Baechu-kimchi

Name: Baechu-kimchi
Prep time: 60 min
Total time: 780 min
Yield: 12 jars-worth
Cuisine: korean
Ingredients: 1.5 kg Napa cabbage; 80 g Salt, coarse; 80 g Gochugaru; 20 clove Garlic; 30 g Ginger; 4 tbsp Fish sauce; 300 g Korean radish, julienned; 4 piece Spring onion; 1 tbsp Sugar; 200 ml Water, as needed for the paste

배추김치

Napa cabbage salted and packed with a gochugaru-garlic paste — the ferment the rest of the kitchen leans on.

Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 배추김치.

0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.

Start cooking

Prep: 1 hr
Cook: —
Total: 13 hr
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: Hot
Cost: Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price

Know it before you cook it

Source photograph of Baechu-kimchi. Not official I Want Some Food pixel artwork. — Photo: 최광모 via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source

About

This is a home-scale baechu-kimchi, not a kimjang for a village. You salt cabbage, make a paste of gochugaru, garlic, ginger and (usually) salted seafood, and pack it into a jar. It is ready as geotjeori the first day and becomes stew-kimchi after a week in the fridge. We will not pretend your first jar will taste like a 20-year onggi.

Ingredients

Servings

Napa cabbage1½ kg
Salt, coarse80 g
Gochugaru80 g
Garlic20 clove
Ginger30 g
Fish sauce59 ml
Korean radish, julienned300 g
Spring onion4
Sugar15 ml
Water, as needed for the paste200 ml

Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.

Steps

Step 1
Quarter the cabbage lengthwise, keeping the core. Salt between the leaves, more at the thick white stems. Rest 2 hours, flipping once, until the stems bend.
120 min
Step 2
Rinse the cabbage three times and drain well, squeezing gently. Taste: seasoned, not ocean-only.
10 min
Step 3
Blend or mash garlic, ginger, fish sauce, sugar and a splash of water. Mix with gochugaru, radish and spring onion to a thick paste.
10 min
Step 4
Wearing gloves, smear paste between every leaf. Pack into a clean jar, pressing out air. Leave a little headroom.
15 min
Step 5
Ferment at cool room temperature 1–2 days until it smells alive and tastes lightly sour, then refrigerate. It keeps fermenting slowly.
1440 min
Tip: Bubbles are a good sign. Mould on top is not — skim, and keep cabbage under the brine.

Adapt this recipe

The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.

Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 24 August.

Substitutions

Fish sauce → Soy sauce plus a strip of dashima in the paste
Vegetarian. Different, still a jar of kimchi.

Tips

Glutinous-rice porridge in the paste is a traditional thickener if your mix looks dry.
Label the date. Week-old kimchi and month-old kimchi are different ingredients.

History & culture

Kimjang — communal winter kimchi-making — is UNESCO-listed for a reason. A single jar on a Tuesday is still kimchi.

Chilli in kimchi is a few centuries old, not primordial. White kimchi without chilli also exists. This is the red one people mean.

Traditional — Jeotgal (salted shrimp or fish sauce) is traditional. A vegetarian jar uses extra salt and kelp stock in the paste.

Provenance: Editorial adaptation. Original editorial adaptation for I Want Some Food. Not copied from another recipe site. Official recipe photography is pending. Photograph: 최광모 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baechu%20kimchi.jpg

Questions about this recipe

Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.

How long does Baechu-kimchi take?

13 hr all in — 1 hr prep, 12 hr rest. That is the time on this recipe, not a guess.

How many does it serve?

The recipe is written for 12 jars-worth. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.

How hard is it?

Medium.

How spicy is it?

Hot.

What allergens should I watch?

This recipe is labelled for Fish, Shellfish. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.

Does it fit a diet?

The published recipe is labelled Pescatarian, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free.

What does it cost to cook?

Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.

What equipment do I need?

Mixing bowl.

How much salt do I put in?

The recipe lists Salt at 80 g (coarse).

How much gochugaru?

80 g of Gochugaru.

How much fish sauce?

4 tbsp of Fish sauce.

How much sugar?

1 tbsp of Sugar.

What can I use instead?

Fish sauce → Soy sauce plus a strip of dashima in the paste. Vegetarian. Different, still a jar of kimchi.

Any tips from this recipe?

Glutinous-rice porridge in the paste is a traditional thickener if your mix looks dry. Label the date. Week-old kimchi and month-old kimchi are different ingredients.

Can I use an air fryer?

This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.