Let’s make Hotteok (Korean sweet pancakes), a popular South Korean street food! Crispy on the outside with a chewy interior, these pancakes are traditionally filled with sugar and nuts for added crunch. Easy-to-make and a treat worth a try.
Let’s make Hotteok
(Korean sweet pancakes)
Today I’m sharing a popular Korean street food called Hotteok, a golden fried pancake (or flatbread) with a crispy outside and a chewy and gooey inside.
These delicious Korean sweet pancakes are made with a simple yeasted dough and commonly stuffed with a sweet filling of brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, and chopped nuts. However, you will also find other fillings like cheese, red bean paste, Nutella, or salted caramel.
Hotteok is very easy to make at home! so I’d like you to try making it at home! Give it a try and let me know what you think of it! You can also create an original Hotteok with any fillings you like.
You’ll find, here, an easy-to-follow recipe with step-by-step instructions, helpful info, and tips. I hope you’ll try and enjoy it with your loved ones!! It will be your new favorite.
Are you looking for more International recipes?
Take a quick look at the recipe collection HERE
What is Hotteok?
Hotteok is one of the popular snacks in Korea, an affordable snack at Korean street food stalls.
It is a round flat-shaped fried yeasted dough typically filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, ground nuts, and seeds.
However, there are a variety of fillings like sweet bean paste, Nutella, and cheese. In recent times, savory-style pancakes filled with vegetables, Kimchi, and Bulgogi are also available.
In Hangul (Korean alphabet), Hotteok is written as 호떡. In Korean, hotteok (호떡) is pronounced as “hoh-ttokh”, with a harsh T and silent throaty K. Hotteok is also spelled as hodduk (or hoddeok).
It is said that Hotteok was introduced by Chinese merchants who came to Korea at the end of the 19th century. Koreans adapted the recipe to make their own versions.
How Do You Make Hotteok?
The dough for Hotteok is made from wheat flour, sweet rice flour, water/milk, sugar, and yeast. The dough is leavened for a few hours.
Once ready, the resulting dough is rolled into small balls, which are flattened and stuffed with the filling.
The filled dough is then shallow fried on a greased griddle and pressed flat into a circle with a stainless steel circle or wooden handle as it cooks.
You can also buy premix versions from a Korean grocery store.
Ingredients
Dough
- All-purpose flour
- Sweet rice flour – If available, using a part of sweet rice flour is highly recommended for the dough because It adds a mochi-like chewy texture. Sweet rice flour and glutinous rice flour are the same thing, also called Mochiko. If unavailable, you can replace it with all-purpose flour.
- Milk – I used milk but you can also use water for a vegan version instead of milk.
- Yeast – I used instant yeast and mixed it with other ingredients. If you use active dry yeast, activate (proof) it before adding it to the rest of the dough ingredients.
- Sugar
- Salt
- Cooking oil
Filling
- Brown sugar
- Cinnamon
- Nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds)
- Seeds (sunflower seeds)
Other Ingredients
- Cooking oil for frying
Useful Tips for Making Hotteok
- Use lukewarm milk or water when mixing it with yeast.
- If your dough isn’t rising, your yeast could be dead or the temperature is too cold
- To make the even-sized pancakes, weigh the dough balls.
- The dough is soft and sticky so it sticks to your hands easily. Applying some oil to your palms will prevent sticking.
- Make sure to warm up the pan before wrapping. Once wrapped, place the dough in the frying pan immediately.
- You can make one or more depending on the size of your pan.
- Using a large frying pan or a hot plate is recommended.
- You can shallow fry them with a little oil. However, if you want pancakes with crispy outside just use more oil to fry.
- To make a crispier edge, tilt the pan to one side so that the oil pools and you can fry the edges in that oil pool using a kitchen tong.
Serving Suggestions
Hotteok are best when freshly made and still warm, so enjoy them immediately. However, when it gets cold, you can reheat it in a toaster oven. Refrigerating is not recommended.
You can eat them just plain or eat them with a scoop of ice cream. Place the ice cream and then fold the pancake in half and eat it as an ice cream sandwich.
If you like to eat it with more fillings, cut the pancake in half, and add more filling inside as you like.
More Korean Recipes to Try!!
Are you looking for more pancake recipes?
Take a quick look at the recipe collection HERE
Hotteok (Korean Sweet Pancakes)
Step-by-Step Recipe
Course: Snacks
Cuisine: South Korean
Prep Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 6 pancakes (medium size)
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 115 g plain flour
- 35 g glutinous rice flour
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 10 g white sugar
- 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast
- 125 ml lukewarm milk
- Cooking oil (see the notes)
Fillings
- 50 g brown sugar of your choice
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 50 g nuts of your choice
- 1 tbsp honey
Notes: You will need oil for the dough (about 1 tablespoon), to apply on the hands/board, and to fry the pancakes. Make sure to use a flavorless oil such as rice oil.
