How to Make Kimchi, and Everything You Can Do With It

As the national dish of South Korea, kimchi is a staple in kitchens around the world. This fermented cabbage dish can be served as a side dish, over a bed of rice, folded into scrambled eggs, whirred into tomato sauce, or even just eaten as is. Here's what to know about kimchi, how to make kimchi, and some of our favorite recipes using it as a deeply flavorful ingredient.

What is kimchi?

While many families have their own proprietary blend of ingredients, a traditional batch of kimchi will likely be made with napa cabbage, fish sauce, gochugaru (Korean coarse red pepper powder), sugar, ginger, garlic, scallions, radishes, and carrots. However, kimchi refers to a fermentation technique, not a specific dish, which means that you can use almost any kind of vegetable and omit ingredients to your liking. For example, if you want to make a vegan-friendly batch of kimchi, feel free to leave out the fish sauce. Or for a variation on traditional kimchi, try making baek kimchi, or white kimchi, which omits the gochugaru for a milder, refreshing flavor.

How to make kimchi

The process of making kimchi is not dictated by a rigid set of rules, giving you options to personalize it to your tastes. You can even skip the long fermentation process and make a quick cucumber kimchi that's ready in just two hours.

If you want to go the route of making a traditional napa cabbage kimchi, the most important step is the first one: brining sliced cabbage in salt (or salt water). This not only flavors the vegetable, but also removes some of the water content from the cabbage, which will allow it to be safely preserved for months to come. Generously sprinkle the cabbage with a few tablespoons of kosher salt and allow it to absorb the salt for at least two hours, and up to overnight. Once the cabbage is brined, thoroughly rinse the cabbage leaves in cold water to remove the salt and create a more neutral base for the kimchi.

Next grab a big bowl (like the biggest you can find), and add the cabbage, along with sliced daikon radish, gochugaru, garlic cloves, scallions, onions, carrots, ginger, gochugaru, fish sauce, and sugar. Using gloved hands, toss all of the ingredients together until the cabbage leaves are coated and  everything is evenly dispersed. Transfer the mixture to quart containers (or any sort of airtight jar) and let it rest at room temperature for 24 hours before transferring it to the refrigerator to chill for at least three to four days before using.

Though it is delicious eaten right from the jar — or as part of a banchan spread — kimchi is also a versatile ingredient to include in other recipes, from savory pancakes to standout burgers. Here are some of our favorite ways to incorporate kimchi into our cooking.