Hi everybody! I’m introducing “mak-kimchi” to you today! It’s made with napa cabbage (baechu in Korean), pre-cut into bite-sized pieces, so you can serve it without cutting. This way of making kimchi is really time saving compared to making whole cabbage kimchi. It has the familiar spicy, savory flavor of napa cabbage kimchi, with an easier way to prepare and serve it. So I am translating “mak-kimchi” into “easy kimchi.” I hope this recipe makes your life easier!
Over the years, so many of my readers have made kimchi using this recipe. Some have even told me they make it to sell! Every time I hear stories like these, I feel so proud and happy.
Want to make a smaller batch? A small-batch easy kimchi recipe, made with just one 3-pound head of napa cabbage, is coming soon. The recipe below is my original version, made with 10 pounds of cabbage.
If you prefer kimchi made with cabbage quarters instead of bite-sized pieces, try my traditional napa cabbage kimchi recipe.
Ingredients
A large batch made with 10 pounds of napa cabbage
- 10 pounds baechu (napa cabbage)
- 1 cup kosher salt for the cabbage, plus 3 tablespoons if preparing the optional squid
- ½ cup sweet rice flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 3 cups water for the porridge, plus more for soaking and rinsing
- 1 cup crushed garlic
- 1 to 2 tablespoons ginger, minced
- 1 cup onion, minced
- 1 cup fish sauce
- Salted, fermented squid (optional; see “Prepare the salted squid” below)
- 2½ cups Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru) (to taste)
- 2 cups leek or Asian chives, chopped
- 10 green onions (diagonally sliced)
- ¼ cup carrot, cut into matchsticks
- 12 ounces of peeled Korean radish, cut into matchsticks, about 2 cups
Directions
Prepare the salted squid (optional; 1 week ahead)
- Clean 300 grams (⅔ pound) of very fresh squid by removing the guts and backbone, then rinse well.
- Add 3 tablespoons kosher salt and mix with a spoon.
- Transfer to a container or glass jar, cover, and refrigerate for 1 week.
- Rinse thoroughly until no longer slippery, then drain. Remove the skin if you like.
- Pat dry with paper towels or a clean cotton cloth, chop, and add to the kimchi paste.
Prepare the cabbage
- Trim the discolored outer leaves of the napa cabbage.
- Cut the cabbage lengthwise into quarters and remove the cores. Chop it into bite-sized pieces.
- Soak the pieces of cabbage in cold water, then transfer the wet cabbage to a large basin. Sprinkle the 1 cup kosher salt evenly over the cabbage and toss well.
- Every 30 minutes, turn the cabbage over to salt evenly (total salting time will be 2 hours).
- 2 hours later, rinse the cabbage in cold water 3 times to clean it thoroughly.
- Drain the cabbage and set aside.
Make porridge
- Put 3 cups of water and sweet rice flour in a pot and mix it well and bring to a boil. Keep stirring until the porridge makes bubbles (about 5 minutes).
- Add ¼ cup sugar. Stir and cook for a few more minutes until it’s translucent.
- Let it cool completely.
Make kimchi paste
- Place the cooled porridge into a large bowl. Now you will add all your ingredients one by one.
- Add fish sauce, hot pepper flakes, crushed garlic, minced ginger, and minced onion.
*tip: it’s much easier to use a food processor!
- If using the salted squid, rinse and drain it, then chop it and add it to the kimchi paste. The squid is optional, so you can leave it out.
- Add green onions, chopped leek or Asian chives, Korean radish, and carrot.
- Mix all ingredients well and your kimchi paste is done.
Action! Mix the cabbage with the kimchi paste!
- Add the cabbage to the kimchi paste and mix well by hand.
*tip: If your basin is not large enough to mix all the ingredients at once, do it bit by bit.
- Transfer the kimchi to a clean, food-safe container or glass jar. Press it down firmly to remove air pockets. Leave some space at the top so the juices have room to rise during fermentation, then cover.
You can eat it fresh right after making or wait until it’s fermented.
You can eat it fresh right after making or wait until it’s fermented.
I usually put all my kimchi in the fridge except for a little bit in a small container. I like fresh kimchi, so this way the kimchi in the fridge ferments slowly and stays fresh, while the smaller container ferments faster and gets sour. I use this sour kimchi for making dishes like kimchi jjigae where sour kimchi should be used. Then, when the small container is empty, I fill it up again with kimchi from the big container. It takes a little management, but experiment and you’ll get the hang of it!
Serve, ferment, and store
You can eat kimchi fresh or let it ferment in the refrigerator. It will gradually become more sour. The time this takes depends on the temperature and your taste.
