Spicy vegetarian kimchi noodle bowl

I’m so glad kimchi is starting to become commonplace in America. I think it’s probably still the case that the majority of Americans haven’t tried the delicious fermented cabbage mix, but the good news is that you can at least find it in most supermarkets now. Here’s how to find the key ingredient for this Easy Kimchi Noodle Bowl!

It’s still probably the hardest part of making these kimchi noodles, finding kimchi and getting your family to try it (if they don’t already like it).

However, once you’ve tasted the hearty, flavorful cabbage, you’ll find that you don’t need much more to make a delicious kimchi bowl.

What is kimchi and where can you buy it?

Kimchi is a Korean spice made by fermenting cabbage with salt and chili. It’s a very simple idea, but there are many different brands and spice levels for kimchi. These days you can even find a variety of vegetables referred to as kimchi, although cabbage is traditional and which I would recommend for this recipe.

If you’re not sure where to find kimchi, any Asian market is a good choice. Sometimes they even have big kimchi jars in the back near the deli where you can get as much as you want by weight.

However, most grocery stores these days carry a kimchi brand, so do your research. As a rule, it is located in a refrigerated area of ​​​​the store.

Even mild kimchi is relatively spicy, so I recommend starting there if you’ve never tried kimchi. Personally, I always prefer the hottest thing I can find, but for the sake of my family, I decided to make these pasta dishes a little milder!

How to make the kimchi sauce for these noodle bowls.

I usually think of (and eat) kimchi as either A) a snack straight from the damn jar or B) as a topping on rice or pasta. But this recipe really capitalizes on the ingredient’s deep flavors by pulsing it in a food processor with a few other ingredients like ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, gochujang, and fish sauce to basically make a coarse dressing!

That alone is good enough to top any pasta dish and end the day, but to round out the dish and make it more of a meal, I also add a boatload of crunchy veggies to the mix.

This is a great introduction to the kimchi dish, but even if you already have buckets of them in your fridge I think you’ll find this a great way to use some!

The beauty of this dressing is how not it is picky. You throw all that stuff in a food processor and pulse it until it’s a coarse mixture. The most important ingredient: fresh orange zest and juice. Don’t skip it!

Which rice noodles for this recipe?

You can be flexible with the rice noodle you choose for these. Fortunately, all rice noodles are gluten-free. So if you keep the other ingredients gluten-free, this is a gluten-free recipe option.

I prefer a wider rice noodle, or at least a medium thickness. You don’t want anything super thin like vermicelli.

You can also use soba noodles if you have them or that is your preference. Check out my guide to cooking perfect soba noodles!

After cooking, be sure to rinse the noodles with cold water and toss them with a little sesame oil first. Then you can throw in all the kimchi dressing.

Finishing the noodle shells

Mix the cooked and rinsed rice noodles with the kimchi dressing and mix well. Honestly, this would be a great pasta dish if there was nothing else on it.

Then I like to mix in about half my veggies and store the pasta in the fridge until I’m ready to eat.

To serve a flavorful kimchi noodle bowl, I divide the noodles between the bowls and top them with more veggies like cucumber, radish, scallions, sesame seeds, and maybe a dash of extra soy sauce or sriracha to taste. Your call!

The noodles make a great light dinner, but I think they really shine as a weeknight lunch.

Fall in love with kimchi if you aren’t already!

Substitutions and Ideas

You could really add anything you wanted here! Here are a few simple ideas.

• Add a soft-boiled egg, which I left out that day but would add if I wanted something a little savory.
• Add the sauce to some hot water to create a light broth that you can serve with the pasta bowls (more of a soup bowl option).
• Add more protein to bowls of seared tofu, shredded rotisserie chicken, or even seared pork loin.
• Change up the veggies and side dishes. Sautéed mushrooms are a nice addition, and chopped peanuts are a classic pasta bowl topping that would work well.

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My Easy Kimchi Noodle Bowl Recipe

Here are some other great pasta recipes!