Tteokbokki is chewy rice cakes cooked in a red, spicy broth. It’s a popular Korean street food. When I was a student coming home from school it was hard to resist the spicy rice cakes sold by vendors on the street! They would have big vats of tteokbokkie and just keep stirring and stirring. We would stop by and they would give us a small paper cup of spicy rice cakes and the spicy sauce for a very reasonable price that any student could afford.

When I lived in Korea I learned the secret to making good tteokbokki from a famous place in a local market. It was run by an old lady who could always be found stirring her pot of tteokbokki, and there were always people lined up to buy it.

She was cooking right in front of us to I saw she made an anchovy stock from dried anchovies. That ingredient made a huge difference in the flavor, so I started using it when I made my tteokbokki at home. I once ran out of dried anchovies and made tteokbokki without it, and it didn’t taste at all like what I was expecting. So don’t forget to always make a good stock with dried anchovies when you make this! It totally makes this dish!

There are many variations of tteokbokki: some people add dumplings (mandu), some add cabbage, cheese, or ramen noodles, but this version below of the spicy Korean rice cakes is a classic and my favorite. Everyone loves it!

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Add the water, dried anchovies, and dried kelp to a shallow pot or pan.
  2. Boil for 15 minutes over medium high heat without the lid.anchovy stockanchovy stock
  3. Combine gochujang (hot pepper paste), gochugaru (hot pepper flakes), and sugar in a small bowl. Remove the anchovies and kelp from the pot and add the rice cake, the mixture in the bowl, the green onion, and the optional fish cakes and hard boiled eggs. The stock will be about 2½ cups. ddeokbokkiddeokbokkiddeokbokkie
  4. Stir gently with a wooden spoon when it starts to boil. Let it simmer and keep stirring until the rice cake turns soft and the tteokbokki sauce thickens and looks shiny, which should take about 10 to 15 minutes. If the rice cake is not soft enough, add more water and continue stirring until it softens. When you use freshly made rice cake, it takes shorter time. If you use frozen rice cake, thaw it out and soak in cold water to soften it before cooking.ddeokbokki
  5. Remove from the heat and serve hot. If you have any leftovers, just keep them in the fridge and reheat them when you want to eat. You should finished it in a few days.

ddeokbokki

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918 Comments:

  1. partyworm Portland, OR joined 7/23 & has 1 comment

    Hi Maangchi. I went to my local Korean store and found dried anchovies, however I also found Korean Anchovy Stock that has kelp in it. Do you think that this stock would work in place of the dried anchovies? I miss tteokbokki so much from my time studying in Korea, I’d love to make it.

    Thanks!

    • Tteokbokkigivesmehope Kansas City joined 8/23 & has 1 comment

      Hey there – I just made this dish this evening. I bought what is essentially a teabag of dried anchovies, as well as a bag of dried kelp from Amazon.

      Here are the anchovies: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KKKHCDX?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

      As far as weight goes, I Googled how much an average anchovy weighs and it said 3g. So I think for this recipe, you’d want about 21 grams of anchovy.

      The anchovies I bought weigh 10 grams, but the instructions read 1 bag per 1L (or about 4 cups of water, as the recipe calls for). Either one will work.

      That being said, if you want to use that stock, make sure you’re reading the instructions on it – it’s possible it’s concentrated and you’d need to dilute. Give it a go – worst case scenario, it’s either a little too fishy, not just barely not fishy enough.

  2. Eveegizmo US joined 5/23 & has 1 comment

    Hi! This looks amazing, I’m super excited to try it! I can only find small and medium dried anchovies in my area though, do you have a measurement in grams that I could use? I’m not sure how many medium anchovies equal one large, and I don’t want to use too few or too many. Thank you for sharing this recipe! <3

  3. iamtrinket joined 6/15 & has 4 comments

    I really enjoy this recipe. Recently I’ve taken to adding zuchinni, green beans and pork belly to make a full meal out of it.


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  4. thebiff001 Wales joined 2/23 & has 1 comment

    Hi Maangchi!
    I’m a big fan of instant topokki pots, so I picked up some frozen plain tteobokki in the hopes of replicating something as delicious, for half the store-bought price.

    I really wanted to attempt your stock but getting my hands on dried anchovies around me is kinda hard. I subbed in some dashi broth instead and thought it tasted fantastic!

    Got your site bookmarked ready to make some more of your delicious creations <3

  5. MyTinyKitchen Caldwell, Idaho joined 2/23 & has 1 comment

    Today was a perfect day to make a large batch! I had fish cakes that needed to be used up. Love all of your recipes. The only change I make in this one is I sub maple syrup for the sugar! 감사합니다.


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  6. kimbapfan MS, USA joined 1/23 & has 1 comment

    Thank you for the awesome recipe Maangchi! Here’s my first homemade tteokbokki right before it was done and topped with cheese! Next time I’ll make the tteok myself.


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  7. bvanschaayk Canada joined 1/23 & has 1 comment

    This was a super easy recipe to follow and tastes great. I couldn’t find any large dried anchovies at my local Korean grocery so I went with a packaged dashi stock base. I am pleased with the way it turned out, better than the restaurant versions I’ve had.


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  8. Bagpuss66 Sheffield UK joined 11/18 & has 4 comments

    I have just made my first batch of tteokbokki and it is absolutely delicious. I didn’t have any fishcakes to add so instead I threw in a couple of handfuls of prawns, squid and mussels. This is sooooo savoury and I am pleased I was able to make the anchovy and kelp stock because it gives it a real depth of flavour. Nice and spicy too mmmmmmmmmmmm. Thank you so much for the recipe. I am so disappointed that my laptop will not let me upload the picture of it though unfortunately.

  9. jaimexx Loures, Portugal joined 8/22 & has 1 comment

    i loved it!!☺️☺️
    it was great and was perfectly balanced.
    will definitely make again!!^^
    note: I also made kimbap but it’s a little bit ugly


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  10. ShellyKay Baton Rouge, Louisiana joined 6/22 & has 1 comment

    Hi Maangchi,
    My husband and I moved from NY to Louisiana due to his work.
    I used to be able to get rice cakes from H Mart but I can’t find any in Louisiana, Baton Rouge specifically.
    Do you know of any online shops that carry them?
    HMart unfortunately doesn’t ship to Louisiana for some reason.
    Any information would be appreciated.

    Thank you

  11. sonitoki Russia joined 5/22 & has 3 comments

    Amazing recipe as usual! Easy to cook and very delicious


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  12. BigNose Bothell, WA joined 5/21 & has 1 comment

    Easy & good. No modifications!


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