Kimchi Fusion Taco Recipe

Tacos are a traditional Mexican food that is popular in the United States. But they are usually considered an everyday American food rather than an ethnic food. There is probably no place in the United States that does not have a taco restaurant!

On February 24, 2009, the New York Times covered an interesting story about the emergence of Korean Mexican fusion tacos in Los Angeles. A taco vendor called ‘Kogi Korean BBQ-To-Go’ was making Kimchi tacos, which ended up becoming a sensation. About a month before the news broke, we started sharing our own Kimchi taco recipes on Youtube.

As a Korean-American couple, our daily life itself is a fusion. We like traditional Korean food, such as Bulgogi, Doenjang jjigae, Kimchi jjigae, Samgyupsal, Japchae and so on. But we also enjoy creating fusion food, especially by using Kimchi. Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish that comes with every Korean meal. Basically, it is a spicy fermented cabbage. We tried a lot of Kimchi fusion recipes, including Kimchi tacos, Kimchi tuna sandwiches, Kimchi pizzas, Kimchi spaghetti, Kimchi hamburgers and Kimchi hot dogs. Kimchi tacos turned out to be the best. So, we would like to share our Kimchi fusion taco recipe with you. It’s simple to follow.

To make Kimchi fusion tacos, you will need to prepare the ingredients listed below:
Kimchi, olive oil, ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic, black olives, taco seasoning, tortillas (flour or corn), shredded cheese

Note: Kimchi in a jar is available in many large grocery stores in the United States, including Fred Myers. But it’ll be best if you can get Kimchi from a Korean grocery store in your neighborhood because they tend to be cheaper and taste better. You don’t need much hot sauce because Kimchi adds the spiciness that you need!

Okay, here are the simple cooking steps to follow:

STEP1: Cook ground beef in a pan.
STEP2: Stir minced garlic into the beef (optional, if you like healthier tacos – garlic is good for you) * Keep chopping the beef while you are cooking to get it into small pieces.
STEP3: Stir chopped mushrooms into the beef.
STEP4: Add taco seasoning (with some water) to the beef, and mix it with the beef.
STEP5: Sautee the Kimchi in another pan until it turns yellow.
STEP6: Mix the sautéed Kimchi with the taco beef.
STEP7: Prepare taco fixings. Chop tomatoes, onions and lettuce. Open cans of black olives. Now everything's ready to serve.
STEP8: Put all the ingredients, including the Kimchi-taco beef mix and taco fixings on a tortilla.

Watch our Kimchi fusion taco cooking video. It’ll help you follow the steps.

If you like our video, please give us thumbs up and comments on Youtube. Also share it with your friends.

Our Korean/American Fusion Lifestyle

We’re a Korean/American couple, Gina and J.J. Let us briefly introduce ourselves. Gina is Korean and works as a translator and writer. J.J. is American and works as a professor of Communication. We met in a graduate school in 2004 and fell in love. Two years later we got married! We appreciate each other’s culture and integrate both cultural elements into our daily life. Food is a crucial part of our fusion lifestyle.

Although J.J. is American, he loves Kimchi, a spicy fermented cabbage. Raw Kimchi smells strong, which sometimes turns off some foreigners. However, we discovered that sautéed Kimchi smells much milder and surprisingly tastes a bit cheesy. Since this discovery, we use sautéed Kimchi as a spice in most of our dishes. We have made Kimchi fusion tacos, Kimchi fusion BBQ burgers, Kimchi fusion tuna sandwiches, Kimchi fusion pasta and Kimchi fusion pizzas.

Our favorite among these is the Kimchi fusion taco. We introduced this special taco to our American and Korean families and friends. They all love the tacos. We would like to share our recipe with you. Fusion Korean food will prepare you to enjoy other authentic Korean dishes, such as Kimchi jjigae (Kimchi Stew) and Doenjang jjigae (Soybean Paste Stew). J.J. loves Doenjang jjigae.
▲ How to make Kimchi Fusion Tacos

▲ How to make Kimchi Fusion Barbecue Burgers