How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (2024)

Kelly from Primally Inspired 71 Comments

How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (1)

How To Make Kimchi (My Mom’s Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe)

Have you ever had kimchi? (Sometimes spelled Kimchee, too).

Today I’m going to teach you how to make kimchi. And not just any kimchi – my mom’s famous spicy kimchi! This stuff is the bomb!

How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (2)

Kimchi is a traditional fermented food and it’s even Korea’s national dish. Koreans generally eat a small amount of kimchi with every single meal. Kimchi is made with vegetables and spices and is lacto fermented. That means it’sjam packed with beneficial probiotics that help our immune health and digestion. In other words – it’s super, super good for you! Those smart Koreans definitely know what’s up 😉

Homemade fermented foods like kimchi contain 100 times more probiotics than a supplement. In fact, just one small spoonful of kimchi will give you more probiotics than an entire bottle of probiotics! (Source)

If you’ve never tasted kimchi, it’s like a flavor explosion in your mouth. It’s a delightful combination of crispy and bold andspicy and tangy. If you like sour foods like pickles and sauerkraut, I think you’ll really love kimchi, too.

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Kimchi is awesome on wraps, sandwiches, on hamburgers or just eaten by the spoonful. But my very favorite way to eat kimchi is mixed with eggs for breakfast. So yummy!

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My mom makes the best kimchi. I’ve had my fair share of kimchi and no one beats my mom’s kimchi. I spent a few days visiting with her last week and she taught me exactly how to make kimchi so I could share it with you all. And today I’m showing you how to make it based on my mom’s famous spicy Korean kimchi recipe. Enjoy!

If you are a regular eater of kimchi, leave me a comment and let me know what foods you like to pair with your kimchi 🙂

How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (5)

How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (6)

How To Make Kimchi

How To Make Kimchi (My Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe!)

How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (7)

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Kelly from Primally Inspired

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How to Make Kimchi (Korean Spicy Kimchi Recipe) from Primally Inspired

Ingredients

  • 2 heads Napa cabbage (about 6 pounds total)
  • 1 cup sea salt
  • 2 cups spring or distilled water
  • 1 large diakon radish (about 1½ pounds), peeled
  • 4 large carrots (about ¾ pound total)
  • 1 apple, peeled and core removed (don't leave the apple out! The apple provides sugar for the bacteria to eat so it can ferment properly)
  • 2 bunches of scallions, chopped
  • 1 whole head of garlic, peeled
  • 4 ounces fresh ginger
  • 1½ cups hot Korean chili flakes (found in Asian markets or online. I use THESE)
  • optional: 1 teaspoon fish sauce (I use THIS)
  • optional: pinch or two (or three!) of dried red pepper flakes. The more pinches, the spicier! I typically use 2 pinches - about 1 teaspoon.
  • ⅓ cup additional distilled or spring water
  • clean mason jars (I use 8 of THESE jars)

Instructions

  1. Cut your cabbage in one inch (bite size) pieces and place it in 2 very large bowls. How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (8)
  2. Add ½ cup sea salt and 1 cup of water to each bowl and toss with your hands to coat. How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (9)
  3. Let the cabbage sit for one hour, tossing every 20 minutes. You'll start to see the cabbage releasing liquid and shrinking in size - that's exactly what we want!
  4. While the cabbage is sitting, shred your radish, carrots and apple in a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, you can chop them in small pieces. Set aside.
  5. In a food processor, process the garlic and ginger until smooth.
  6. Fold in your Korean hot chili flakes, red pepper flakes (if using) and fish sauce (if using) and ⅓ cup water. Stir until it becomes a paste. Set aside.
  7. After the cabbage has sat for 1 hour, rinse it very well with cold water and then strain the water. Rinse and strain for a total of 3 times. Rinsing and straining 3 times is important because you want to wash away most of the salt or it will be way too salty!
  8. Place your rinsed cabbage in one of your very large bowls (it should all fit in one bowl now).
  9. Add the radish, carrot, scallions and apple and your hot chili/garlic/ginger paste. How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (10)
  10. With gloves on your hands (important!), toss everything together making sure that the paste coats all the veggies well.
  11. Add the kimchi to your mason jars packing it in tightly. Make sure to leave at least 2 inches of headroom (the kimchi will expand as it ferments). Close the lids to your jars. This recipe usually makes about 8-10 pint size jars.
  12. Close the lids on your jars and let them sit for 3-5 days.
  13. You must "burp" the jars once a day during these 3-5 days. You do that by quickly opening the jar and then closing it. You'll hear gas releasing - just like what it sounds like when you open a soda. That is normal and a good sign! You should see small bubbles in your jar, too. And if you hold the opened jar to your ears, you'll also hear it fizzing. That's like music to a fermenters ears 🙂
  14. After 3 days, give your kimchi a taste. If it tastes tangy and "fizzy", that means your kimchi is finished and you can move your jars to the fridge. They will last about a year in the fridge. If you don't taste that tanginess, let your kimchi sit for a few more days.

