Kimchijeon (Kimchi Pancake) Recipe (2024)

Potato Starch is used for Passover; find it in the Kosher food section, especially in the Spring.

Wonderful story and recipe! Meat lovers can add diced pork loin to the mix (or any chunky, meaty, porky bit). It helps if the kimchi is rather ripe, as opposed to fresh. It will caramelize better. Koreans like to have their Kimchijeon on rainy days with makkeolli (fermented rice wine). Best pairing ever!

Key to making good kimchi pancakes is using kimchi that is fully fermented, as opposed to something that was made recently (newly made kimchi still has the bitterness of raw veggies, which is not the best for cooking). The more pungent, the better. If you had just bought a jar of kimchi, you may want to leave it out in room temperature overnight before putting it in the fridge to accelerate fermentation.

Why not use Korean Pancake Mix? My Korean cookbook suggested using this for pancakes and it is delicious and easy. I found it at H Mart.

For anyone having a hard time finding potato starch corn starch will work in a pinch.

Potato starch is also sold at Asian supermarkets. In Japan it's called katakuriko. Potato starch is also used for making karaage fried chicken for coating the chicken before frying.

It's absolutely worth it to pay the extra $$ for the Cooking section - it has saved me thru quarantine!

The Times has a Ponzu recipe here - https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/8231-ponzu?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

‘Citrus ponzu’ is redundant. Let’s just leave it at ‘ponzu’.

Thanks for sharing this lovely story and recipe. I second the comments below on how the quality and fermentation of the kimchi is pivotal to the taste. I'd also like to suggest using Korean chili flakes instead of gochujang. (Native recipes all use flakes). Translated Korean recipes tend to add in gochujang, when all you really need are chili flakes, quality ingredients, or more time on the broth. The paste can overcompensate and overpower other flavors you want to taste in many Korean dishes.

I used corn starch and rice flour instead of flour & potato starch. Stick with the recipe. The rice flour soaked up all the liquid (could've seen that coming) and made it a little too chewy.

Dear Nancy: Please consider that the cooking section employs many talented and adventurous cooks, as well as paying for editors and reporters, just to regale us every week with new recipes. Nothing this good is ever cheap! Enjoy your cooking.PS, I don’t work for the Times, but I’ve been a grateful subscriber for 30 years.

My husband's family is Korean so we used to eat Ko food often included at the restaurant mentioned in the article. This recipe is really perfect. I think the gochujang sauce is the key not necessarily the kimchi. It is pretty easy to find good kimchi at ko stores in California. I made these today and have to say the best I've had so far. Haha. I used only 1 teaspoon of sugar and omitted the fish sauce. I used tapioca starch instead of potato, didn't have it. The rest of recipe was followed.

This was a hysterical experience. While the end result was tasty, it ended up sticking to the pan so badly that it transformed into kimchi pancake stir fry rather than a pancake.

I feel so silly - I have been making kimchi pancakes from various recipes for a number of years, but they were always somewhat gummy. They still tasted good but I could never figure out a way to fix that. No egg - of course. can't wait to try this!

This pancake was amazing. Initially the batter looks runnier than I thought it should but it worked out perfectly. I even put them in the oven after to stay warm and they didn't get too soggy.

Not good, the ratio of flour to starch is way off. Use Kenjis recipe in The Wok or online

Potato starch acts like glue. At no way, even with careful attention, that this will not stick in a cast-iron pan, even a well seasoned one. I'd highly recommend using a nonstick it didn't pan - worked beautifully. I understand what you're asking me

Loved the pancake, but I didn't think the dipping sauce worked very well. Maybe I just ended up with a bad brand of ponzu. Anyway, in what I view as in improvement, I went with what is maybe a somewhat more Chinese-inspired dipping sauce: regular soy sauce, a touch of Chinese vinegar, a touch of lemon juice, diced garlic, sliced bird's eye chilis, a bit of chopped cilantro. Also added some toasted sesame seeds as per the original recipe.

I've made many kimchi pancakes and even the most basic recipes are good but this one is really nice with the additional ingredients. If you want it crispy you must use enough oil (the amount in the recipe is good). I made the mistake of not doing so many times before finally caving - it's worth it! Only the edges get truly crunchy - maybe one day I'll make a bunch of little ones. I didn't use the sauce listed as I prefer it with some sugar - soy, vinegar, sugar, green onion, garlic, sesame oil.

I made this and it was a total fail :( it just stuck on to the pan, even though I heated up the nonstick pan first. What went wrong??

I added an egg and put some bouillon in the water. The egg definitely made it have a better texture. In all fairness though, I've been using tapioca starch instead of potato starch.

Used corn starch because that’s what I had and some of the Costco size jar of kimchi lurking in the back of the fridge ... what a great rainy day treat!

For those who are unfamiliar with Korean pancakes — these are meant to be a little bit gummy/chewy/dense rather than fluffy. I skipped the fish sauce and gojuchang, added an egg and some soy sauce instead. A nonstick pan worked perfectly.

Much simpler and tastes excellent: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchijeon

I found a quick-and-dirty DIY ponzu sauce recipe online (don’t recall the source):Ingredients:* ¼ cup of low-sodium of soy sauce* 2 tablespoons orange juice (freshly juiced preferably, but pulp works as well)* 1 tablespoon lemon juice* ½ tablespoon of rice vinegar* 1 tablespoon waterInstructions:Combine all of these ingredients and leave them overnight. Actually, this sauce will easily replace ponzu sauce when combined with fish or more exotic ingredients.

The plan was kimchi grilled cheese but then this recipe popped up so why not combine them? Experienced cooks, please explain what went wrong. First no potato starch so used corn starch. Second, I think I grabbed some old whole wheat flower, instead of regular- they are in similar bags. Then realizing the likely mistake when the batter was really thin, stirred in some regular. Sprinkled grated Dubliner on top after first flip. Results very tasty but the pancake part gummy instead of fluffy.

I would suggest subbing kimchi juice(liquid from the kimchi jar) for gochujang. Like another poster said Gochujang has such a strong flavor that it can overpower the dish. The batter was a bit thicker than what I remembered my mom doing. I thinned it out with a few additional tablespoons of water which seemed to help. I will try thinning the batter even more next time. Otherwise the pancakes were pretty close to what you can get at Korean restaurants.

I followed the recipe exactly and found the AP flour/potato starch batter too heavy. I would prefer a lighter, more crepe-like batter. Perhaps just flour, baking powder & Kim cheek liquid. Flavors were great!

Cooks Illustrated vegetarian fish sauce: salty broth made with dried shiitake mushrooms (rich in nucleotides) and soy sauce (glutamates) provided just the right meaty punch as a 1:1 substitute for fish sauce. Here’s how to make it: 1. In a saucepan, simmer 3 cups of water, ¼ ounce of dried sliced shiitake mushrooms, 3 tablespoons of salt, and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce over medium heat until reduced by half. 2. Strain, cool, and store in the fridge for up to three weeks.