For faster fermentation of a batch made without the optional squid, leave the covered container at room temperature for about a couple of days, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. Set it on a tray to catch any overflowing juices. When it tastes pleasantly sour, refrigerate it. If you use a tightly sealed jar or a container, open the lid occasionally to release any built-up gas.
The story behind this recipe
I first shared my whole cabbage kimchi and radish kimchi recipe in 2007. In that early video, I used cabbage and radishes of different sizes without giving precise weights. Readers soon began asking for more exact measurements, especially when they wanted to make just cabbage kimchi. Their questions inspired me to share this step-by-step easy kimchi recipe in 2010, using 10 pounds of napa cabbage. It’s based on the kimchi I’ve been making for decades, and it’s popular with my Korean friends, too.
Take a look at these mouthwatering kimchi photos shared by my readers!
Buy this recipe's ingredients online
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Hello Maangchi,
I’ve been tweaking my kimchi recipe and thought I’d drop you a line. I made the kimchi paste with kelp broth and then added flour. To the garlic, ginger, onions, salted shrimp, and fish sauce, I added persimmon. I’m really looking forward to trying it. Greetings from Germany.
Fantastic! I’m sure the kimchi is so delicious!
In case anyone is interested, this recipe fits perfectly in my 7.5-liter fermentation crock. I let it sit in there for up to 10 days, by which time it’s very nice and bubbly and fermented.
Will the Kimchi still ferment if I use soy sauce instead of fish sauce?
Hi Emily,
Just finished making this kimchi again . Every season I always make a batch of your kimchi , ever since I learned your korean cooking years ago . My son was only 6 years old back then , he is almost 21 years old now .
This kimchi has been a staple in our household , summer kimchi fermenting n getting ready for fall soup or stew we make so often during cooler weather.
Hope all is well with you . ❤️
It’s been a while! Olivia, your Korean cooking skills have always impressed me. I still remember what your son looked like when he was little from the photo!
I’m really touched to hear you’ve been making kimchi all this time. Keep enjoying and making delicious Korean food! Update me about your family via my email, please!
Hi Maangchi Nim, I have been your ardent fan and follower for over a decade! I never had a chance to learn how to cook until grad school, as I was always told to focus only on my studies! hehee. But I introduced my non-Korean SIL to your masterful recipes, and she quickly mastered Korean cooking, and now cooks way better than me, all thanks to you! I just made this quick kimchi recipe without squid, but I added persimmon after watching Chef Edward Lee on Culinary Class Wars on Netflix! He adds it to the old kimchi salad.. I can’t wait to see how the persimmon tastes after one night of fermenting on the countertop. Also, ever since I started watching that show, I’ve been thinking you should be a White Spoon Chef there! Our family loves you and thinks you’re the best!
Made this kimchi recipe and it’s quite simple and easy will reduce the sugar next time as I find it too sweet. But still love it.
Thank you Maangchi!
Made a batch of even easier ‘easy kimchi’ and it was great:
Just added garlic powder, fish sauce and anchovy soup base to the flour/water paste. 2-3 days on the counter and it was ready!
It sounds great!
yep911,
I’ve made it with RC and it’s ok. A bit longer to ferment and more crunchy,
Napa cabbage is on sale here again this week, and this kimchi is just beyond anything else!
My husband just met with a friend, and she’s enchanted, too!
And apologies to everyone for flooding – but we have an exceptionally hard and difficult year; so hard that I’ve lost my joy in everything including cooking.
I’m reclaiming it right now.
Maangchi to the rescue!!!
I’ve just made one third of that amount (I didn’t have more of that surprisingly excellent Napa cabbage on sale a fortnight ago) and am really looking forward to the result.
My hands still smell delicious! ;-)
Hi Maangchi,
Can I use the fermented salted shrimp (saeujeot) with the salty brine (like in your other whole cabbage recipe), instead of fermented squid or oyster? if yes, how much should I use? Thank you.
Sava
I’ve been fiddling with this recipe for almost a year now. Can’t say it was perfect each time, but I’m getting better at this with each batch. Just finished making a new one, so excited to give it a try next week, this time the smell was exceptional!
I bought a special container for making kimchi that has a press built in and it’s become so much easier.
There’s a thing that bugs me though. I’ve never tried authentic kimchi, so all I know is the taste of what I’ve been making myself so far. Turns out I like crunchy kimchi more than mature kimchi which it quite soggy. Is there a way to keep the crunch?
I’ve read this might be happening if you’re using too much leek or rice porridge in the recipe and I’ve experimented with both. I changed the time of salting the cabbage, the amounts of salt too, but I still end up with quite soggy kimchi in a month or just a bit more. Am I just expecting it to last longer than it’s actually supposed to last?
