from a very lovely fermented and well-tasting hm kimchi and today I will make a new batch.
Would it ferment faster and more even with a leftover or would everything get spoiled?
I love your recipe and always try to have enough Kimchi in my fridge. Only one time the fermenting went wrong and everything was spoiled or maybe just tasting awfully.
It’s not a good idea to mix old kimchi with freshly made new kimchi.
If you mix fresh kimchi and old kimchi, the taste won’t be right. Kimchi tastes different at each stage from fresh kimchi to aged kimchi.
You can add the sour taste kimchi brine to your kimchi stew, kimchi soup, or kimchi stir-fried rice.
I tried making this today. It was A LOT of work, since I made the veggie soup as well. I hope it turns out well, I will see in 2 weeks! I’m very happy with the result so far tho!
Your kimchi looks great! Congratulations!
By the way, you can eat the kimchi anytime after you make.
Dear Maangchi ,Thank you for the recipe!!!
It is so delicious and I was surprised how easy it is to make. I used the measurements from your classic Kimchi and ingredients for the vegetarian version plus
I put half an apple into the onion, garlic, ginger paste. Turned out very good, will do the same next time.
Yay! The kimchi looks bright red, crispy, and juicy! Congratulations!
Hi, Maangchi! Your recipes are so amazing but I’m having trouble scaling up this kimchi. When I double this recipe, it becomes inedibly salty. Do you have any advice? Thank you!!!!
Hi Mimizimi,
If your kimchi turned out too salty, try using a little less salt next time you make it.
Hi,
I find that my kimchi is too salty. Can I add in raw cabbage to the batch to bulk up so that it can absorb some of the salt?
Did you use regular table salt or kosher salt? I made this mistake the first time I made this and it came out too salty. Kimchi should be salty (also for safe fermentation) but I knew it was not meant to be that salty. I didn’t know that if you use regular salt or fine sea salt, you have to adjust the salt measurement in the recipe. I halve the amount and it turns out okay. This is because kosher salt granules are much bigger and so you use more of it since kosher salt is a lot less salty than table salt or fine sea salt.
Oh man! I am SOOO glad I found this recipe! Thank GOD for you! I am going to make this asap. I have my grocery list put together already for the ingredients. I am going to make onions a part of the veggies I eat (not just part of the puree) and I am also adding celery to the veggies I eat rather than the Korean chives.I can’t seem to find organic version of the Chinese cabbage in my area though, sad. I don’t suppose there’s a good substitute green for the Chinese cabbage?
Thank you SOO much for sharing this with us. I can hardly wait to make it!
Lee