10 Delicious Ways to Eat Kimchi (includes Korean Recipes) (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to eat Korean kimchi? ›

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.

Put that open jar of kimchi to delicious use with one of our recipes with kimchi. The funky fermented cabbage adds a complex flavour hit to all sorts of savoury dishes. Add a dollop to cheese toastie fillings, fold it into homemade slaw, parathas and fried rice, or stir it into hearty stews.

Yes, Koreans generally enjoy eating kimchi with rice, as it is a staple dish in Korean cuisine. Kimchi is traditionally eaten as a side dish with rice, and it is often served at every meal.

The use of bold seasonings like gochugaru and, in some regions, salted seafood, offer additional layers of complexity to the overall taste of the 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.

Korean cuisine offers a whole range of dishes that incorporate kimchi and its brining liquid (sometimes referred to as its "juice"), including soups, stews, noodles, and savory pancakes. But don't feel boxed in by its origins, because kimchi's tangy, spicy, and savory notes can go with almost anything.

The shelf life of many store-bought kimchi brands is around eight months to a year. But, rely on your common sense. If you see any mold, toss it. If the smell changes from the usual expected sourness and pungency, to the point of being unpleasant, it may be time to get rid of it and buy more or start a new batch.

Though they come from different continents and cultures, kimchi and cheese from Switzerland are a star-crossed pair. Now we love rich, melted, oozy cheese probably much more than the average person, but when you add tangy, bright, spicy kimchi, it's truly next level.

In one study, 20 people with a history of digestive problems ate around half a cup, or 75 grams, of kimchi twice each day for 14 days. They reported significantly reduced symptoms, including less abdominal pain, heartburn, acid reflux, bloating, belching, and passing gas.

Eating more radish kimchi (kkakdugi) was associated with less abdominal obesity in both men and women. However, people who ate five or more serves of any type of kimchi weighed more, had a larger waist sizes and were more likely to be obese.

What veggies go with kimchi? ›

You can play around with the veggies in this dish a bit, but I have to say, zucchini and carrots worked out kind of perfectly. The zucchini sucks up the spicy and sour kimchi juices, while the carrots add some nice crunch and sweetness that compliment kimchi's punch.

The fiber, antioxidants, and nutrients in kimchi can also help lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels, which can boost heart health. Early research suggests kimchi may strengthen your immune system. The bacteria in kimchi are linked to improved immune function and lower levels of inflammation triggered by diseases.

Teaming starchy white rice with the high-impact flavors of kimchi results in a dish that is temptingly delicious. On its own, kimchi can be cheekily sour, spicy, and pungent. It's a concoction of salted and fermented vegetables that is a staple in Korean cuisine.

If you have store-bought kimchi that's been opened, it will be good for 3-4 days at room temperature and up to 6 months when refrigerated. Signs of your kimchi going bad include mold growth, an alcoholic smell, and an extremely sour taste.

Kimchi can be eaten basically however you want. You can eat it cold straight from the container. You can use it as an ingredient in soups, noodles, Korean pancakes, and fried rice. You can even chop it up small, sautee it in butter and add it to things like hotdogs, quesadillas, or grilled cheese.

Kimchi is usually served as a side dish (banchan) to be eaten with other elements of a Korean meal (bapsang), including steamed rice (bap), soup (guk), salted dish (jang), and other side dishes consisting of vegetables (namul) and/or protein dishes (meat and fish) [24].

Eating up to three daily servings of the Korean classic, kimchi, may lower men's overall risk of obesity, while radish kimchi is linked to a lower prevalence of midriff bulge in both sexes, finds research published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

Rinsing kimchi before eating it is actually a pretty common practice for children and elderly people who find its flavor too strong. However, if you're adamant about preserving all of your kimchi's flavor, you'll have to store it in a way that prevents the white spots on the top from growing in the first place.