My partner’s liking my kimchi a lot (me too!) so we’ve been devouring out batches too fast at first. Unfortunately I’m not able to do a new batch every 2 weeks, so that’s why we’re trying to make it last
Anyways, GREAT recipe, thank you so much!
11/10, I’m sharing it with everyone I know who loves cooking ✨
I’ve made this kimchi recipe three times and every time it comes out delicious! Where I live we can’t buy fresh kimchi (only canned). So every year when the napa cabbage comes in season I make a huge batch which I keep sealed in the fridge and use throughout the year. This last time I wasn’t able to find daikon radish so I subbed kohlrabi, and it was still amazing.
Made my first kimchi by your recipe, Maangchi! I hope to make it a regular practice.
Hi Maangchi! :) How many litres/gallons/cups of kimchi would this recipe make roughly? Thank you!!
Thank you, Maangchi, for the wonderful recipe!
I really like Kimchi but had never made it myself before. The end result looks and tastes good; hopefully now the fermentation will work its magic! Much love from the Netherlands.
Made kimchi for the very first time and this recipe has been very helpful and easy to follow! I am so excited to taste the kimchi after they have fermented :)
Hello Maangchi, Here I have a picture of my Mak-Kimchi. I now make this version the most, partly because of time constraints.
When I go out, I always take some kimchi with me and can easily grab it from the jar. I made this kimchi last Monday. I’ve been asked for the recipe so many times now and have shown people your site.
Some people couldn’t cope with the English descriptions of the ingredients, which is why I made my own cooking video that translates your recipe into German.
Your kimchi looks fantastic!
My 2nd time using this recipe, last batch was sooo tasty hopefully this batch turns out the same
It looks great! Congratulations!
Just wondering did i do wrongly – my kimchi has a lot of dark green leaf. I didnt notice it when i was making. It was as if the leaf ripen during the fermentation period. After i kept the kimchi in fridge, i still find more and more dark green leaf in my kimchi. I had made kimchi for years and only noticed it in the past 3 batches.
Using dark green leafy cabbage is perfectly fine. In fact, I personally prefer it. Be sure to press down on the top of the kimchi and occasionally turn it over so that the kimchi is well-mixed with the brine
Hi Maangchi
Made kimchi today with Napa cabbage,radish etc.Also added apple and pear so adjusted and added more of the kimchi paste.
This is the second time I am making it using your recipe.
Thanks Maangchi.
Can I use the same steps in making cucumber kimchi?
Sooo I just made my fists batch.
Honestly I’m a bit confused. I mean the salt a mount seems enough for the usual recommendations for lactofermentation but only before you rinse the cabbage. I would assume you lose quite a big chunk of the salt there?
Used a bit more fish sauce though but then again no salty squid.
If it doesn’t ferment correctly I’ll know, right?
Hi, I’m about to make kimchi for the first time. I want to ask, for the salty squid ingredient can I use frozen squid to make it?
Maangchi says that you can use frozen, fresh, squid. So make sure the packaging says that it was frozen soon after catching? I’ve never bough squid so I don’t know exactly how it goes. But she does note that you can use frozen fresh squid and then ferment that for a week
About 40 hrs later. Is all this liquid on top to be expected. I’ll wait until tomorrow with opening and checking smell and taste though to minimise oxygen in there.
(never mind the ziplock back on top. That’s just filled with random stuff and sealed to displace some air because the kimchi wasn’t enough to fill a good portion of the glass)
Thanks for the recipe! Made it extra spicy ️ and this will be included as one of the Christmas presents for the family
Wow, it looks so tasty! Mouthwatering!
Hello, I want to know how to fix the bitter taste in my kimchi.
I think I put too much ginger in my kimchi.
I also couldn’t find Daikon so I used 5 red radish instead.
However, would adding daikon a about 3 weeks later be bad?
Also, I used Morton’s coarse kosher salt ..
It’s so bitter.
And the ginger might have been too much .. I did about a handful
Should I add more sugar???
I made two large Napa cabbages …
Help
A handful of ginger?!? That’s a lot, remember a tbsp is only a nub of about 2-3cm. I would say once it’s been made there’s not much you can do, probably best if you ‘wash’ (dip the kinchi through water) to see if it helps with the bitter flavour, and use it for cooking. If it’s still bitter you probably should just discard and try again
Kimchee with spaghetti and meat sauce. You’re welcome.
I have brown sugar.
May I use brown sugar for my kimchi or does it have to be white?
The amount of sugar is very small, so using brown sugar will be ok. Good luck Ms.Penguin!
