Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe with Bacon (Kimchi-bokkeumbap)

This kimchi-bokkeumbap serves two and takes about 25 minutes. Ripe kimchi and bacon are stir-fried with kimchi juice and a little gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), then mixed with rice and finished with sesame oil and a fried egg. The key is to cook the kimchi before the rice goes in and to break up the rice so every grain is coated.

The National Folk Museum of Korea’s encyclopedia links the spread of kimchi fried rice to cooking oil and frying pans becoming common in homes from the 1960s onward. It cites a 1965 newspaper recipe for a pot-cooked rice dish topped with stir-fried kimchi and a 1972 one that fries cold rice with pork and kimchi. According to the same encyclopedia, it became an everyday dish in the 1980s.

For other rice dishes, see bibimbap (mixed rice bowl) and gimbap (seaweed rice rolls). For another kimchi dish, see kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew).

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• Large frying pan, about 28 cm (11 in)
• Small frying pan (for the eggs)
• Small bowl
• Spatula

1. Cut the bacon and kimchi into about 1 cm (about 3/8 in) squares. Finely chop the onion. Thinly slice the green onion.

   Bacon 5 slices · Onion 1/4 ea · Ripe Korean cabbage kimchi About 200 g (7.1 oz) · Green onion 1 stalk

2. In the small bowl, mix the kimchi juice, oligodang and gochugaru.

   Kimchi juice 3 tbsp · Oligodang (Korean oligosaccharide syrup) About 1 tbsp · Gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) About 1 tsp

3. Heat about 1 tsp of oil in the large pan over medium heat. Cook the bacon until it is lightly browned.

   Cooking oil About 1 tsp

4. Add the onion and kimchi. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes.

5. Add the sauce. Add the rice. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes, and break up any lumps with the spatula.

   Cooked rice About 400 g (14.1 oz)

6. Turn off the heat. Mix in the sesame oil. Divide the rice between 2 plates. Sprinkle the green onion and sesame seeds on top.

   Sesame oil About 1 tbsp · Toasted sesame seeds A pinch

7. Heat the remaining oil in the small pan over medium heat. Fry the eggs until the whites and yolks are fully set. Put 1 egg on each plate.

   Cooking oil About 2 tsp · Eggs 2 ea

• The rice is evenly coated in red, with no lumps
• The bacon is browned and the onion is soft
• The egg whites and yolks are fully set

Spam kimchi-bokkeumbap

The recipe checked for this entry allows Spam in place of the bacon.

Chamchi kimchi-bokkeumbap (canned tuna version)

The tuna sets down the oil it came with in the can before it joins the kimchi in the pan.

Dwaejigogi kimchi-bokkeumbap (pork version)

In the recipe checked for this entry, pork shoulder is marinated in a gochujang (Korean chili paste) seasoning and cooked before the kimchi goes in.

Egg fried rice

The recipe compared here stirs beaten egg into the rice and uses no kimchi, while this dish is built on kimchi and its juice and tops the rice with a fried egg.

• Korean Bapsang — Kimchi fried rice
• My Korean Kitchen — Kimchi fried rice
• Beyond Kimchee — Kimchi fried rice
• Pamela Salzman — Kimchi fried rice
• BBC Good Food — Egg fried rice
• Wtable — Kimchi fried rice (Korean)
• 10000recipe — Tuna and cheese kimchi fried rice (Korean)
• 10000recipe — Pork kimchi fried rice (Korean)
• National Folk Museum of Korea — Kimchi-bokkeumbap (Korean)
• UK Food Standards Agency — Home food fact checker
• FDA — Egg safety
• USDA — Bacon and food safety
• USDA — Ham and food safety
• USDA — Leftovers and food safety
• Health Canada — Refined oils and allergens