How to make kimchi – a quick and easy recipe that only takes 30 minutes of hands-on-time before mother nature takes over! Full of healthy, gut-healing probiotics, the benefits of eating kimchi are endless. This authentic kimchi recipe is vegan adaptable, gluten-free and can be made as spicy or as mild as you like!
We must teach ourselves, activley remind ourselves, what being wild means. We must make room for it and invite it back. ~Brian Meier, Awaken the Bear.
Many years ago now, we catered a Korean wedding. I remember meeting with the bride and groom and listening very carefully about the importance of the kimchi being served. It had to be “just right”.
Truth be told I was nervous, I had never made it back then, but the mother of the bride was kind enough to send me her personal kimchi recipe and thankfully I had time to practice it a few times before the big day.
In the end, they were happy. And wherever they are now, I hope they are still. I’ve never counted the number of weddings we’ve catered, but every so often a couple pops into my mind, most often when I’m cooking, and I can’t help but give them a little nod and wish them well.
WATCH HOW EASY IT IS TO MAKE KIMCHI!
Some of you may be still be unfamiliar with kimchi even though it’s become highly popular in the last 15 years here in the west. It’s basically spicy, fermented cabbage, kind of like the idea of sauerkraut, but with a Korean flavors – garlic, ginger & chilies. Kimchi is like the heart and soul of Korean cooking. And it’s tasty with so many things!
But the best thing about Kimchi? Kimchi is alive! Full of living, healthy good bacteria, or probiotics, that boost immunity, energize the body, and aid digestion, it is believed to fight cancer, lower cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. Just google it and see for yourself.
Now if you are buying kimchi (which is totally fine!) just make sure it is in the refrigerated section of the grocery store (then you know it is alive) and check for msg, preservatives and especially nitrates- stay away from those. It is usually fine if it is refrigerated!
This easy kimchi recipe makes enough to fill a large two-quart jar (about 8 cups). It starts with one large Napa Cabbage. You’ll need ginger, garlic, scallions and most importantly Korean Chili Flakes called Gochugaru.
In this recipe, I use Korean Chili Flakes called “Gochugaru” vs. the Korean fermented Chili Paste called “Gochujang“. Feel free to use Gochujang if you please or if you have it on hand.
The reason I decided not to use the Gochujang, is Gochujang usually contains MSG and Nitrates, so I went a cleaner route today. Totally up to you.
You can find Gochugaru at most Asian Markets or order online. You can add other veggies to the mix like matchstick daikon radish or carrots. Fish sauce adds depth but you can leave this out or use soy sauce, or vegan fish sauce. Sometimes, I’ll use miso paste to add depth, especially if going vegan. If looking for a gluten-free version, liquid aminos work well too.
Like so many things, there are so many variations to kimchi, and people have their own personal preferences. I just wanted to provide you with a starting point, and I’m sure you will adapt to your own tastes!
And, to be clear this is not the exact recipe from the mother of the bride, but a little simplified. The ingredients are similar (except I believe she added dried shrimp) but I tried to make this as easy as possible. And guess what? It IS easy! And fun!
Save 1-2 outer leaves and place in a bag in the fridge ( you will use these later).
Cut the Napa cabbage into 1-inch cubes.
Place in a bowl and toss with 1/4 cup sea salt.
Fill the bowl with water and stir, and soak cabbage for 6-8 hours.
Place plate over the cabbage to keep it submerged.
After 6- 8 hours, drain ( making sure to save the brine) and rinse, pressing the liquid out.
As I stated earlier, I prefer to use Korean Chili Flakes called “Gochugaru” vs. the Korean fermented Chili Paste called “Gochujang“. Feel free to use Gochujang if you please. Totally up to you.
In a food processor, make a paste with the garlic, ginger, shallot, Korean chili flakes and optional fish sauce (or miso) and sugar. If you want a mild version, use half the chili flakes. The fish sauce really adds a delicious complexity and depth, but you can, of course, keep it vegan.
Peel and cut the daikon radish ( or carrot) into match sticks, about 2-3 inches long. Cut the scallions.
Cut the scallions into 1-2 inch pieces.
Place the drained cabbage along with the daikon, scallions and chili paste into the bowl. Massage a bit with gloved hands.
This is a very mild version shown below, so not very red, ( 2 tablespoons chili flakes).
You can also add more chili flakes if you want it spicier – I normally add 4-6 tablespoons.
Pack this tightly into a large two-quart jar (half gallon, 64 oz) or large crock. (Or use two, quart-sized mason jars.)
You want a good two inches of space at the top to catch the flavorful liquid that will release.
Pour a little of the brine into the jar, just to enough to cover the cabbage.
