Kimchi Pancake (Kimchi Jeon) - Chef Chris Cho (2024)

Kimchi Pancake is a classic Korean dish made with extra fermented Kimchi. It’s crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, hearty, spicy, savory, a little sweet, and a little sour. It’s all textures and flavors in one!

In any Korean home, having kimchi in the fridge is a given. At the same time, it’s very common for us to have excess that turns too fermented. Don’t worry though because nothing will ever go to waste for us. The extra fermented kimchi is often what we use that make a good kimchi jjigae, kimchi fried rice, and many other kimchi-based dishes.

In Korean BBQ, this would often be served as a banchan that people can munch on while waiting for the meat to cook. Depending on your preferred ingredients, this can be an appetizer, a snack, a side dish, or even a filling meal.

Kimchi Jeon Ingredients

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Fermented Kimchi

For this recipe, I do not recommend using fresh kimchi (geotjeori). We want the fermented kimchi–one that has been sitting for more than 2 weeks. This way they are deeply spicy and sour, and when you cook it, the flavors will continue to come out.

The recipe I shared here in the blog is for fresh kimchi. If you can find a good store-bought brand or you have a Korean friend who can give you this—that would be perfect!

Remember, all kimchi tastes different! The jeon’s overall taste is dependent on it, so you need to make sure that you have a good one!

TIP: In preparing your kimchi, roughly cut them using scissors in a bowl. This way you’ll have small and big chunks of it and they don’t stain in your chopping board.

Other Vegetables

There’s not really much that you need to add to the pancake aside from onion and scallions. If you’re not using any protein, you can add more of these.

You want to cut them julienne or in matchstick sizes so that as they cook, they bond with each other. I also recommend adding more scallions so that there is a pretty contrast in color when your pancake is done.

Protein

This is optional because you can make the kimchi jeon without any meat, which would be just as good. However, I like to add any cut of pork—ground, belly, shoulder butt or frozen seafood, ham, and even chorizo which would be roughly chopped so that your pancake becomes more hearty and filling if you consider this as your whole meal.

TIP: I like roughly chopping the protein added because there’s no better feeling than getting a good chunk of meat in your jeon, nahmean???

Batter

• All Purpose Flour and Potato Starch – You need equal parts of these for the base of the pancake. While some use all-purpose flour only, I like to add potato starch so that the pancake turns really crispy. You can find potato starch in Asian groceries, Whole Foods, or Amazon. Nevertheless, you can swap them for corn starch too.
• Water and Kimchi Juice – You also need equal parts of these to make the batter. I like to add kimchi juice for extra flavor and color. We want its color to be a beautiful red-orange!
• Egg – Egg is optional but you can put one to help with binding and additional flavor. You can skip this if you want to keep the pancake vegetarian or vegan.
• Sesame Oil – There’s not much to say but Kimchi + Pork + Sesame Oil = Trifecta of Flavors. This one will definitely elevate your pancake!
• Garlic, Salt, and Pepper – Since there’s flavor in the kimchi already, you don’t need that much seasoning for your pancake. A little bit of these, added to your liking, will go a long way. Also, you can consider whether you want to use a dipping sauce. If you’ll be using one, season less; If you won’t be using one, season more.

How to make Kimchi Jeon?

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We’ll start with the batter by combining all the ingredients I mentioned. The most important thing about this is the consistency. You want it a little thick but not too thick! This ensures that your batter will cook faster and crispier! While mixing, you can also taste and adjust the seasoning before adding any egg or raw meat.

Following that, prepare the kimchi, vegetables, and protein, add them, then mix it really well. You want each component to be covered with the batter. And again, check the consistency. It should not be too loose, otherwise, you can add flour and starch. Or if it’s too thick, you can add water and kimchi juice. The rule of thumb is to just add 1 tablespoon at a time.

Once the pancake batter is prepared, you’ll need to heat up your 10-12-inch pan with a good amount of oil. You want to see a little bit of white smoke as it’s heating up.

When you start to see the smoke, grab a big handful of the batter, shape it into the pan, and flat it out evenly. You have about 30 seconds to do this, otherwise, you won’t be able to reshape your jeon later on. Once it is placed well, the smoke should start to tone down.

2-2-2-2 Rule

I made cooking the pancake very simple for everyone—2 minutes on high heat for both sides and 2 minutes on medium heat for both sides. All in all, it’s 8 minutes of cooking time, and you’ll be flipping it 4 times. Add a round of oil in the edges in every flip because this will also help crisp up the pancake.Once done, slice like a pizza, and enjoy!

Other tips for cooking kimchi jeon:

1. Nonstick pans and big spatulas help make it easier to flip the pancake. Make sure to use these if you have them.
2. Before flipping, you can try swirling the pancake around to make sure that the bottom is ready to be flipped. Swirling around also helps unstick it from the pan.
3. When you flip, flip away from you so that the oil does not splatter on you. After flipping, flat it out evenly again so it shapes well.
4. If you see growing white smoke, it means it’s starting to burn. Watch out for it, let the pancake brown up a bit, then flip as needed.
5. To know if it is done, you can beat the pancake a little and the batter should not be oozing out in the holes anymore. It should also be nicely golden brown.

How to make Kimchi Pancake CRISPY??

As a general rule, many factors contribute to a crispy kimchi pancake. One is the use of starch and extra oil. Two, the consistency of the batter. Three, the patience to cook it until it’s nicely golden brown. All of these I taught above, so all you have to do is to follow all my instructions. Aight???

What to Eat Kimchi Pancake With?

Kimchi Pancakes can be served in many ways! It can be an appetizer to your Korean BBQ, a side dish in your bento box, a snack on its own, or simply served with a bowl of freshly steamed rice. It can go with a soy-based dipping sauce or mayonnaise, or if seasoned well, it can be good on its own!

This is also every Korean’s favorite rainy-day dish! I don’t know why but when it’s raining, we just want a warm plate of kimchi pancake with some makgeolli on the side. Yeobosayo!

How do you store leftover Kimchi Pancakes?

Kimchi Pancake actually freezes well, so you can simply make a big batch in advance and you can reheat it in the oven until crispy or in the pan with a little bit of water for steam until it has crisped up again.

Other Korean snack recipes you might like:

• Kimchi Fries
• Spicy Dried Squid
• Crab Cakes
• Potato Pancake
• Roasted Sweet Potato with Kimchi
• Candied Sweet Potatoes
• Sweet Potato Pancake

Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me onFacebook,Instagram, orTiktokwhen you chop them up! Yeobosayo!

Posted By: Chef Chris Cho · In: 30-Mins / One Pot / One Pan Dishes, All About Kimchi, Appetizers, Classic Korean Dishes, Everything Korean BBQ, Korean Holiday Recipes, Mild Spicy, Side Dishes, Snack, Vegetables and Fruits