Kimchi cucumbers — cucumbers and onions with a blend of sesame oil, rice vinegar, and spices — have become a hot new snack on TikTok. One potential reason for their buzz: Kimchi is a fermented food, meaning it could improve your gut health.
Here’s what you need to know about the food trend on TikTok, including how to make kimchi cucumbers and if they can give you a healthier gut. (Hint: Not to the extent you may think.)
What to Know About Kimchi and the Kimchi Cucumbers TikTok Trend
Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish prepared with fermented vegetables such as cabbage, radishes, carrots, and onions. It can be found in soups or served alongside most meals in North and South Korea. On TikTok, users are posting about cucumbers with a kimchi spin.
Kimchi cucumbers have garnered 22.3 million views via the hashtag #cucumberkimchi and 153.6K views via #howtomakecucumberkimchi on TikTok.
Videos involving the recipe have been posted consistently since March 2021. TikTokers like Hannah Lee (685.2K followers) and Rose Austin (86K followers) tend to post “how to” videos.
Chef and food influencer My Nguyen (3.9M followers) hopped on the trend just this month, saying that she is “obsessed” with cucumber kimchi — noting that it’s usually prepared as a side dish or a snack.
Can Kimchi Better Your Gut Health?
Wendy Lord, RD, consultant for Sensible Digs, believes the gut-friendly perks of fermented kimchi may be a reason for the popularity of kimchi cucumbers. “There is a lot of focus on gut health at the moment,” she says.
She’s right: Precedence Research projects the digestive health product market will hit 72.5 billion by 2030, and a search on the government’s research database PubMed generates more than 40,000 results for “gut microbiome” — the collection of good yeast and bacteria in the gut that has the potential to affect health — and a nearly 34 percent increase in papers published from 2016 to 2021.
“Traditional kimchi is a good source of probiotics, or good bacteria that help to promote a good balance of bacteria in the gut,” Lord says. Research supports this notion, suggesting that eating probiotic foods such as kimchi may help restore a balance between healthy and unhealthy bacteria in the gut. This may result in lower inflammation and a reduced risk for certain chronic diseases. Also, a paper published in March 2018 in Medicine noted that kimchi specifically is high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other healthy properties.
What Do Registered Dietitians Think of Kimchi Cucumbers?
All that said, the popular cucumber kimchi recipe currently making its rounds on TikTok doesn’t actually contain kimchi, so the snack or side loses out on those gut-friendly perks.
Yet even without fermentation, cucumber kimchi can make for a healthy snack, Lord says.
Dana Ellis Hunnes PhD, MPH, a senior registered dietitian at UCLA medical center in Los Angeles, agrees. “It’s a low-calorie, high-fiber snack, which can help keep you satiated,” she says. “Most people who snack aren’t necessarily looking for ‘balance.’ This would be a far better choice than chips out of a bag.”
Who Should Try (and Avoid) Kimchi Cucumbers?
Lord and Hunnes say kimchi cucumbers are safe for most people to try, but they noted a few exceptions.
If you have high blood pressure or are watching your salt intake for another reason, Lord says this isn’t a recommended snack for you. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends American adults consume less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day — which, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), measures up to just under 1 tsp (2,360 mg), per day. The viral TikTok snack, for which a recipe is listed below, accounts for almost 2 times that amount, at 1 ½ tsp (3,540 mg).
Hunnes recommends using less or no sodium by substituting the salt with vinegars or acidic fruits like lemon or lime. Alternatively, you may choose kosher salt, which is lower in sodium than table salt by volume.
Additionally, if you’re sensitive or allergic to any of the ingredients — such as sesame seeds — avoid this snack or make appropriate substitutions.
Finally, if you are including the fermentation process be sure to follow a recipe from a responsible source. Also, Hunnes warns that people who have had an organ transplant or are immune-deficient shouldn’t eat cucumber kimchi.
How to Make TikTok Kimchi Cucumbers
Nguyen says the recipe is as follows:
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 8 Persian cucumbers
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- Handful of sliced onions
- Handful of green onions
- Handful of carrots
- 2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean pepper powder)
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ¼ cup sesame oil
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
She notes in a later video that if you don’t have gochugaru, you can substitute it with 2 tbsp paprika, 1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper, and ½ tsp crushed red pepper.
Instructions
- Chop up the Persian cucumbers into bite-sized rounds or pieces.
- Add the salt to the cucumbers and let it rest for 15 minutes to draw out the moisture.
- Pour out the water.
- Add the garlic, onions, green onions, carrots, and gochugaru.
- Pour in the rice vinegar and sesame oil.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
- Mix.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. For better taste, refrigerate overnight.
Nutrition per serving: 127 calories, 11g total fat (1.5g saturated fat), 2g protein, 8g carbohydrates, 2.6g fiber, 3.2g sugar (0g added sugar), 201mg sodium
Should You Try Kimchi Cucumbers?
The cucumber kimchi currently making its rounds on TikTok isn’t fermented, so don’t expect those potential gut-health perks.
All the same, this snack is relatively healthy, especially when you use kosher salt instead of regular salt, or substitute citrus for salt entirely.
One last thing: Lord points out that the cucumbers do not constitute a balanced meal. “They contain no protein and very little energy from carbohydrates,” she says. To make the snack more balanced, she suggests adding chickpeas or beans to increase the protein, complex carbohydrates, and extra fiber.
