Hi, everybody! I’m going to introduce 2 kinds of kimchi pancakes (kimchijeon) to you today: chopped kimchi pancake and my grandma’s style of whole kimchi leaf pancake.
The kimchijeon made with chopped kimchi is very easy and simple to make. You don’t need any special ingredients as long as you have some kimchi in your fridge. I make this kimchijeon at home all the time. (note: I made an updated version of this recipe here!)
My grandma’s style of kimchijeon is made with whole kimchi leaves and is what I would call upgraded kimchijeon. ; )
Have you ever seen this kind of kimchijeon? I thought it looked very special the first time I saw my late grandmother making it for us. I remember what I thought: “Hmm, grandma treats the kimchi leaf like a slice of fish? Interesting!” But I never said anything, I just watched what she was doing.
I miss my grandmother now. She would be so proud of me if she knew I was posting her recipe here! Which recipe would you like better? : )
In the video, I show you how to cut the big, round kimchijeon (it’s 12 inches wide because my frying pan is 12 inches wide : )) into bite sized pieces, but as I mentioned in the video, you could also serve it right out of the pan without cutting it. It’s usually served as family snack that way. Then you use your chopsticks to tear off a piece of the kimchijeon and eat it. It may be difficult because the pancake might slide around on the plate, and it should stay there so everyone else can eat some too! So one of your family members should grab the pancake with her or his chopsticks so you can tear off your piece more easily. Helping each other is very important when you eat kimchijeon this way!
“Let me eat some, I need someone’s help! Grab the corner of this pancake for me, plz!”
If you cut it into bite sized pieces, it’s usually served as a side dish. It’s a popular side dish for lunch box, too.
Enjo~yee the recipe! : )
Kimchijeon made with chopped kimchi
Yield:
2-4 servings
Ingredients
Kimchi, onion, kosher salt, sugar, flour, vegetable oil.
Directions
- In a bowl, place 1 cup of chopped kimchi, 3 tbs of kimchi juice, 2 tbs chopped onion, ½ ts kosher salt, ½ ts sugar, ½ cup flour (all purpose flour), and ¼ cup of water and mix it well with a spoon.
- Heat up a 12 inch non-stick pan over medium high heat and drizzle about 2 tbs grape seed oil.
- Place the mixture of kimchi pancake batter on the pan and spread it thinly and evenly with a spoon.
- Cook it for 1 to 1½ minutes until the bottom gets golden brown and crispy.
- Turn it over with a spatula or flip it.
- Lower the heat to medium and cook for another 1½ minutes.
- Turn it over one more time and cook for 30 seconds before transfering it to a serving plate.
*tip: Serve it right out of the pan or cool it down and cut it into bite size to serve.
Grandma’s kimchijeon made with whole kimchi leaves
Yield:
2 servings
Ingredients
Kimchi, ground pork, tofu, onion chives (or green onions), onion, kosher salt, black ground pepper, toasted sesame oil, egg, flour, grape seed oil.
Directions
Prepare kimchi
- Prepare 6 or 7 kimchi leaves (6 to 7 inches long, or 16 cm) and ½ cup flour in a plate.
- Coat both sides of each kimchi leaf in the flour by hand.
Make meat mixture
- In a small bowl, add 2 tbs ground pork (or beef), 2 tbs tofu (after gently squeezing out excess water with a paper towel), 1 ts chopped onion chives (or green onion), 1 tbs chopped onion, a pinch of salt and black ground pepper, 1 ts of toasted sesame oil, and mix the mixture well with a spoon.
- Set aside.
Make the pancakes
- Place 1 egg in a small bowl and add a pinch of salt. Beat it with a fork.
- Add some of the meat-tofu mix on one side of a kimchi stem. Add some flour on top of the mixture.
- Put some of the meat-tofu mix on the rest of kimchi leaves.
- Heat up a non-stick pan and add some grape seed oil (or vegetable oil).
- Coat each kimchi leaf with beaten egg mix and place on the heated pan.
*tip: the meat mixture should be bottom of the pan
- When the bottom of the kimchi pancake turns golden brown (1 or 1½ minutes), turn it over and cook another minute.
- Turn it over one more time and cook another 30 seconds before transfering it to a serving plate.
*tip: you can serve it as it is or cut it into bite size before serving
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
Maangchi , hi , i’m new mem ! I love kimchi pancake but I don’t have grape seed oil ! What should I do ?
