My hotteok recipe is finally here. Hotteok is a beloved Korean street food: a golden fried pancake filled with a molten brown sugar syrup and often studded with nuts or seeds.
My mother made hotteok at home often when I was a child. It was clearly one of her favorite sweet treats, so she made it a lot. I remember telling the other kids at church that my umma made the best hotteok and promising myself that one day I would learn to make them too.
What is hotteok?
Hotteok is a yeasted, fried dough pocket filled with brown sugar and sometimes chopped nuts or seeds. The exterior fries up light and crisp while the interior remains pleasantly chewy—almost mochi-like when made with sweet rice flour.
The classic filling combines brown sugar and cinnamon, with optional additions like sunflower seeds or chopped nuts. My personal favorite is the sunflower seed version. Vendors on the street sometimes serve hotteok in a cup, cutting the pancake in half and adding extra seeds or nuts on top.
Ingredients:
- Dough
- All-purpose flour
- Sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour)
- Active dry yeast
- Sugar
- Sea salt
- Neutral oil
- Filling
- Brown sugar
- Cinnamon
- Sunflower seeds (or other nuts/seeds)
- Oil for frying
I highly recommend using sweet rice flour. It’s key to getting that soft, chewy texture. If you can’t find it, you can substitute with a total of 2 cups all-purpose flour instead.
Sweet rice (glutinous rice) flour is widely available in American supermarkets, typically in the Asian or baking aisle—look for Mochiko or similar brands. If you must, you can order it online, but it’s often more expensive that way.
Tips for making the BEST hotteok:
- Shallow fry. Street vendors shallow- or deep-fry their hotteok; shallow frying at medium-low heat gives a crisp exterior and a chewy interior. You don’t need to cover the pan—just make sure there’s enough oil to shallow fry and tilt the pan so the oil pools at one side to crisp the edges.
- Use sweet rice flour. It creates the desirable mochi-like chew. If unavailable, use all-purpose flour as noted above.
- Weigh the dough. For even cooking, divide dough into equal portions—use a kitchen scale if you have one.
- Eat them hot. Hotteok are best fresh. They keep, but over time the filling can soak into the dough and the texture changes.
- Tilt the pan. Tilting concentrates oil at the edge so the pancake edges fry crisp and the sugar melts nicely inside.
Variations:
While the traditional hotteok is filled with brown sugar and seeds or nuts, street vendors and home cooks have created many variations. Common alternatives include:
- Cheese
- Japchae (stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables)
- Vegetable fillings
- Sweet red bean
- Kimchi
You can also top hotteok any way you like. One favorite is to add a scoop of ice cream, fold the pancake in half, and enjoy it as an ice cream sandwich—warm, sweet, and irresistible.
For prep I used a silicone pastry mat, which is convenient for shaping dough, but it’s optional.
Korean Sweet Pancakes- 호떡 (Hotteok)
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Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sweet rice flour (aka glutinous rice flour)
Filling
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
Oil for frying
Instructions
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Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and sunflower seeds (or your chosen nuts/seeds) and set aside.
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Activate the yeast by mixing it with warm water and a bit of sugar. Let it sit until bubbly, a few minutes.
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Add sea salt and oil to the yeast mixture, then stir in the all-purpose and sweet rice flours. The dough should be slightly sticky. Cover and let it ferment for 1 hour.
*If you don’t have sweet rice flour, use a total of 2 cups all-purpose flour.
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After an hour the dough should double in size. If it doesn’t, your yeast may be inactive or the room is too cold.
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Gently knead to release air, then cover and proof another 30 minutes. The dough should be less sticky this time.
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After the second rest, the dough will rise a bit more.
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Dust a work surface lightly with flour, knead briefly, and shape the dough into a ball.
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Divide the dough into 8 even pieces.
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Flatten each piece into a disc about 5 inches across.
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Place 1–2 tablespoons of the filling in the center, depending on taste.
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Gather the edges and pinch to seal the dough around the filling.
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In a nonstick pan over medium-low heat, add oil to shallow fry. Place each sealed ball seam-side down and cook until golden.
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Flip the ball, then press and flatten with a sturdy spatula so it becomes a pancake.
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Continue frying until both sides are golden brown and crisp.
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Remove from the pan and let cool for a few minutes before serving so the filling firms slightly.
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Serve as-is or cut in half and add extra seeds or nuts if you like.
Nutrition information is an approximation and provided automatically.
Additional Info
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