Instructions
Make the Filling
Gather the ingredients for the filling; brown sugar, cinnamon, and whatever nuts/seeds you choose. I used walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and cashew nuts.
Roast the nuts and then coarsely grind them.
Add the honey and mix well. Set aside
Make the Dough
Gather the ingredients; plain flour, sweet rice flour, salt, sugar, milk, yeast, and oil (not in the photo).
In a large bowl, whisk the flour with salt and sugar. Add the yeast and mix well. Add milk a little at a time and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the oil (1 tablespoon) and mix.
Once the mixture is no longer powdery, knead the dough (in the bowl) for about a minute until it becomes smooth. The dough is soft and sticky so it sticks to your hands easily. Applying some oil to your fingers/palms will prevent sticking.
Place the dough in a greased bowl covering it with a plastic wrap and then with a kitchen towel. Place in a warm place (if cold climate) for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in volume.
Once the dough is raised, release the gas by punching the dough with your hands a few times, then cover again for another 30 minutes.
Shape the Dough
When the dough is ready, separate the dough into 6 pieces as evenly as possible. Applying some oil to your palms will prevent sticking.
After separating the dough into pieces, lightly roll them into balls. Working with one piece at a time, flatten a dough ball on your palm or a cutting board. Apply some oil to your fingers and on the board to prevent sticking. Make sure that the edges are rolled very thin so the pancake is not very doughy.
- Place about 1 heaping tablespoon of filling in the center.
- Gather the edges of the dough together, pinching to seal.
- Place the seared side down.
- Lightly flatten it with your hands.
Cook
Important: While you shape the dough, heat a frying pan on medium heat with a thin layer of cooking oil. You can use a generous amount of oil to make more crispier Hotteok, as you like.
- Place the seared side down on a frying pan and fry over medium heat.
- When the bottom is browned, turn over and
- Press with a spatula to flatten.
- It’s done when both sides are golden brown!
Repeat this for the remaining dough. You can fry one or more depending on the size of your pan.
Serve and Enjoy!!
Remove from heat and serve immediately. (it is very hot so let it cool for a couple of minutes before serving). Eat as is, or cut them in half and add more filling.
THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BY
I love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment on the post. If you make any of my recipes, I’d love to see pics of your creations #joyofeatingtheworld or @joyofeatingtheworld
Hotteok (Korean Sweet Pancakes)
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 115 g plain flour
- 35 g glutinous rice flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 10 g sugar
- 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast
- 125 ml milk lukewarm
- cooking oil see the notes
Filling
- 50 g brown sugar of your choice
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 50 g nuts of your choice
- 1 tbsp honey
Instructions
Make the Filling
- Roast the nuts and then coarsely grind them. Add the honey and mix well. Set aside.
Make the Dough
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour. Add the salt, sugar, yeast and mix well. Add milk a little at a time and mix with a wooden spoon. Add oil (1 tablespoon) and mix.
- Once the mixture is no longer powdery, knead for about 1 minute (in the bowl) until it becomes smooth. The dough is soft and sticky so it sticks to your hands easily. Applying some oil to your palms will prevent sticking.
- Grease a large bowl. Place the dough in the greased bowl. Cover with a greased plastic wrap and then with a kitchen towel. Place in a warm place (if cold climate) for about 1 hour to rise or until the dough has doubled in volume.
- Once the dough is raised, release the gas by punching the dough with your hands a few times, then cover again for another 30 minutes.
Shape
- When the dough is ready, separate the dough into 6 pieces as evenly as possible. Applying some oil to your palms/fingers will prevent sticking.
- After separating the dough into pieces, lightly roll them into balls. Flatten out one ball on your palms or on a cutting board. Applying some oil to your palms/fingers and on the board will prevent sticking.
- Put some of the filling in the middle. Gather the edges of the dough together, pinching to seal. Place the seared side down. Lightly flatten it with your hands. Repeat this for the remaining dough.
Cook
- While you shape the dough, heat a frying pan on medium heat with a thin layer of cooking oil. You can use more oil and fry the dough to get crispier pancake if you like.
- Place the seared side down on a frying pan and fry over medium heat. You can make one or more depending on the size of your pan.
- When browned, turn over and press with a spatula to flatten. It’s done when both sides are golden brown! Remove from heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes before serving.
Serve and Enjoy!!
- Eat as is, or cut them in half and add more filling.
Notes
Hungry For More?
Please enter your email address to subscribe to this blog
and receive notifications of new posts by email
40 Tasty Pancakes Around the World
When someone says pancakes, what comes to your mind? There are hundreds of pancake varieties. Here are 40 tasty international pancake recipes to add to your repertoire – that will surely take you on a tour across the globe!
