Make your own Korean street food skewers in just 10 minutes! Tteokkochi are spicy rice cakes that are fried on a skewer and slathered in a sweet gochujang sauce. Perfect for entertaining with friends and family.
Why We Love This
Tteokkochi spicy rice cake skewers are full of amazing Korean flavours.
You can easily fry them up and whip up the spicy gochujang sauce in less than 10 minutes. This makes them perfect for those times when you want a sweet and spicy snack or a tasty appetiser to impress your friends at dinner time.
The ‘crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside’ texture of tteokkochi is so delicious, you won’t want to stop at one!
Love crispy fried snacks? Try these epic Korean potato pancakes or seafood pancakes next!
What is Tteokkochi?
Tteokkochi – coming from the works tteok (떡 / rice cakes) + kkochi (꼬치 / food on skewers) are a popular Korean street food snack. They have a similar flavour profile to tteokbokki or Korean army stew but with a very different presentation.
The spicy rice cake skewers are made from short lengths of tteok threaded onto skewers and fried in butter or oil until crisp and chewy, then coated in a thick, spicy, sweet and garlicky sauce made with gochujang paste and gochugaru chilli flakes.
In Korea, tteokkochi are sometimes served in a paper cup so they’re easy to munch on while walking!
What You’ll Need
- Tteok / Rice Cakes – These are the long cylinder-shaped rice cakes known as garae-tteok. Look for them in the fridge or freezer section of Korean convenience stores or Asian groceries, or you can make them at home.
- Gochujang – One of the key ingredients to the dish, find out more about it in our gochugang guide. Regular gochujang has more of a tomato / sweet taste than chilli heat, although you can buy an extra hot version if you prefer. We’ve found these at regular supermarkets, Asian groceries or online.
- Gochugaru – Aka Korean red pepper flakes. Find it at Asian grocers and online. These seem to have more flavour and less heat than regular chilli flakes. To substitute, use half the amount of cayenne pepper or regular chilli powder.
- Other Marinade Ingredients – You’ll also need tomato sauce / ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, garlic and sesame oil.
How to make Tteokkochi:
- For the Sweet Gochujang Sauce: Mix together 1 tbsp gochujang, 1 tbsp tomato sauce, 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp gochugaru and 1 tsp sesame oil in a small bowl.
- For the Tteok Skewers: Thread four rice cakes (tteok) onto each wooden skewer. Note: If using frozen tteok, just cover and soak them in warm water for a few minutes, until they’ve thawed and you can pull them all apart.
- Melt the butter and oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add in the rice cake skewers, as many as you can fit in the pan. You may have to cook them over two batches.
- Fry the rice cakes for 1-2 minutes on each side, until they start to turn light brown and crispy. Transfer to a plate, ready to coat in sauce.
- Using a basting brush, slather each skewer with the sweet gochujang sauce. Serve and eat immediately. Optional: Return to the frying pan, and cook for another minute on each side.
Wandercook’s Tips
- Save Time – Keep some homemade gochujang sauce ready to go in the fridge!
- Fresh vs Frozen Tteok – Fresh tteok won’t need to soak as long as frozen tteok to soften. Softening the tteok first makes them much easier to thread onto skewers and helps them cook evenly.
- Skewers – Short, thin, cocktail skewers are better than full length skewers for this recipe. If you only have long skewers, just use them as is, or cut them down to make them easier to cook in a frying pan (if required).
- Broken Rice Cakes? – Don’t worry, just make smaller width skewers – they still taste just as good!
- Leftover Rice Cakes? – Make Gungung Tteokbokki, regular Tteokbokki or Dakgalbi!
FAQs
It’s perfect as a marinade for meats such as beef, chicken or fish. Stir it through blanched vegetables like bean shoots, gai lan / Chinese broccoli or broccolini for a quick and tasty side dish. Or use it as a stir fry sauce.
As a popular Korean street food snack, tteokkochi is usually served on its own. But you can make it at home as an entree or side dish alongside beef bulgogi with cooked rice and homemade kimchi, yellow pickled daikon or quick Korean pickled onions or for example.
Tteokkochi are best enjoyed straight away while they are crispy, hot and delicious. You can also eat them at room temperature or heat the back up by frying them again over low heat.
While tteokkochi is traditionally served on skewers, you can definitely skip this step. Fry the rice cakes in the pan first, then just add in the sweet gochujang sauce and give them a quick mix in the pan until covered. Remove and serve immediately.
Variations
- Add Sausages and/or Cheese – Thread thin sausages (so-tteok) or sticks of mozzarella between the rice cakes to take them to the next level! Or sprinkle them with grated cheese just before they’ve finished cooking so it has time to melt over the top.
- Reduce the Heat – Add half of the listed amounts of gochujang and gochugaru, or skip the gochugaru altogether. You might also like to add a little honey to make them slightly sweeter.
- Non Spicy – Cook them in miso butter instead.
- Cook After Basting – After basting with the sauce, cook for a further 1-2 minutes to infuse the flavours even more!
- Garnish / Sauces – Garnish with sprinkles of black or white sesame seeds, fresh spring onion slices, thinly sliced nori seaweed, aonori powder or your favourite furikake seasoning. Drizzle with kewpie mayonnaise.
- Sweet Tteokkochi – Skip the gochujang sauce and drizzle with honey instead. Top with sesame seeds or crushed nuts for flavour and texture.
Want more epic Korean flavour? Try these next:
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and a star rating below!
Equipment
- Wooden Skewers
Ingredients
- 32 Korean rice cakes (tteok) cylinder type / garaetteok, fresh or frozen
- 1 tbsp butter for frying
- 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
For the Sweet Gochujang Sauce:
- 1 tbsp Korean hot pepper paste / gochujang
- 1 tbsp tomato sauce / ketchup
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1 tsp Korean hot pepper flakes / gochugaru
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
For the Sweet Gochujang Sauce:
- Mix together gochujang, tomato sauce, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, gochugaru and sesame oil in a small bowl.1 tbsp Korean hot pepper paste / gochujang, 1 tbsp tomato sauce / ketchup, 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp Korean hot pepper flakes / gochugaru, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1/2 tbsp sugar
For the Tteok Skewers:
- Thread four rice cakes (tteok) onto each wooden skewer. Note: If using frozen tteok, just cover and soak them in warm water for a few minutes, until they've thawed and you can pull them all apart.32 Korean rice cakes (tteok)
- Melt the butter and oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add in the rice cake skewers, as many as you can fit in the pan. You may have to cook them over two batches.1 tbsp butter, 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Fry the rice cakes for 1-2 minutes on each side, until they start to turn light brown and crispy. Transfer to a plate, ready to coat in sauce.
- Using a basting brush, slather each skewer with the sweet gochujang sauce. Serve and eat immediately. Optional: Return to the frying pan, and cook for another minute on each side.
Recipe Notes
- Fresh vs Frozen Tteok – Fresh tteok won’t need to soak as long as frozen tteok to soften. Softening the tteok first makes them much easier to thread onto skewers and helps them cook evenly.
- Skewers – Short, thin, cocktail skewers are better than full length skewers for this recipe. If you only have long skewers, just use them as is, or cut them down to make them easier to cook in a frying pan (if required).
- Broken Rice Cakes? – Don’t worry, just make smaller width skewers – they still taste just as good!
- Leftover Rice Cakes? – Make Gungung Tteokbokki, regular Tteokbokki or Dakgalbi!
Nutrition
2 Comments
Elle
19/02/2023 at 9:55 amLove this, reminds me of being in Korea
Wandercooks
21/02/2023 at 10:22 amOh awesome! You’ll have to give it a go and see what you think!