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.
I made your kimchi Friday and the kimchijeon this morning! I’m so glad you have exposed me to Korean cooking with your fun videos!
I forgot the water, but it still turned out great! I wanted the pork, but not the hassle of breading leaves like fish, so I just stirred in ground pork to the first recipe. Yum!
At Korean restaurants there is always a dark dipping sauce with green onions and other things inside that they serve with the seafood pancakes. Do you have recipe for that? Does it taste good with kimchijeon?
Thanks again! You are my missing Korean mom ^_^
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Dear Maangchi,
Made this for brunch today and it was easy and delicious! I even managed to get it crispy all over on the first attempt, based on my experience of perfecting the zucchini pancake. I always make a huge batch of kimchi that I keep in the fridge for months, so I’m working my way through the different kimchi recipes for variety.
You’ve been my Korean food guru for years now, so I just wanted to thank you!
how do you get it to be crispy?
Next time I go grocery shopping I will buy the ingredients to make this!!!
I’m a young and new fan, and today my parents and I finally tried this recipe. We got a bag of kimchi from a really nearby korean store, and made kimchi jeon to go with our bulgogi~
Dear Maanchi, God knows how many times I have made this since I found this last year. Actually my children found you and ask me to make your recipes. It is utterly delicious and easy. I would like to use Korean Pancake Mix that I bought on a whim from H mart. For this and other Korean pancakes on your site. It already has salt in it but how does it affect taste and texture of pancakes? Could I just use it in place of some the flour? Thank you!
Where have you been all my life, Kimchijeon?? While I was growing up, If my mom had known such a thing existed, she never would have had to wonder what to make for dinner. We would have said every time “Make the Kimchi Pancake, Please!!!” Such a simple preparation, but WOW what indescribably delicious flavors. The sizzling oil brings out a caramel sweetness in the onions and cabbage. I cannot believe how satisfying this dish is. THANK YOU Maangchi!!!
Haha, you are right. From now on, you will keep making kimchi so that you can make kimchijeon and other recipes that call for kimchi. You understand why kimchi is such a big deal in Korean cuisine. : )
I made my kimchi 2 days ago and now it’s saved in my refrigerator. It tasted amazing.. it was my second time making kimchi.. I use my local pepper powder, cuz it’s a little hard to found korean pepper powder in my local market. Just can’t wait to try this kimchi pancake recipe, it looks yuuummmm…
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I love korean food, especially kimchi pancake. I made this today and it was amazing. Thank you for the recipe! I’m going to be making some more tomorrow.
My family fell in love with kim chi pancakes after having it in a restaurant a few years ago. After watching your video, I was able to make kim chi pancakes at home with some chopped kim chi from my local Asian market. My daughters loved it!
“My daughters loved it!” Awesome!
I made this for my Korean friend. I used my own kimchi make with your makkimchi recipe. She loved it and wondered how I could make such a thing. She was happy to have some home-made Korean food while she was far away from home. Thanks Maangchi!
Kimchi pancake made with your own homemade kimchi is precious! : )
Hi Maangchi. What firmness tofu do you use?
I use medium-firm tofu.
The pancakes were perfect for our taste! Absolutely yummy! Thank you! My kids are totally loving your videos, as am I. Blessings.
Wonderful! Happy cooking!
Hi! ^ ^~
I’ve been reading you for some times and now that I’m in Korea finally I’m trying to cook with your recipes. ~☆
Tonight I tried kimchijeon using the kimchi my friend made last week and the taste was lovely! I’ll have to train my flipping skills though. ㅋㅋㅋ
I just can’t wait to try more recipes.
Is it supposed to be crispy outside and softer inside?
I just made it and it’s fantastic!! I love it!! I ate it with cooked rice wraped in seasoned kim. I would eat this often if kimchi was easy to come by here where I live.
Hi 13thTale,
you don’t have to use kimchi made from napa cabbage. Use radishes, turnips, cabbage, … to make kimchi.
Or just spice up the sauerkraut used for sarma e. g.
Often sauerkraut is referred to as “German kimchi” by Koreans. ;-)
Bye, Sanne.
Hi maangchi! I finally made this with kimchi made with your emergency kimchi recipe ! However despite being sour , I do not have a lot of kimchi juice. Hence I made a mixture using gochujang and water and replace the kimchi juice ! It turns out delicious (:
Thank you for sharing the good tip!
I made these for my husband and I yesterday and they were delicious! Actually, they were so delicious that I made another batch today as well. Thank you! You have a new subscriber for sure. I miss my Korean grandmother’s cooking, but now I can try to recreate her essence through your recipes.
Good luck with your Korean cooking!
Hi Maangchi :)
Korean drama has influenced me a lot to my appetite. Every time I saw Korean dishes on the show, I ended up searching through your recipe to give it a try.
I always thinking that making pancake is a lot of work. Until I saw a famous Judoka Choo Sung Hoon made kimchi pancake. And I think, if he can make it, why can’t I? :D
I’ll try it next week end, after kimchi project this week end :)
Annyeonghaseyo Maangchi! Just wanted to thank you for this wonderful site and all the great recipes. I am positively addicted to your videos. I have a little 5 month old baby boy who also LOVES to watch your videos. Whenever he’s fussy I can just put on some Maangchi and he settles down and smiles as soon as he hears the “Hello Everybody!” at the beginning. We have watched so many videos together! So far i have made my own kimchi and i just made this kimchijeon and both turned out delicious and perfect! Thanks again Maangchi!
haha, so far your 5 moth old baby is my youngest fan!
“as soon as he hears the “Hello Everybody!” at the beginning.”
cute cute! : )
I made the chopped kimchi pancakes for dinner tonight and they were amazing! Easy and unbelievably delicious. Since wheat is not my friend, I used Pamela’s GF Baking & Pancake mix instead of flour. It came out perfect, YUM! I make my own kimchi too – hubby is allergic to fish and I can’t have wheat, so instead of fish sauce I substitute Bragg’s Liquid Aminos and that works great. It is my goal to eat more veggies – which I usually do not like, so I really appreciate all your wonderful recipes. Any recipe of yours has always been very good, and now I have a list of things to make, thank you!
Your information about substitutes sounds very interesting and I think some of my readers will also be interested in it. I’m glad to hear that your kimchi pancake turns out great! Happy cooking! : )
helloo
i just made a Kimchijeon this morning and it really turns out well, i add tuna on it and use rice flour cause its the only available in my kitchen. The kimchi and tuna really goes well, i really love the taste!! <3 <3 <3 (and ohh my kimchi is just 11 days old but still taste so good) :D
yes, your kimchi pancake photo was featured just now. Adding tuna sounds very delicious. https://www.maangchi.com/photo/kimchi-pancake-with-tuna
I made the chopped kimchi version using your recipe for emergency kimchi. It didn’t have quite enough juice, but still came out super tasty!
entropicage,
I did the same thing withe the same results. What I do in that case is to add a Tbsp of gochujang and maybe about a half cup or so of water (until I like the consistency ^^).
Dave
That’s a good tip! : )
I dont know why but mine came out salty. I wonder if it because of the kimchi I used? (Bought from the store)
mflor, if you followed the recipe exactly, i would guess that the store-bought kimchi were salty (they are often salty and flavorless).
Thank you so much for the answer, jaekoh.
Add less chopped kimchi and kimchi juice, then. It will turn out delicious.
Maangchi…that is 맛있어요!!! And easy even for a kitchen novice like me. I could eat this every night! Oh my…I’m going to have to make some more kimchi! This was one of my favorites at the restaurant! Now I can make it at home! 감사합니다!
Dave
awesome! : )
Yum! This melted in my mouth. I seriously don’t know how I lived without kimchi pancakes all my life… let alone kimchi. Thank you for all your recipes! Cooking Korean food at home more often has become my new goal. ^_^
I’m sure you can easily achieve your new goal as long as you love to cook some delicious Korean dishes. cheers!
oh wow looks good! i wish i can flip the pancake like you. il try making this soon.
Maangchi ssi! I am not a cook and I found your website in the process of teaching myself about the wonders of the kitchen. Because of this recipe I can now flip pancakes. I’ve made it SO many times. I recently added some garlic and some soy sauce to the chopped kimchijeon recipe and it is delicious! I love trying your food and learning how to cook. I realized that with my pan and my stove I had to cook the pancakes a little longer on each side. I used to ALWAYS follow recipes exactly.
Next week a friend and I are going to make a huge batch to split to try some other kimchi based recipies. A local ahjumma made some tasty radish kimchi I might try out as well.
I’ve also tried the full leaf kimchi. It took me a few attempts to make it less messy, but it ALWAYS tasted good. 감사합니다!!!!
(PS I LOVE your make-up and your style.)
wow it sounds like you are one of my avid readers! Thank you for letting me know about your Korean cooking experience!
“I can now flip pancakes” cute~ : )
Today i tried the first kimchijeon recipe and my entire kitchen smelled like a korean restaurant!
Two problems though: the pancakes kinda disintegrated however cooked they alr were and were not as crispy as i like them to be. How can i improve this?
So for 2013, the first Korean Dish I made was Kimchi Pancakes! Delicious! Today is January 9, 2013. Happy New Year everyone! :D
Annyeong Maangchi!!! I stumbled upon your page while trying to figure out how to store my store-bought kimchi in my fridge so it won’t smell so bad. Anyhoo, I figured that out and I found your recipe for homemade kimchi which I’m always curious of. And now I read your kimchijeon and I will try it definitely first thing in the morning. One big question for you, with your halmeonni’s recipe, since I don’t eat pork, can I subsitute with something else? 구멉습니다!
“One big question for you, with your halmeonni’s recipe, since I don’t eat pork, can I subsitute with something else?..”
How about using ground beef?
“definitely first thing in the morning..” : ) I think you are really getting into Korean cooking and you started with store-bought kimchi! Soon you will make homemade kimchi.
Cheers!
Hi Maangchi,
I am a new follower of your website. I absolutely love your site. I recently became enamored with kimchee after watching kimchee chronicles
I saw there was a bean cake that is made with mung beans and kimchee, but the beans were light colored, I found some that were dark green are they the same? What can I subsitute for mung beans, sorry about the long question, but I really want to make as authentic as possible.
thanks.
Hi Maangchi!
I discovered your site while preparing a trip to Korea and thought it was a great site! I’m a big fan since then. Thanks for all those recipes. This one is the first one I tried from your Website. It instantly became a favourite. I do it at least once a week. It goes with anything and it’s so good.
There are also many variations you can do!
Continue making videos and your Gapshida idea was awesome!
Annyong!
Francis from Canada
This is my second time making kimchijeon. Such a fast, easy and delicious recipe. I’m making extra to freeze and also so I can free up my kimchi container. That was the last my my old kimchi. Time for a new batch!
Now you will understand why people make 10 pounds of kimch. When you make kimchi pancake, kimchi is gone so fast. : ) You can make kimchi soup, stew, fried rice with kimchi. Good luck with your new batch! Have you already made it?
Yes, ma’am! I made a batch yesterday with 6 pounds of baechu. I had some leftover kimchi juice so I saved it as a “starter” for my new batch. When everything was getting mixed together I added the sour kimchi juice, about 3/4 C. Going to take some to my friends at work who are so amused by a Westerner knowing more about Korean cooking than they do! LOL Also, my friend Robi needs to see that good kimchi is not too salty and will not raise his blood pressure – that is what he said happened when he used to eat a lot of it. But I asked if it was store bought, he said yes! I told him no way he should eat store bought. Try mine! I’ll give it to them tomorrow.
Hi Maangchi ^^
I tried to cook the kimchi pancake by following your recipe, however I find that the pack of instant kimchi that I bought from supermarket do not have enough much kimchi juice to make it to 3 table spoon. Just wondering what things should I substitute for kimchi juice when I am making the pancake? Because I try to substitute it for 3 table spoon of water and the pancake turn out become too soft =(
Thanks! :D
Then add less water. Happy cooking! : )
Hello Maangchi,
I was wondering if Kimchijeon still tastes good after it cooled off, if I can use it for a doshirak the next day.
I know Kimchi tastes great cold and pancakes are still delicious the next day, is it the same for kimchijeon?
Thanks for all the great (and simple!) recipes so far!!!
:)
yes, it will still be delicious. Kimchijeon is one of my favorite side dishes for my doshirak (Korean lunch in a box). But it’s most delicious right after making it when it’s still warm.
You are making doshirak everyday? yum yum!
I had a very hard day today, very emotional. So when I finally got home around 9 PM all I could think about was comfort food. Not mac and cheese (even though I’m a vegan!), not mashed potatoes or chips, cookies, or ice cream. I had to make kimchijeon for the first time and eat it all by myself. The kimchi I have in my fridge is about 4 months old, perfectly sour and delicious. I’ve discovered I like it best either JUST made or nice and sour like this. While making the batter I couldn’t stop munching on ice cold kimchi, and only a double batch would do – I have to have some leftovers :D I’m old hat at making jeon now, but I think kimchijeon is my new favorite. My asbestos fingers kept picking away at the searing hot edges before the jeon even came out of the pan. Since I love to dip I made a sauce for other jeon – the extra sugar complements nicely. Thanks for a great recipe and making my evening.
It sounds like your kimchi pancake helped you remove your stress! While you are cooking, you will forget about your woes and when the dish comes out delicious, you will be delighted. That’s called cooking therapy! lol “My asbestos fingers kept picking away at the searing hot edges before the jeon even came out of the pan..” cute! : )