Easy Apple Kimchi in 20 min! (2024)

Simple and delicious apple kimchi that’s ready to eat in 20 min or less! Sound too good to be true? But it is!! I’ve made this a few times already and it’s just simply a pleasure to make and delicious to eat!

Apple Kimchi anyone?

It’s fall and I was in the mood for a recipe that used fall produce and my lovely dwarf apple tree happened to give me many Fuji apples 🍎🍎 this year! But of course, that’s after having to fight little critters 🐿 from eating all of them by bagging every single fruit with mesh bags!!! yes, I know I get a little over protective of my fruits and veggies.. lol.

And now, I had too many apples.. and was thinking of what to do with them. I made apple butter and that was amazing and then.. Apple Kimchi?? That’s what I saw on Korean internet. No.. that can’t be good. I never had it growing up and no I have not even heard of anyone making it but I was curious.

Now, because I was so suspicious that it would taste good, I had to make it a few times, let it sit in the fridge and see how things changed over time before I shared it with you. I can now confidently say, it tastes pretty authentic and delicious.

No Pre-Salting and pickling needed For this Kimchi

This is also what I love about this apple kimchi recipe. No extra step or time is needed to pre-salt your vegetable or fruit in this case. Apples will over the next few days shrivel up a bit but will still be yummy.

However, because we don’t do that, this kimchi is not meant for long-term storage but should be consumed within a couple of weeks.

Apple Kimchi is ready to be eaten right away and be GOOD for a week or so.

Kimchi that can be eaten right away is usually called Geotjeori 겉절이 and I was very pleasantly surprised how good this tasted right after I made it! And then as the days went on, it was even more delicious with a more milder, well melded flavors emerged.

Step by Step Instructions for Apple Kimchi

Ingredients

• 4 Apples – thin skinned, sweet and sour ones like Fuji, Honey Crisp. Apples like granny smith doesn’t work as well and also need to be peeled.
• korean sea salt – please use Korean solar sea salt (cheonilyeom 천일염) for best results. Both fine or big granules work – and if you can buy 3 yr aged salt, that is the best. Click on the link to learn more about Kimchi and Salt.
• gochugaru (Korean red chili powder) – it’s always best to use Korean red chili powder made for Kimchi making. You can buy these online or at a Korean grocery store. The magic word you want to look for is “김장용” or “김치용” if it says it and also you want to use a COARSE one. The fine powder is meant to be used for making Gochujang or mul kimchi. Having the right chili powder affects the taste of the Kimchi greatly so please do spend the effort to find a good one.
• anchovy sauce (myeolchi aekjeot) or fish sauce
• garlic, ginger
• green plum syrup (maesil cheong) – if you don’t have this, you can sub about 1/8 tsp sugar and 1/4 tsp of vinegar and 1/2 tsp of water for 1 tsp maesil cheong (syrup). Also, in the recipe, I say 1 tsp – adjust up to 2 tsp if your apples are more sour than sweet. 1 tsp should be totally enough if your apples are quite sweet.
• green onions, yellow onion

1. Wash, core and cut apples into bite size pieces. I usually cut into quarters then into smaller pieces. No need to peel if using thin skin and organic apples. See picture.
2. Cut onions into 3/4 inch cubes. Cut green onions into 1.5 inch length pieces.
3. Chop garlic and ginger or grate ginger.
4. In a large bowl, add apples, onions and green onions. Then sprinkle Korean solar sea salt (Cheonilyeom) and toss.
5. Sprinkle red chili powder (gochugaru) to apples and onions, toss again.
6. Add garlic, ginger, fish sauce and plum syrup the gently mix everything.
7. That’s it! Eat it right away or refrigerate and enjoy over the next few days as it gets ripened.

Tips and Serving Suggestions

• Because this is a very light tasting kimchi, it will go well with traditional Korean food as well as more fusiony food like for Thanksgiving dinner! I’m writing this in the week of Thanksgiving and I was thinking how great it will go with Turkey, Roast Chicken and even Roast Beef! Try it and let me know.
• Storage – as I mentioned above, refrigerate right away and I would try to consume it within a week to 10 days.
• Adjust Plum Syrup based on how sweet your apples are or how you like things sweet or not. The only thing to watch out for making apple kimchi is the sweetness. I used very sweet Fuji apples in one batch and also added like 1.5 tsp plum syrup and I thought it was a little too sweet when I tasted it fresh. I used Honeycrisp apples in a different batch and added 1 tsp plum syrup and that was just perfect.