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March 30, 2018 By Yang 19 Comments

Easy Stir Fry Kimchi & Pork Belly

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Stir fry kimchi and pork belly is so simple to make yet out of this world satisfying! Dinner under 30 minutes, and keto friendly.

stir fry kimchi and pork belly served in a bowl.

This time of the year, when farmer’s markets are closed, and fresh produce in grocery stores are so limited, I often reach for my fermented vegetables. Sometimes I even run out supplies and have to make a second or third batch. Clearly there is a pattern of me talking about fermented vegetables in March, just look at the sauerkraut recipe I blogged about last year. This year I am sharing a kimchi recipe.

When I lived in Tokyo, I could find this Korean-style stir fry kimchi and pork dish easily at many fast food joints. I fell in love with it. Now as I live in Canada, I really miss that in Asia a quick meal can still be so healthy.

Replicating this dish at home is extremely easy.  Wouldn’t anyone want this kind of “fast” food that’s good for us?

Doesn’t Cooking Destroy Kimchi? 

The ever so popular kimchi is praised as a probiotic food. I am anticipating a question that “doesn’t cooking destroy all of kimchi’s benefits?” The short answer is “no”. I think we need to look at fermented vegetables as more than just a source of probiotics. 

There is a long tradition of fermenting vegetables in the human history. Providing probiotic is one benefit discovered due to modern science. Others include preserving peak-harvested produce, making them more digestible, more nutritious and more flavourful, as well as breaking down toxins!

Traditionally, fermented vegetables are often cooked in various dishes throughout the winter adding complex flavours, so don’t be concerned about eating them cooked as well.

Shorter Cooking Time of Stir Fry Kimchi

Fermented vegetables often aren’t considered completely raw by the traditional cooks. Because they have been pre-digested by the bacteria, cooking time is much shortened compared to using fresh raw produce.

As a result, this stir fry kimchi and pork belly dish is so quick to put together. This is a perfect weeknight dinner under 30 minutes.

Related: More Tasty Dinner Under 30 Minutes

  • Sheet-Pan Keto Zucchini Noodles and Shrimp (Paleo, Whole 30, Keto)
  • Olive and Preserved Lemon Poached Shrimp
  • Coconut Pea Puree + Baked Sole Flowers {Video}

Stir fry kimchi and pork belly being cooked in a cast iron. You can see the pork belly is browned and coated in kimchi juice.

Homemade Kimchi for Keto, Paleo, Whole 30, GAPS

My lacto-fermented home-made kimchi is free of MSG, added sugar and grains. I have 2 delicious kimchi recipes! Both are so flavourful and suitable for various traditional healing diets.

  • Keto Kimchi: A traditional kimchi made with all Keto ingredients. Also paleo, whole 30, GAPS friendly. 
  • Paleo Apple-Fermented Kimchi: With a hint of sweet apple, this kimchi is unique and refined sugar free. Also whole 30 and GAPS friendly. 

Pork Belly in Stir Fry Kimchi

Eating animal fat can be healthy, even if you aren’t following a ketogenic diet to lose weight. Consuming not only the lean cuts is a great way to support nose-to-tail eating, a food philosophy about consuming every part of the animal for both nutritional and ethical reasons.

There is also part of the population due to genetics that require higher animal fat consumption for mental health, regular hormone production, and to maintain a healthy weight. Like me, I would probably have vanished if I didn’t eat every part of the animal.

Humans and animals alike, our bodies store some toxins in the fat cells. Therefore, it’s extra worthwhile to buy naturally-raised pork belly. When using pork belly, there is no need to add oil. Animal fat is a much healthier and more stable high-heat cooking fat than many of the plant-based oils out there, especially if you use highly-processed vegetable oil.

If you don’t like pork belly, then by all means switch to pork tenderloin or a lean pork of your choice. However, added oil will be necessary when using a lean cut.

Over head shot of the stir fry kimchi and pork belly in a bowl.

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Over head shot of the stir fry kimchi and pork belly in a bowl.

Easy Stir Fry Kimchi & Pork Belly

Stir fry kimchi and bork belly is so simple to make yet out of this world satisfying! Dinner under 30 minutes, and Keto friendly.
4.92 from 12 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian, Korean
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Marinating Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 3 people
Calories: 804kcal
Author: Yang

Ingredients

  • 300 g naturally-raised pork belly
  • 1 tbsp naturally-brewed tamari soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp naturally-brewed rice wine
  • 1 lb kimchi (see notes below)
  • 1 stalk green onion
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions

  • Slice the pork belly as thin as possible.  Marinate in tamari/soy sauce and rice wine for about 10 minutes. If your kimchi isn't pre-cut, then cut into 1 inch size. 
  • Heat a heavy bottom pan (I use cast iron).  While the pan is very hot, add the marinated pork belly, stir fry until nicely browned, for approximately 5 to 10 minutes.  You should see some fat being cooked out of the pork belly at this point.
  • Add the kimchi into the pan, stir fry for another 2 minutes, for the flavour of kimchi and pork to completely mix. 
  • Turn off the heat. Thinly slice the green onion, and add to the stir fry. 
  • If available, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top as garnish. 

Notes

  1. If you use a store-bought kimchi, make sure to check the ingredients. I use a home-made fermented kimchi that's free of MSG, grains and added sugar. Here is the recipe for keto kimchi. Another one (not keto) you may enjoy is the paleo apple-fermented kimchi.

