Kimchi substitute

Substitutes for Kimchi with ratios

1. 2Sauerkraut plus gochujang

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 1 cup drained sauerkraut plus 1 tablespoon gochujang for every 1 cup kimchi

   Easier to shop for than gochugaru, and fine once you know it lands sweeter.

   What changes

   Best for

   fried rice, stews and soups, noodles, marinades and glazes

   Gochujang brings chilli, colour and fermented soybean savouriness in one spoon, which is convenient, but it also brings sugar and glutinous rice, so a stew made this way tastes rounder, sweeter and slightly thicker than one made with kimchi, and less pungent. Add a grated garlic clove to restore the sharpness that kimchi has and gochujang does not. Because gochujang can catch and caramelise in a hot pan, stir it into liquid rather than dropping it onto dry heat.

2. 3Quick spicy cabbage pickle

   Different taste

   makes about 2 cups: toss 4 cups shredded napa or green cabbage with 1 tablespoon salt, rest 30 minutes, squeeze dry, then mix with 1 tablespoon gochugaru, 2 grated garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar

   Thirty minutes for something you can serve as a side dish, which is where other swaps fail.

   What changes

   Best for

   a side dish or banchan, topping rice bowls, tacos and burgers, cold noodles and salads, anywhere the kimchi is served raw rather than cooked

   Salting and squeezing the cabbage is what gives it the dense, snappy, seasoned texture rather than a watery slaw, so do not skip it. This is unfermented, so the sourness comes from vinegar and tastes bright and simple where real kimchi tastes complex, layered and slightly fizzy. It is genuinely good on its own terms and clearly not kimchi. It is also the right answer when you need something to sit on a plate rather than melt into a pan.

3. 4Pickled or fermented mustard greens, or suan cai

   Different taste

   Use the same amount drained, plus 1 teaspoon gochugaru per cup

   A very good and often overlooked option if there is an Asian grocer nearby.

   What changes

   Best for

   stews and braises, fried rice, noodle soups, pork dishes

   Chinese suan cai and pickled mustard greens are properly fermented, so they carry real sour funk and a savoury depth that vinegar pickles cannot fake, and they hold their texture in a long simmer even better than kimchi does. The flavour is more mustardy and slightly bitter, less garlicky, and not remotely spicy, so the gochugaru is doing real work. Rinse them if they taste aggressively salty, then drain well. In a pork and cabbage stew this is arguably a lateral move rather than a downgrade.

4. 5Kimchi paste stirred into shredded cabbage

   Different taste

   Use 2 to 3 tablespoons kimchi paste or kimchi base for every 4 cups shredded salted cabbage

   The route to take if you happen to have the seasoning but not the finished jar.

   What changes

   Best for

   same-day kimchi for eating fresh, cooking into fried rice and stews after a day or two, topping rice and noodles

   Salt the cabbage for thirty minutes and squeeze it before mixing so it takes the seasoning properly. Eaten immediately it tastes like a seasoned raw salad, sharp and garlicky and not at all sour, because fermentation is what creates the sourness and it has not happened yet. Left covered in the fridge for two or three days it starts to develop real tang and becomes much closer to what you wanted. If you intend to ferment it properly rather than eat it fresh, follow a tested recipe and do not reduce the salt, because the brining step is a safety step in a ferment rather than a seasoning choice.

5. 6Gochugaru or gochujang alone

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 1 tablespoon gochujang or 2 teaspoons gochugaru for every 1 cup kimchi, plus 1 tablespoon vinegar

   The honest least-bad answer, included because it is what most people try first and it is not enough.

   What changes

   Best for

   adding Korean chilli character to a dish that has to go ahead regardless, soups where the vegetable bulk comes from elsewhere

   This gives you the colour and the heat and none of the other three things kimchi was doing. Without the acid the dish tastes heavy and flat, without the vegetable bulk a kimchi fried rice has nothing to chew, and without the fermented funk it tastes generically spicy rather than Korean. The tablespoon of vinegar is the most important part of this substitute, not the chilli. Accept that you are making a spicy dish rather than a kimchi dish, and it will still be good.