Kimchi Fried Rice with Spam

A delicious and easy, 30 minute kimchi fried rice recipe (Kimchi Bokkeumbap) made with kimchi, spam, and rice and served with a fried egg on top

Whenever I need a quick meal, this Korean fried rice (kimchi bokkeumbap) recipe is one of my go-to's. It's made with spam (or bacon), egg, kimchi and leftover rice and literally takes less than 30 minutes to make. It's also the perfect fried rice to use up leftover meat in as well.

Using over ripen kimchi works best for recipes like this and soondubu jjigae (Korean tofu stew) because of how pungent and flavorful it is. So if you have some sitting around in your fridge for a long time, here's a great way to use it!

Kimchi Fried Rice Ingredients and Substitutions

• Spam -  To make this spam and kimchi fried rice, I used spam as the main protein. Spam gives the fried rice a wonderful flavor and gives the fried the perfect amount of saltiness. You can substitute this with bacon if you prefer not to use spam but you will need to adjust the amount of soy sauce or salt since spam is saltier than bacon. You can also use any type of leftover meat as well, but you may need to add more salt to the fried rice.
• Rice - I like to use Japanese short-grain rice (Calrose) for this fried rice but long grain rice like jasmine rice will work too. Use day-old cold rice for this recipe for the best result.
• Kimchi - This is the star of this recipe. The older the kimchi, the more flavorful the fried rice will be. Older kimchi will have a lot of kimchi liquid, fizziness, and it will be a lot softer and fermented.
• Gochujang - Adding gochujang to the sauce, gives the fried rice extra flavor, a touch of sweetness, and saltiness which brings the whole dish together.
• Fish Sauce - I like to use fish sauce for this kimchi rice, if you don't want something with a strong flavor you can use soy sauce instead.
• Garlic/Onions - Even though there is already a lot of garlic in kimchi, toasting a bit of onion and garlic with the meat gives the fried rice dish even more flavorful.
• Butter - I like to use butter to brown the spam, onions, and garlic to give the fried rice a bit more flavor. You can just use neutral oil (any oil except olive oil) if you want it to be healthier.
• Sesame Oil - Adding sesame oil at the very end right when you turn off the heat gives the Korean fried rice a pop of nutty flavor that definitely will enhance it.
• Eggs (Optional) - Making a sunny side fried egg to serve on top of your kimchi fried rice is highly recommended but is optional.

How To Make Korean Fried Rice

Prepare everything ahead of time

1. Chop all the ingredients up and have them on hand by the stove - The cooking process of making any type of fried rice is very quick so having everything pre-cut and close by right when you are cooking the kimchi fried rice will help make the process more smooth and easy.
   
2. Squeeze the kimchi and reserve the liquid - The kimchi liquid is one of the major flavors in this kimchi fried rice. Once you have squeezed the liquid out of the kimchi, mix it with the sauce ingredients and set it aside.
   
3. Break up the rice by hand - When the rice is in a large clump, it is harder to evenly cook it in the frying pan. Breaking it up ahead of time will allow it to cook more evenly and faster so that all the sauces and flavors will get distributed more evenly. Use your fingers and gently break up the large clumps of rice into smaller granular pieces
   

Once everything has been prepared, you're ready to cook the fried rice!

1. Melt the butter with a bit of oil in a frying pan over medium heat
2. Toast the spam until it is toasted and darker red in color
3. Add in the onions until they are soft
4. Add in the kimchi and cook it for a few minutes
5. Add in the garlic and mix for 30 seconds to 1 minute
6. Add in the separated rice and sauce and mix until all the rice is coated with the sauce. You may need to wait until some of the rice gets soften from the heat to break it up into smaller pieces.
7. Turn off the heat and add the sesame oil into the fried rice, and then garnish it! It's ready to eat! Oh and don't forget to add the fried egg on top if you made one!

Kimchi Fried Rice Variations

• Meat - If you don't want to use spam, bacon works very well for this fried rice as well because it is also fatty and salty as well. You can also use up any leftover meats you have in the fridge by chopping it up and throw it in but you will need to adjust for the missing saltiness that spam and bacon have by adding a little more fish sauce.
• Vegetables - You can add additional vegetables like chopped carrots, peas, corn or leftover vegetables you have in the fridge (it's an excellent recipe to clean out the fridge with) but the more vegetables you add, the more sauce you will need to add as well to flavor the extra ingredients.
• Egg - A runny sunny side egg is a staple, especially when the yolk trickles over the fried rice but if you want more egg, you can also make some scrambled some eggs before you start making the rice and add it back in at the very end and mix it with the rice.

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

You can store any leftover fried rice in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. When you are ready to eat it, you can heat it up in the microwave for 1 minute. Mix it with a utensil to get rid of any cold spots, if it's still not warm enough heat it again at 25-second intervals until everything is hot.

