Hotteok is a popular winter street food in Korea. It’s a warm, chewy, and crispy pancake with a sweet and gooey cinnamon filling in the middle!
When you get to visit the street markets of Korea, hotteok is one of the things you should never miss out on. It is common to see ahjummas and ahjussis flipping several pancakes at once from their griddle being shallow fried and tourist wait in line to get handed their piping hot pancakes placed in a broken paper cup.
As a child, I remember when I used to ask my mom to buy me one of these indulgent pancakes, and when it was my lucky day—she’d say yes. This indulgent treat would warm up my little fingers, especially on cold winter days. I’d enjoy the crispy yet soft and chewy pancake as we walk home.
This Korean sweet pancake is one of my favorite foods because of the memories it brings back when I used to live in Korea. I always miss home and cooking this and sharing this with all of you just allows me to reminisce about those good old days.
Ingredients for Hotteok
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This hotteok recipe I am sharing is going to be super easy so you can recreate it at home. Note that I did use a weighing scale for a more accurate measurement to create the dough. I promise you your kids will love it!
Dough
- Water – The only wet ingredient we’ll use in the dough to make it simple and easy. Some recipes call for milk, and you can use that too, but water is fine. No need to use eggs in the recipe too!
- Active Dry Yeast – This is going to make the dough aerate or rise to make it lighter.
- Sugar – Aside from adding sweetness to the dough, the yeast will also feed on the sugar for it to be activated.
- All-Purpose Flour – This is the main base of the dough.
- Rice Flour and Cornstarch – Adding a portion of these two dry ingredients will help the dough be softer and chewier, giving it a mochi-like texture. However, if you cannot find any of these, using only flour is okay too!
- Salt – For taste.
- Oil – For additional moisture.
Filling
- Brown Sugar – This will melt into a nice sticky syrup as you cook the pancake. The brown sugar makes a richer filling than using white sugar because of the molasses it contains.
- Cinnamon – This spice will perfectly complement the sugar which will make the filling aromatic and warm.
- Crushed Walnuts – This is the most common filling you will get from street foods, but feel free to use any seeds and nuts or a combination of that you prefer.
- Potato Starch – This is optional, but I added a little bit of potato starch to make the filling thicker and stickier as it cooks and melts.
In Korea, variations of hotteok filling have popped up. There are vegetables, mozzarella cheese, japchae, matcha, red bean paste, and so much more. Honestly, cinnamon sugar may be the classic, but it’s not that hard to experiment and add the filling you like. Feel free to use any especially ones your kids will love!
How to Make Hotteok
Activate the Yeast
In a bowl, mix water, active dry yeast, and sugar. Leave it for 1-2 minutes and you should see the yeast bubble up. The yeast will feed on the sugar to produce carbon dioxide making it bubble up, which indicates that it is active and ready to be used.
Make the Dough
Add the all-purpose flour, rice flour, cornstarch, salt, and oil, and mix the batter until it forms a loose, slightly crumbly dough. Once crumbly, start to knead for 1-2 minutes until it comes together into one big dough. It should come off easily from your hands and the bowl.
Rest the Dough and Make the Filling
Once the dough has come together, cover it with a plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. This step will rise and expand the dough. Meanwhile, make the filling by combining sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, and potato starch. Mix it well, taste, and add more sugar or cinnamon according to preference.
Make the Hotteok
After the dough has risen, it will weigh about 550 grams. To make the pancake, take 100 grams of the dough and flatten it out with your palms. Make it as flat as you can to have more surface where you will put the filling.
Get one heaping tablespoon of the cinnamon-sugar filling and place it at the center of the dough. Pull up and pinch the 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock edges, and close the dough on top. It should now look like a big dumpling.
Do not use too much filling and tightly close it so it does not cause leakage. Flatten the dough a bit to make a disc and set aside. This may take several times to perfect but do not give up!
Do the same process until the dough has run out. Use a bit of flour to dust your hands and your working area as needed to make the whole process easier.
How to Cook the Hotteok
Place your pan on medium heat and add a shallow amount of oil. Place the hotteok in the pan evenly spaced out so there is room to expand. Using a hotteok press, push them down to flatten each. If you don’t have a hotteok press, a spatula or anything with a flat surface will work just fine.
Allow the pancakes to cook for two minutes on one side, flip then press again, and let it cook for another two minutes on the other. To check, they should be golden brown and crispy on both sides. Simply flip as needed and continue to press down from time to time to ensure even cooking.
To finish, throw in a knob of butter in the pan and slather each side of the pancake with it. This is not traditionally done, but I personally love to do this step because it makes the pancake taste so much better!
Serving and Storing Korean Sweet Pancakes
This sweet treat is best consumed fresh and hot. Just be careful when serving this, especially to kids since the filling will also be hot and may burn. Enjoy it as it is or make it even sweeter by having it with a scoop of ice cream! It’s delicious any way!
If you want to make this in advance, make the filled raw dough, and freeze for about 30 minutes or until the surface of the pancakes is dried out. Stack a few frozen pancakes together with wax paper in between then store in freezer bags. This can be stored for about a month.
To cook, slightly thaw, and cook the same way as before. It may just take a little bit longer, so keep an eye on the level of heat and the doneness of each side. Likewise, enjoy fresh and hot!
Other popular Korean street foods you might like:
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Hotteok (Korean Sweet Pancakes)
Equipment
- Hotteok Press
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup Water
- 5 grams Active Dry Yeast
- 45 grams Sugar
- 250 grams All Purpose Flour
- 15 grams Rice Flour
- 50 grams Cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Vegetable or Canola Oil
Filling
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 cup Crushed Walnut
- 1 tsp Potato Starch Optional
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix water, yeast, and sugar then leave for 1-2 minutes to proof.
- Add all-purpose flour, rice flour, cornstarch, salt, and oil. Mix it until it forms a crumbly batter, then knead for 1-2 minutes. It should come together into one big dough, not sticky
- Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to let it rise.
- In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and crushed walnut. Taste it and if you feel like you want more cinnamon or walnut, feel free to add more.
- Add potato starch and mix again.
- Once the dough has slightly risen it will weigh about 550 grams. Take 100 grams of dough, flatten it out with your palms, then place a tablespoon of the filling in the middle of the dough.
- To close, pull up and pinch from each side of the dough (6 oclock, 12 o clock) and tightly seal the pancake from the top. It should look a little bit like dumplings.
- Flatten the pancake to secure all the filling in the middle. Check the sides for any leakage.
- In medium-high heat and a splash of oil, place the pancakes on the pan evenly spaced out.
- Using a hotteok press, press the dough lightly to flatten it out. Pan-fry each side for 2 minutes until the pancake is golden brown.
- Flip and press the other side to fry, cook for another 2 minutes until golden brown.
- To finish, throw in a knob of butter and slather each side of the pancakes with it.
- Once the pancake is golden and crispy on both sides, serve hot, and enjoy!
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