The best fermented foods for gut health include everything from pickled cucumbers and prahok to sour cream, yoghurt and sauerkraut, and kefir, kimchi and kombucha. Delightfully tangy, loaded with umami, and addictively delicious, fermented foods are good for us, partly thanks to probiotics, live micro-organisms that contribute to boosting immunity, digestion and metabolism.
Everybody seems to be talking about good gut health and fermented foods right now, and the ability of probiotics, the live microorganisms found in fermented foods, to improve gut health. A healthy gut is one free of gastrointestinal complaints such as poor digestion, intolerances to some foods, bloating, and abdominal pain.
Other conditions such as allergies, depression and cancers can also be traced to gut health. So it seems a no-brainer that if you want to improve your gut health, you should add more fermented foods to your diet. Now I don’t have a problem with that at all. I can’t get enough fermented foods. But it’s not as simple as that.
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Fermented Foods for Gut Health from Kefir to Kimchi + Recipes
We love our fermented foods, from Cambodia’s famous fermented fish paste called prahok – added to everything from this rich, coconut milk-based, minced pork dip, prahok k’tis, to this funky shrimp fried rice – to the tangy sourdough bread that Terence bakes from a sourdough starter that’s been bubbling away for years.
I grew up eating fermented foods. My Russian-Ukrainian grandparents had a pantry full of jars of pickled vegetables they’d can themselves, from dill pickles (gherkins) to pickled cabbage (sauerkraut), as well as pickled herrings, which we’d eat piled onto black rye bread. Much to my baboushka’s frustration, my papa also made vodka from fermented potatoes under the house!
But as much as we adore our fermented foods – they add depth of flavour and complexity to dishes and have loads of health benefits – not all fermented foods contain probiotics. Contrary to what you might read online.
While probiotics are naturally occurring in fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi and in starter cultures added to kefir and kombucha, and the like, some fermented foods might not contain probiotics by the time you actually consume them.
Processes such as pasteurisation, filtering, smoking, and baking can destroy those live microbes. For example, while a sourdough starter is brimming with probiotics, high heat during baking kills the live microbes in sourdough bread.
That doesn’t mean that fermented foods aren’t good for us. In fact, fermented foods are highly nutritious, and packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. But if you’re looking for probiotics to improve gut health, you might want to consider some of the top probiotics in supplement form. But do consult your doctor.
If you’re keen to introduce more fermented foods into your diet, for gut health, your general health, or for deeper flavours in the food you cook, then these are some of the best fermented foods and the recipes that make great use of them.
Fermented Foods for Gut Health from Kefir to Kimchi + Recipes
The best fermented foods for gut health and beyond, from kefir to kimchi, and recipes that include those ingredients.
Apple Cider Vinegar – Burmese Cucumber Salad Recipe
Apple cider vinegar is one of the best fermented foods for gut health and our Burmese cucumber salad recipe makes a crunchy cucumber salad with sesame seeds, green chillies, purple shallots and crispy fried shallots, with a dressing of sesame oil and apple cider vinegar. While you can use any fruit vinegar, I adore apple cider vinegar for the depth of flavour and tang, as much as its health giving properties.
This Burmese cucumber salad recipe is the perfect accompaniment to an Indian-style Burmese curry and classic Burmese chicken curry. They’re two of our favourite chicken curry recipes and probably two of our favourite chicken recipes. We eat it with Burmese coconut rice, fiery chilli lime pickles, a spicy mango chutney, and cooling Indian raita.
I make the dressing in a glass jar with lid, adding the apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, fresh lime juice, salt, caster sugar, and half the sesame seeds to the jar, screwing the lid on, and giving it a good shake. Make sure to taste the dressing before adding it to the vegetables and adjust the seasoning to suit your palate.
Burmese Cucumber Salad Recipe with Sesame, Green Chillies, Crispy Shallots
Kefir – Russian Okroshka Soup Recipe
Made with kefir, this Russian okroshka soup (Окрошка с кефиром) is a cold summer soup you can slurp any time of year. It’s winter where you are? Turn up the heating. Seasonable vegetables such as cucumber and radish can be substituted with whatever’s available that’s crisp and crunchy. This chilled soup is healthy and one of the easiest soups you’ll make, coming together in half an hour.
