Gochujang, a trending food, was the most recent ingredient that we wanted to experiment with in our test kitchen. We thought a great recipe to make with the Korean chile paste was Kimchi Fries – kind of like the spicy, funky sister to chili fries.
For our take, we made a spicy gochujang mayo and drizzled it on French fries. We also added fresh green onions and kimchi for a tangy twist.
Korean red chile pepper paste comes in several different varieties, so we decided to do a little taste test with the options we found at our local Asian market and grocery stores.
From left to right: A super spicy gochujang paste, a medium spicy version, and a super sweet gochujang sauce.
The three varieties we tested out ranged from super spicy to super sweet. The super sweet version was labeled as gochujang sauce, rather than paste and it had a pourable consistency. We picked the milder version of the paste to go with our kimchi fries because the super spicy version was, well, super spicy! (Consider yourself warned.) Check out our recipe for Kimchi Fries below.
Kimchi Fries with Gochujang Mayo
Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen French fries (we used Cascadian Farm crinkle cut fries)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon gochujang Korean chile paste
1/2 cup kimchi, well drained and finely chopped
2 green onions, sliced
Directions
Bake the French fries according to package directions. (If you prefer really crispy fries, bake for a few extra minutes.)
While the fries are baking, make the gochujang sauce by stirring together the mayonnaise and gochujang chile paste. Once the fries are hot and crispy, they’re ready to load with toppings. Place the fries in individual serving containers and top with a drizzle of gochujang mayo, a spoonful of kimchi and a sprinkling of green onions. Grab a fork and dig in.
