Hotteok is a popular Korean winter street food, a sweet pan-fried pancake filled with gooey cinnamon syrup and crunchy nuts. Enjoy this no yeast version for a quick shortcut into enjoying this sweet dessert at home!
Last winter, I visited Korea in the winter for the first time and got to enjoy the street stalls that sell hotteok. Outside in the cold with with our hands shivering, we held onto piping hot hotteok and it was so delicious. There’s something comforting about enjoying this hot dessert in the winter air and it’s a core memory now. With winter here again, I’ve been craving hotteok but it’s not abundantly available in the US.
We got to really enjoy the sweet chewy pancakes in the cold with our hands shivering, holding a hot hotteok in our hands and it was so delicious. With winter here again, I’ve been craving hotteok but it’s not abundantly available in the US.
What is Hotteok?
Hotteok is traditionally a yeasted Korean pancake made with a dough that’s soft and chewy, filled with a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts. There’s now many variations including fillings with pumpkin seeds, black sesame, or even savory versions that we really enjoyed. During our trip, my daughter particularly enjoyed the savory one with japchae. Classic hotteok dough typically uses both regular flour and sweet rice flour to give it both a soft and chewy texture.
How Is the No-Yeast Version Different?
Since this recipe has no yeast, the ratio of dry sweet rice flour is much higher than all purpose flour than the yeasted version making this hotteok texture closer to tteok (or rice cake). While it’s not the exact same texture as traditional hotteok, it’s a delicious alternative that comes together much faster. We still really enjoyed it without having to wait hours to eat.
What is sweet rice flour?
Dry sweet rice flour or referred to also as glutinous sweet flour, mochiko or chapssalgaru in Korean is a finely milled flour made from glutinous rice, also called sticky rice. It’s used in many Asian recipes for the chewy texture and is the base of mochi, rice cakes and also this recipe!
You will be able to find it in your Asian grocery store, and many standard grocery stores now also carry it too!
Hope you enjoy!
Chewy No-Yeast Hotteok
Ingredients
- 2 ⅛ cups dry sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour)
- 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour (6 Tbsp is ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp; 45 g)
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 300 ml hot water (6 oz and 1 Tbsp)
- 1 Tbsp oil
Hotteok filling
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar (133 g)
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 Tbsp chopped roasted nuts peanuts, pumpkin seeds, walnuts etc
For Cooking
- Cooking oil for pan-frying
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sweet rice flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Pour in the hot water and mix until just combined. The dough should be slightly sticky.
- Add in the oil and mix until fully incorporated. Set aside as you make the filling.
- In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped notes
- Divide the dough batter into 8 equal pieces. Lightly oil your hands, take 1 dough piece, and flatten it into a circle in your palm. Place about 1.5-2 Tbsp of the filling in the center.
- Gather the edges of the dough over the filling and pinch to seal. Set aside and repeat, shaping enough hotteok to fit your pan (about 3–4 at a time).
- Heat a large frying pan over medium-low heat and lightly coat with oill. Once heated, place the hotteok seal-side down in the pan and gently flatten using your hand or spatula. Cook until golden. Flip and flatten again and cook on the other side until golden. 1-2 minutes per side.
Notes
- If the batter is too sticky, let it rest for 5 minutes as the water absorbs into the batter. Add about 2 Tbsp more rice flour if it’s too sticky to handle.
- If too dry, add 2 Tbsp more water. It may depend on the humidity of your home.
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