Cover with the cabbage leaf you saved, and press down. The leaf will help keep the cabbage submerged. Add a fermentation weight to keep the cabbage submerged. Cover with a lid ( do not screw on tight) and place on a rimmed pan or bowl ( to collect any overflow) and set on the counter or basement for 3 days. Tap the jar to see if any bubbles rise to the top- indicating that it is fermenting.
If so, refrigerate! Your kimchi is done at this point and is OK to eat now, but it will continue to ferment and develop more flavor and complexity over the next two weeks in the fridge. It will keep for months on end in the fridge when the kimchi is submerged below the brine….getting better and more flavorful with time!
If you dont see bubbles, give it a couple more days. It takes longer in cooler climates.
Store the kimchi in the fridge- covered, in the jar you made it in, or in a covered ceramic crock.
You’ll find many uses for kimchi at home.
Try it in this Kimchi Fried Rice, Kimchi Burrito or Kimchi Soup Recipe or The Vegan Seoul Bowl!
Add homemade kimchi to buddha bowls, bibimbap, or as a side dish with dinner, simply drizzled with toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds!
A huge flavor booster!
So healthy and delicious!
RELATED: Fermented Hot Sauce, Curtido, Beet and Cabbage Kraut, Tumeric Kraut.
PrintHow to Make Kimchi
A quick and easy recipe for authentic Kimchi, full of healthy probiotics that will keep for months in the fridge. Easy, flavorful and adaptable! Vegan adaptable!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 days
- Total Time: 72 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
- Category: fermented, sides, preserved
- Method: fermented
- Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients
- 2 pounds napa cabbage, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces (one large cabbage)
- ¼ cup sea salt
- 2 cups daikon radish, cut into matchstick strips (optional, or use carrots)
- 1 bunch scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, sliced ( 2-3 disks, peels ok)
- 6 cloves garlic, whole
- 1 shallot, quartered (optional)
- 2–6 tablespoons Korean-style red pepper flakes (gochugaru) See notes!
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce ( or use vegan fish sauce, miso paste, or soy sauce), more to taste
- 2 teaspoons sugar ( or an alternative like honey, brown rice syrup)
- OPTIONAL :1 tablespoon glutenous rice powder (see notes)
Instructions
- SALT THE CABBAGE (6-8 hours): Reserve 1-2 outer leaves of the napa cabbage and refrigerate for later use (wrap in plastic). Cut remaining cabbage and place it in a large bowl with the salt and toss. Add enough cool water to cover the cabbage and stir until salt is dissolved. Keep the cabbage submerged with a plate over the bowl and let stand at room temperature 6-8 hours (giving a stir midway through if possible) or overnight.
- Drain the cabbage, saving the brine. Rinse the cabbage (not excessively, just a little quick rinse), drain, squeeze out any excess water, or blot with paper towels, and place it back in the bowl, adding the daikon radish and scallions.
- Make the PASTE: Place the ginger, garlic, shallot, red pepper flakes, fish sauce (or alternatives) and sugar in your food processor. Add optional rice powder (see notes!) Process until well combined, pulsing, until it becomes a thick paste.
- MASSAGE: Scoop the paste over the cabbage and using tongs or gloves, mix and massage the vegetables and the red pepper mixture together really well, until well coated.
- PACK the cabbage into a large, two-quart jar (or two, quart jars) or a crock, leaving 1-2 inches room at the top for juices to release. Add a little of the reserved brine to just cover the vegetables, pressing them down a bit ( so they are submerged) Place the whole cabbage leaf over top, pressing down- this should help keep the kimchi submerged under the brine. You can also use a fermentation weight placed over top of the whole leaf to keep it submerged. Or a small zip lock filled with water. Basically anything that touches air may mold – but no worries if this happens (see notes) it is not ruined.
- FERMENT ( 3-4 days) Cover loosely with a lid (allowing air to escape) and place the jar in a baking dish (or big bowl) to collect any juices that may escape. (The idea though, is to keep as much of the flavorful juice in the jar, so don’t overfill.) Leave this on the somewhere cool or on the counter for 3 days. While on the counter, you can press down on the kimchi daily with the back of a wooden spoon to keep it submerged.
- EVENING OF DAY 3: Check for fermentaion action or bubbles. Tap the jar and see if tiny bubbles rise to the top. Check for overflow (which also indicates fermentation). If you see bubbles, it is ready to store in the refrigerator where it will continue to ferment and develop more flavor slowly. If no action, give it another day or two. You can also ferment longer, on the counter for more tang. If you don’t see bubbles when tapping the jar, it just may need a couple more days- especially in cooler climates. Be patient.
- REFRIGERATE: After you see bubbles (usually 3-5 days) the kimchi is ready, but it won’t achieve its full flavor and complexity, until about 2 weeks (in the fridge) slowly fermenting. The longer you ferment, the more complex and sour the taste.
