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This perfect vegan kimchi fried rice recipe (a.k.a. kimchi-bokkeum-bap 김치볶음밥) will have you savoring every flavor-packed bite. It really delivers the perfect balance of spice and umami goodness. Not only is this easy-to-make Korean dish an absolute showstopper, but it's also a delicious way to give your leftover rice a delectable new lease on life. It also happens to be completely gluten-free, as long as the gochujang you use is.
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You can use my vegan kimchi recipe to use in this dish, or any vegan store-bought brand you like. Any leftover cooked rice you have laying around will work in this recipe, but I think it works extra-perfect with short-grain white rice.
Prepare for your sense to be enveloped by a Korean comfort-food vibe as you indulge in the heat and spice of this perfect plant based kimchi fried rice. You are def gonna want to drown it in a pile of my seitan bulgogi, or some eggplant, char-grilled in Korean bbq sauce.
Not only will you relish every nourishing bite, but you'll also love how it puts any leftover rice and kimchi to excellent use, preventing any food waste. It's fast to make, nourishing, an all-around crowd pleaser, and therefore, what I'd call the perfect weeknight meal.
So get your wok ready and let's start cooking up a storm!
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🥰Why you'll adore this vegan kimchi recipe
✊ Rice Game Strong: This is hands down one of my favorite rice recipes—and that says a lot, considering the lineup of BANGERS I’ve shared, like veg biryani, nasi uduk, and crispy rice dumplings with red jujube dates. If you’ve got leftover rice, this is the best way to use it up.
🥡 Meal Prep Hero: Perfect for batching ahead, this holds up well for meal prep days and packed lunches, making your week that much easier.
✅ Tested, & Approved: Like all of my vegan Korean recipes, this rice has been rigorously tested by hundreds of recipe testers from all around the world to ensure it works with different rice varieties, tofu textures, and seasoning brands. No guesswork—just reliable, repeatable deliciousness.
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🍚 Ingredients
Rice
This recipe calls for day old rice as it firms up and is suited to be fried, since it will not overcook and become mushy. If you don't have any leftover rice, don't worry, cook a fresh batch and let it cool for an hour or two uncovered before frying.
Gochujang
This red fermented soybean and chili paste, is a match made in heaven for kimchi fried rice. I really like the one that Trader Joe’s offers because it is one of very few commercially available brands that is not made with high-fructose corn syrup. Gochujang lasts for months in the refrigerator. If you can't get hold of any, you can substitute sriracha, and add a little more sweetener to the recipe, since gochujang is sweet.
Kimchi
Kimchi isn’t usually vegan, but rejoice, there are finally a bunch of brands that are. I make this fried rice using my vegan kimchi, or my vegan radish kimchi because they are cheaper than store-bought, and gosh darn it, better than anything you can buy! Make sure to include the kimchi juice in what you measure out, as it really helps permeate the rice with that divine fermented flavor.
Date syrup
I think date syrup is the perfect sweetener for this dish. Date syrup is a healthy and flavorful substitute for refined sugar, with a lower glycemic index. Other options are maple syrup, or coconut sugar like I use in making Kuih Dadar, or palm sugar which I use in klepon, and bubur cha cha.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
👉Variations
Everyone’s different, like fingerprints, snowflakes, and whatnot. Make this dish exactly how you want it to be!
Spicier pls!
To kick it up, simply add MORE gochujang when you make it. If you are a freaking crazy person, you can also add some minced Thai chilies, sambal oelek, or chili garlic sauce when you are sautéing up the initial ingredients.
Not spicy practically at all pls!
Leave out the gochujang, and use homemade kimchi that is light on the gochugaru (or free of it completely if you must)
📖 How to make vegan kimchi fried rice
Don't be scared. I will hold your hand and we can walk together into the fried rice sunset. Or you can skip this step-by-step guide and just follow the recipe card toward the bottom of this page.
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Blot the tofu dry with a paper towel and cut it into 1 cm cubes. Combine the cubed tofu, olive oil, and a tablespoon of tamari in a bowl, then spread the mixture out in a single layer on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.
