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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Maangchi,
This is simply easy, quick and delicious and enjoyed by three generations! Replaced the filling with Nutella, since kids don’t care for nuts. The dough was amazingly fun to work with and so tender when cooked.
Mahalo!
I’m happy to hear that your family love your hotteok! Nutella sounds great, too!
We make these every weekend now. So easy and such a family favorite!
So yummy! Second recipe i’ve used by you today, it’s been a great day!
Thanks again Maangchi!
Hi Maangchi, I made hotteok inspired by you and it was delicious, I attached a picture of my 10 month old who is slowly getting rich off it haha just kidding of course. :P Thank you for teaching me how to cook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMIPeRaTvdA&t=7s
I love watching korean dramas and korean variety shows, i always see them eating this one so i decided to make it too. Tried it for the first time and it was sooooo good
You made hotteok for the first time but it looks perfect! Congratulations!
Made a batch of these actually they were my first try of korean pancakes filled with sweet filling and I can say I loved these. And then I came across with your pancakes filled with vegetables and noodles in which up to date I’ve made four times already ^^_^^
Just introduced my family to hotteok. It tasted just as good as eating it on those cold days in Korea. Thanks for helping me remember this delicious treat and having the recipe to it. Success in introducing another yummy Korean food to my family.
First of all – these are so fun and easy to make! I did two variations which I have tosay, are delicious. First I made a savoury one with smoked cheddar and kimchi (YUM). Then I made a sweet one, I wanted to follow the recipe as closely as possible for the sweet one However we are getting close to Easter now and my palate desires nothing but spices and dried fruit. SO I used a dark muscovado with a little bit of nutmeg, ground cloves and dried sour cherries (as well as the cinnamon) oh and almonds instead of walnuts – because that’s what I had in the cupboard. I got to say, they’re like little gooey hot cross buns and I will be making them again and again and again and…
Using yeast will still make this chewy like dduk not bready like a grilled pita right? I really want to have a chewy and slightly crunchy result like a rice cake.
Made some korean pancakes in the Air Fryer. Kids loved them. Baby approved. Did my own spin on the filling. Instead of just brown sugar, I put dates, raisins, ground flax, water, cinnamon, unrefined coconut sugar, and walnuts. Its pretty much a Omega 3/potassium bomb. Lol
“Baby approved.” Wonderful! : )
Can you make the pancake ahead of time and reheat them before serving?
My Korean wife freezes and reheats them without a problem.
Quickly became a family favorite! It’s so easy to make and so yummy to eat :D
Yummy! I feel like having hotteok now! : )
I want to made that sweet pancakes but im afraid because im still allergic in yeast wat shold be the subtitute or can i just not add that??
Maangchi. I’m your biggest friend. I almost try every recipes that you’ve posted. Today my mom ask me to made her your hoettok
Maangchi~ I always love your recipes and I’m very shocked that my parents appreciate all the Korean foods I cook! Sometimes they aren’t expressing it but their faces says it all. They love it!! I am currently interested about 찹쌀 꿀호떡 chapssal ggeul hotteok it looks really good but I have not learn it yet.
I made your Hotteok tonight and they turned out perfect! Excited to make them for a group of people I’m having over tomorrow night for some Korean food.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Help.. My dough didnt rise like yours. I used instant dry yeast and followed your instruction exactly.
I love this recipe SO much!! the first time i had hotteok it was as an Hmart sample. I was instantly hooked, and I cannot believe I can make this myself! They were so easy to make, so delicious. Everyone who tried them absolutely loved them. Thank you!!
Maangchi, these are beautiful. The dough looks like how i ferment sweet rice flour to make steamed rice buns. Could i use Mochiko instead of wheat flour?
They were really delicious. My family liked them a lot. It reminded them of old times at home :)
Wow you posted this months ago, but I’m just seeing it now. It looks great! Continued good luck with your Korean cooking!
how much 1 cup of water in ml and how much 1 cup of flour in gram?
