How to Make Sauerkraut and Kimchi at Home: A Beginner’s Guide to Fermented Cabbage

I’ve been growing vegetables for a long time, and cabbage has always been one of my favorites to work with in the garden — it’s forgiving, it stores well, and it turns into something completely different once you let it ferment. If you read my full guide to fermented foods, you already know why I’m such a fan of getting more of these foods into my routine. Today I want to walk you through exactly how I make my two favorites at home: sauerkraut and kimchi.

Both of these start the same basic way — cabbage, salt, and time — which is why I’m covering them together. Once you understand the process for one, the other is just a matter of a few different ingredients and flavors. Neither one requires special equipment, a starter culture, or any experience. Just a knife, a jar, and some patience.

Why Fermented Cabbage Is Worth the Effort

When cabbage ferments, naturally occurring bacteria convert its sugars into lactic acid. That process is what gives sauerkraut and kimchi their tang, and it’s also what makes them so good for your gut — a properly fermented batch is full of live probiotic cultures that store-bought, pasteurized versions simply don’t have (most jars on grocery store shelves have been heat-treated, which kills off the good bacteria along with anything else).

Making it yourself means you get the real thing, and you control exactly what goes into it — no preservatives, no added sugar, no mystery ingredients.

A Few Basics Before You Start

• Salt matters. Use plain, additive-free salt — sea salt or pickling salt. Iodized table salt can interfere with fermentation and discolor your batch.
• Keep everything submerged. Vegetables exposed to air can grow mold. The salt brine needs to cover the cabbage completely the entire time it’s fermenting.
• Use clean, non-reactive equipment. Glass jars are ideal. Avoid reactive metals like aluminum.
• Room temperature is fine. Both ferments do their work sitting on your counter, out of direct sunlight, for several days to a few weeks depending on how tangy you like the result.
• Taste as you go. Once a ferment is a few days in, taste it daily. When it hits the flavor you like, move it to the fridge to slow things down.

Homemade Sauerkraut

This is the simplest possible version — just cabbage and salt — and it’s the one I recommend starting with if you’ve never fermented anything before.

Ingredients

• 1 medium head green cabbage (about 2 lbs / 900g), core removed
• 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
• Optional: 1 teaspoon caraway seeds or juniper berries for extra flavor

Instructions

1. Shred the cabbage thinly, either by hand or with a food processor, and place it in a large bowl.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the cabbage and massage it in with your hands for 5–10 minutes, until the cabbage softens and releases its own liquid.
3. Pack the cabbage tightly into a clean quart-sized jar, pressing down firmly so the released liquid rises above the cabbage. If there isn’t quite enough liquid, let it sit 20–30 minutes and press again.
4. Weigh the cabbage down so it stays fully submerged — a smaller jar filled with water, or a fermentation weight, works well. Cover loosely with a lid or cloth to let gas escape.
5. Leave the jar at room temperature, out of direct light, for 1–4 weeks. Start tasting after day 5.
6. Once it tastes tangy enough for you, seal the jar and move it to the refrigerator, where it will keep for several months.

Homemade Kimchi

Kimchi uses the same fermentation principle as sauerkraut, but with napa cabbage and a spiced paste that gives it a completely different personality — savory, garlicky, and a little heat.

Ingredients

• 1 medium napa cabbage (about 2 lbs / 900g), cored and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup fine sea salt (for the initial soak)
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Korean chili flakes (gochugaru), adjust to taste
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (or soy sauce for a vegetarian version)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup shredded carrot or daikon radish (optional)

Instructions

1. Dissolve the salt in the water and soak the cabbage pieces for 1–2 hours, tossing occasionally, until the leaves are pliable. Drain and rinse well.
2. In a bowl, mix the chili flakes, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, and sugar into a paste.
3. Add the green onions and carrot or radish to the drained cabbage, then work the chili paste through everything with your hands (gloves help here) until every piece is coated.
4. Pack the mixture tightly into a clean jar, pressing down so any liquid rises to cover the vegetables. Leave about an inch of headspace, since kimchi tends to bubble more actively than sauerkraut.
5. Cover loosely and leave at room temperature for 1–5 days, pressing down daily to keep everything submerged. Start tasting after day 2.
6. Once it’s fermented to your liking, seal and refrigerate. It will continue to develop flavor slowly in the fridge for months.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

• White film on top: This is usually harmless kahm yeast, not mold — skim it off. True mold is fuzzy and colored (green, black, pink) and means the batch should be discarded.
• Too salty or too bland: Adjust in future batches — start with less salt if it’s too salty, and more if the ferment seems slow or unusually mushy.
• Not bubbling: A little activity in the first few days is normal, but complete silence for a week can mean the room is too cold. Move the jar somewhere warmer.

How to Use It

Both of these are great served straight from the jar as a side dish, but I also like adding a spoonful to eggs, rice bowls, sandwiches, or salads. Because heat kills the live cultures, add them to hot food after cooking rather than during, if getting the probiotic benefit is your goal.

More on Fermented Foods and Gut Health

If you want the full picture of why fermented foods matter for digestion — and a few more options beyond cabbage — take a look at my full guide to fermented foods. And if you’re working on gut health more broadly, I’d also point you toward more ways to support your gut health after 40 for the rest of what we cover on the topic.

Give one of these a try and let me know how your first batch turns out — fermenting is one of those skills that gets easier (and more fun) the more you do it.

— Ginger

Ginger Durett is a medical assistant and professional plant grower, and co-founder of Happy Healthy Living.