Mi, you can use any oil with a higher smoking point like vegetable oil, safflower oil, canola oil or olive oil (NOT extra virgin!) Make sure it has a neutral favor, too. For example, peanut oil has a high smoke point but tastes of peanuts and is out of place in Korean cooking – believe me, I’ve been desperate and tried and it just ruins it!
Use any type of cooking oil.
I have another question that I forgot to ask in my last post. I think my husband would like these, but he’s gluten free. Would rice flour work in place of all purpose flour?
yes, rice flour will work well too! Happy cooking!
Maangchi… these are fantastic!!! I had some Kimchi in my fridge (for a while) that I was still a little skeptical about tasting because I had never tried it before. I was a llittle embarrassed when I asked a friend if it was still good, and she laughed at me! I found your pancake recipe and thought it was perfect for my first attempt. Boy, was I ever right!!! I had a little too much oil in my pan to flip it like you did, but it came out just like your video (except in 2 pieces! lol!) I have a neighbor who loves when I experiment with cooking and he’ll literally eat anything. I ran right over there and he loved it just as much as I did. Thanks so much!! I love your website. Keep up the good work! :)
Boy boy! Awesome! Reading your post makes me smile! You are so cute! Happy cooking!
Maangchi!,
My Grandma Is Korean And I Remember Growing Up, She Would Make This For Me All Of The Time And I Loved It! Making This Brought Back Beautiful Memories And Tasted Amazing! Thank You!!
yeah I totally understand how you feel. Good and beautiful memores are attached to certain food forever.
Hi Maangchi! I’m your new reader and I’d made this kimchijeon with my homemade kimchi ( according to your recipe ) today and it was a success! I’d added chopped bacon into it and seasoned with some fish sauce, sesame oil and sesame seed for more flavour. It turned out well and I love the bacon crips along with the kimchi! Thanks for the recipe!
Adding chopped bacon sounds great to me!
Hi Maangchi,
I’ve been a silent reader and follower for a very long time. I loveeee your site and your passion and devotion to teaching people how to cook Korean food. However, what I love the most about you is you are really sincerly care for all of your fans. Even after being so well-know and famous, you still responds to our questions and emails. I hope to see you on Food Network soon and wish you the very best. You are so deserve it… Way to go….
Thank you so much! ooh whoo, you are not a silent reader anymore. : ) I love my silent readers, too. Happy cooking!
WOW! What an amazing experience we had last Sunday. I was able to make the above recipes, and we did enjoyed it very much. Instead of pork/beef,(which I also make from the original recipe) I also make it with small(very tiny) shrimps. Both were just a success. Sometimes, I like making experiments with food., and the original recipe is always a great help.
” Sometimes, I like making experiments with food., and the original recipe is always a great help.” I agree with you!
I finally got to try this recipe. I’ve been looking at your site for the past week and went and bought a few things to stock at home so I can make the recipes haha. Still missing a lot of things though so I have never been able to try much.
The pancake didn’t come out as perfect as I would hope, but it was still good. I misread the recipe and added a cup of flour instead! So I added another 1/4 cup of water, but then it was too much batter for my large pan so the pancake came out thick. I will try again another time, and I’ll try not to make the same mistake twice haha
haha, fun to read your story! Practice makes perfect. It sounds like you are ready to cook Korean food! Good luck!
Hi Maangchi – can the whole leaf kimchi pancake be served cold as finger food? I am having a small party tomorrow and want to make all the food Korean.
yes,kimchijeon can be served warm or cold, so it’s one of popular Korean doshirak(lunch in a box)side dishes.
I made this last night and got over my kimchi fears! You can read about it on my blog! Thanks for the recipe that inspired me to try it Maangchi!
http://ikkin-bot.blogspot.com/2011/03/cooking-korean-kimchijeon-kimchi.html
Yallow! (yes, I know) : ) I already twitted about your blog. Happy cooking!
I like your blog. It is very informative and involves a lot hard work to capture all this pictures. This is the first time, I cooked Kim Chi pancake, and it turned out very well. My version is slightly different from yours, I put in more onion and kimchi into the better. It worth the efforts, the pancake turns out to be very tasty.
I take the chances to try out the new purchased spatula , it works really well for pan cake.
Hello maangchi!
I was wondering if I can use this pancake recipe to make the seafood pancakes (haemul pajun)? or does that require totally different ingredients?
