Kimchi pancakes (aka kimchijeon) are as easy to make as their breakfast/serve-with-maple-syrup counterparts. Unlike Chinese scallion pancakes, which require you to make a dough, kimchi pancakes are made from a simple batter.
Quick and Easy to Make
My sister has a problem. A kimchi problem.
She does this thing, where she walks into our local Korean-run market after work, walks straight to the back of the refrigerated aisle, and buys way too much kimchi for her own good––more than she will ever actually eat with her rice during the week.
So what is an older sister/roommate to do when there’s a container and a half of kimchi languishing on the top shelf of the fridge, with no immediate use in sight?
Make kimchi pancakes, that’s what.
Regular ol’ all purpose flour is your starting point. If you can find it, the addition of potato starch gives the pancakes extra crispiness (that said, if you can’t find potato starch, you can just substitute more all-purpose flour, no problem).
From there, you just chop up some kimchi and add it in—kimchi juice and all—along with some scallions, salt, and a little water to loosen it up. After a quick little mixeroo with your chopsticks or a fork, you fry it up for a few minutes in the skillet, and you’re done!
If you want, you can also serve it with a dipping sauce, which is even easier to pull together.
It’s just soy sauce, water, a little sugar, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. It’s the perfect quick appetizer, and I find myself making it on weeknights when I stagger into my apartment after a long workday and need something to eat FAST. Plus, it’s the perfect way to make sure no kimchi goes to waste.
Now, you can use Store-bought Korean pancake mix, but why use that store-bought stuff when you can make your own homemade Korean pancakes from scratch?
Store-bought versions usually have added flavorings and preservatives, but in your homemade version, you know exactly what you’re putting in.
Kimchijeon Recipe Instructions
In a large bowl, combine the flour, potato starch, and salt until combined.
Add the kimchi, kimchi juice, water, and scallion.
Use a pair of chopsticks or a fork to stir the mixture until well-combined.
Heat a nonstick or cast iron pan over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and add the batter to the pan, spreading it in an even layer. Fry until browned on one side.
Flip the pancake and continue to cook until browned on the other side.
Meanwhile, assemble the dipping sauce by combining the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Serve alongside your kimchi pancake! If you want a little extra nuttiness (and fanciness), you can sprinkle the pancake with toasted sesame seeds.
Kimchi Pancake (Kimchijeon)
Ingredients
For the pancake:
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup potato starch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cabbage kimchi (roughly chopped)
- ½ cup kimchi juice
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 scallion (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
For the dipping sauce:
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, potato starch, and salt until combined. Add the kimchi, kimchi juice, water, and scallion. Use a pair of chopsticks or a fork to stir the mixture until well-combined.
- Heat a nonstick or cast iron pan over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and add the batter to the pan, spreading it in an even layer. Fry until browned on one side. Flip the pancake and continue to cook until browned on the other side.
- Meanwhile, assemble the dipping sauce by combining the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Serve alongside the pancake!
Tips & Notes:
nutrition facts
Made this tonight and it was amazing! Used kimchi I made with added chives that I had lying around in the fridge.
Mine came out with crispy edges, will definitely make this again
Yay, so glad you enjoyed it, Cher!
Hey for the record, kimchi basically lasts forever. I left some languishing in the back of the fridge for a whole year once and lo and behold, perfectly fine LOL
Haha I’ve kept it around for months before, but other household members can’t resist double dipping into the container with their fingers/chopsticks, which definitely shortens its life in the fridge!
Should I add the vegetable oil to the pan or into the batter?
Into the pan, Kat!
I made these last night exactly as stated . The texture & taste were amazing! We heated up leftovers for breakfast and they were just as delicious. Can we prepare Korean seafood pancakes similarly or do you have a recipe for that? Thank you!
Hi Pei, so glad you enjoyed these! We don’t have a recipe for Korean seafood pancakes, but you can check one out on our favorite Korean food blog, Maangchi: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/haemuljeon
Thank you for this. I’m generally cooking for one, so if I make a full batch of kimchi it tends to be around for longer than I like.. But not anymore – next to green onion pancakes, these are my new favourite!
Love it, Karen!
When I made the recipe as written, while the flavor was absolutely perfect, I ended up with a really gummy and dense pancake that was not crispy at all. I heard elsewhere that cake flour was good for jeon, and I know that to substitute cake flour you can use a cup of flour minus a couple of tablespoons which are then made up in weight by corn starch. So I tried that with this recipe — basically instead of 1:1 ratio of regular flour and potato starch, I did the same – a full cup of flour except for 2 tablespoons that were potato starch instead. This second pancake came out much crispier and lighter in texture.
Just thought to add my two cents in case anyone else was having trouble like I was with the ratio. Chewy is good, gummy is… not so good haha!
Thank you for sharing your experience, Misty