Classic Gimbap Recipe with Ham and Egg (Kimbap)

This classic gimbap makes two rolls for two people in about 50 minutes, starting from cooked rice. Warm rice seasoned with sesame oil and salt is spread on gim (dried seaweed), filled with seven fillings, rolled and sliced. The key is a thin, even layer of rice and dry fillings, so the roll stays tight.

Gimbap is rice and fillings rolled in gim. In Korea it is a standard dish at bunsikjip, snack shops that sell quick dishes such as gimbap, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and ramyeon (Korean instant noodles). Bunsik once meant food made from flour, but today it covers this wider group of quick, casual dishes.

Late Joseon records of seasonal customs describe bokssam, rice wrapped in gim and eaten at the first full moon of the lunar year, and the name gimbap appears in a 1925 newspaper. Accounts differ on the origin of today’s filled rolls: one traces them to seaweed-wrapped sushi introduced from Japan during the colonial period and adapted in Korea, while another traces it to bokssam. Public sources also describe gimbap spreading further as a quick everyday meal in the 1990s, as specialist shops and franchises grew.

The fillings change from recipe to recipe. This entry uses spinach, egg, carrot, eomuk (Korean fish cake), ham, danmuji (Korean pickled radish) and seasoned burdock root. Ham, danmuji and burdock root are sold ready for gimbap at Korean grocery stores.

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• Pot, 18–20 cm (about 7–8 in), for blanching
• Frying pan, 24–26 cm (about 9 1/2–10 1/4 in)
• Gimbap mat (bamboo rolling mat), optional
• Wide bowl (for the rice)
• Plates (for the fillings)
• Sharp knife and a clean damp cloth

1. Put the warm rice in a wide bowl. Add the salt and sesame oil. Mix gently.

   Cooked short-grain white rice About 300 g (10.6 oz) · Salt About 1/4 tsp · Sesame oil About 1/2 tbsp

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the washed spinach for about 30 seconds, until the leaves soften.

   Spinach About 100 g (3.5 oz)

3. Rinse the spinach in cold water. Squeeze out the water. Mix in a pinch of salt and the sesame oil.

   Salt A pinch · Sesame oil About 1/2 tsp

4. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt.

   Eggs 2 ea · Salt A pinch

5. Heat the pan over medium-low heat. Add oil. Pour in the eggs. Cook both sides until the egg is fully set.

   Cooking oil About 1 tsp

6. Transfer the egg to a plate. Let it cool. Cut it into long strips about 1 cm (3/8 in) wide.

7. Increase the heat to medium. Add oil. Stir-fry the carrot with a pinch of salt for about 1 minute, until slightly soft. Transfer it to a plate.

   Carrot 1/2 ea (about 70 g / 2.5 oz) · Cooking oil About 1 tsp · Salt A pinch

8. Add oil. Stir-fry the eomuk for about 30 seconds. Add the soy sauce, sugar and water.

   Eomuk (Korean fish cake), flat sheet 1 sheet · Cooking oil About 1 tsp · Soy sauce About 1 tsp · Sugar About 1/2 tsp · Water About 1 tbsp

9. Cook the eomuk for about 2 minutes, until almost no liquid is left. Transfer it to a plate.

10. Cook the ham in the dry pan for about 1 minute. Turn it during cooking. Transfer it to a plate.

    Gimbap ham 2 strips

11. Pat the danmuji and burdock root dry with paper towels.

    Danmuji (Korean pickled radish) 2 strips · Seasoned burdock root strips 2 strips

12. Put a gim sheet on the mat or a clean work surface, shiny side down. Put a long side toward you.

    Gim (dried seaweed sheets) for gimbap 1 sheet

13. Spread half of the rice thinly over the gim. Leave about 4 cm (1 1/2 in) empty at the far edge.

14. Put half of each filling in a line across the rice, near the edge closest to you.

15. Roll the gim away from you. Hold the fillings in place with your fingers. Press the roll evenly with the mat or your hands.

16. Wet the empty edge with a little water. Finish the roll. Put it seam side down.

17. Make the second roll with the remaining gim sheet, rice and fillings.

    Gim (dried seaweed sheets) for gimbap 1 sheet

18. Brush the rolls and the knife with sesame oil. Cut the rolls into pieces about 1.5 cm (5/8 in) thick. Wipe the knife with the damp cloth when rice sticks to it.

    Sesame oil About 1 tsp

• The egg is fully set, with no liquid egg
• The spinach is squeezed dry, and the eomuk has almost no liquid left
• The cut roll has a thin, even layer of rice around the fillings
• The roll is firm, the seam stays closed, and the fillings stay in place when cut

Chamchi gimbap (tuna gimbap)

Some tuna gimbap recipes use tuna mixed with mayonnaise, with kkaennip (perilla leaves) alongside it.

Kkoma gimbap (mini gimbap)

The gim is cut into halves or quarters to roll small, thin gimbap.

Chungmu gimbap

This specimen travels apart from its seasoned squid and radish kimchi, with only rice inside the gim.

Sogogi gimbap (beef gimbap)

Seasoned, cooked beef replaces the ham as the main filling.

Japanese sushi rolls

Sushi rolls use rice seasoned with vinegar, while the rice in this gimbap is seasoned with sesame oil and salt.

• Maangchi — Gimbap
• Korean Bapsang — Kimbap
• My Korean Kitchen — Easy kimbap
• Serious Eats — Kimbap
• My Korean Kitchen — Tuna kimbap
• 10000recipe — Gimbap (Korean)
• Juneunsarang — Homemade gimbap (Korean)
• Semie Kitchen — How to make gimbap (Korean)
• Encyclopedia of Korean Culture — Gimbap (Korean)
• Korea.net — Street snacks (bunsik)
• Korea Tourism Organization — Chungmu gimbap
• MFDS — Safe gimbap preparation (Korean)
• UK Food Standards Agency — Home food fact checker
• Singapore Food Agency — Food handler's handbook (PDF)
• USDA — Hams and food safety
• Chakraborty et al. — Starch retrogradation (2023)
• Sempio — Jin soy sauce ingredients
• Moguchon — Gimbap ham allergen information (Korean)
• Samjin — Flat fish cake product information (Korean)
• FDA — Egg safety
• USDA — Leftovers and food safety
• National Folk Museum of Korea — Gimbap (in Korean)
• Rural Development Administration — Gimbap, 2024 (in Korean)
• Korea Heritage Service — Gimbap column (in Korean)