Yes, you can make proper kimchi with no fish sauce, no salted shrimp and no anchovy stock, and it does not have to taste like a compromise. The savoury depth that seafood usually provides can come from seaweed instead, which is exactly how our own recipe is built, so the kimchi you make from our Kimchi Making Kit is vegan as it stands, with nothing to leave out and nothing to substitute.
That is worth saying plainly, because most kimchi recipes you will find assume a bottle of fish sauce and a tub of salted shrimp, then offer a vegan version as an afterthought with a shrug and a suggestion to add more salt. Fermentation deserves better than that, and so does your cabbage.
Is traditional kimchi vegan?
Usually not. Most Korean household kimchi includes jeotgal, salted fermented seafood, or a splash of fish sauce, and often both. They are there for umami: that deep, savoury, slightly funky background note that makes kimchi taste like more than spicy pickled cabbage. There are long-standing vegan traditions too, including temple kimchi made in Korean Buddhist kitchens without seafood or, in some cases, without garlic and onion either, so a kimchi without fish is not a modern invention.
What matters for the home cook is understanding what the seafood was doing, because then you replace the job rather than the ingredient. Fish sauce brings salt, savouriness and a fermented tang, and every one of those can come from somewhere else.
What replaces the fish sauce?
In our recipe the heavy lifting is done by dried seaweed powder, which goes into the chilli paste alongside the Korean dried red pepper. Seaweed is naturally rich in the savoury compounds that make food taste round and complete, which is why it underpins so much stock-making in Korean and Japanese cooking. Stirred into the paste, it gives the depth that fish sauce would have provided.
Three other things in the recipe quietly help:
- The garlic, ginger and onion. Seven cloves of garlic is not a typo, and the aromatics carry a lot of the flavour weight in kimchi.
- The porridge. Made from the kit's sweet rice flour with sugar and water, it binds the paste together, helps it cling to every leaf, and feeds the fermentation that develops the flavour.
- The salt itself. Brining the cabbage properly seasons it right through, and under-salted kimchi tastes flat no matter what else you put in it.
Made as directed, the kit is vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and lactose free, which is a rarer combination than it sounds in the fermenting world.
How do you make it, step by step?
Five steps, one afternoon of hands-on work, then a week of waiting while the fridge does the interesting part.
One, brine the cabbage. Rinse a Chinese leaf cabbage, quarter it from the base, cut it into bite size pieces and soak it in salted water for about an hour and a half, stirring every half hour, then rinse it three times. If it still feels stiff, give it longer, because the hour and a half is only a guide.
Two, make the porridge. Heat the sweet rice flour with sugar and water, stirring continuously over a medium heat until thick, smooth and shiny, about the consistency of natural yoghurt. Lumps work themselves out if you keep stirring. Then cool it, quickest by sitting the pan in a bowl of cold water.
Three, make the chilli paste. Mix the cooled porridge with finely minced garlic, ginger and onion, the seaweed powder and the Korean dried red pepper. A mortar and pestle gives the finest mince, but a knife and patience get there too.
Four, mix and pack. Put the gloves on, because the paste will otherwise stay on your hands for a day, and work it thoroughly through the drained cabbage along with sliced spring onion. Then pack it into the fermentation bag, pressing the cabbage down and squeezing out as much air as you can.
Five, ferment. Into the fridge for five to seven days, tasting every few days to see how it is coming along.
You add the fresh ingredients yourself: one Chinese leaf cabbage, 50g of salt, two teaspoons of sugar, seven cloves of garlic, 5g of fresh ginger, a quarter of an onion and two spring onions. Daikon radish and carrot are both classic additions, and both happen to be vegan, so customise freely.
Does it ferment the same way without seafood?
It does, because the fermentation was never coming from the fish. Lactobacillus bacteria, which live naturally on the cabbage, convert its sugars into lactic acid. That acid is what preserves the kimchi and gives it the tangy, sour flavour that grows stronger the longer it ferments. No seafood involved at any point.
Expect the same signs of a healthy ferment. The bag will puff up with gas, so check it daily and release the pressure when it builds. It will smell strong, which is also normal and rather the point. And it keeps changing across the five to seven days, mild at first and increasingly tangy, so taste as you go and move it to a jar in the fridge when it reaches the sourness you like.
If it does not taste tangy yet, the answer is almost always time. Fermentation speed depends on temperature, salt and the cabbage itself, so give it a few more days before deciding anything is wrong.
How can you push the savoury flavour further?
The recipe stands up on its own, but fermenting is a hobby that invites tinkering, and the kit makes two big batches, which gives you room to experiment on the second one. A few directions that stay entirely plant-based:
- Dried shiitake mushroom, ground to a powder, which brings a deep, earthy savouriness.
- A spoonful of light soy sauce or tamari, for saltiness with a fermented edge. Use tamari if you are keeping the batch gluten free.
- A little white miso, stirred into the paste for body.
- More seaweed, the simplest option of all, and the one most in keeping with the recipe.
- A grated pear or apple, a traditional Korean addition that softens the heat and feeds the ferment.
Add one thing at a time and keep a note of what you did, or you will make a batch you love and never be able to repeat it. If you want it milder, simply use less of the dried red pepper, and remember that the kit makes two batches, so you can always stir more in next time.
Vegan kimchi FAQs
Is the Sandy Leaf Farm kimchi kit vegan?
Yes. Made as directed with the fresh ingredients listed, it is vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and lactose free, with the seaweed powder providing the savoury depth instead of seafood.
What can I use instead of fish sauce in kimchi?
Seaweed is the most natural fit, and it is what our recipe uses. Ground dried shiitake, a little soy sauce or tamari, or a spoonful of white miso all work as additions too.
Does vegan kimchi ferment as well?
Yes. The fermentation comes from lactobacillus bacteria on the cabbage converting its sugars into lactic acid, which has nothing to do with whether seafood is present.
How long does homemade kimchi keep?
Around two to three weeks in the fridge once fermentation is done. It carries on slowly souring, so it is mild in week one and pleasingly punchy by week three.
Why is my kimchi bag swelling up?
That is fermentation producing gas, and it is a good sign. Check the bag daily and release the pressure whenever it builds up.
Fancy a jar of your own? Browse our kimchi making kits, hand-packed in Britain.
