Vegan Bunny Elle

Kimchi pancake, or Kimchijeon, is a widely loved classic Korean dish. It’s a savory pancake filled with fermented napa cabbage and other veggies, golden crispy on the exterior and soft and chewy on the inside.

An iconic Korean dish that needs no introduction! I’ve literally never had anyone try and not immediately fall in love with kimchi pancakes. Here are some of my tried-and-true tips on how to make the crispiest kimchijeon:

1. Make your batter right. In addition to regular flour, or gluten-free flour if needed, make sure to add potato starch or cornstarch! It yields a light, crispy batter when fried. And if you have homemade kimchi, add kimchi juice to the batter! It takes the flavor to a whole different level;

2. Spread the batter thin, and let one side cook well before flipping or moving around. You want the bottom side to firm up and crisp up first before even attempting to move it. And after you flip the pancake over, drizzle a bit more oil around the edge so the other side gets cooked crispy as well!

3. Use a generous drizzle of oil. Kimchi pancake doesn’t happen every day so might as well do it right! A generous oil coating is key to forming a crispy crust.

And lastly, I highly recommend having them with my go-to dipping sauce, it’s super simple to put together, savory, umami, and slightly sweet, and you can adjust the spiciness to your liking by adding more chili peppers or skipping them completely. The sauce adds a whole new layer of flavor to this dish.

Crispy Kimchi Pancake Kimchijeon

Easy tricks to achieve the crispiest kimchi pancake ever!

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Ingredients Method Video Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup chopped napa cabbage kimchi
• 2-3 small scallions or 1 large one chopped
• 1/2 cup all purpose or gluten-free flour
• 1/3 cup potato starch or cornstarch
• 1/2 cup kimchi juice
• 1/2 cup water
• Avocado oil for cooking
• For the dipping sauce –
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon coconut amino
• 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 small red thai chili pepper chopped
• 1 small green chili pepper chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon white sesame seeds

Method

 

1. In a mixing bowl, add chopped kimchi and scallion, sift in all the dry flour ingredients, stir and coat the veggies with the flour;
2. Pour in the kimchi juice and water, stir and mix until an even batter forms;
3. In a large pan, heat a generous drizzle of oil, transfer the batter into the pan, use a spatula to spread out the batter into a thin, even layer, depending on the size of your pan, you might need to make the pancake into two;
4. Pan-fry uncovered over medium heat, until the bottom is golden and has crisped up, slide your spatula underneath and flip the pancake over;
5. Add another small drizzle of oil around the edge of the pan, fry till the second side is golden crispy as well;
6. Meanwhile, mix all the sauce ingredients in a sauce dish;
7. Serve hot with the dipping sauce, enjoy!

Video

Notes

Follow this recipe to make the best homemade kimchi!