Cucumber Kimchi (Oi Kimchi) (2024)

Learn how to make quick cucumber kimchi. It’s crunchy, light and flavorful. Just perfect for this summer!

Korean Cucumber Kimchi

Cucumber kimchi (Oi Kimchi, 오이 김치) is a popular summer kimchi in Korea. My mom used to make either a quick cucumber kimchi (as seen above) or stuffed cucumber kimchi (oi sobagi, 오이 소박이) every summer.

You might be wondering how these two kimchi are different?

Essentially, both of them are cucumber kimchi. But one kimchi is serve with vegetables stuffed inside and the other one is not.

As a child, I always preferred just plain quick cucumber kimchi because I didn’t like the stuffings inside of the kimchi. I find these rather annoying because all I really wanted was simple, tasty and crunchy cucumbers.

So if my mom made stuffed cucumber kimchi instead, I would spent a few minutes at each meal to take those stuffings out. Lol. How counter productive! Because it does take good time to stuff those things into the small gaps of cucumbers.

Though, as a grown up, I love eating both styles of kimchi. They both are equally delicious and I particularly love the crunchy texture!

Nonetheless, quick cucumber kimchi is a bit more convenient to make (obviously!), so I’ve been making this a lot lately.

The cucumber kimchi is good with even just simple steamed rice, but it also goes wonderfully well with Korean BBQ. Hope you make it soon!

P.S. If you like cucumber, try my other cucumber recipes! Spicy Korean cucumber salad (Oi Muchim) and Korean cucumber side dish (Oi Namul). Also, if you want to learn how to make stuffed cucumber kimchi, check it out from my banchan cookbook.

Ingredients for Cucumber Kimchi

Main

• 3 Lebanese cucumbers (450 g / 1 pound), other cucumber suitable for pickling is ok to use, rinsed
• 1 Tbsp coarse sea salt
• (optional) 50 g / 1.7 ounces carrots, julienned
• (optional) 20 g / 0.7 ounces garlicchives or chives, chopped in same length as the cucumber

Kimchi sauce (Mix these well in a bowl)

• 2 Tbsp gochugaru (korean chili flakes)
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp grated red apple or asian pear
• 1 Tbsp honey or sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp saeujeot (Korean salted shrimp), minced (if you don’t have this add more fish sauce below)
• 1/2 tsp Korean fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger

*If you don’t like using salted shrimps (1/2 Tbsp) and fish sauce (1/2 tsp), substitute them with 1 Tbsp regular soy sauce.

**1 Tbsp = 15 ml,

***If you want to learn about Korean ingredients, check my 30 essential Korean ingredients list.

How to Make Cucumber Kimchi

1. Cut off both ends of the cucumber. Divide the cucumber into 3 pieces then cross cut each piece length ways. You should end up with 4 to 5 cm (1.5 inch) length cucumber pieces. Put the cucumber into a large bowl then scatter the coarse sea salt around on top. Gently mix them so that the cucumber gets pickled evenly. Set it aside for 20 minutes.

2. Gently brush off the salt from the cucumber then transfer the cucumber into a clean bowl. Pour in the kimchi sauce then mix them gently. (If using) Add the carrots and garlic chives then mix with the rest again. Transfer into a glass container and cover.

3. Keep it at room temperature for about 12 to 18 hours then move it to the fridge. Serve once chilled.

How to Store Cucumber Kimchi

Store kimchi in an air tight glass container.Cucumber kimchi is best to be consumed within 7 days. The older the cucumber kimchi gets, the more water it loses. Then it can get mushy.

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