FAQs

More Delicious Korean Recipes

• Korean Corn Cheese (Elote Style)
• Korean Glass Noodles (Japchae / Chapchae)
• Spicy Soondubu Tofu Stew (Soondubu Jjigae)
• Stir-Fried Kimchi Rice Cakes
• Tteokbokki (Korean Spicy Rice Cakes)
• Spicy Korean Pork Bulgogi
• Tuna Mayo Deopbap (Korean Tuna Mayo Rice Bowl)
• Korean Fried Popcorn Turkey

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Recipe Card

Kimchi Fried Rice with Spam

A delicious and easy, 30 minute kimchi fried rice recipe (Kimchi Bokkeumbap) made with kimchi, spam, and rice and served with a fried egg on top

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Course: Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: Asian, Korean

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

4

5 from 16 votes

Recipe Notes

• If you don't want to use spam, you can substitute it with bacon. Keep in mind, spam is a lot saltier than bacon so you will need to do a taste test and add a bit more salt or soy sauce to make up it. Alternatively, you can also use up any leftover meats for this recipe as well, in place of the spam/bacon.
• Older kimchi has more flavor for cooking - Older kimchi is fizzy, more fermented, and has a lot more flavor than freshly made kimchi which makes this recipe great for using up old kimchi on. Older kimchi also has a lot more liquid in it which you will need to flavor this fried rice with. That being said, freshly store-bought kimchi can still be considered older kimchi since they are pre-made ahead of time and have been sitting in the stores for a least a few weeks.
• If you can't squeeze enough kimchi liquid of your kimchi you can mix gochujang with warm water to make up for the remaining kimchi liquid. I like to use about 2 ½ teaspoons of gochujang with 2 tablespoons of warm water. If you need more, you can double it.
• Make sure to toast the spam until it is a dark pink color and toasty. - This will render out the fat in the spam which will give the fried rice extra flavor.
• Always use leftover cold rice for any type of fried rice - Leftover rice that has been in the fridge has less moisture, which is great for making fried rice because you'll have less of a chance of making your rice soggy and mushy. If you don't have day-old rice to use, you can make a batch of fresh rice but put less water in than you normally do to cook it. Once it is done cooking, if you have the time, put it in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours.
• If you want your kimchi fried rice spicier, add ¼ - ½ tsp of cayenne pepper. Adding more gochujang may make it slightly more spicier but it will also make it saltier as well. Alternatively, gochujang comes in different heat levels as well, so you can buy the 'hot' version if you like your food spicier.
• Mix in the sesame oil at the end after you turn off the heat - Adding heat to sesame oil reduces the flavor from it, so I like to mix it in at the very end after the heat has turned off to get the best nutty flavor from the sesame oil.

Ingredients

 

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• ▢ 3 cups rice (cold, leftover rice, *see notes)
• ▢ 1 cup spam (chopped into ¼ inch cubes, *see notes for substitutions)
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic (finely minced, approx. 1 ½ tablespoon)
• ▢ ⅓ cup onion (diced)
• ▢ 1 cup kimchi
• ▢ 2-3 tablespoons butter
• ▢ 2 teaspoons sesame oil (mixed it at the very end after the rice is done cooking)
• ▢ (optional) egg (To make a sunny side-up fried egg on top)

Kimchi Fried Rice Sauce

• ▢ ¼ cup kimchi liquid (squeezed from the kimchi)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fish sauce (or soy sauce)

Garnishes

• ▢ toasted sesame seeds
• ▢ green onions
• ▢ roasted seaweed (cut into small pieces, see notes)

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Instructions

 

Prepare the Ingredients

• Gently break up the leftover cold rice by hand into small pieces.
  
• Measure out the kimchi and place it in bowl. Squeeze as much of the liquid out of the kimchi as you can into a separate bowl. Chop the kimchi into small ¼ pieces and set it aside for later
  
• Remove the spam from the can and chop it into small ¼ inch cubes. Set it aside for later
• Peel and dice an onion and set it aside for later
• Peel and finely mince the garlic and set it aside for later
  
• If you are using seaweed as a garnish, cut it into smaller pieces using scissors and set it aside for the very end.
• If you are using green onions as a garnish, finely chop it and set it aside for the very end.

Mix the Sauce

• Make sure you have enough reserved liquid for the recipe. If you don't have enough kimchi liquid, you can mix 2½ teaspoons of gochujang with 2 tablespoons of water to make up for the remainder of the kimchi liquid. (You can double it, if you need more than 2 tablespoons of liquid)
• Once you have enough kimchi liquid, mix it with the fish sauce and gochujang until it forms a sauce.

(Optional) Fry a Sunny Side-Up Egg

• If you are serving it with a fried egg, pan-fry a sunny side-up egg and place it on a plate, and set it aside for the very end.

Making the Kimchi Fried Rice

• Set the stove to medium-high heat and melt the butter with 1-2 tablespoons of oil
• Once the butter has melted, add in the spam. Toast the spam until it turns a toasty dark pink color (approximately 3-4 minutes)
• Reduce the heat on the stove to medium heat
• Add in the onions and garlic and cook it for 2 minutes
• Add in the kimchi and cook it for 3-4 minutes until there is very little to no liquid in the frying pan
• Add the cooked rice and cook it for 1-2 minutes.
• Add the sauce and mix everything together for about 1 minute until everything is mixed together evenly. If there are any lumps in the rice, wait until it has warmed up from the heat and use your utensil to press on it to break it down into individual grains of rice.

  Make sure to coat all the rice with the sauce so that you see no white rice.
• Do a taste test. If it needs more salt, add in more salt or soy sauce until it is flavored the way you like.
• Turn off the heat, and mix in the sesame oil and garnish with toppings of your choice! If you made a fried egg, place it on top of your fried rice and enjoy with the runny yolk!
• Enjoy hot as a meal or a side dish!
  

Nutrition

Calories: 774kcal | Carbohydrates: 117g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 1246mg | Potassium: 456mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 184IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 2mg

*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*

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Made with ♡ by Joyce Lee

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