Cooking8 min read
12 unexpected ways to use kimchi
Kimchi goes where a pickle or a chilli sauce would go, and it suits rich, plain food best. Grilled cheese, quesadillas, pizza, pasta, tacos, burgers, potato salad and kimchi butter, plus the two Korean dishes that already mix it with ham, noodles and cheese. Which jar to use for each, and the one step that keeps bread and dough from going soggy.
This piece has not been translated into Français yet, so you are reading the English original. Translations are published after review, never automatically.
Kimchi goes almost anywhere a pickle, a chilli sauce or a squeeze of lemon would go. It is salty, sour and spicy at once, so it suits rich, plain food: melted cheese, butter, pasta, potatoes, tortillas and bread. Chop it, squeeze out the brine, and it slips into grilled cheese, tacos, pasta, pizza, burgers and dumplings without making them soggy.
The 12 at a glance
| Dish | Kimchi to use | How it goes in |
|---|---|---|
| Grilled cheese | Sour, chopped | Squeezed, inside with mozzarella |
| Quesadilla | Sour, chopped | Fried in butter first |
| Pizza | Either | Squeezed, under the cheese |
| Mac and cheese | Sour | Fried, stirred through at the end |
| Pasta | Sour | Fried in butter, loosened with pasta water |
| Tacos | Either | Chopped raw, as the slaw |
| Hot dogs and burgers | Young | Raw, where the sauerkraut or relish goes |
| Kimchi mayo | Either | Blended into mayonnaise |
| Potato salad | Young | Chopped, in place of pickles |
| Devilled eggs | Young | Minced into the yolk filling |
| Kimchi butter | Either | Minced and beaten into soft butter |
| Army stew | Sour | Simmered with ham, noodles and cheese |
| Instant noodles | Sour | Simmered in the broth, cheese on top |
| Dumplings | Sour | Minced, squeezed, mixed with pork and tofu |
Which kimchi works best outside Korean cooking?
Two jars behave differently. Young kimchi is crisp and fresh, and it does the job of a raw pickle. Sour kimchi (신김치) has softened and turned sharp over weeks in the fridge, and heat calms it down, so that is the jar to cook with. Most of the dishes here use the sour one. If yours has gone past what you want to eat raw, four things to do with sour kimchi has the Korean options.
The other rule is water. Kimchi straight from the jar is wet, and wet kimchi turns bread, tortillas and pizza dough to paste. Chop it, press it in a sieve or squeeze it in your fist over a cup, and keep the brine. It has plenty of uses of its own.
What can you make with kimchi and cheese?
Cheese is the easiest partner. It is fatty and mild, and kimchi brings the salt and acid it lacks.
1. Grilled cheese. This is the one that spread across TikTok. Maangchi posted her version there in March 2021. She has written that cheddar with fermented kimchi came out too salty, so she switched to mozzarella. Chop and squeeze a quarter cup of kimchi, lay it on buttered bread under a handful of mozzarella, and cook the sandwich slowly over medium-low heat so the cheese melts before the bread burns.
2. Quesadilla. The kimchi quesadilla was one of the early dishes at Kogi, the Korean-Mexican taco truck that started selling in Los Angeles on 19 November 2008 with Roy Choi as its chef. Fry the chopped kimchi in a little butter for a few minutes until the edges colour, let it cool, then fold it into a flour tortilla with two cheeses. Frying first drives off the water and takes the raw edge off the acid.
3. Pizza. Squeezed kimchi goes under the mozzarella, not on top, where it would scorch. It sits well with pepperoni, sausage or bacon, because cured pork and kimchi meet all the time in Korean cooking.
4. Mac and cheese. Fry a cup of chopped sour kimchi in butter and stir it through the finished pot. Taste before salting. The kimchi brings its own salt, and the cheese sauce already has some.
Does kimchi work in pasta?
Yes, if it is cooked in fat first. Melt two tablespoons of butter in a wide pan, add a cup of chopped sour kimchi and fry it for three or four minutes. Add a spoonful of the brine, a ladle of pasta water and the drained spaghetti, and toss until the liquid turns glossy. Grated Parmesan and a raw egg yolk on top turn it into something close to carbonara.
