One Pot Kimchi Fried Rice With Spam

Kimchi rice with spam is a comforting Korean dish made with well fermented (sour) kimchi, rice, garlic and spam. Traditionally, day old rice is fried in a pan along with spam and kimchi but this version is made (steamed in the rice cooker) by combining all the ingredients and cooking it all at once to create a delicious and satisfying one pot meal. If you like one pot recipes, you have to check out my delicious pepper lunch inspired beef rice and Chinese chicken and rice recipes.

Kimchi rice with spam

short grain rice (soaked in water) – I find that this rice is chewy, and yields great texture for this dish

garlic – extra garlic provides a great aroma and fits well with the spam and kimchi

spam – I feel that the regular spam is in general too salty for my taste, so I like to use low sodium spam because this dish can be very salty from the kimchi.

sour kimchi – For this dish, I recommend aged, well-fermented and sour kimchi so your rice has an acidic and complex flavor. If it’s too sour, add 1 teaspoon of sugar to the rice. If you have more leftover kimchi, try my kimchi udon recipe!

gochujang – also known as korean spicy red pepper paste gives the kimchi rice a deep savory and spicy flavor

kimchi juice – the acidity and saltiness of the kimchi juice gives the dish an extra kick of flavor!

red pepper powder aka gochugaru – this gives the rice a redder color and can make your rice more spicy. Add more if you like extra spicy!

sugar – this is needed to help balance the acidity of the kimchi and kimchi juice.

fish sauce (can substitute with soy sauce) – I love adding fish sauce to make the rice taste more umami.

water

unsalted butter (optional) – makes the rice fragrant!

Garnish

sesame oil – a little bit of sesame oil goes a long way. The sesame oil helps enhance the flavor of the kimchi and spam

sliced green onion – brings freshness to the dish

roasted seaweed – I love cutting shreds of roasted seaweed to the rice or eating it with the rice like a crispy taco!

roasted sesame seeds

fried eggs (optional)– I love the texture of the egg yolk mixed with the kimchi rice. It makes it creamy and bits of the fried egg gives it more texture.

How to Make One Pot Kimchi Fried Rice with Spam

Prepare rice and kimchi:

Soak the rice with water.

Cut kimchi and spam in small pieces. Mince garlic.

Mix the sauce: 1 tablespoon gochujang, 2 tablespoon kimchi juice, ½ tablespoon red pepper powder, ½ tablespoon sugar and ½ tablespoon fish sauce

Put all ingredients in the rice cooker:

Wash rice and strain as much water as you can. Add 1 & ¼ cup water to the rice and add the kimchi, minced garlic, spam, mixed sauce, and butter in the rice cooker. Press ‘cook’ and wait for the rice to cook.