I want to make a smaller batch as it’s only me and my partner that eat it. Do I just half the amount of ingredients needed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Kimchi, spaghetti, and just regular old tomato sauce is good too. I’m sure the meat sauce is wonderful! I’ve been going thru a mini economic crisis at my residence so i’ve had to make due without somethings, but the kimchi spaghetti was 10/10!
Excellente idée kimchi, viande hachée et spaghettis
Dear Maangchi, I have been making kimchi for a long time, but today I made it according to your recipe and it is very very tasty. Thank you very much. Vladka from the Czech Republic
For some reason, I just found your kimchi photo! It looks mouthwatering! It’s like my homemade kimchi. Do you find Korean cooking ingredients at one of these stores? https://www.maangchi.com/shopping/czech-republic
Continued good luck with your Korean cooking!
Can I substitute Korean chili powder for Korean chili flakes in this kimchi recipe? What quantity of powder should I use?
Hi Maangchi,
I have a 3 gal crock coming and I plan to make this kimchi recipe. My first effort to make kimchi. How many Napa heads (or pounds of Napa) would you advise I use in a 3 gal crock. Would the 10 lbs in your recipe be too little or too much?
Thanks
Hi! Just want to ask if red onions is okay with Kimchi? Since we’re lacking of white onions here in the PH. Never tried using red onions before, so I’m afraid if the taste will be different. Using this recipe for 3yrs now for my Kimchi business. Thanks Maangchi! ❤️
Yes, red onion are good, too.
I have just made my first ever batch of this Kimchi this afternoon and my kitchen smells divine of fish sauce, garlic, ginger, onion, red pepper flakes and spring onions. I don’t want the smell to go away. The combination is mmmmmmmmmmmmm {chef’s kiss}.
Before mixing the paste into the cabbage I dipped the tip of my finger of my gloved hand into it to have a taste and could not help saying to myself “mmmmmm delicious”. So now I know exactly what you mean when I hear you say it in your videos Maangchi. Thank you so much for your recipe, I will definitely be making it again. Up until now I have always bought Kimchi from the Supermarket but never again. Thank you for all your content. I am truly hooked on Korean food now. It is my absolute favourite quisine.
Congratulations! : ) Now you can make your own delicious kimchi anytime!
Hey Maangchi. I made this recipe but I didn’t make the porridge. After it fermented, I wasn’t happy with the amount of liquid in it. Can I add the porridge after the fermentation process? Or should I just eat this batch and add the porridge at the proper time next time I make it? Thank you so much! Lots of love from Peru!
-Jim
There’s no such thing as too much kimchi juice. ;-)
You may use it for soup – and many recipes call for it!
Besides: Submerging the solid parts helps keeping the kimchi from spoiling.
I just finished making my first batch of kimchi using this recipe. I don’t have any brine (like the kind I get with my kraut). It’s just heavily covered in the thick paste. Looks like the pictures but no liquid on top. Should I add water to cover?
Maangchi, I am interested to follow your recipe. What is sweet rice flour? Can I just use rice flour? it’s a bit hard to get asian ingredients here in my place. Thank you.
It’s glutinous rice flour. It doesn’t taste sweet. https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/sweet-rice-flour
How long can I leave it at room temperature to ferment? Also is it OK to leave it outside the fridge at a very hot day (35°c)?
Thank you!
@omolarakareem
I’m not Maangchi, obviously, but I might have some insight you could use.
I often make sauerkraut from “regular cabbage.” Regular cabbage (RC) is much more dense than Napa cabbage (NC), and has far thicker leaves. NC is also noticeably sweeter than RC — but RC has plenty of sweetness, too! Finally, NC seems to have more liquid (water) stored in its cells, but that might not be the case — it might just be a slower process to access and release that liquid in RC.
RC takes two weeks of room-temperature fermentation to make good sauerkraut, though that result is quite sour. I haven’t made sauerkraut from NC (yet) and haven’t made kimchi from RC. But I would predict that kimchi from RC would require much longer than from NC. NC kimchi on the counter takes ~ one week. I think, like sauerkraut, RC kimchi would take ~ two weeks.
That would be fine, in theory, but RC sauerkraut is only two things: cabbage and salt. That’s ALL (maybe some extra water). But there are many things in kimchi, and you’d want to be very careful fermenting many ingredients for the two weeks it might take for RC to ferment and soften to your taste.
All that said: I would absolutely try it with RC — and I plan to do it myself one day. But I will keep a close eye on the fermentation to make sure it’s clean and on track for a two-week fermentation. If I have any doubts, I’ll put it in the fridge to slow it down and reduce the chances for mold. It will still ferment, it will just be very slow.
Good Luck! Please let us know how things work out if you give it a try. And you DEFINITELY SHOULD!!! lol