This vegan quick kimchi salad is super simple + fast, full of spicy kimchi flavor and crunchy texture! It’s the perfect side for adding to your favorite dishes for tons of extra flavor.
I’m just going to get right to it today, because I’ve been meaning to share this recipe with you guys for months. I’m SO excited it’s finally happening!
My grandma on my mom’s side was from South Korea. When I was little I got to enjoy lots of amazing, authentic Korean food, like kimbap, japchae, and the classic, need at every meal staple: kimchi.
If you aren’t familiar with kimchi, it’s basically a side dish or condiment eaten with most meals in Korea. It’s made with fermented vegetables, like cabbage, radish, or cucumber, and seasoned with gochugaru, a red pepper powder.
My grandma and my mom regularly made the traditional, super fermented kimchi all the time. This is my spin on traditional kimchi, minus the work and waiting of the fermentation process and super sour flavor.
Basically, this is a super quick and simple, not traditional, instant kimchi salad. I use purple cabbage for amazing crunch and tons of antioxidants. Next is LOTS of green onion, cause I’m the onion queen and enough is never enough. Add some simple spices for even more flavor, mix it up, and you’re done! No waiting or fussing over fermentation, but still lots of crunchy texture and spicy flavor.
Ingredients to make vegan quick kimchi salad
- Purple cabbage: purple cabbage provides a lot of surface area for the seasonings and great crunch. It’s also extremely nutrient-dense and loaded with antioxidants.
- Green onion: green onion gives a little pop of flavor, without being too overwhelming.
- Liquid aminos: this helps the seasonings stick to the veggies and provides a salty flavor.
- Korean red pepper powder (gochugaru): this is the essential ingredient for quick kimchi salad! It gives that classic kimchi flavor.
- Garlic powder: garlic just adds even more flavor to the mix.
Tips for making vegan quick kimchi salad
- Chop the veggies into bite-sized pieces, but not too small. You want pieces that are small enough you can fit them in one bite, but not super tiny chunks so that it still has good texture.
- Use a big bowl. The red pepper powder is pretty bright and potent, so just use your biggest bowl to ensure as little mess as possible when mixing.
- Adjust the spices to your taste. This recipe is super flexible, so feel free to adjust these amounts depending on the size of the cabbage you get, as well as your taste preferences and spice tolerance.
This vegan quick kimchi salad has lots of kimchi flavor, but it’s ready in about 10 minutes! It’s my favorite for adding to big salads, and goes well with pretty much any main meal as a side.
Full of crunchy texture, spicy flavor, and tons of nutrition, you really can’t go wrong with this one, and I hope you guys love it as much as I do!
Xo,
Sara
Vegan Quick Kimchi Salad
Ingredients
- 1 medium purple cabbage
- 2 bundles green onions
- 1/4 cup liquid aminos
- 1/4 cup Korean red pepper powder
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Chop off the bottom and large stem/chunk in the center, then cut the cabbage into small chunks.
- Chop the green onions – I like larger pieces, but you can make them really small, whatever you prefer works!
- Add the cabbage, green onion, garlic powder, red pepper powder, and garlic powder into a very large bowl and use clean hands to mix everything together, until all of the cabbage and onion is coated with the seasonings and liquid aminos. This recipe is very flexible, so feel free to add more or less garlic or spice to your taste, as well as more or less liquid aminos to get a texture you like.
- Store in the refrigerator.