Thank you!
Last weekend I suddenly had cravings for kimchi pancakes (ready-made food I purchased at a local Asian market long ago). I always wondered how to make it so after doing a web search, Maangchi was found.
After reviewing the cooking videos, my mouth was salivating so I did something about it. I made my very first kimchi pancakes that Saturday morning. Oh was it great! Thanks Maangchi for the easy-to-follow instructional video.
” my mouth was salivating ..” Reading this makes my mouth salivate now. I don’t know why. ^^
Maangchi, if I don’t have kimchi sauce, can I subtitute it with another sauce ? What sauce can u suggest me ?
Thank you, Maangchi..
Skip kimchi juice if you don’t have. You still can make good kimchi pancake with chopped kimchi. Good luck!
Maangchi~ i dont have flour for kimchi pancake, is it ok to use an egg as a substitute? t.t
no, you need flour.
Ok this is embarrasing but pancake fail # 2. It doesnt surprise me since im bad at regular pancakes aswell. Maybe i need to slice my kimchi more thinly? But my kimchi is already cut because i made mak kimchi. Maybe i should use more flour or oil? pancakes always frustrate me. Maangchi help!!
” my kimchi is already cut because i made mak kimchi” yes, chop it up into small pieces. Check the video please. Thank you for sharing your frustration with us It’s a simple solution. Chop it up chop it up and mix with batter. Let me know how your next batch of kimchi pancake turns out.
It seems whenever I try to make this the flour becomes kinda translucent and orange.
Im not sure what I’m doing wrong but it may be:
1) the flour (can it be plain flour as in the wheat type?)
2) the amount of oil I used because I used a little too much
3) the thickness of the pancake as it was kind of thick
Need help!~ :(
Maangchi, I made your Mak Kimchi yesterday, and this morning, I made Kimchijeon! (Well, I tried, but my pan isn’t as nonstick as I’d like!)
I love your recipes!
Thanks! I’m sure your kimchi pancake was delicious even though it fell apart! : )
Hi,
thanks for this recipie! I made it last weekend, however it came out a little too salty. I think its because the Kimchi Juice was salty and i also added the salt listed in your recipie. I will try next time to not add the salt and see where that goes. Thanks!
yes, your next batch of kimchi pancake will turn out great!
Thank you so much for sharing your grandmothers recipe with us! Kimchi pancakes are one of my favorite things in the world (seriously!)! I can’t wait to try the “upgraded” kimchijeon. 해ㅡㅁㅈ묘ㅐ!
oh, you like the recipe? awesome!
Oh My Gawd I love this! I was a kimchi newbie, bought the stuff in the bottle at the asian market and hated it. Never the one to give up I found a cucumber kimchi and really fell in love with it. So I decided to give cabbage kimchi a try and used your recipe (okay a pinch of this and that etc) but I Love it! Thank you so much!
That pancake rocks! Now I’ll be looking for tons of new things to do with my kimchi!
good news! Cheers!!!
Maangchi thank you for this kimchijeon recipe! i made one tonight & i love it!!! I think i’ll make one again tomorrow. Thanks for sharing your recipes!
You are very welcome! Happy cooking!
I made this recipe but I had to use rice flour. I have Celiac Disease. It came together nicely but I think the rice flour drowned the kimchi taste. I will have to try this recipe again with a different flour.
ok, I hope your next batch of kimchi pancake turns out better.
for the kimchijeon,I didn’t cut up the kimchi in little tiny bite size pieces, but left them as they were in the jar. my pancake didn’t come out the way yours did.
Hi, I just made the typical vegetarian style kimchi jeon for me and DSS (16yrs). Wonderful! It took me back to the nights of staggering slightly at 4am in Shinchon and Itaewon… but I didn’t tell DSS about that :)
Maangchi, RESPECT for your flipping skills! There won’t be any pictures of my kimchi jeon for some time, but it sure tasted delicious.
DSS? : ) “staggering slightly at 4am in Shinchon and Itaewon..” lol
Dear step son ;)
haha, I forgot about the question! Thank you! How can I know the abbreviation? btw your DSS has a cool step mom who provides delicious homemade food!
