What does kimchi taste like?
Kimchi tastes sour, spicy and garlicky, with a fizzy funk from fermentation and a crunchy bite, like a hot, pungent pickle that gets more sour the longer it sits.
Kimchi
sour, spicy, garlicky crunch
Kimchi is Korean fermented cabbage (or radish, or cucumber), packed with chili flakes, garlic, ginger, scallion and often fish sauce or salted shrimp. Fresh kimchi tastes crisp, salty and spicy, almost like a slaw. Left to ferment, it goes sour, tangy and a little fizzy on the tongue, and the funk gets deeper. Very ripe kimchi is too sour for most people to eat straight, which is exactly when it goes into stews and fried rice. The heat is real but usually medium.
Where you’ll see it
As one of the little side dishes (banchan) at a Korean restaurant, and cooked into kimchi fried rice, kimchi jjigae (stew), pancakes and dumplings. Lately it also turns up on burgers, tacos and grilled cheese.
Order it if you love pickles, garlic and a bit of heat, and you don't mind some funk.
Quick questions
- Is kimchi spicy?
- Usually medium spicy, from Korean chili flakes. There are mild versions too, like white kimchi made without chili, and water kimchi in a cool brine.
- Does kimchi taste like sauerkraut?
- A little. Both are sour fermented cabbage, but kimchi adds chili, garlic, ginger and often fish sauce, so it's spicier, funkier and more savory.
- Is kimchi vegan?
- Often not: many recipes use fish sauce or salted shrimp. Vegan kimchi exists, so ask.