I am a big fan of Korean sour kimchi. Peek inside our pantry, and you’ll find kimchi is always in stock. Other than eating kimchi straight as a side dish, I also like cooking with kimchi! Kimchi fried rice is one of my favorite recipes use kimchi for cooking. It’s delicious and takes only a little effort to make.
About this recipe
When I make kimchi fried rice, I often add meat and vegetables as well. For this recipe, I added canned tuna, carrot and onion to my kimchi fried rice. And topped with sunny side up fried egg, sesame seeds and roasted seaweed. This home-style tuna kimchi fried rice is a wonderful blend of both flavors and textures.
Tips to making delicious fried rice at home
Tip No.1 Use leftover rice
Dry leftover rice (normally day-old or overnight at least) gives the fried rice a nice chewy grains texture. Just-cooked rice is sticky and warm, use it for fired rice, the product will more likely turn out soggy. In this case, fresh isn’t actually better.
Tip No.2 Season the rice prior to cooking
Season the rice beforehand not only makes sure the rice is seasoned evenly, it will also make the cooking a breeze! For 2 cups of rice, I mixed with 1/4 cup kimchi juice, 1 teaspoon Korean hot pepper paste(Gochujiang), 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and sugar. The secret to making delicious kimchi fried rice is adding the fermented kimchi juice (from the container)!
The order of adding ingredients for stir-fry is also important to make sure the fried rice has the right texture. Because carrot and onion take longer to cook, I added them first and cook until they are soft and slightly browned. Then I dropped in the kimchi and stir fried for only a minute before adding the tuna.
The flavored leftover rice is added last, it takes only a couple minutes of cooking to heat it through. Remember to stir frequently so everything is cooked evenly.
The toppings add more flavor and texture into this kimchi fried rice, makes it more delicious! I sprinkled sesame seeds, roasted seaweed and added a sunny side up fried egg on top of the rice.
I hope you enjoy making this tuna kimchi fried rice. If you like this recipe, please leave a rating and share it with your friends!
- 2 cups day-old leftover rice
- 1 cup kimchi, chopped into smaller pieces
- 1 serving of canned tuna (2 oz, about ¼ cup)
- ½ cup diced onion
- ½ cup diced carrot
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Seasonings:
- ¼ cup kimchi juice
- 1 teaspoon Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- Topping:
- 1 sunny-side up fried egg
- 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
- ¼ sheet of dried seaweed, shredded (optional)
- Mix the leftover rice with kimchi juice, Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang), sesame oil, salt and sugar, set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat, sauté carrot and onion for 2-3 minutes until soft and slightly browned.
- Add kimchi, stir fry for 1-2 minutes and stir in the canned tuna, cook for 1 minute.
- Add in the flavored leftover rice, cook 4-5 minutes until throughly heat through. Stir frequently until all ingredients are mixed well.
- Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds and dried seaweeds.
- Add a sunny-side up fried egg on top to serve and enjoy!
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6 comments
The Kim chi tuna was easy for me to make my partner likes spicy spicy so I used Chili tuna and the 90 minute rice works good if you need dry rice fast. I also put egg in microwave so it only take me 8 minutes total to cook thank you so much
You’re welcome, I am glad you liked this recipe!
This was such an easy and delicious recipe to cook! Already had everything at home to make it. Thank you!! P.S. The egg was seriously the perfect topping 🙂
This turned out perfectly, thank you so much! I haven’t had kimchi tuna fried rice since I left Korea two years ago, so I was really excited to try your recipe. I added one can of tuna at first but added another at the end after taste-testing. I guess I like it fishy! It was delicious and my 3 year old daughter said it was “sooo good!”. Thanks again!
I made this today and it was amazing! My mom who is Korean even said that it was great. Thank you so much for the recipe. I’m going to be making this a lot.
We love this recipe!!!👌🏻❤️ I added diced spam for additional flavor and more toppings.