Hi Maangchi! I am your fan! I live in Los Angeles and view your website a lot….I had a quick question about the kimchi pancake. The one I made tasted GOOD but it came out a bit moist and doughy in the middle, how can i make it crispy all the way? Thank you!
no problem! Make thinner pancakes and use more cooking oil. Spread the mixture of kimchi and batter as thinly as possible.
hi!
i’ve just made these kimchijeon, but have replaced the onions with fried onions (have got these from the local asian grocery), and it was awesome! yum! tq very much
good news! Thank you!
I made this earlier today, (The chopped Kimchi Pancake) and my family said it tasted like the store bought pancake! We made two because the pan wasn’t as big as yours. :3 We made the made the dipping sause out of soy sauce and gochu garu (Hot pepper flakes)We dipped them in the sauce (and without the sauce) and it was the BEST! Simple and EASY!!! : D
~tsirhcevoli
I used only a small pinch of salt though!
“it was the BEST!” I’m very happy to hear that!
Yeah, This is how I know other people lived it too. It was gone in 1 minute! They asked for more! I used the last of our kimchi we made 1 month ago!(Your recipe) Thank you!
Whoops! Liked not lived!
Hey Maangchi! Just wondering,
what’s a good dipping sauce to pair up with this recipe?
Thank you!
You don’t need dipping sauce for kimchijeon because it’s already salty enough.
I made this for breakfast too today! And it was great! I made the cut up kimchi pancakes. The only difference was I used scallions instead of onions because I cannot digest onions. But they still came out awesome! Thanks Maangchi!
You are a smart cook! Cheers! “I used scallions instead of onions ..”
I LOVE the Squid Kimchi I learned From Maangchis Recipes !! I cant wait to make these Pancakes also ! I also really Love Mae Woon Gyeran Jjim and Ojingeochae Muchim !! I hope I spelled correctly ! Maangchi has taught Us so many recipes ! Thank You !
I knew you would like this recipe. You are a real kimchi lover! : )
yes, they are all correct spelling.
Mae Woon Gyeran Jjim:
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/egg-side-dishes
Ojingeochae Muchim:
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/ojingeochae-muchim
I made this for breakfast this morning. And it was awesome. :)
Thank you for the update! happy to hear that! : )
Maangchi! Thank you so much for your kimchi pancake recipe. It was incredibly good. I wanted to put rice in it and eat it like a kimchi pancake and rice burrito.
You added some rice to the pancake? It’s a terrific idea!
I know I already commented, but I just wanted to say I have made this dish 3 times since you posted it! It is so good. My husband and I have been eating chopped kimchi pancakes, and zucchini pancakes, along with rice and other side dishes, for a few days. It is really good. I love sour kimchi. This is a little off the subject but I even started growing my own zucchini for zucchini pancakes. Thank you Maangchi!
“I even started growing my own zucchini for zucchini pancakes” wow, the zucchini will be very precious when you harvest it. Exciting! : ) I am glad you and your husband enjoy kimchi pancakes, zucchini pancakes. yummy and healthy food.
hello
for this Kimchijeon recipe , i thought egg is added but i see that u did not add egg, will it still taste the same without the egg
for the first kimchi recipe made with chopped kimchi, I don’t use egg because I want to enjoy the real kimchi taste. If you want to use egg, use it.
How much tofu to meat in the whole leaf recipe? Can I just leave it out?
Maangchi, I’m also wondering if it’s possible to make jeon with a gluten free flour like rice or potato, or maybe a mix of the two. Have you ever seen this done, instead of wheat flour?
I don’t know the answer. Ask my other readers by leaving your questions here:
https://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/general-discussion
But, you mention tofu in the instructions without listing an amount in the ingredients list? It looks like there is tofu in the meat mixture to stuff the kimchi leaves, too. I’m confused! What proportion of tofu to meat should we use? It looks delicious!
oh, I’m sorry! In the video, I used tofu but I forgot to mention it in the recipe. Use 2 tbs of tofu. I will add it to my recipe now.
I know you can use rice flour to make jeon, i ve had pa jeon made with rice flour, but its super chewy and sticky, so its kind of an aquired taste…
Thanks, Brian! I might experiment and report back on the forums. I only started going without wheat this summer, so am a little shy to try altering Korean recipes. Based on your comment, I think I might go with millet or teff flour first.
Wow I have never seen the kimchijeon with the whole leaves before. It looks so tasty! I like to fry with grapeseed oil too. It’s very healthy and good for high heat as well. My frying pan with be going “chee chee” tonight!
allo, I hope you had delicious kimchi pancake!