How to Make the Best Kimchi Fried Rice in 20 Minutes

Kimchi, rice, and egg. You will likely find these ingredients in any traditional Korean household. These ingredients are so versatile, especially Kimchi. As this amazing fermented cabbage goodness ages, it may be too sour to consume on its own, but it transforms itself into a star ingredient in many cooked dishes -- think Kimchi stew, Kimchi pancake, and today's featured menu, Kimchi fried rice.

I love Baek Jong-won's Kimchi fried recipe because it's super simple to make and it takes so few ingredients. Simple and delicious meals with everyday ingredients is Baek's theme of cooking, and this dish certainly lives up to it.

I made the above dish on a Tuesday evening. I modified Baek's basic recipe by adding 3 strips of frozen pork belly that was sitting in my fridge. The whole thing took 20 minutes, including the egg :) That's almost the same time it takes for me to mobile-order and pick up a wrap/sandwich from Starbucks!

1. Prep Kimchi (and meat, optionally), rice and green onion

• Slice desired amount of Kimchi into small pieces (This is really up to you, but if you're cooking this dish for the first time, I'd recommend approximately 1 heaping cup of Kimchi per serving)

• Pro tip #1: Baek recommends putting Kimchi in a large bowl then using kitchen scissors to cut it. That way, no mess on your chopping board

• Pro tip #2: IF your Kimchi is too fresh, it's not going to make a great Kimchi fried rice. In this case, add a half a TBSP of vinegar per 1 cup of Kimchi to add sour flavor

• Have the cooked rice ready. You can either use a leftover rice from your fridge directly (in this case, no prep needed), or if it's warm, cool to room temperature.

• Pro tip: I placed my warm rice in the freezer for 10 minutes to quickly remove the heat

• Chop 2 green onions thinly.

• Note: If you don't have green onions handy, don't stress trying to go out and buy just that. I skip at times.

• Optional: Slice pork belly into thin slices. Then in a heated pan, stir-fry pork belly until brown

1. Stir-fry

• Heat a large wok or frying pan to a medium-high heat

• Add green onions and stir-fry until the color starts to change into a yellow-ish color

• Add Kimchi and stir-fry

• Optional: Kimchi itself might not yield that red color of a restaurant-quality Kimchi fried rice. The color is aesthetic. If you want this visual, feel free to add Korean hot chili pepper flakes.

1. Flavor your Kimchi (this is where the magic happens)

• Place your stir-fried Kimchi-green onion mix to one side of your wok/pan, leaving a good amount of empty space on the other side

• Add 3 TBSP of soy sauce into the empty space and let it sit for approximately 10 seconds to reduce

• Then thoroughly mix the kimchi-green onion mix with the soy sauce for about 1 minute

• Optional: For richer taste, Baek recommends adding approximately 1/2 TBSP of sugar into your Kimchi mix. If you don't want sugar, you can skip this step.

1. Add rice

• Turn off the heat

• Add 2 heaping bowls of rice into the wok/pan

• Mix thoroughly until the color of the rice is evenly mixed with Kimchi

• Then turn the heat back on to a medium-high then stir-fry for approximately 3-5 minutes until the rice is crispy

• Turn off the heat again (this time for good)

• Add 1 TBSP of sesame oil

• Taste -- feel free to add more soy sauce or sugar then mix as needed.

1. Optional: Pan-fry an egg (sunny-side-up style, or however you want) while your Kimchi fried rice is plated and is resting.

That's it! Serve if over some sesame seeds (totally optional) and enjoy :) My version in the picture includes pork belly + multi-grain rice (instead of recommended white rice).

Extra:

• For a visual reference, check out these YouTube clips - part 1 and part 2 where Baek Jong-won creates this dish. The clip should help you visualize the cooking process, even if you don't understand Korean.

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