Step 2
Roast the tofu for 25 minutes until it becomes firm and acquires a golden brown color.
Step 3
Warm up a wok or large cast iron skillet on high heat for 90 seconds. Pour in the sesame oil and let it heat thoroughly for 60 seconds. Add the scallions, enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts, and garlic to the pan and sauté by stirring for 2-3 minutes until the scallions and bean sprouts start to wilt.
Step 4
Incorporate the roasted tofu and kimchi into the sauté and continue cooking for 2 minutes until it becomes aromatic.
Step 5
Add the rice, date syrup, and gochujang. Continue cooking by stirring occasionally for 3 minutes until the rice is heated completely.
Step 6
When serving, garnish each portion with toasted sesame seeds, additional bean sprouts, thinly sliced seasoned seaweed, and scallions, or Korean scallion salad.
🍽️Serving Ideas
This vegan kimchi fried rice is already a pretty nutritionally complete meal, but my family LOVES when I serve this with other Korean banchans.
It's nice with a pop of freshness from Korean carrot salad. This is also the super-loveliest bed onto which to lay some vegan Korean fried chicken or Korean braised tofu. A bowl of sundubu jjigae on the side, and a cinnamon and sugar-coated Korean donuts for dessert? Sign me TF up!
❗️Top tips
- “I just made my kimchi yesterday”- if your kimchi isn’t fermented enough the fried rice will not have as intense a flavor. Add an extra splash of vinegar to compensate for the not-yet-sour-enough thing your unripe kimchi has going on.
- Cutting the seasoned seaweed- this works best using sharp scissors instead of a knife. You can even cut 5 or so sheets at a time that way.
- Use day-old rice, or at least rice that has fully cooled for a couple hours. This will avoid the rice being mushy when it gets stir fried.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Stir-fried kimchi mellows out when cooked, diminishing it’s heat and sourness a little. When sautéing the rice, both date syrup and gochujang is added to balance the sour and pungent flavor of the fermented kimchi. If your kimchi is weak tasting, you might want to punch the dish up with a small splash of vinegar to balance off the sweetness.
Most of the time, kimchi is served with fried egg, but it can totally be made plant-based if you leave that out! But here's the thing: the Kimchi itself can sometimes have seafood stuff in it like brine shrimp or fish sauce. So if you're buying Kimchi, make sure you read the label carefully to make sure it's vegan-friendly.
Short-grain rice (japonica) is often preferred for fried rice because of its stickier texture and higher starch content, which allows it to hold together better when stir-fried with other ingredients. This results in a more cohesive and satisfying texture to the dish. Popular japonica rice varieties include Koshihikari, Calrose, and Nishiki, but any short-grain rice will work great in this recipe.
If you aren’t eating this immediately, you can portion it out into containers for meal prep, or for packed lunches, and it will last for 3-4 days in the fridge, as long as the rice you use in the recipe isn’t already older than 24 hours.
🔥 If you want to reheat this dish, just stir-frying it in a wok or skillet over a high flame for a couple of minutes will do the trick. You may want to add a little extra water or sesame oil when you reheat it so it stays juicy.
Vegan kimchi skips the seafood stuff but keeps the punch. It’s usually made with napa cabbage or Chinese leaf, salt, gochugaru, garlic, ginger, and a flavor-packed paste of sweet rice flour, miso, or tamari. Toss in carrots, scallions, or daikon if you’re feeling fancy. Once packed into a fermentation jar, the cabbage ferment turns sharp, funky, and full of flavour.
To replace fish sauce, go for umami-rich ingredients like tamari, soy sauce, miso, or even a kelp broth. You’ll still get that deep flavour without anchovies. Just mix your substitute into the kimchi paste before it hits the cabbage leaves. The result is a solid taste without the fishy baggage.
It’s all about what’s not in it. Traditional kimchi often includes fish sauce, shrimp paste, or anchovy brine. Vegan versions ditch the seafood and swap in umami boosters. Both use napa cabbage or Chinese leaf, get packed into a jar, salted, and left to ferment. Same fermentation, same tang.