The starch in the pasta water is what holds it together. Without it the butter and the kimchi juice separate and the noodles end up oily.
How do you put kimchi in a taco?
Use it in place of the slaw or salsa. Chop it, drain it and pile it raw onto grilled pork, chicken, fish or tofu. Young kimchi gives you crunch, and sour kimchi gives you more of a pickled bite. Kogi built a fleet of trucks on Korean seasoning in a corn tortilla, starting with a short rib taco.
Can you use kimchi instead of sauerkraut or relish?
Anywhere you would use a pickle, yes. The difference from sauerkraut is the chilli, garlic and fermented seafood, which we set out in kimchi vs sauerkraut.
5. Hot dogs and burgers. Chopped young kimchi goes where the sauerkraut or relish would go. On a cheeseburger it plays the part of the pickle slices.
6. Kimchi mayo. Blend two tablespoons of kimchi with half a cup of mayonnaise and a teaspoon of the brine. It is a sauce for fries, fried chicken, fish sandwiches and burgers, and it keeps in the fridge for a few days.
7. Potato salad. Swap the chopped pickles or relish for chopped young kimchi and use a little brine in the dressing in place of vinegar. Potatoes are bland enough to take a lot of it.
8. Devilled eggs. Mash the cooked yolks with mayonnaise, a tablespoon of very finely minced kimchi for every six eggs and a few drops of brine. It replaces the sweet relish many American recipes use.
How do you make kimchi butter?
Mince two tablespoons of squeezed kimchi as finely as you can and beat it into 115 g (one stick) of soft unsalted butter. Use unsalted, because the kimchi will season it. Roll it in baking paper and chill it.
9. Kimchi butter melts over corn on the cob, a steak resting on the board, a baked potato or hot toast. A slice of it is also the quickest start to fried rice.
What do Koreans make with kimchi that surprises visitors?
Two of the most popular kimchi dishes in Korea already mix in foreign food.
10. Army stew. 부대찌개, budae jjigae, means "army base stew". It started in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, after the Korean War, when ham, sausages and other food from the US bases there were cooked with kimchi and gochujang into a spicy stew. Today it comes with instant noodles, rice cakes and a slice of American cheese melting on top. The Uijeongbu version is known for using a lot of kimchi.
11. Instant noodles with kimchi and cheese. This is the army stew idea cut down to one pot and five minutes. Simmer a handful of sour kimchi in the broth of a packet of Korean instant noodles and lay a slice of processed cheese on top at the end. It is a common way to dress up a packet in Korea.
12. Kimchi dumplings. 김치만두, kimchi mandu, are filled with minced kimchi, pork, tofu and blanched bean sprouts. The Korean recipes we read all stress the same step: squeeze the kimchi dry, then squeeze the tofu dry, or the filling leaks and the wrappers tear. Kimchi left over from the winter batch often ends up here.
If you only try one of these, make it the grilled cheese, because it shows the rule behind all twelve. Squeezed kimchi, a mild cheese and low heat. Once that works, the quesadilla and the pizza are the same move with a different base.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best cheese to go with kimchi?
Mild, melting cheeses: mozzarella, Monterey Jack, young cheddar and American cheese. Kimchi is already salty, so aged, salty cheeses can push a dish too far.
Should I cook kimchi before adding it to other dishes?
For anything with bread, dough or a sauce, yes. A few minutes in butter or oil drives off water and softens the acid. For tacos, burgers and potato salad, use it raw like a pickle.
Does cooking kimchi kill the probiotics?
Yes. Lactic acid bacteria do not survive frying or simmering, as we covered in kimchi health benefits. The cooked dish keeps the flavour and fibre. A spoonful of raw kimchi on top puts some live bacteria back.
How much kimchi should I add?
Start with about a quarter cup per sandwich or serving and taste. Kimchi brings salt with it, so add any extra salt last.