Nutrition

Calories: 804kcal
Tried this recipe?Tag me @YangsNourishingKitchen on Instagram!


Easy Stir Fry Kimchi & Pork Belly
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Filed Under: Meat & Fish, Recipe Card, Recipes, Vegetables, Winter Tagged With: cultured food, dairy-free, gluten-free, keto, nut-free

About Yang

I found cure naturally for my incurable fibromyalgia. I believe you too can heal from ailments by listening to your own body. Let me show you how to use traditional wisdom to heal and use food as medicine. Read More…

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Robin says

    January 6, 2020 at 11:53 am

    I’ve not made this recipe yet, as I’ve just discovered it, but would love to soon! Have you added your recipe for homemade Kimchi yet? Thank you.

    Reply
    • Yang says

      January 8, 2020 at 8:35 pm

      Thank you for visiting the blog! Hope you get to try it.
      I haven’t added the kimchi recipe yet, as I have a long list of things I want to write about. I am working my way through though. 🙂

      Reply
    • Yang says

      January 29, 2021 at 4:34 pm

      I just added the links to my kimchi recipes!!! Sorry about the delay. Enjoy!!! 🙂

      Reply
  2. merry chritmas says

    November 23, 2019 at 12:08 am

    Helpful info. Lucky me I found your website accidentally, and I’m
    shocked why this accident did not took place in advance!
    I bookmarked it.

    Reply
    • Yang says

      January 29, 2021 at 4:33 pm

      Hehe, thank you!!! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Su says

    December 11, 2018 at 6:26 am

    This dish is ridiculously easy and fantastic for a midweek meal, only I made a few changes. I had 250gm pork belly so I reduced the soy sauce and rice wine to 1/2 Tablespoon each. I used 100gm kimchi (store bought) and I still found the dish too salty. I would reduce the Kim chi amount next time or add less soy sauce! Otherwise, delicious and definitely in my dinner repertoire now, thank you!!! =D

    Reply
    • Yang says

      December 11, 2018 at 8:39 am

      Thanks for sharing your experience. I am wondering if the kimchi, soy sauce or rice wine you use are too salty? Store-bought kimchi is likely saltier than my home-made, and I use an organic Tamari which is mild and delicious. Depending on what brand of soy sauce you buy, some can be much saltier than others. Asian rice wine is another ingredient that can hide a lot of sodium, so make sure you buy a high quality one containing less or no salt. We definitely eat low salt in our family compared to others, so I really suspect the difference is in the ingredients from various brands. Adjust the amount according to the ingredients you use. If you change up some ingredients, that may make a difference. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Christina Shoemaker says

    April 9, 2018 at 8:16 am

    This beautiful and so simple! I can’t believe I haven’t tried kimchi before but you’ve sold me on it for sure!

    Reply
  5. Tatiana says

    April 9, 2018 at 2:37 am

    A marriage of two fantastic ingredients- kimchi and pork belly! I can imagine how my husband will eat it all!

    Reply
  6. Monique says

    April 6, 2018 at 6:14 am

    I like to cook with fermented vegetables too; kimchi adds to much flavour to a warm dish. Eating hot sauerkraut with sausage is delicious too! Your photos are so incredibly beautiful, as always 🙂

    Reply
  7. Carrie says

    April 4, 2018 at 9:33 am

    Your photos are beautiful, I’m seriously drooling at this. Can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
  8. Yvonne says

    April 3, 2018 at 10:39 am

    I will be trying this recipe out immediately! Can’t go wrong with kim chi and pork belly, OMG!!!

    Reply
  9. Megan Stevens says

    April 3, 2018 at 9:21 am

    This is such a simple and perfect preparation; I love it. Yes and yay for added fat and for using kimchi in cooking!

    Reply
  10. Jean says

    April 2, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    Pork and kimchi are actually my favorite combo! The fatty pork and the spicy kimchi are amaaaazing together. Love this recipe!

    Reply
  11. linda spiker says

    April 2, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    Holy moly that looks delicious! Pork belly is a favorite!

    Reply
  12. Meredith says

    April 2, 2018 at 4:01 pm

    I love kimchi! This stir-fried kimchi recipe looks absolutely delicious and I am so excited to try it (and your homemade kimchi recipe too!!!)

    Reply
  13. Lindsey Dietz says

    April 2, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    I wouldn’t have thought of cooking kimchi! Thanks for explaining that so well!

    Reply
  14. Tessa Simpson says

    April 2, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    Beautiful pictures Yang! Would believe I have never had kimchi before? I am not sure why as LOVE fermented things…I will look forward to your recipe!

    Reply
  15. Albert Bevia says

    March 31, 2018 at 6:41 am

    I have never had this dish before but looks incredible and so delicious! can´t believe how quickly this can be made, love that touch of sesame seeds on top

    Reply

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Here you will find many nourishing recipes and natural remedies at Yang's Nourishing Kitchen.

Born and raised in China, now living in Canada for the past 20+ years, Yang shares time-tested traditional wisdom from the east to the west, through nutrient-dense real food recipes.

Having healed herself successfully from illness labeled incurable, Yang uses her knowledge and experience to help others to achieve balance and well-being. Read More…

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