Hi Maangchi, can I use baking powder as substitute for dry yeast ? Or can I make it without yeast ?
I’m sorry to say that this recipe needs yeast. But you can try it out.
At the last I use yeast:) n’ succed, thank you Maangchi, I luv u :*
Yum! : )
my first trial of hotteok
love the taste :)
Wow, gorgeous!
Our first time eating hotteok was 2 years ago when we visited Seoul during Christmas time. The fresh and hot hotteok tasted really good.
Thank you for the recipe and they turned out exactly like we had it.
I’m sure your homemade hotteok brought you back good memories of your Korean trip! It looks very delicious! Good luck with your Korean cooking!
Hello. I am so happy. I made hotteok and my family loved. I didn’t have walnuts so I used cashew nuts. Simple and delicious. Thank you.
Wow, this is such upgraded hotteok filled with delicious cashew nuts! Congratulations!
Hi Maangchi! I love korean food because they’re so delicious and healthy. This holiday, I want to make hotteok. But, can I keep the dough for about 6-10 hours?
Yes, you can keep dough in the fridge.
Hi Maangchi! I am planning to make this recipe for thanksgiving lunch potluck. Going to make a pumpkin filling and/or cinnamon-brown sugar filling. Is there a way to keep and serve these hot? I was thinking of asking to use the oven and keeping these on like 200 degrees in a foil pan. Until ready to “serve”.
Any recommendations? Or should i just take something else?
Hotteok tastes best right after it’s made. People surround a hotteok vendor in Korea to wait for their turn to eat freshly made hotteok. I don’t think pre-made hotteok is a good idea for potluck party. Why don’t you make japchae or honey butter chicken? https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/japchae https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/honey-butter-fried-chicken
Thank you Thank you, Thank you! We tried these from a street vendor when on vacation in Seoul a couple years ago. They were sweet and nutty and we fell in love with them. Later that day we tried some again from a different vendor but they were not the same, this time they were savory with scallion, and other veggies. Both were delicious and we wanted more but we couldn’t find anything like them when we returned to the USA. Trader Joe’s sells a frozen savory version that is OK, but nowhere near the taste of fresh cooked.
We’ll be making these soon! We’ll probably use some good Coconut Oil to fry them in.Now if we could just find a recipe for the tube like snacks we ate. They looked like long corn dogs without the stick, fried and with different fillings, some fish based some veggie, some meat based. Don’t have any idea what they were called.
Thanks for all the great recipes!
I made these with milk chocolate chips for the filling A-MA-ZING!!! Huge hit with my friends and family!!
I only had about just over a cup of all purpose flour left, and substituted the other other for SR flour! It still worked very well :)
Thank you for this recipe. Your explanations were easy to follow and I succeeded on the first try. I can’t wait to try it with cheese and chocolate!
Can you pre-make hotteok dough? Or save it for a day, or freeze it.
It’s a long process for making the dough, so I want to make some advanced.
Yes, you can refrigerate the dough up to 1 week.
Hi Maangchi,
My daughter has requested that I make these for her as a Christmas treat, but she’s at college. Am I able to make these to step 5 and then wrap them for transport and then finish them at her house? Have you ever tried this? Thanks, Joyce
Maangchi, thank you for your amazing recipe! My mom tried this and said she could eat it every day!
uh oh! hotteok time! : )
Hi, maangchi! I made this today and they turned out awesome! I have to say I agree with you that it’s supposed to be sticky for it to be softer so I really tried hard not to put on too much flour and handle it as it is and I was well rewarded! My Mom loved it so much and once again, expressed her curiosity of my fascination with the Korean culture. It started with K-Pop and since I love to cook, the cuisine followed through! :) thank you so much for this recipe and I look forward in trying the others too! 감사합니다. ㅋㅋ
Yes! The dough was well made, so it looks very fluffy and soft!
Hello maangchi. I tried making hotteok and followed every step and measurements but my dough was too sticky I couldn’t handle it. It sticks to everything so I added a little flour and it turned out fine I guess. Haha.