- Maintenance: This will keep for months on end in the fridge (as long as it is submerged in the brine) and will continue to ferment very slowly, getting more and more flavorful. Feel free to remove the cabbage leaf and just press kimchi down under the brine, after each use. ( See notes for adding more brine)
- SERVE: Serve it as side dish: scoop it out using a slotted spoon, place in a small bowl, drizzle with sesame oil , toasted sesame seeds, and fresh scallions. Or Use it in Kimchi Fried Rice, Kimchi Burritos, Seoul Bowls, Kimchi Soup!
Notes
For milder kimchi, start with 2 tablespoons Korean chili flakes ( you can always stir in more). I like a spicy version with 6 tablespoons. 4 tablespoons is medium spicy.
If you like your kimchi, thick, and less watery, you can use sweet rice powder (also called glutinous rice powder ) to thicken. This is not the same as rice flour! Cook 1 tablespoon glutenous rice powder with ½ cup water, in a small pot over medium heat, stirring constantly until it boils. Let cool, still whisking occasionally. Add to the chili paste in the food processor. Continue with recipe.
MOLD If your cabbage leaf that is holding the kimchi down, happens to mold, just remove it, wipe out the rim of the jar as best you can, and replace it with a fresh one. Basically, if cabbage touches air here, it will mold, so after each use, press the kimchi down.
BRINE If you need or want to add more salt brine to the kimchi, to keep it submerged, mix water and salt at this ratio: 1 cup water and 1 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt. Stir it together first, pour over the kimchi.
Nutrition
- Calories: 39
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Excellent recipe! I’m on my second batch, I mowed through the first one during the confinement. I’m out of house jail so I headed down to my favo chinese market (which lies outside of our 1km limit so I couldn’t go there for two months!) to grab a massive cabbage and a daikon; salted, soaked, spiced and smelling fantastic. So easy and so very good. Thanks so much for posting this I just happened upon it a few short months ago and I’ve been sending peeps here ever since!
★★★★★
Thanks so much!
This looks yum I can’t have anything spicy is there any way I can make it without the chilli and anything that’s spicy in it?
Hey Karen- You could try making this without the chilies, yes, just season with the ginger and garlic.
Dear Sylvia, I have subscribed to your recipes, but now please help,I am going to make the Kimchi, I havn’t heard of Napa Cabbage in Australi we have all sorts, but can I use just the ordinary one (common cabbage) also today with a lot of searching found the gochugaru, but the bag is so huge it could feed a million, can I keep it in the freezer for when I need the rest of it? Thank you…….
Hi Margaret, I think most cabbage would work- napa cabbage feels like it has thinner leaves though. Yes, the dried chilies will last forever- no need to freeze, just wrap- or you can also substitute a smaller jar of the paste.
Napa cabbage is a chinese cabbage in Australia, it is everywere
So far so good. Smells right and looks right. Going through the process there were a couple items that I had to guess that I wasn’t sure of. First off is the strength of the brine. If you would specify the amount of water that should be used, then we could have a consistent ratio on our brine. As it stands, it could be anything from 2% to 30% depending on how much water you add. I imagine this will greatly affect not only the taste, but also how fast it will ferment. Second, and more minor is when we refrigerate, do we want to hard seal the lid? I looked into this further and it seems like if you want a more bubbly ferment, then close the lid tight and leave it alone for a couple weeks, but if you want a “flatter” ferment, then open the lid daily to let the CO2 escape. Other than that, I thought it was a great recipe and a good one for a first time kimchi effort (for me). Looking forward to munching.
★★★★★
OMG I am about to make this and wanted to know did you hard seal the lid when you put it in the fridge? and how was it?! Thanks!
I made this recipe but it didn’t ferment as in bubbles. I’ve had it in the fridge now for 3 weeks after previously sitting it in the bench for 3 days. It smells okay but no bubbles
is it tangy?
Does the kimchi bubble in the 3 days fermenting on the counter and do you keep the outer cabbage leaf on the top when you put it in the fridge?
Yes you should bubbles when you tap the jar. If it is cold it may take more time. I take off the outer cabbage leaf.
Excellent
★★★★★
It was such a simple recipe to follow and the ingredients required were available and affordable. I loved the spicy taste of it – cant wait for it to sit for as long as possible.
Also, I was curious about why in the picture the kimchi seems liquidy and not so red, whereas most Kimchi I’ve seen seems a lot more red in colour and more pasty vs liquidy. Is there a reason for that? I have yet to try it, but I will go for it as the comments seem to suggest it’s a good one!
Thank you!
I use the actual Korean flakes ( dried) here, which ferments along with the kimchi- not the gochujang paste is often filled with preservatives. Feel free to use the paste for that redder thicker look along with glutinous rice flour. ( See notes)
Hi! I don’t have a mason jar or jars with lids for storage in the fridge, can i just store it in a large bowl covered by a towel and plate as a ‘lid’?
thanks
Yes, you would still need something to weigh it down though.
