Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Hotteok
Chewy fried griddle pancakes oozing a molten brown-sugar, cinnamon, and nut filling, a Korean winter street treat.
Korean · medium · serves 6
prep 90 min · cook 15 min
~553 cal · 12g protein · 88g carbs · 17g fat · 4g fiber · 29g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Hotteok are Korea's beloved sweet street pancakes, at their best in winter when they are sold sizzling from griddle carts and eaten piping hot to warm cold hands. Biting into one releases a rush of hot, syrupy filling, so they come with a warning to wait a moment.
A yeasted, slightly chewy dough is wrapped around a filling of brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts, then pressed flat and fried in a little oil on the griddle until golden. As it cooks, the sugar melts into a molten caramel inside. Crisp outside, chewy and gooey within, it is the definitive Korean winter street snack.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 cups flour
2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup sweet rice flour (chapssal garu)
1 tbsp sugar (for the dough)
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups warm water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or peanuts
3 tbsp oil, for frying
Instructions
1
Mix the plain flour with the sweet rice flour, yeast, sugar, salt and warm water (or milk) into a soft, sticky, stretchy dough and let it rise until doubled, about an hour.
✎ Chef’s note
The sweet rice flour is what makes hotteok chewy rather than bready, and kneading it longer makes it chewier still. The dough should stay sticky and stretchy when pulled.
2
Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts for the filling.
3
With oiled hands, flatten a piece of dough, add filling, and seal into a ball.
✎ Chef’s note
Oil your hands well to handle the sticky dough, and seal the filling in completely so the molten sugar does not escape while frying.
4
Fry seam-down in oil for a minute, flip, press flat with a spatula into a wide disc, then flip once more, turn the heat right down and cover for a final minute so the sugar melts to syrup inside.
Korean winter street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Seoul (Gyeonggi). The red tteokbokki everyone means is recent. It was made by Ma Bok-rim in Sindang-dong in 1953, and the district only took off in the late 1970s; the Joseon court version it descends from, gungjung tteokbokki, was soy-sauce-based and mild, with no chilli paste in it at all.
🗺️
South Korea. Kimjang, the late-autumn making and sharing of a winter's worth of kimchi, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2013. Households pool labour and cabbages over a few days and the results are distributed among neighbours and relatives, which makes it a social obligation as much as a preserving method.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from South Korea
BibimbapA bowl of rice crowned with seasoned vegetables, beef, and a fried egg, all mixed with gochujang at the table.
Sundubu-jjigae (Soft Tofu Stew)Bubbling-hot soft tofu stew, brick-red with gochugaru, finished with an egg cracked in at the table.
BulgogiThin beef marinated in soy, pear, sesame, and garlic, seared fast and sweet-savory, Korea’s beloved "fire meat."
Browse all South Korea recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best fresh and hot. Keep batter covered in the fridge for up to a day, and rewarm cooked ones in a dry pan.
Make it a South Korea meal
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Frequently asked questions
What is Hotteok?
Chewy fried griddle pancakes oozing a molten brown-sugar, cinnamon, and nut filling, a Korean winter street treat.
Where does Hotteok come from?
Hotteok is a Korean dish from Seoul (Gyeonggi), South Korea.
Can Hotteok be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Hotteok recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Hotteok safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Hotteok take to make?
About 105 minutes total (90 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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