Filipino-style kimchi takes the classic Korean fermented cabbage and adapts it with local pantry staples like fish sauce (patis), shrimp paste (bagoong alamang), and a touch of sugar for extra sweetness. The result is a tangy, slightly sweeter side dish that fits right alongside lechon kawali, fried fish, or a plate of rice, much like atchara does in everyday Filipino meals.
What Makes Filipino Kimchi Different
Traditional Korean kimchi relies on gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), salted shrimp, and sometimes rice paste for its signature flavor. Filipino-style kimchi swaps in ingredients already sitting in most Filipino kitchens. Fish sauce (patis) and shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) replace Korean-specific fermented seafood products, and the addition of granulated white sugar gives the final product a noticeably sweeter edge. This sweetness balances the sourness that develops during fermentation and appeals to the Filipino palate, which leans toward sweet-savory combinations.
The base vegetable is the same: napa cabbage, known in the Philippines as pechay Baguio. From there, you can add carrots, radish (labanos), green onions, and even fruit like green mango or pineapple chunks for a distinctly tropical version.
Ingredients You Need
- 1 large napa cabbage (pechay Baguio), roughly 2 pounds
- ¼ cup coarse salt, for brining
- 3 to 4 tablespoons gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce (patis)
- 1 tablespoon shrimp paste (bagoong alamang)
- 2 teaspoons granulated white sugar
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
- 3 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium carrot, julienned
- ½ small radish (labanos), julienned (optional)
Gochugaru is worth tracking down at a Korean grocery or ordering online. It has a sweet, mildly smoky flavor that sits around 1,500 to 10,000 Scoville heat units, depending on the variety. Regular red pepper flakes are a poor substitute because they rely on cayenne pepper, which delivers sharp heat (15,000 to 30,000 SHU) without much flavor. If you want to add local heat, a small amount of finely chopped siling labuyo works on top of the gochugaru, but don’t use it as a full replacement.
Brining the Cabbage
Cut the napa cabbage lengthwise into quarters, then chop each quarter crosswise into roughly 2-inch pieces. Place the pieces in a large bowl, sprinkle the coarse salt over them, and toss so the salt reaches every layer. Let the cabbage sit for 1.5 to 2 hours, tossing it once halfway through. The leaves should become noticeably wilted and flexible. You’ll see a pool of liquid at the bottom of the bowl.
Rinse the cabbage thoroughly under cold running water three times to remove excess salt, then squeeze out as much water as you can by pressing handfuls against a colander. This step matters. Too much residual salt makes the kimchi inedibly salty, and too much water dilutes the paste and slows fermentation. You want the cabbage damp but not dripping.
Making the Paste
In a separate bowl, combine the gochugaru, fish sauce, shrimp paste, sugar, minced garlic, and grated ginger. Stir into a thick, reddish paste. If it feels too dry to spread, add a tablespoon of water. Some Filipino cooks add a tablespoon of rice flour cooked with a little water into a thin porridge, which feeds the fermentation bacteria and gives the paste a slightly sticky texture that clings to the vegetables. This is optional but helps the kimchi ferment more evenly.
Toss in the julienned carrot, radish, and green onions, then add the brined cabbage. Wearing food-safe gloves, massage the paste into every piece of cabbage until everything is evenly coated. The gloves aren’t just for keeping your hands clean. Chili paste under your fingernails burns for hours.
Adding Fruit for a Tropical Twist
This is where Filipino kimchi can go in its own direction. Adding half a cup of julienned green mango gives a tart, fruity bite that’s hard to replicate any other way. Pineapple chunks (fresh, not canned in syrup) add sweetness and a subtle acidity that speeds up early fermentation slightly because of the fruit’s natural sugars. Fold fruit in gently at the end so the pieces stay intact rather than turning to mush.
If you use fruit, expect the kimchi to ferment a bit faster and taste slightly tangier than an all-vegetable batch. Start checking it a day earlier than you normally would.
Packing and Fermenting
Pack the kimchi tightly into a clean glass jar, pressing down with a spoon or your fist after every few handfuls to eliminate air pockets. Leave at least an inch of space at the top because the kimchi will expand as carbon dioxide builds up during fermentation. Seal the jar loosely, or use a lid and “burp” it by cracking it open once or twice a day to release gas.
Here’s where the Philippine climate changes things. In a country where room temperature often sits between 28°C and 34°C (82°F to 93°F), fermentation moves fast. Many home fermenters in Southeast Asia find their kimchi reaches a pleasant tanginess in just 2 days at room temperature. In a Korean kitchen at 20°C, the same batch might need 3 to 5 days. Leaving it out longer in tropical heat pushes it past tangy into aggressively sour and sometimes bitter territory.
Taste it after 24 hours. When the cabbage tastes fizzy and mildly sour with the chili and fish sauce flavors still prominent, it’s ready to move to the refrigerator. Refrigeration slows fermentation dramatically and lets the kimchi develop deeper flavor over weeks without becoming overly acidic. It will keep in the fridge for a month or more.
Getting the Salt Level Right
Safe fermentation depends on salt creating the right environment for beneficial lactic acid bacteria while keeping harmful bacteria in check. Commercial kimchi typically lands around 2.5% salinity. Research on kimchi fermentation has found that a final salt concentration of about 3% effectively controls foodborne pathogens regardless of how active the beneficial bacteria are. Lower concentrations (1 to 2%) can still work because the fermentation itself produces acid that drops the pH below 4.0, which limits pathogen growth, but the window for error is smaller.
In practical terms, this means you should salt generously during the brining step and rinse well afterward, rather than under-salting out of caution. If your finished kimchi tastes flat or the cabbage goes mushy within a couple of days without developing tang, there probably wasn’t enough salt to support a healthy ferment.
How to Serve It
Filipino-style kimchi fills the same role that atchara (pickled green papaya) plays on the table: a bright, acidic counterpoint to rich, fatty, or fried dishes. It’s a natural alongside lechon kawali, crispy pata, or inihaw na baboy. Pile it on top of plain rice with a fried egg for a quick meal, or chop it fine and stir it into fried rice during the last minute of cooking.
The sweetness and fish sauce backbone of Filipino kimchi also makes it a surprisingly good match with instant noodles. Drop a generous spoonful into your bowl of pancit canton or use it as a topping for tokwa’t baboy. Once the jar has been in the fridge for two weeks or more and the kimchi has turned quite sour, that’s the ideal batch for cooking into soups, stews, or kimchi fried rice, where the deeper acidity mellows out with heat.