Notes

You may want to put the jars on a tray while they are fermenting. If you didn't leave enough headroom, your kimchi liquid could spill out of the jars, leaving you with a big mess - a tray helps catch that liquid 🙂

Pin How To Make Kimchi HERE:

How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (11)

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How To Make Kimchi - Mom's Famous Spicy Kimchi Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make premade kimchi spicy? ›

If all you want is More Heat, just use finely minced habanero or scotch bonnet peppers. (Use appropriate practices for handling extremely spicy peppers.) After adding the peppers, stir well and let sit for a day or two to let the flavors disperse.

What is spicy kimchi made of? ›

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.

What does kimchi do for your body? ›

Along with fiber, vitamins, and minerals, kimchi contains natural probiotic bacteria. If you eat them regularly, the probiotics in fermented foods can be beneficial to your gut microbiome. Studies suggest that eating kimchi on a daily basis could help to improve some digestive problems.

What can I add to kimchi to make it spicier? ›

Gochugaru is a coarsely ground Korean chili powder, or red pepper flakes, that add lots of flavor and spice it up. It is best to use authentic gochugaru, not a substitute. Umami. I use fish sauce and salted shrimp (saeujeot) and miso paste.

Is spicy kimchi good for you? ›

Kimchi is a fermented vegetable dish that can add a spicy, tangy kick to your meals. Although it can be high in sodium, it also serves up the good-for-you probiotics, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help your body ward off illness and stay healthy. If you haven't already, give kimchi a try!

How much kimchi should you eat a day? ›

Kimchi is often served as a side dish alongside other healthful vegetables and proteins. Researchers noted in the study that consuming more than three servings of kimchi a day could have the opposite benefit. Participants who ate more than five servings of kimchi per day were more likely to be at a risk for obesity.

Does kimchi go bad? ›

Opened, store-bought kimchi lasts 3-4 days at room temperature and up to 6 months in the refrigerator. As soon as you break the seal and expose your kimchi to oxygen, the fermentation process starts to speed up, meaning that your kimchi will near its expiration date a lot faster.

Can you eat kimchi straight from the jar? ›

Kimchi is a super versatile dish that can be eaten on its own - seriously, straight out of the jar - as a condiment, or worked into almost any recipe. It compliments many flavors in sometimes surprising ways and has enough flavor to stand out on its own.

Can you eat kimchi everyday? ›

Eating kimchi every day could help people combat weight gain, research suggests. The Korean fermented cabbage and vegetable dish has been growing in popularity after studies suggested it may improve levels of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

What jar is best for kimchi? ›

Sure, a specialized kimchi jar with an airtight seal might be the traditional choice, but a large glass or plastic container with a secure lid can work wonders too. The key is to create an environment conducive to fermentation, allowing those magical microbes to perform their amazing job!

Is homemade kimchi good? ›

Because it's a fermented food, it boasts numerous probiotics. These healthy microorganisms may give kimchi several health benefits. It may help regulate your immune system, promote weight loss, fight inflammation, and even slow the aging process. If you enjoy cooking, you can even make kimchi at home.

Is there a difference between kimchi and fermented kimchi? ›

Taste. The biggest difference between fresh and fermented Kimchi is the taste. Fresh Kimchi is more like a salad, so it taste more raw, fresh and crunchy. Fermented Kimchi is softer and tangy.

Is kimchi difficult to make? ›

Kimchi is expensive in stores, but it's cheap if you make it yourself. Kimchi may seem complex to make, but it's no more difficult than making a salad. Summary: Kimchi is typically made with cabbage, radish, garlic, onion, ginger, carrot, fish sauce, and chili flakes.

How to enhance store bought kimchi? ›

Adjust the seasoning: Kimchi is traditionally made with a combination of salty, sweet, and spicy flavors. Adjusting the seasoning to suit your taste can help improve the overall flavor. For example, you can add more sugar or hon.

What to do if kimchi is not spicy? ›

Add more hot pepper flakes if it's not spicy enough for you. Happy cooking! Sometimes even the spicy versions of hot pepper flakes isn't spicy enough for me. What I learned to do (from a friend of my mom who is quite well-known in local circles for making fantastic kimchi) is to add some hot peppers to the mix.

Do you heat up premade kimchi? ›

The answer to “do you eat kimchi hot or cold” is really about health, not flavor. Kimchi tastes great cooked into almost anything. But heating kimchi kills the healthy, helpful bacteria that are a product of the fermentation process.

How do you ripen store bought kimchi? ›

Your kimchi will continue to ripen in the fridge and its taste will develop in complexity, and eventually become more sour. If you are a fan of sour kimchi or want to use it for cooking, you may hasten the ripening process by leaving your kimchi at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours.

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