A highlight of any trip to South Korea is its food. And with so many different flavors and textures, South Korean street food is one of the best ways to get an experience that you will remember for a long time.
One of the best places to try Korean street food is along the Myeongdong Night Market, but there are also many other places where you can pick up some yummy grub to fill up your tummy. It can seem overwhelming at first but we’ve put together this checklist of must-try Korean street foods that you have to try while visiting Seoul and South Korea.
South Korean Street Food Checklist
Bindaetteok (Mung Bean Pancake)
Bindaetteok or mung bean pancakes is made from finely ground mung beans together with some vegetables like bean sprouts and meats. The ingredients are combined into a paste and deep fried as a patty to create the mung bean pancakes. These go well with dipping sauces made from vinegar and soy sauce.
Gwangjang Market is well known for its market stalls selling bindatteok and you can get them freshly fried, hot out of the oil.
Bungeo-ppang (Carp bread)
This fish-shaped pastry is borrowed from Japan’s taiyaki. Made in molds, the bread is traditionally filled with sweet red bean paste. You may also be able to versions of this popular street food with flavors like chocolate inside.
Dakgangjeong (Korean Fried Chicken)
Pieces of boneless chicken (dak) are battered and deep fried to create a crunchy and delicious snack that you can eat along the street. While you can get the original version, there are a lot of other flavors to try out. Dakgangjeong can come covered in sauces that are spicy, sweet or both. Let your taste buds be your guide!
Dakkochi (Chicken Skewers)
You can’t go wrong with meat on a stick when it comes to street food. A popular Korean take on this is dakkochi which makes use of chicken (dak) as the star of the stick. These tasty skewers are grilled over a hot fire and lathered with a rich, deep sauce for extra flavor. The chunks of meat are usually interlaced with pieces of spring onions for added flavor.
If chicken is not your thing, you can also find skewers of pork, lamb and beef.
Gamja Hot Dog
This is the Korean take on a corn dog. However, instead of the usual cornmeal batter coating the sausage, you can find gamja hot dogs coated with a crust made out of french fries. This adds an additional texture to the gamja hot dog. You may also come across some that are simply filled with mozzarella cheese that will give you an extra cheese pull.
Gimbap (Rice Rolls)
At first glance, gimbap looks like a big sushi roll. However, it is usually made with cooked riced with cooked meat and some vegetable. To make them easier to eat, you will usually find them sliced into bite-sized pieces.
Gunbam (Roasted Chestnuts)
A popular Korean snack is roasted chestnuts. These are roasted away over a fire before being scooped into a helping for you to snack on.
Gukhwa-ppang (Chrysanthemum Bread)
Made in flower-shaped molds, Gukhwa-ppang are filled with a sweet bean paste.
Gungoguma (Roasted Sweet Potato)
You will also find plenty of vendors selling roasted sweet potatoes or gungoguma along the streets. Don’t look down the humble sweet potato. It can be fluffy and explode with flavor in your mouth. It is especially good on a cold winter’s day in Seoul.
Gyeranppang (Egg Bread)
Literally “egg bread”, gyeranppang is a sweet street food that is made with pancake dough with a whole egg. These are made in moulds and cooked to a golden brown color.
Hodu-gwaja (Walnut Cakes)
These sweet pastries are filled with red bean paste, wrapped in dough made of skinned and pounded walnuts and wheat flour. To make it extra obvious they come in the shape of a walnut!
Hotteok (Sweet Pancake)
A sweet pancake snack, Hotteok is a made with wheat dough and filled with ingredients like seeds, peanuts, cinnamon, honey and sugar. Fresh off the flattop, the chewy snack gets dished into a cup to make it easy to hold and eat while on the move.
Lobster Tail
Grilled with cheese, these lobster tails aren’t cheap but they are good if you are looking for something to indulge in while walking about the street markets.
Mandu (Dumplings)
This is the Korean equivalent of Chinese jiao zi or Japanese gyoza. Mandu tend to be larger and rounder than its Chinese and Japanese cousins. It is usually with vegetables and meat like pork. They can be cooked in different ways including being steamed, boiled or deep fried.
Odeng (Korean Fish Cake)
You will find Odeng, or Korean fish cake, simmering away in compartments at street food vendors stalls in Korea. These delicious snacks are skewered and get served to you in a cup together with the tasty broth. You can choose to dip the odeng into the broth to soak it up, or sip away at the broth to warm you up right away.
Odeng is something that you can find at most street markets in Seoul, Korea, like Insadong and Myeongdong.
Ppogi (Dalgona Candy)
Made famous by the Netflix show Squid Game, ppogi is a traditional Korean snack that invokes nostalgia. You may be able to find it made on the spot by vendors along the Myeongdong Street Market, or if not, you could have to pop into a grocery store to pick it up.
For a twist on this, you can try popping into the coffee chain A Twosome Place to try the Dalgona coffee, which has pieces of this candy in it.
Soondae (Blood Sausage)
This is is a classic Korean street food. It is made by stuffing a mixture of pigs blood, glutinous rice and glass noodles into cow or pig intestines. Even though that may sound off putting, they actually quite a tasty snack. It may be served with some soy sauce, gochujang or salt and pepper as a condiment.
Tteokbokki (Rice Cakes)
The quintessential South Korean street food is tteokbokki. These chewy, tubular shaped rice cakes are great for a cold day out along the streets while shopping. It is probably the most popular and well-known Korean street food.
Tteokbokki comes covered in red hot sauce that is usually quite spicy but there are non-spicy variations available too. They are ubiquitous throughout Seoul’s street markets and you can easily pick up a cup of these snacks to enjoy a taste of Korea.
Twigim (Tempura)
So much of street food is deep fried. Twigim is another popular street snack that can be added to that list. Seafood, meat or vegetables is first dipped in a batter and then deep fried to crunchy goodness. Like many of the other Korean street foods, it gets served in a disposable cup so that you can walk and munch at the same time.
If you enjoyed this story, you may also enjoy reading about Michelin dumplings in Myeongdong.
