Hands down the BEST Korean comfort food is homemade Gochujang Fried Rice with Leftover Ham. This easy Korean kimchi fried rice ( bokkeum-bap (볶음밥) can be on your table in about 15 minutes flat with just 6 pantry ingredients. Top it off with a fried egg and mix in leftover Air Fryer Ham for a delicious spicy, sweet, and savory flavor experience.
We must warn you; this gochujang rice is addictive! Each satisfying bite is packed with kimchi that sweetens when stir fried and has a little kick of spice from the gochujang sauce. When you use left over rice, like in our recipe for Hong Kong Fried Rice, the little individual grains of rice get a little crispy too. If you like a little drippy fried egg indulgence, you may even need a “personal moment” to enjoy your bowl of Korean egg fried rice!
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Ingredients and Substitutions
Are you ready? Just 6 little ingredients to make a delicious lunch, dinner or anytime snack and 2 of the ingredients are optional.
Kimchi
Its an essential Korean ingredient made by fermented vegetables like napa cabbage and daikon with a probiotic and ground Korean chili for a delicious gut friendly addition to your diet. The best part about using kimchi is there is no need to add any aromatics like garlic and onions as it is already packed with flavor and is gluten-free.
After all the holiday indulgencing, getting your gut health back is a high priority. Do you have a huge container like us? Then try our Kimchi Salmon with Rainbow Pickles and Creamy Kimchi Pasta. Once you open a jar of kimchi, it is best to store it in the refrigerator and use within 3 months.
Leftover Rice
Cold rice is the best option and a great way to use up the items in the refrigerator. You can use any type of rice you like such as jasmine, short-grained sushi rice, brown rice, etc. The reason to use cold leftover rice is to prevent the fried rice from getting mushy.
If you use fresh warm rice, stir frying it will just add more moisture and it make it soggy. Leftover rice is firm and more apt to keep the individual grains of rice separate so they can pick up all the flavors of the fried rice.
Gochujang
This is a fermented Korean red Chili paste made from chili powder, glutinous rice, fermented soybean powder, barley malt powder and salt. This paste is a spicy, savory, and sweet which gives a delicious umami flavor to any gochujang sauce recipes. Bibimbap is not authentic without a good dollop of gochujang sauce mixed in.
If you have an allergen to wheat-based products you will need to investigate alternative brands such as Koko Gochujang or Wegmans gochujang. These two options are both vegan and gluten-free.
In a pinch, you may substitute gochujang with a little miso with Sriracha sauce or Thai chili paste but it does not have the same flavor profile.
Ham
Have you tried our Air Fryer Ham with Cranberry Glaze recipe? It is fantastic in this gochujang fried rice recipe. A little salty, sweet and mmm… delicious.
Don’t have leftover ham, try Spam! However, we highly suggest you stir fry it a little with the kimchi first to give it those little toasty edges. You can also use honey deli ham in a pinch.
To make this recipe vegan, hold the ham. Instead, add in veggies, mushrooms or even a little fried tofu.
Green onions
This fresh ingredient is optional. However, a little pop of green brightens up this Korean crispy rice recipe.
Fried egg
Who can resist a little runny sunny side up egg over fried rice? So good! It’s another optional ingredient. However, once you try it, you will never serve this gochujang pork recipe again without it.
Easy Step by Step Instructions
The most important step is to prep all your ingredients before you heat up your wok or frying pan. Chop up your kimchi, leftover ham and green onion as when you turn on the burner the whole dish will be cooked in about 5 minutes.
- Add oil to pan or wok and add chopped kimchi. Stir fry until all the moisture has absorbed.
- Put a dollop of gochujang sauce in the pan and stir fry until aromatic. You may need to add a little more oil as needed to prevent sticking.
- Add the rice and stir fry until all the grains of rice are coated with gochujang sauce.
- To the fried rice, add the chopped leftover ham and green onions and stir fry until aromatic. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.
- If you fancy a fried egg on top, fry up a sunny side up egg.
- Serve up Gochujang fried rice with leftover ham on a plate with or without a fried egg as desired.
Tips for Success
- Always used leftover cold rice. Do not use warm freshly cooked rice or you will end up with soggy gummy rice- not nice!