There are countless recipes for this chilled summer soup called okroshka, however, whether they’re made with kefir or kvass or sour cream, they all share some key ingredients and that’s potato, cucumber and radish, and maybe boiled eggs. Fresh fragrant dill is essential. Scallions and mint make this soup for me.
You could eat this Russian okroshka soup alone for a light lunch, or serve it with an array of Russian dishes for a proper family-style sharing meal. We used to serve it with dishes such as a beetroot potato salad, savoury pirozhki (hand pies), potato vareniki, meat pelmeni, stuffed cabbage rolls, and kotleti (chicken meat patties).
Russian Okroshka Soup Recipe for a Cold Summer Soup You Can Slurp All Year
Pickled Cucumbers – Russian Dill Pickles Recipe for Homemade Gherkins
My Russian dill pickles recipe makes homemade gherkins or pickled cucumbers just like my Russian grandparents cucumber pickles. While my papa and baboushka used the more traditional water bath canning method of pickling for shelf-stable pickles, which can be stored over a long period, resulting in intense flavours.
This recipe for easy refrigerator pickles is another of our best pickles recipes. We also have recipes for homemade pickled jalapeños, Mexican quick pickled onions and pickled red cabbage recipe. I use the quick and easy refrigerator pickles method, which must be kept in the fridge and don’t last as long, but they’re still incredibly delicious, still super healthy and brilliant for your gut health.
If you’re looking for more recipes using pickled cucumbers, I also include finely-diced dill pickles in my Russian devilled eggs and potato salad, also known as the Olivier salad or ensalada Rusa. I sprinkle them on top of blini with smoked salmon, sour cream and dill and buckwheat kasha with soft-boiled eggs, bacon and mushrooms.
There’s a layer of pickled cucumbers in my mini mimosa salads, which I present in individual glasses. And gherkins feature in my hearty traditional Russian beef stew and Russian barley and pickle soup called rassolnik, in which the pickles and their brine are a key ingredient.
Russian Dill Pickles Recipe for Homemade Gherkins Like My Russian Grandparents Made
Yoghurt – Turkish Poached Eggs Recipe for Cilbir
This Turkish poached eggs recipe makes cilbir – more correctly çılbır, pronounced ‘chil-bir’ – a delicious Turkish brunch dish of runny eggs immersed in creamy garlic yoghurt, drizzled with buttery chilli oil, and garnished with fragrant fresh dill. A favourite of Ottoman sultans, çılbır can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or a snack.
With runny eggs, creamy yoghurt and the chilli butter oil, this dish is just made for dunking. Regular readers will know that I love baking sourdough, and this Mediterranean sourdough with Kalamata olives, sweet red capsicum, rosemary, and thyme would go very nicely with this dish – however, Turkish bread would, of course, be perfect.
In Turkey, a thick yoghurt called süzme, which means ‘strained’, is used. If you’re not in Turkey and don’t have a specialist Turkish grocery shop nearby, then use Greek yoghurt or any thick creamy yogurt. It’s all good for you!
Turkish Poached Eggs Recipe with Garlic Yoghurt and Chilli Oil for Cilbir
Kimchi – Spicy Korean Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe for Kimchi Bokkeumbap
This spicy Korean kimchi fried rice recipe makes a classic kimchi bokkeumbap stir-fried with Korea’s famously fiery fermented cabbage called kimchi and the spicy chilli paste, gochujang, topped with soft fried egg, and sprinkled with roasted seaweed, sesame seeds and, if not spicy enough for you, the Korean chilli flakes gochugaru. It’s filling, comforting and fantastic for your gut health.
If you enjoyed our Korean spicy noodles recipe for stir-fried udon noodles with kimchi, bacon, pork and fried eggs, and you’re a lover of fried rice (more fried rice recipes here), you’re going to love this easy Korean kimchi fried rice recipe with fried eggs. (I also like it with Korean meatballs!) It’s equally delicious, just as easy to prepare, and super healthy.
Spicy Korean Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe with Fried Egg for Kimchi Bokkeumbap
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make any of these recipes for the best fermented foods for good gut health. We love hearing how our recipes turn out for you and welcome feedback and tips.
