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Thank you for sharing!!! This recipe is my current obsession!!! It is fantastic with many types of rice and cauliflower rice🥰
Ann
Kimchi Fried Rice FTW!
Featuring rice, or cauliflower rice, and frozen peas and carrots because easy, and fresh garlic and ginger because YUM, and soy sauce, and chili paste, and a forkful of kimchi, and finished with a runny yolk waterfall. For me this is a new version of my favorite kind of comfort food.
I first had kimchi fried rice when we were in Seoul a few years ago. I knew nothing about anything. I was a baby child. I didn’t have any idea what kimchi was (likely referred to as “that red stuff”), but it didn’t matter. I knew I loved my kimchi fried rice with a lacy fried egg on top. Fast forward a few years, to now, and I’m probably best put in the category of knows-just-enough-to-be-dangerous and eats-a-lot-of-kimchi-fried-rice which is what brings me to this blog post today where I show you how I make kimchi fried rice.
How To Make Our Kimchi Fried Rice:
FYI On The Kimchi:
- Kimchi is salted and fermented cabbage or other vegetables. Sometimes it’s spicy.
- Kimchi is a staple of Korean food / cooking.
- Kimchi can improve digestion. 👍🏼
- I don’t make my own kimchi (yet). I buy it. I really like some brands of kimchi, and I really have a hard time with others. My favorite brand is Spirit Creek Farm kimchi which I buy at Whole Foods. The vegetable are cut a little smaller, similar to the texture of sauerkraut, which helps me to love it a lot.
The ingredients for kimchi fried rice are really simple and MY ALL TIME FAVORITE THING is that, at any given time, I usually have everything I need to make this.
Oil, rice or cauliflower rice, frozen peas and carrots, garlic / ginger, soy sauce, chili paste, eggs, and of course, a jar of kimchi.
*in need of fried rice clean-up and manicure 👆🏼
If you’re eating the kimchi fried rice, like, right now or in very close proximity to when you make it, then put a fried egg on top. A gloriously soft egg with a barely-crispy bottom and a runny yolk. Also: a drizzle of sesame oil and a dollop of chili paste or sriracha. YUM TO THE MAX. This is the way it was in Seoul.
However, if you’re going meal-prep or make-ahead with this, I’d recommend just adding a few eggs into the rice and scrambling them in a little well in the center of the pan because, while admittedly less exciting than the yolk waterfall, scrambled eggs will re-heat much better than runny fried eggs. It’s more like Chinese fried rice that way, but no problem. It tastes very amazing and will reheat really nicely for lunches all week.
Kimchi: yes/no? Anyone in the audience who is gonna inspire us all by telling us that they MAKE THEIR OWN KIMCHI? You guys would. I so knew that you would.
PS. Here’s the link for those meal prep containers!
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Kimchi Fried Rice
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 5–6 servings (about a cup each) 1x
Description
Kimchi Fried Rice FTW! Cauliflower rice, frozen peas and carrots, fresh garlic and ginger, soy sauce, chili paste, a forkful of kimchi, and finished with a runny yolk waterfall. A new kind of comfort food.
Ingredients
- a swish of oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- a spoonful of fresh crushed ginger
- 2–3 cups leftover cooked rice or cauliflower rice
- 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
- 1 cup kimchi (more or less to taste)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (more to taste)
- 3 beaten eggs
- 1–2 tablespoons chili paste or sriracha for topping
- sesame oil and/or sesame seeds for topping
Instructions
- Aromatics: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the garlic and ginger until fragrant.
- Main Stuff: Add the rice, peas and carrots, kimchi, and soy sauce. Stir-fry for a few minutes or until everything is warmed and sizzling.
- Eggs: Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Scramble the eggs in the center of the pan and then mix them throughout the rice.
- Finishing: Serve with chili paste, sesame oil, sesame seeds, green onions, whatevs kinda thing you like.
Notes
An alternate way to do the eggs would be to fry them individually and top each serving with a fried egg! This is preferable, in my opinion, but doesn’t always keep well for leftovers.
If you use cauliflower rice, add that just before the eggs. Cauliflower rice really only needs 2-3 minutes in the pan whereas everything else probably takes 5-8 minutes.
I normally just use olive oil. A neutral tasting oil would work, too. Sesame oil has a low smoke point so it usually isn’t recommended as an oil for stir-fries (just for adding flavor at the end).
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Asian-Inspired
Keywords: kimchi fried rice, kimchi recipe, fried rice recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our best healthy spring recipes page. Check it out!
Quick and delicious recipe…only thing I’d change is to use reduced sodium soy sauce as it came out a bit too salty.
Super easy and quick (rice cooked and refrigerated the day before). Absolutely delicious! We all loved it. I bought some beautiful kimchi from my farmer’s market, and this was an amazing recipe to be able to use it in!