- Stir fry your kimchi until all the moisture is removed. This prevents your rice from getting soggy. In addition, it makes the sour spicy kimchi naturally sweet.
- Adjust the amount of gochujang to your preferred spice and heat level.
- Chop your leftover ham in small cubes. It is always nicer to eat stir fries when all the items in the dish are about the same size.
- Mix it up and add any fresh vegetables bits and bobs you have the crisper.
- To make vegan, hold the ham and add mushrooms, fried tofu, or vegetables of choice.
- Traditional gochujang is not gluten-free. If you have celiac or a gluten sensitivity, please try one of the gluten free options like Koko or Wegmans.
How to Serve
Ok, we are not going to lie, we eat it straight from the wok. (smiling) You can certainly eat it plain.
However, if you do not have an egg allergy, you must give the sunny side up egg on top a try. There is something magical about having that runny delicious yolk mix with the savory, spicy and slightly sweet kimchi with rice. Heavenly!
If you were living in Korea, you would be using those gosh darn metal chopsticks to eat this dish and not a fork. Believe if or not, we are very proficient using "wooden" chopsticks. However, if we had to live the rest of our lives eating with only "metal" slippery chopsticks we would be super skinny. Hey, that might be our go to plan for the new year! (smiling) Have you ever tried eating with metal chopsticks?
Did you know this interesting theory? Some say that this tradition of eating with metal chopsticks started a long time ago to make sure that the rulers were not poisoned. Metal chopsticks can easily tarnish when they are exposed to corrosive substances.
No Special Equipment
Feel free to use a wok or a large frying pan for this kimchi fried rice recipe. However, the MOST important thing to remember is DO NOT CROWD THE WOK or PAN.
If you add a lot of ingredients to your wok, you are not stir frying but steaming. That is not the effect you are going for. To achieve the best results, you want to fry the ingredients with lots of room, so they stay dry and crisp. If you plan on doubling this recipe, do it in two separate stir fry sessions.
What to Serve It With?
Gochujang fried rice with leftover ham is a meal all by itself. However, you may want to serve along with these other tasty side dishes or mains.
Sides: When in doubt, more veggies are always a good choice. Try our Garlicky Sesame Stir Fried Green Beans, Stir Fried Romaine Lettuce or 5 Minute Stir Fried Garlic Pea Shoots.
Mains: Korean Beef BBQ Kalbi is extra delicious with a little fried rice and extra kimchi on the side.
Appetizers: Baked Dduk Lavered with Bacon is an oldie but a goodie.
How to store
Do you think you are going to have leftovers? You are an optimist.
If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, please store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Korean kimchi fried rice is delicious in bento boxes and lunches.
We do not suggest freezing your gochujang fried rice with leftover ham. It’s a texture thing. If the texture thing does not bother you, you can store in a freezer safe container for up to 2 months.
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
You can eat kimchi cold right out of the jar. Kimchi is also delicious cooked in fried rice, creamy kimchi pasta and our kimchi salmon and rainbow pickles.
This spicy paste is fabulous in ramen soup, bibimbap, slathered on grilled cheese sandwiches, omelets, fried rice and noodles just to name a few.
We like to mix a little miso paste with Sriracha sauce or use a Thai chili paste.
More Delicious Rice Recipes
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Gochujang Fried Rice with Leftover Ham
Equipment
- Wok or large frying pan
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
reserve 1 tablespoon to fry egg - 1 cup kimchi roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons gochujang paste increase as much as desired to reach your desired heat and spice level.
- 2 cups cooked rice (day old cold leftover rice) We used Jasmine white rice but you can use any type of cooked rice like brown, long grain, sushi, etc. Do NOT use instant rice.
- 1 cup ham chopped (or spam) We really love the combination of our slightly sweet cranberry glazed ham with the spicy kimchi. Honey ham is also delicious.
- salt and pepper
to taste (white pepper) - 3 green onions chopped - optional
- 2 whole eggs optional
Instructions
- Place oil in wok/pan and heat on medium heat. Add chopped kimchi to the pan and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until all of the moisture is gone. This keeps your rice crispy and makes the kimchi sweeter.
- Next, add a little dollop of gochujang paste and stir fry. If sticking occurs, add a little extra oil. 2 teaspoons makes this recipe mild to medium. If you want it spicy, add more gochujang paste to taste.
