Korean · Quick Meals · Side dish

Kimchi Fried Rice

Cold rice fried hard with sour kimchi and topped with a fried egg. Twenty-five minutes, and better the older the kimchi is.

25 min total Serves 2 servings Easy
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Kimchi Fried Rice

Photograph credit: Kimchi fried · CC0 1.0 · Rawpixel

Kimchi Fried Rice: Step by Step

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  1. Break up the cold rice with wet fingers until no lumps remain.

  2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok and fry the pork for 4 minutes, until the fat runs and the edges crisp.

  3. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds.

  4. Add the kimchi and fry over a high heat for 3 minutes, until it darkens and smells sweet.

  5. Stir in the gochujang and sugar and cook 1 minute.

  6. Add the rice and the kimchi juice and toss for 4 minutes, pressing the rice against the hot pan and lifting.

  7. Stir in the sesame oil and take off the heat.

  8. Fry the eggs in a separate pan until the whites are set and the yolks still soft.

  9. Divide the rice between two bowls, top each with an egg.

  10. Scatter the spring onions, sesame seeds and nori over.

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Things to Watch For

  1. Sour kimchi, not fresh. Three weeks open is right.
  2. Use the juice — it is half the seasoning.
  3. Cold rice, pressed and lifted rather than stirred.

If You're Missing Something

  • Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
  • An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Good to Know About Kimchi Fried Rice

Use kimchi that has gone properly sour — the fizzing, three-weeks-open kind that is no longer pleasant to eat raw. Fresh kimchi is crunchy and mild and makes a fried rice that tastes of not much; sour kimchi has developed the acidity and depth the dish is built on. Fry the kimchi in oil for three minutes on its own before the rice, and use its juice too.

What to Serve It With

A fried egg, always · Miyeokguk · Cold barley tea

Storing Leftovers

Keeps 2 days refrigerated. Reheat in a hot pan and add a fresh egg.

What's in a Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .