Hotteok is a flour dough pancake filled with sugar syrup inside. It’s one of the most popular street snacks in Korea.
Ok, now it’s time for me to release my hotteok recipe!
I used to make hotteok for my children. How often? So many times! When they came home from school, I would surprise them with my hotteok. I never made it before they came. I prepared some well-fermented dough and the brown sugar mixture. That’s all! Once they entered the home, I said, “Wash your hands and come back to the kitchen! Hotteok will be ready~” with big smile. My children were so happy and excited!
A glass of milk and hot hot hotteok with sizzling golden syrup! Wouldn’t you like it? Yes, children love it! If you want to entertain your children, wait for them with the preparation just as I did.
I make hotteok for myself and my friends these days. Where are my little children!!
I sometimes miss the old times. They are already grownups and live far away from me.
Serve or eat hotteok right after you make it. If someone gives me cold hotteok, I will feel insulted. : ) I will refuse to eat it and save my empty stomach for kimchi and rice! lol
Ingredients
Makes 8 hotteok
- water
- 2 tbs white sugar
- 2 ts dry yeast
- ½ ts kosher salt
- 1 tbs vegetable oil
- 2 cups and ½ cup of all purpose flour
- ½ cup turbinado sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 ts cinnamon powder
- 2 tbs chopped walnuts
Directions
Make hotteok dough
- Place 1 cup of lukewarm water into a mixing bowl.
- Add white sugar, yeast, kosher salt, vegetable oil, and stir it well.
- Add 2 cups all purpose flour and mix it with a rice scoop, or by hand.
- Let the dough rise. It should sit with the lid closed at room temperature for 1 hour.
- After an hour the dough will rise to double its size. Knead it to remove the gas bubbles in the dough.
- Let it rise for another 10-20 minutes.
Make filling (for 8 hotteok)
- Mix the turbinado sugar, cinnamon powder, and walnuts in a bowl.
*tip: you could use mozzarella cheese for stuffing. Invent your own fillings with your favorite ingredients!
Let’s make hotteok!
- Knead the dough again to remove the gas bubbles.
- Place and spread about ½ cup flour on your cutting board.
- Put the dough on your cutting board and knead it. Make it into a lump, and cut it into 8 equal-sized balls.
- Take 1 dough ball, flatten it, put some filling in the center of the dough, and then seal it to make a ball.
- Repeat this 8 times to make 8 stuffed balls.
*tip: Use some flour from the cutting board to prevent your fingers from sticking to the dough - Heat up your non-stick pan over medium heat and add some vegetable oil.
- Place 1 ball on the pan and let it cook for 30 seconds.
- When the bottom of the dough ball is light golden brown, turn it over and press the dough with a spatula to make a thin and wide circle (about the size of a CD).
- Let it cook about 1 minute until the bottom is golden brown.
- Turn it over again and turn down the heat very low.
- Place the lid on the pan and cook 1 more minute. The brown sugar filling mixture will be melted to syrup!
- Serve hot!
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I made these. (Really great, by the way) I didn’t cover for a few minutes, but it was really great anyway. Is there a drastic difference if I had done that? I used a sweet bean and semolina (suji halva) filling for a nice Korean and Indian mix.
oh, you used sweet bean for the filling.
If you use brown sugar filling, you may need to follow the direction. The reason I cover for a few minutes over low heat is to melt the sugar filling thoroughly and cook the dough properly, but it sound like yours turned out good. Great!
Ah, that makes sense! I also wanted to add that I had to freeze some fully cooked hoddeoks (separated with parchment papers in an airtight container) since there was too much, and it baked in the oven @ 300 degrees C for 20 minutes- great and good as new, not soggy or weird at all!
I would like to make these for a potluck event at a friend’s house. But I’m afraid it may not taste as good when it cools down, can we heat it up in a toaster or oven before serving?
yes, you could but freshly made hoddeok is the best.
i made them with peanut butter and nuttella! so yum! the peanut butter was melting from inside when i ate them. my friends loved them too!
“I made them with peanut butter and nuttella!”What a creative idea it is!
This is a perfect recipe. It came out exactly as advertised, beautiful and DELICIOUS!! I LOVED making hoddeok with my host mom in Korea. So much fun. I goofed around with the fillings a lot; I made one with brown sugar, nutmeg and vanilla, another with Cotswald cheese, some with patt (sweet red bean paste), these are SO versatile! I can’t wait to think up more fillings!
Also, these freeze (uncooked) nicely and when you want them for breakfast just defrost them the night before and cook them up before you go to work.
AMAZING!
great news! “these freeze (uncooked) nicely and when you want them for breakfast just defrost them the night before and cook them up before you go to work.” Thank you very much for the tip!
this is making my mouth water..i want to try making this…but I always have a bad experience using yeast…my dough always comes out really really bad.
i’ll give it a shot tho…hopefully I’ll be able to send you a really good picture!
hi maangchi, i made it! it came out perfectly just like the photos…im so proud of myself! lol.
just one question tho, is the bread/pancake suppose to taste kind of sour?
Thank you! <3
I think you probably used a little too much yeast, or let the dough sit too long. It should be mildly yeasty, but not “beery”. :)
My gf and I make this all the time!!
it’s so yummy! All my friends think it’s delicious too!
aww, you guys are so cute. I can imagine both of u cooking and eating together. : )
I make hoddeok this week, both cheese and sugar, and it was amazing! Thanks for the great recipe!
I blogged about it here:
http://ikkin-bot.blogspot.com/2010/09/hoddeok-korean-street-food-experiment.html
yes, you entered the contest with your hoddeok photo! Uh oh! hoddeok! lol, good luck in the contest!
I love hoddoek! It is my first recipe i tried! And it was really good and my first time I made it was a SUCCESS! All my family loved them. I love the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans or walnuts. This is my favorite. So delicious!
Congratulations!
hi!
i love your hoddeok recipe!
i made it as an assignment for a class and they all loved it and begged for more!
i want to make it again and was wondering can you freeze them or put them in the fridge to save them for another day? and if you can how?
Thank You!
-Megan
You can keep the leftover dough in the fridge for a couple of days. Freshly made hoddeok is the best.
I made my first batch of hoddeok this afternoon. I’m dating someone who is Korean now, so I want to be able to impress him with my cooking. The recipe turned out amazing, and I’m going to be doing the cabbage kimchi recipe sometime this week. I love spicy food, so hopefully my first time making kimchi is a success. Thank you so much for showing us your recipes and making videos to help out. (:
I hope your kimchi turns out great! You will impress your Korean friend with your kimchi again! : )
I made this today but instead of using brown sugar, I made it with red bean paste to satisfy my chinese parents. They turned out great! But next time I will definitely try out the brown sugar.
good news!
I like to ask for the dough keep it in freezer or ? Because I tried putting in the fridge but the dough itself become to be wet n more sticky -__-||
I never freeze the dough, so I can’t give you the answer. The dough will keep rising in the fridge because it contains yeast. It’s natural.
I made hoddeok last night and it was amazing.
It was so amazing in fact, that I couldn’t take any pictures of it. By the time I thought of taking pictures of my hoddeok, they were already all gone.
I used the dough recipe for eight pieces. Four of them had the brown sugar/cinnamon filling with toasted sesame seeds added. I stuffed the other four of them with mozzarella cheese and ate them with marinara sauce. I had to put half of them in the fridge overnight, but I reheated them in the toaster oven. They came out crispy and melted and delicious like they should be.
“By the time I thought of taking pictures of my hoddeok, they were already all gone.” haha! understood!
melted mozzarella cheese, yum!
Yum! I made these today with the kids. They helped to mix the sugar and cinnamon (of course eating lots in the process). I really enjoyed these, they are always my favorite snack to buy at rest stops in Korea. I will admit that I ate 1 too many today, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to eat hoddeok. One of my daughters couldn’t stop eating either. Next time I will try these with cheese since my son is crazy for cheese.
yeah, so did I! When I make hoddeok, I eat too much and then I am worried about gaining weight! : )
so i always wanted to try this recipe because it looks so easy to make, and indeed it was, i love it and so do my younger brothers and sisters. thank you for sharing this with us
awesome news! : )
Thanks Maangchi for the recipe! I have been buying the prepackaged hoddeok from the Korean market for years. So I was excited to see you post the recipe. The store bought ones cannot compare to homemade! I have made them a few times already. Last week I taught my neice and nepthew how to make them and they are in love! My nephew demanded the recipe and any indgredients he didn’t have at home so he can make them whenever he wants, he’s only 11! Thanks again and keep the recipes coming. Especially vegan/vegetarian ones ;)
“The store bought ones cannot compare to homemade!” I agree with you! Your 11 year old nephew wanted to learn the recipe? so cute!
: ) But you did a good job because you taught them how to catch fish instead of feeding fish. fish is “oh uh hoddeok” in this sentence! lol.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made these today while I was babysitting my younger brother and sister. They’re very picky eaters and they LOVED 호떡! I also made my brother 게란말이 and he loved that as well! I was going to show you some pictures, but everything was eaten so quickly I didn’t have time to get pictures!
My little brother loved the 호떤 and 게란말이 so much that when my mom told him it was time for bed (he had fallen asleep on the couch) he told her (while he was half-asleep) “Mommy! Today Ashleigh made these two Korean foods and they were SO yummy! She made pancakes and eggs, and I loved the Korean food! The pancakes were very yummy, tell her to make them again!” When my mom went downstairs to tell my dad, he had found one left over 호떡 (it was a few hours old) and had eaten it. So when he saw my mom he said “These Korean pancakes Ashleigh made were really good, she’s going to have to make them again!”.
I feel so proud that I’m finally considered a good cook and it’s all thanks to you <3 I can't wait to cook more yummy Korean food for my family.
감사합니다!
awesome! ““These Korean pancakes Ashleigh made were really good, she’s going to have to make them again!” You must have been very happy when you heard that! Listening to your story makes me happpy, too. Happy cooking! : )
I have a question about this ddeok. Is this the ddeok that’s realllyyy sweet and on the inside it’s brown and very slimy and sticky?? But doesn’t have the nuts consistency? I remember I had this a long time ago at the Korean supermarket but I don’t know what it’s called.
It’s not ddeok (rice cake). hoddeok! It’s uh oh hoddeok. : ) “realllyyy sweet and on the inside it’s brown and very slimy and sticky?? But doesn’t have the nuts consistency?” yes, indeed! They did not use nuts in the filling?
is it ok to use rice flour?
Use flour, please.
maangchi!
i tried this recipe today and it was a success!
my parents are really picky eaters but they absolutely loved this!
im so happy that they liked YOUR recipe! :D
i am going to cook some more of your delicious recipes! :)
awesome news! Congratulations!
I am eating a delicious hoddoek right now :) I halved the recipe and used a very finely ground whole wheat flour and didn’t tell my husband it’s not white flour (shh, he still doesn’t know!) I filled it with a mixture of crushed peanuts, black sesame seeds and sugar. The first time I made these :) the flour drove me crazy. It’s silly but I hate the feel of dry flour on my hands! This time I made them with my hands very wet and they even turned out better shaped. My husband just finished his and said ‘c’est pas mal’ (it’s not bad) which is a good compliment for food from a French speaker. Thanks Maangchi!
“c’est pas mal” nice!
Hi Maangchi,
How have you been? Hope eveything is great and blessed for you and your family. I am thinking to make Hoddeok and wonder whether it is possible for me to mix all purpose flour with soya bean powder? The reason for asking is because I have lots of soya bean powder left after I made rice cake the last time and do not know what to do with it. It is a waste if I were to just let it sit there till expiry. The powder is rather expensive as I bought it at a Korean supermart.
Please kindly advice.
Tks always,
Sagua
hi, Sauga (apple in Korean),
“..whether it is possible for me to mix all purpose flour with soya bean powder?”
I don’t know. When I’m sure about the result, I can say yes. But a little bit of soy bean powder will be ok, don’t you think so?
maangchi!! i loved the recipe! loved it so much i blogged about it and registered here to tell you ;) http://skinniegenes.blogspot.com/2010/06/making-korean-sweet-pancakes-hoddeok.html
can’t wait to try out your other recipes!
great! Congratulation on your successful hoddeok making! I will twit about it now. : )
I tried your recipe and it was so wonderful, I blogged about it (link with pictures below). I am amazed at your site and you are fulfilling a true need -second generation Korean Americans who know how to cook some things but not all thinkgs Korean, and for myself, living out in the midwest, I only make it out to Korea town in NY about once a year.
Thank you Maangchi! Also, my son really liked the mozzarella stuffed hoddeok which he topped off with marinara sauce.
http://golfism.org/2010/05/24/hoddeok-korean-comfort-food/
yes, I checked your blog and found you made fantastic looking hoddeok! Looking at your hoddeok photo makes me feel like hoddeok right now! Uh oh, hoddeok, it’s been a while I have not made it! : )
I’ve been telling everyone about your site. I have three obsessions in no particular order:
1. golf
2. technology
3. FOOD
I’m going to try our your sujebi recipe. I remember my grandmother making this as a child. It’s amazing how food connects you to memory and family. Keep it up!
Let me know how your sujebi turns out. Please take a photo and send it to me if you can. I agree that certain food brings back good memories from the past. Thank you!
I made for the first time Hoddeoks with diferent fillings as vegetables fruits meat nuts WOW so many things to do with your fantastic recipe .Thanks again Maanghi! My favor is with carrot marmalade. mmmmmm
carrot marmalade filling sounds good to me! Next time you make it again, please email me some photos! Thank you!
MAANGCHI!!!!! what do i do??? the dough didn’ rise at all!!! :( it is already my second time making it but it still didn’t rise… do you have something to suggest?
Check expiration date of the yeast. Or you might have dissolved the yeast in very hot water. The yeast water should be warm (about 100 Farenheit: 40 Celsius). If it’s too hot, it will kill yeast so that your dough won’t rise.
Let me know how it goes, please
:O thank you!! :D and also do we have to put a plastic on it or just let it like that?
Hi Maangchi! My name’s Reanne and I’m in the middle of trying out your hoddeok. I forgot to add the yeast in the liquid mixture and added it when I added the flour. Would it make a difference if I added it in a little late? >..<
In celebration for Mother’s Day I offered to make my family (mother, older sister, and 7 year-old niece) Hoddeok for breakfast. I decided to make 3 filled with apples (in addition to the brown sugar and cinnamon), 3 with banana covered with the juice from some chopped strawberries (I kept them frozen and thawed them out the night before) and 2 mixed with the both. I got a little worried when I didn’t see the dough rise, or maybe it was because the bowl was too big for me to notice. Anyway, I did everything according to your recipe and the pancakes were a huge hit! I love fruits in general so this did the trick for me! My mother has a habit of telling her co-workers of all the korean food I make and I have a feeling she’ll be talking about these pancakes tomorrow. :-) I’ll definitely be making these again in the future. Thank you, Maangchi.
oh, my god, the filling made with “banana covered with the juice from some chopped strawberries” sounds very delicious! You were very nice to your mom and your family on Mother’s day! I’m very happy to hear about your successful Mother’s day event!
Haha! I make this pancake for my mum on Mother’s day… and my mum love it… aza….
Good news! Your mom must have been proud of you when you cook this for her!
Just wondering, is it possible to store cooked ones for the next day? Will baking it the next day be any good?
hi, I’m copying and pasting this from this page for you,
“Serve or eat hoddeok right after you make it. If someone gives me cold hoddeok, I will feel insulted. I will refuse to eat it and save my empty stomach for kimchi and rice!”
I actually find that they come out pretty good if you stuff then freeze them. You can fry them straight from the freezer, you just have to flip them an extra time in the pan before you press them down.
Hi maangchi, I tried your recipe with a Vietnamese twist. I used shreded coconut and chopped roasted peanuts as a filling. Tasted great. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
sounds good! Next time if you make it again, don’t forget to take a photo and send it to me.
Hey Mangchi!
Do you think I could put nutella inside? lol
Or ive been thinking Coconut sesame and sugar filling ^^
What do you think ?
nutella filling sounds like fabulous! Let me know the result!
I just tried it with nutella… totally delicious! Definitely worth a shot. Thanks for the wonderful recipe Maangchi, and the nutella idea too Thaory.
Hi!! I’m from Mexico and let me tell you, this recipe it’s just great!! I want to learn to cook korean food and this was a very good and delicious beginning. I’ll try another recipes very soon. For me is a little difficult to find some ingredients because I live in a small city, but I’ll do my best. Thank you very much for share your knowledge.
Thank you for trying out my recipes! Welcome! I hope your Korean cooking turns out great!
Dear Maangchi, we love HODDEOK, my daughter likes them a lot. I am writing to tell you the things I had to do to achieve the hoddeok’s. Here you cannot find brown sugar (its really sucks), after much thought, I realized I could solve the problem if I used white sugar mixed with molasses. In the end, after trying several times, I found that if you mix 1 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon molasses, you can get a very good and moist light brown sugar. After that, is so easy to make them!
I’m thinking next time to try the recipe for kimchi, if I can find the Nappa Cabbage, (if so, I will told you) Thanks again for your site, your recipes and videos, its rocks!
“I found that if you mix 1 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon molasses, you can get a very good and moist light brown sugar. After that, is so easy to make them!”
It sounds like more delicious than brown sugar filling! : ) You are very creative!
Hi Maangchi,
Your site stops me from being too homesick for the time I spent in Cheongju-si.
I first tried hoddeok there, a husband and wife team made and sold them on the street near my apartment, and although I’ve tried making them myself, they’ve never been quite right. Can’t wait to try your recipe.
Just to say, the hoddeok I used to buy had a filling of brown sugar and sesame seeds. Since I don’t like cinnamon, this was perfect for me, and I’d recommend trying it, it is deeeeee-licious! I am curious about the cheese-filled ones though…