- Add in cold leftover rice and stir fry until well incorporated. Next, add the chopped ham, season to taste with salt and white pepper. Add the chopped green onion if desired and stir fry until all the rice is coated. If you like your rice a little crunchy stir fry for a couple of minutes longer.
How to Serve
- You can serve the Korean fried rice as is or serve with a sunny side up egg. The fried egg is optional.
- To make a Korean fried egg, turn your burner on to medium heat. Place a little oil in a heated pan and break open the egg into the pan. Fry the egg sunny side up for about 2.5 minutes or until the white of the egg is set but the yellow yolk is still runny.
- Serve with or without a fried egg on top. Garnish with a few sliced green onions, if desired and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Always used leftover cold rice. Do not use warm freshly cooked rice or you will end up with soggy gummy rice- not nice!
- Stir fry your kimchi until all the moisture is removed. This prevents your rice from getting soggy. In addition, it makes the sour spicy kimchi naturally sweet.
- Adjust the amount of gochujang to your preferred spice and heat level.
- Chop your leftover ham in small cubes. It is always nicer to eat stir fries when all the items in the dish are about the same size. We really enjoy the sweeter cranberry glazed air fryer ham or a honey ham as it is a nice flavor profile with the spicy kimchi.
- Mix it up and add any fresh vegetables bits and bobs you have the crisper.
- To make vegan, hold the ham and add mushrooms, fried tofu, or vegetables of choice.
- Traditional gochujang is not gluten-free. If you have celiac or a gluten sensitivity, please try one of the gluten free options like Koko or Wegmans.
- If you want to make this recipe vegan, hold the ham and eggs. Instead, add stir fried vegetables, mushrooms or fried tofu.
- If you need a substitute for gochujang paste you can mix 1 teaspoon of miso paste to 1 tablespoon of sriracha sauce or use Thai chili paste.
Robyn says
Wow, Bobbi, those photos look clearer than the actual dish, lol. How is that possible? You are so talented! I absolutely love fried rice and yours is simply gorgeous. I'm a big fan of bok choy and will definitely be using it. I'm off to visit Kelly. Thanks for introducing us to another new blogger! Have a great day 🙂
Gerlinde @ sunnycovechef says
I made this for dinner tonight with my home made Kimchi and it was delcious . Thank you
Healthy World Cuisine says
Dear Gerlinde, I am delighted to hear this! I am on my way over now to check out your homemade kimchi recipe. Have a super day!
thehungrymum says
such a colourful, epic dish.
Marcela (tortadellafiglia) says
such a great dish ! I love your kimchi pantry brown fried rice ! Easy and heathy! Love it!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you Marcela! I have to eat healthy as I have my eyes on those sweet shamrock cookies and chocolate cupcakes you made...
dianeskitchentable says
I'm not sure that I've ever heard of this kimchi, so I don't thinking ever tried it but it sounds sort of magical. I love fried rice and I don't know why I don't make it more often because as you say, it's a great filler and a side dish that goes with just about anything. I can't wait to see if my husband can find this kimchi...it sounds like in the right proportions it's something we could both love.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Diane, kimchi is a big staple food in Korea. Probably a meal does not go by without this "kimchi pickle" out on the table. It is not really a pickle the way you think of pickles, but instead it is fermented. I thought that might just be easier for you understand the taste. In Korea when it is made the old fashion way, they mix up the cabbage, chili, garlic etc and then bury it in these special ceramic pots until it is ready to eat. Most likely in the US, you will find this in the refrigerated section of your grocery store in some of the bigger markets or in an Asian Food Store. I hope you give it a try.
Sugar et al. says
I've had kimchi fried rice at a restaurant once. It was delicious but never looked as fabulous and mouth watering as yours. I love that this is easy to make at home and healthy too. Getting hold of Kimchi soon. As usual your food is amazing:-)
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you dear! This really is one of those throw together easy dishes that come together in a flash. I also make fried rice with many Indian spices as well. Really fried rice is the base of may cultures it is changed up a little bit with the aromatics and spices you have on hand. I have a long way to catch up to you and your stunning food photography, but I work at a little bit each and every day. Take care
Christine | No Gojis, No Glory says
Thanks for introducing yet another fabulous blog Bam! I haven't had kimchi in ages...actually I haven't had kimchi since I lived in Hawaii. Oh my gosh, that's like 7 years ago! Guess it's about time to grub on some more. I didn't realize it was so good for you. Thanks for sharing this!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Your welcome Christine! You are going to love Kelly's, "A Little Side of Sweet blog". She has a little something for everyone. I am delighted to hear that you lived in Hawaii. I can't wait to hear more about your experiences and of course more about the food while you lived there... Have a super weekend!
