Kimchi fried rice

Kimchi-bokkeumbap 김치볶음밥

This simple, simple dish is super, super tasty. It’s just a few ingredients, but it’s a dish much loved by Koreans and a staple of our everyday lives.

This version is simple, but you can dress it up with a bit of beef, chicken, pork, ham, or even spam. Many Koreans also like to put a fried egg on top, but my family prefers this simple version that I’m showing you here. When my son lived in the school dorm, visits with him were rare. I talked to him on the phone before he came and I asked:

“What food do you miss the most? I’ll make it for you when you come.”

I figured I would need some time to prepare and shop ahead of time, but he answered: “I miss kimchi-bokkeumbap.”

“What? That’s it? Is there anything else?”

“Just kimchi-bokkeumbap, Mom.”

As you see in this video, you don’t need to prepare much in advance for kimchi-bokkeumbap if you have kimchi and rice on hand. So of course I made it for him, along with grilled beef and lots of high protein food. As soon as he came home, I was ready to stir fry. He loved it!

A lot of people say making fried rice is best with leftover rice straight from the fridge, or just day-old rice, but I’ve never really tasted the difference in flavor, taste, or texture. I use fresh rice all the time. I just let it cool down a bit before I stir fry, and my kimchi bokkeumbap is always delicious. It’s the best fried rice I have ever tasted, much better than the kimchi-bokkeumbap at a Korean restaurant.

Ingredients

  • 3 bowls steamed rice (3 cups)
  • 1 cup chopped kimchi (should be aged, well-fermented and sour)
  • ¼ cup kimchi juice (spicy red juice from a jar of kimchi)
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2-3 tablespoons gochujang
  • 3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
  • 1 sheet of gim, roasted and shredded into seaweed strips

Directions

  1. Heat up a wide, flat pan or skillet. Add the vegetable oil.
  2. Add the kimchi and stir fry for 1 minute over medium-high heat.add kimchi
  3. Add rice, kimchi juice, water, and gochujang. Stir all the ingredients together for about 7 minutes with a wooden spoon.add kimchi juice
  4. Add sesame oil and remove from the heat.
  5. Garnish with sprinkled chopped green onion, roasted gim, and sesame seeds. Serve right away.

add sesame seeds

fried-rice

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257 Comments:

  1. cjoyyc Philippines joined 3/23 & has 1 comment

    Thanks so much foe this quick and easy, yet delicious recipe. I like how simple everything is. I didn’t have green onion or seaweed but I made it work. I used 2 cups of rice because that’s what’s available but still used 3tbps of gochujang. I love how spicy it is! I added fried eggs on top.


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  2. LizST Arkansas joined 1/22 & has 1 comment

    Hi maangchi!
    Recently I made the kimchi fried rice recipe and it turned out very light in color and not a lot of taste and I really feel I did something wrong. Because it was light in color but really spicy I think I added too much chili paste but not sure if I let my kimchi ferment long enough. The kimchi was fresher, maybe one week. Should I let it ferment longer next time?
    Thank you for your recipes and any help!!❤️

  3. Aidann Greenwolfe Kansas City, MO joined 12/17 & has 2 comments

    Made this with my homemade kimchi today. It was wonderful. Very satisfying lunch on a cold day.


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