I love that this recipe is totally from scratch ( not using the store bought Korean chili paste) because my family is highly sensitive to additives of any kind. This turned out perfect.
★★★★★
Hi, i really want to make this! Just wondering though, do you leave it on the counter for 3 days without closing the lid all 3 days? And then you close the lid when you out it in the fridge? 🙂
Just place the lid on top, don’t screw tight. Lightly screw it on to go in the fridge.
Thanks for the recipe! I just made it and after the three days there is a bit of mold at the top of my jars- can i simply remove the moldly parts? Or is the whole thing no good to eat now?
It will mold if cabbage touches the air. Yes discard the top, it should be fine underneath. Maybe after, pour it out, clean the jar and put back in?
Delicious, thank you for the recipe
★★★★★
Very good not Korea 1960 good but very good!
Thanks
★★★★
Hi thanks for the recipe, I’m using Gochujang instead of gochugaru and was wondering how much to put in? Would it be equivalent to how much gochugaru you suggest?
Thanks
★★★★★
You can always it add to taste. Just add and taste, add and taste- to see how spicy you like it. The heat level will mellow slightly.
Nowhere in the recipe you mention anything about actually adding the sugar. That is a big fat fail making my kimchi not ferment, because the bacteria need sugar.
Thanks man. Great recipe. Had to throw everything in the trash.
Hi B- sorry you are frustrated. The sugar is added in step 3 of the instructions. But just to clarify- you don’t actually need to add sugar for things to ferment-think of sauerkraut and pickles, no sugar. So if your kraut didn’t ferment (which, are you sure it didn’t?) then it was probably due to something else.
Right there it is step 3
Please check before making any statements like above, and there are other ways of saying you were not happy with the recipe! The first time I made this I added far too much chili flakes (didn’t find Korean so don’t know what to compare it to) but now I have adjusted and the kimchi is delicious
★★★★
Nice reading skills B!
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I almost made the same mistake as B because I was following the step-by-step instructions with the pictures. While I was making it, I happened to scroll down to the recipe that’s in the square with the gray background and saw that I needed to add sugar!
I think B is right in saying that the sugar should be mentioned in both places. Not sure if that ruins the recipe or not, though!
★★★★
Thanks so much Sophia for catching this! I now understand the confusion and fixed it in the photos. Mystery solved! Huge thanks!
Hi there,
I made this using your recipy but have a lot of liquid settling at the top, do you know if I can drain some of this off when it comes gto eating the Kimch or will this reduce the shelf life?
You want the brine to cover the cabbage while it’s being stored in the fridge, but feel free to strain the portion you are eating.
I made this recipe. Followed the amounts. It turned out well, however it is very salty, I am wondering if I can cut back on the salt the next time? I saw another recipe similar to this one but it used half the salt. I used the 6 table spoons of the paste and was a nice kick with out being too hot.
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I’m wondering Dana if you rinsed the Cabbage after soaking in the saltwater brine?
Hi does it have to be nappa cabbage, or would york cabbage do? I’m more interested in the probiotics of this than the taste.
Any cabbage should work fine!
Hello
Stated to make Kimchi. There never seems to be enough liquid to cover the cabbage although I use some of the brine but I’m concerned that it gets too salty. Also, can you leave the leaf on top to submerge the cabbage, I’m worried it will go bad.
You need to submerge the cabbage leaf with something heavy (to prevent mold if in contact with air) – fermentation weights, a small ziplock bag filled with water, a clean smooth stone works too!
I don’t think using kochujang is ideal.
It’s a way to make this recipe from scratch. Less additives. 🙂
Hi thanks for the recipe!
My second batch is brewing even though the first one isn’t even done yet.
I am using fermenting caps on Maxon jars.
quite a bit of floaters (mainly Chile seeds or flakes) despite cabbage leaf and glass weight.
do I need to remove them? All the veggies are submerged.
thanks!
TJ
I think it should be fine!
Thanks for the fast response!!
It is awesome!!!
★★★★★
Welcome 🙂
Hi
I used this recipe as a base . In addition, I added celery, medium black radish, and shredded carrots. The paste I used 4 tablespoons gochugara, 1 tablespoon aldeppo pepper , 4 tablespoons ginger, 5 large garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons fish sauce , 4 tablespoons sesame oil, 2 tablespoons sesame seeds. Just finished and quick cheat taste I think it will be great.
This is the second time I’ve made this and I must say the ease surprised me. In the second batch I used the milder chili flakes (Korean) as I found the “heat” increases. The problem is that my family is on to me and begs a portion (it’s that good) so with my hubby and myself loving it, doesn’t last.
★★★★★
Haha, love it!