Korean Street Food: 16 Popular Korean Dishes

Korean street food is any type of Korean food that street vendors sell at markets, convenience stores, or food stalls. The food ranges from sweet desserts to savory Korean barbecue and various other foods on skewers. Korean cuisine includes spicy flavors, sweet elements, crispy and chewy textures, fermented ingredients, and plenty of meat and veggies. Some famous hubs for South Korean street food stalls include Gwangjang Market, Myeongdong Street Food Alley, and Namdaemun Market, which are all in Seoul.

You can find Korean street food dishes at traditional markets throughout North Korea and South Korea.

1. 1. Bindaetteok: These mung bean pancakes feature mung beans with vegetables and meat. Bindaetteok is a popular Seoul street food, famously a treat at the city’s Gwangjang Market. Eat it with a dipping sauce of soy sauce, green onions, and rice vinegar.
2. 2. Bungeoppang: Also known as fish bread, bungeoppang is a fish-shaped pastry with a filling of sweet red bean paste. The red bean paste, which is earthy and a little sweet, is one of the most popular winter treats at street stalls in South Korea. It is the Korean version of taiyaki from Japan. Bungeoppang cooks on a device similar to a waffle iron but in the shape of a fish.
3. 3. Corn dog: Korean corn dogs, also known as gamja hot dogs, might be hot dogs, rice cakes, fish cakes, or mozzarella cheese that the cook has battered, rolled in panko breadcrumbs or French fries, and deep-fried. Enjoy Korean corn dogs with ketchup and mayonnaise.
4. 4. Dalgona: This sweet treat is the inspiration behind the popular whipped coffee dalgon drink. Dalgona candy gets its color, taste, and texture from caramel, which makers add to baking soda. Dalgona candy was most popular in the 1970s and 1980s but is making a comeback as a retro street snack.
5. 5. Fish cakes: There are a couple different kinds of Korean fish cakes. Odeng is a Korean take on a traditional Japanese fish cake, which is long, flat, and on skewers. Eomuk is a fish cake of mashed fish, flour, and seasonings. Cooks form the dough, then skewer and stir-fry the eomuk fish cakes.
6. 6. Gilgeori: A Korean street toast or sandwich, gilgeori features a cooked egg and cabbage between slices of bread. Other filling ingredients include crunchy veggies like carrots, radish, and green onions with seasonings like gochugaru and salt.
7. 7. Gimbap: Sometimes known as Korean sushi, gimbap (or kimbap) consists of vegetables, fish or other meats, rice, and dried sheets of seaweed, or gim. The origins of this Korean-style sushi are unknown, but the term gimbap first appeared in a Korean newspaper in 1935.
8. 8. Gyeranppang: Also known as egg bread (“gyeran” means egg, and “pang” means bread), this dish is a warm, fluffy Korean pancake or small loaf of bread with a whole egg in the middle. Gyeranppang is a savory Korean dish that pairs well with toppings like cheese or diced ham.
9. 9. Hotteok: The street snack hotteok is a sweet pancake with some type of filling—usually a cinnamon, peanut, or brown sugar syrup—but more varieties are popping up all the time. The flavor is similar to breakfast waffles or traditional pancakes, depending on the filling.
10. 10. Japchae: A dish of stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables, japchae is a common side dish, or banchan, during a Korean barbecue experience. It’s common to make the noodles with sweet potato starch. You can enjoy the dish warm, at room temperature, or cold right from the refrigerator.
11. 11. Korean fried chicken: One of the most popular Korean street foods, Korean fried chicken is moist, crispy, spicy, and a little sweet. Depending on the food market, Korean fried chicken might come with doughnuts, on a sandwich, on skewers, in bite-sized pieces, or still on the bone.
12. 12. Mandu: Korean dumplings, mandu are pan-fried, deep-fried, or steamed with fillings and pleating styles that depend on the region. Usually these are savory dumplings, although sweet mandu exist as well.
13. 13. Pajeon: Scallion pancakes, pajeon are a type of buchimgae, which is a general term for pancake. These are a popular Asian appetizer, side dish, and street food. Enjoy pajeon with soy sauce, kimchi, and Korean barbecue dishes like bulgogi.
14. 14. Soondae: This street food is a type of blood sausage common in North Korea and South Korea. Soondae (or sundae) involves steaming pig or cow’s intestines with various ingredients in the stuffing, such as blood, minced meat, rice, and vegetables.
15. 15. Twigim: Tempura-fried vegetables, twigim might be potatoes, carrots, green onions, or regular onions. The tempura batter is light and crispy, and street vendors serve these in a paper cone with a soy sauce-based dipping sauce.
16. 16. Tteokbokki: Long, cylindrical rice cakes, tteokbokki are chewy and take on the flavor of whatever sauce coats them, usually a gochujang spicy sauce. Tteok is a category of rice cakes that use glutinous or non-glutinous rice flour. Enjoy these spicy rice cakes with boiled eggs, green onions, and eomuk.

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