Currently obsessed with all things kimchi! Making this tonight! Thanks for this amazing recipe!
I make this all the time! It’s flavorful and super easy. Tonight I used quinoa and a bag of frozen mixed veggies. I also cooked some tofu in fermented Chile garlic paste for some extra protein
Sounds amazing, Sarah!
My daughter-in-law made your Kimchi Fried Rice when I was visiting them out in Pennsylvania. It was DELICIOUS! I can’t wait to make it for my husband now. I know he will love it as much as I did! Thank you, Katie …. and thank you, Lindsay!
LOVED this recipe!! Will make again
So glad to hear it, Annie!
White people ruin everything.
I love kimchi fried rice. As a matter of fact, korean food is one my favorite cuisine since it is very healthy. I did made my own version Kimchi Fried rice which I find it delicious. Your ingredient is almost similar except I add Gochujang paste since I love making my kimchi fried rice spicy. Nonetheless, your version looks really delicious. Does it blend with cauliflower rice?
Hi there! Yep, cauliflower rice works well for this recipe. And Gochujang paste would be delicious on this!
OMG Lindsay!! If I could find, meet, date, and marry a White Caucasian woman who loves kimchi fried rice and enjoys Korean food, I would be the luckiest Korean American dude on the face of this planet! LoL!! 😁👍 I would be so in love with her! 😍👌 I enjoy all kinds of food! But I’m not sure if my future girlfriend, most likely White Caucasian, will enjoy different ethnic food and Korean food! It’ll be fun and exciting to date her! Trying new food and stepping out of our comfort box!
Absolutely delicious! I made it with cauliflower rice tonight and I’ll probably try it with rice later in the week!
I’d recommened ‘frying’ the rice first in the oil, before adding the soy sauce and aromatics. This way you dont end up with wet, clammy rice. It’s also best if the rice is dry – a day or two old (after cooking). Can also cook the veg first, set aside, fry the rice, then add everything back in the warm up. Other than that, great recipe, thanks! 🙂
Thank you for sharing!!! This recipe is my current obsession!!! It is fantastic with many types of rice and cauliflower rice🥰
Your food recipes, plus the pictures of your dishes are the utmost gastronomical I have ever viewed in many years! Will be trying morw than a handful this month.
Thank you for sharing.
Fondly,
CJ
I tried it last night, replacing kimchi with Polish sauerkraut. Worked out perfectly!
I’m Korean myself and I gotta say this recipe looks solid! I would definitely love to try this one with my homemade Kimchi! 🙂
If you are interested in making Kimchi, here’s a my personal article of Kimchi recipe xx
https://www.seoulvibephangan.com/korean-food/kimchi-health-benefits-recipe
I like your dish that is fried rice recipe you make in this video
Oh. My. Word. This was incredibly delicious. Our whole family loved it!
I adore kimchi! So much so I have my own mini fridge filled with several kinds of it. Cabbage, radish, and green onion kimchi I make myself. I have yet to make fried rice with it so your recipe will be the first I’ve tried. Looks delicious! Thanks!
Hope you enjoy it, Sylvia!
I would love to know what is kimchi ?
LINDSAY! This kimchi fried rice is everything! I made it in 30 min, it was incredibly accessible, and oh my goodness it was SO good (runny egg. omg). The past two weeks of dinner at our house have been 100% sponsored by Pinch of Yum recipes – thank you for making incredible food and sharing it with us.
So glad you enjoyed it, Margaret!
Made this tonight – so easy and delicious! I ❤️ kimchi.
Added mushrooms and used regular rice… otherwise followed directions! Thanks Lindsey!!
You cannot find Kimchi where I live, but I love it!! Hope soon you can share a home made. 🙂
I am definitely not on board with the cauliflower as rice movement because I love my rice way too much. That said I do make something similar to this but I call it a hash rather than fried rice. I season it with whatever sauce I have on hand or whatever flavors I’m craving, though I’ve never done kimchi before. I’ve got a cauliflower and half a jar of kimchi in my fridge right now both of which need to be used up so I guess I know what’s for lunch today. I’m definitely on board with you when it comes to the runny yolk egg though. I top so many of my meals with an egg cooked that way, including a savory bowl of oatmeal.
We made this for dinner tonight and topped it with shrimp instead of an egg for protein. It was phenomenal, super easy to make and so delicious. We did the cauliflower rice version, so we felt great about finishing the entire pan!
Yum! Glad you enjoyed it!
Looks amazing! We lived in Korea for a year and took a cooking class where we made our own kimchi. It actually wasn’t too hard to make from scratch, but it’s nice to have a shortcut too! We’ll have to try this someday!