Once your cabbage ferment is ready, don’t stop at just snacking. Toss vegan kimchi into fried rice. Use the liquid as a base for broth or mix into dressings. It plays nice with tofu, noodles, and anything needing a flavour bomb. Even a spoonful straight from the jar counts as dinner (no judgment).
That fizzy taste means your kimchi’s doing its thing. During fermentation, natural bacteria break down sugars in the cabbage, releasing carbon dioxide. That gas gets trapped in the jar, especially if it’s sealed tight, and gives your kimchi that tingly feel. It’s normal, it’s safe, and it means your paste, salt, and time have done their job.
Most packaged kimchi ramyun isn’t vegan by default. It often sneaks in seafood-based flavors. Always check the paste or seasoning packet ingredients. But there are vegan-friendly versions out there if you know where to look. Just bring your own kimchi salt.
✌️Other dishes that go great with this:
Hate gluten with all of your heart? Learn how to make insanely good wheat-free vegan dishes in this hyper-fun masterclass with Chef Adam Sobel
The Easiest Vegan Kimchi Fried Rice
Equipment
- wok or large cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 14 oz. Extra firm tofu drained
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 scallions chopped into ½ inch sections
- 1 pack enoki mushrooms 200 grams, roughly chopped
- 1 cup bean sprouts optional
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- ⅔ cup chopped kimchi with juice
- 4 cups cooked short grain rice white or brown as desired
- 2-3 tablespoons of gochujang according to your preference for spice
- 1 ½ teaspoons date syrup or maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon toasted white or black sesame seeds to garnish
- Extra beansprouts optional to garnish
- Roasted seasoned seaweed nori, cut into thin strips
- Thinly sliced scallions to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pat the tofu dry with a paper towel and dice it into 1 cm cubes. Mix together the diced tofu, olive oil and tablespoon of tamari in a bowl, and then spread it out in a single layer on a parchment paper lined baking pan. Roast the tofu for 25 minutes until firm and golden brown.
- Heat a wok or large cast iron skillet over a high flame for 90 seconds. Add the sesame oil, and allow it to heat fully for 60 seconds. Add the scallions, enoki mushrooms, beansprouts, and garlic to the pan and sauté, stirring for 2-3 minutes until the scallions and beansprouts show signs of wilting.
- Add the kimchi and roasted tofu. Continue sautéing for 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add the rice, date syrup, and gochujang. Continue sautéing, stirring regularly for 3 minutes until the rice is heated throughout.
- When serving, garnish with toasted sesame seeds, extra beansprouts, thinly cut seasoned seaweed, and scallions.
Notes
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KRB says
This is so good, and came together quickly with leftover rice. I definitely made it my own, with different veggies because that's what I had on hand. But my family loves kimchi and I'm always excited for a new way to incorporate it into a meal.
amy says
I mad this today, the taste is amazing!! I accidently added ingredients out of order, however it didn't matter, the flavors meld together. Will definitely make this on repeat! I typically cook oil free, however I did use some sesame oil, it's such a distinctive flavor, just less 🙂
Next time will change up the veggies a bit, add more mushroom, maybe larger pieces for texture.
Liz says
Yum! We used date syrup because, as you stated, maple syrup has a distinct flavor.
The gochulang and date syrup balanced each other well. We like things spicy, so when we make this again, we will probably use more gochulang. Or, we may add Thai chilies as you recommend (good call!). The flavors in the final dish are wonderful and it was even better the next day.
MissDemeanor says
I made this with a couple of veggie substitutes- sugar snap peas instead of bean sprouts and crimini mushrooms in lieu of enoki. Other than that, I stuck to the recipe and it was very tasty! It’s a great one to prep in advance for cooking on a busy nite, as it comes together in literally 12 minutes if your rice is cooked, tofu baked, and veggies chopped.
Kelly says
I recently made this recipe and love it! The texture of the enoki mushrooms, the tofu and the chopped kimchi together resulted in something magical. This will be a go-to way to use up leftover rice and kimchi!