Hotteok (Korean Sweet Pancakes with Cinnamon-Walnut Filling)
Soft, chewy yeasted dough pan-fried until crisp and golden outside, with a molten center of brown sugar, cinnamon and crunchy walnuts. A classic Korean street-food treat you can make in a skillet at home.
- Prep
- 27 min
- Cook
- 22 min
- Wait
- 1 hr 3 min
- Total
- 1 hr 52 min
- Makes
- 8 hotteok (about 4 inches / 10 cm each)
Steps
Before you start
- Warm the milk to about 110°F (43°C): it should feel comfortably warm, not hot. Hot milk kills yeast.
- Plan on about 1 hour 10 minutes of rising and resting before you cook. The dough is soft and sticky by design, so don't add extra flour.
- Eat the hotteok within minutes of cooking. The sugar filling is extremely hot, so let each one cool 2–3 minutes before biting.
- Use a nonstick or well-seasoned skillet, because leaked sugar filling will burn and stick on bare surfaces.
Mix the dough
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, instant yeast, granulated sugar and salt.
- Add the warm milk and 1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil.
- Stir with a spatula for about 1 minute until no dry flour remains and you have a shaggy, very sticky dough.
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Ready when: No dry flour patches remain and the dough looks like a thick, sticky batter-dough.
Tip: Check the milk with your finger first. If it's hot to the touch, let it cool before adding it to the yeast.
Knead until smooth
- Oil your hand lightly from the frying oil.
- Inside the bowl, stretch the dough up and fold it over itself, turning the bowl a quarter turn each time, for about 3 minutes.
- Round it into a ball and smooth the top.
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Ready when: The dough is smooth, stretchy and soft, and clings to itself more than to your oiled hand. It will still be tacky.
Tip: Resist adding flour. The extra moisture is what makes the pancake chewy and soft.
Let dough rise
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel.
- Leave it in a warm spot (75–80°F / 24–27°C) for 1 hour.
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Ready when: The dough has doubled in size and is dotted with bubbles on the surface.
Tip: In a cool kitchen, rising may take up to 90 minutes. Judge by the dough, not the clock.
Make the filling
- While the dough rises (or just before dividing it), stir the dark brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped walnuts and sesame seeds (if using) together in a small bowl.
- Press out any sugar lumps with the back of a spoon until the mixture looks evenly sandy.
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Ready when: Evenly mixed, loose and sandy with no big sugar lumps.
Divide the dough
- Oil your hands and the work surface lightly with frying oil.
- Gently turn the risen dough out, without punching it down hard, and cut it into 8 equal pieces of about 65 g each (about 2¼ oz).
- Roll each piece loosely into a ball under an oiled palm and keep them covered.
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Ready when: Eight smooth balls of similar size.
Tip: Re-oil your hands whenever the dough starts to stick. Oil works much better than flour here.
Fill and seal
- Flatten one ball in your oiled palm into a disc about 3½ inches (9 cm) across, thinner at the edges than the center.
- Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon (about 20 g) of filling into the center.
- Pull the edges up and over the filling, pinching them together at the top to form a tight seal, then twist off any excess dough.
- Set it seam side down and repeat with the remaining pieces.
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Ready when: Each ball is fully sealed with no gaps and no filling showing.
Tip: A thin spot or gap will leak melted sugar in the pan and burn. Pinch any gaps closed firmly.
Brown the first side
- Heat a 12-inch (30 cm) nonstick skillet over medium-low heat for 1 minute, then add about 2 teaspoons of oil.
- Place 2 filled balls seam side down, spaced at least 3 inches apart.
- Cook for 2 minutes, until the bottoms are pale golden.
- Repeat for the remaining batches, adding about 2 teaspoons of oil to the pan each time.
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Ready when: The underside is pale golden and the dough has set enough to flip without tearing.
Tip: If the oil smokes or the dough browns in under 1½ minutes, lower the heat. The filling needs time to melt before the outside darkens.
Flip and press flat
- Flip each ball so the seam side is up.
- Immediately press down firmly with an oiled flat spatula for about 5 seconds until each is a disc about 4 inches (10 cm) wide and ½ inch (1.3 cm) thick.
- Cook for 2 minutes more, until the second side is golden brown.
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Ready when: The pressed pancake is golden brown on the pressed side and has a flat, even disc shape.
Tip: Press straight down and don't twist, or the seam can split. If a bit of filling oozes out, just let it caramelize.
Flip once more
- Flip again and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, lowering the heat slightly if the surface darkens quickly, until both sides are deeply golden and crisp and the pancake feels slightly springy when tapped.
- If the pan has burnt sugar, wipe it clean with a paper towel before the next batch.
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Ready when: Both sides are deep golden brown and crisp, and the center feels springy rather than doughy.
Tip: Wipe the pan between batches. Burnt sugar makes the next batch bitter and sticky.
Cool briefly and serve
- Transfer the hotteok to a plate and let them stand for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Serve warm, cutting each in half carefully so the syrupy center doesn't run onto your fingers.
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Ready when: The filling is syrupy and still hot but no longer scalding.
Tip: The center stays dangerously hot, so always cool them before biting in.
Good to know
Tips
- Oil, not flour, is the key to handling the sticky dough. Keep your hands and the spatula lightly oiled throughout.
- Cook over medium-low heat. Too hot and the outside burns before the sugar filling melts.
- Make sure each ball is sealed tightly; sugar leaking into the pan is the most common cause of burnt, sticky hotteok.
- Press the pancake flat right after flipping, while the dough is still soft, for an even golden crust.
Make ahead
"The dough can rise in the refrigerator instead: after kneading, cover and chill 8 to 12 hours. Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, then divide, fill and cook as directed. The filling can be mixed up to 3 days ahead and kept covered at room temperature."
Storage & reheating
"Best eaten fresh. Room temperature: up to 4 hours, loosely covered. Refrigerator: up to 3 days in an airtight container. Freezer: up to 2 months, wrapped individually. Reheat from the fridge in a dry nonstick skillet over medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or from frozen for 4 to 5 minutes per side with a lid on, until hot through and crisp again."
Substitutions
- walnuts → Peanuts, pecans or toasted sunflower seeds. Use the same weight, chopped finely. Peanuts are common in street-style hotteok.
- whole milk → Warm unsweetened soy milk or oat milk. Use the same amount at about 110°F (43°C). The texture is slightly less rich.
- dark brown sugar → Light brown sugar. Use the same amount. The flavor is a bit milder and less molasses-forward.
- instant yeast → Active dry yeast. Use 1¼ teaspoons (4 g), stirred into the warm milk and left for 5 minutes until foamy before mixing.