hotlyspiced says
That is a really beautiful bowl of fried rice. I don't think I've ever made fried rice using the brown variety. I also and quite sure I have never added kimchi. Kimchi is becoming so very popular - I'd better make this xx
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Charlie, you can make fried rice using just about any kind of rice or grain. It is so nice to diversify the way I make it as we eat it a lot at home...I don't want my kids getting bored with the same old, same old. Fried rice is our old back up standby for using up my little bits bobs of things in the crisper...Thank goodness for our local Park and Shops celebration Korean week as I also picked up some gochuang...its going to be a delicious week! Have a super weekend
Monica says
Kimchi is so good with rice...and these bowls of fried brown rice look so very delicious! I love things like fried rice where we can clean out the fridge a bit. I think I've only made fried rice with brown rice once...not sure why since we eat brown rice most of the time! Time to throw out the old rules and get into the new, healthier habits. Thanks, BAM!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hi there Monica! Usually Fridays are clean out the refrigerator day and you can bet your bottom dollar there will be a fried rice, soup or quinoa patties or something to use up those little bits and bobs in the crisper... I love brown rice. I know it is weird as if you close your eyes the taste is the same but the texture is a little different. As brown rice takes a little bit longer to cook sometimes people are in a rush and throw in the white rice but you are missing out on those extra vitamins, minerals and fiber. You are right you would never see brown rice in a fried rice dish here in Hong Kong restaurant. Have you ever tried red rice? I love that!!!
Kelsey says
super yummy!
Shannon Y-I-V says
This looks awesome! I tried kimchi fried rice from Trader Joe's frozen section once and the texture came out all wrong, but I loved the flavors and have been eager to try it again. I love how easy this and the photos are beautiful!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hi there Shannon! Oh how I wish we had a Trader Joes here in Hong Kong, that would be awesome! However, no luck here! My family is really keen on textures in their dishes and not just taste. My boys like their fried rice dry and kind of crunchy and actually so do I. Actually, that is real Hong Kong /Cantonese style as they like each of their rice granules to be separate and very dry. Maybe the one at Trader Joes was a little wetter texture. I hope you give this recipe a try and thanks so much for stopping by.
Victoria says
I'm not sure I've ever tried Kimchi but this dish looks delicious. I recently created a fried rice recipe that we enjoy. It was quite simple. This looks simple...with a more sophistocated and original flair! Looks very good!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Victoria. I would love to read your recipe too. I love the fact that Kimchi Pantry Fried Brown Rice has just has 6 ingredients. For an Asian Dish, that is wonderful as you know how Asian dishes usually have a mile long ingredient list...
allthatsjas says
Beautiful dish! I'm actually not a big fan of kimchi, but mixed in with rice and other goodies I bet I wouldn't mind. Pinning!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Jas thank so much for the pin! No worries, Kimchi is not required for pantry fried rice. If you like garlic , some other aromatics and veggies you are good to go. Sometimes, I go with a light seasoning with just some gluten free, vegan powder and white pepper or sometimes just used some tamari sauce and a little sesame oil to finish off the dish. Really you can make it with anything your little heart desires...and is in your pantry. Have a super week
allthatsjas says
And that's the beauty of cooking - you can substitute. Just don't go crazy because it wouldn't be the same recipe, right? I will give kimchi another try, though! I’m so glad you linked it with us at Thursday Favorite Things! Hugs
bluebalu says
Yay - I'm so glad I've got leftover rice from dinner tonight. I know what I'll be cooking tomorrow 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Pantry fried rice is always a good way to use those leftovers and make it feel like it is a brand new dish... Have a super week!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
I've actually never tried kimchi before.. and think it's something I need to make or get my hands on asap. Delicious!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Kimchi must get on your foods to try, at least once. It is really good for you too. Thanks for stopping by.