Sauerkraut Jeon (Korean Pancakes)
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 3tablespoons light soy sauce or shoyu
- 2tablespoons rice vinegar or black vinegar
- 2tablespoons warm water
- 1scallion, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1cup sauerkraut (about 6 ounces), plus ¼ cup sauerkraut juice
- ¼medium red onion (about 2 ounces), thinly sliced
- 2scallions, split lengthwise and cut into 1½-inch pieces
- ¾cup all-purpose flour
- ¼cup cornstarch or potato starch
- 2teaspoons granulated sugar
- Small handful of thinly sliced pickled cherry peppers or peperoncini
- ¾cup cold water
- Peanut, rice bran or soybean oil, as needed, for pan-frying
For the Dipping Sauce
For the Pancakes
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
173 calories; 2 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 729 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Prepare the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients until the sugar dissolves. Set aside, or prepare in advance and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to several weeks.
- Step 2
Prepare the pancakes: In a large bowl, combine sauerkraut and sauerkraut juice. (If you don’t have enough sauerkraut juice, you can make up the difference with cold water.) Add onion, scallions, flour, starch, sugar, pickled peppers and the cold water. Stir rapidly with a spoon just until no dry flour remains. (Do not overmix the batter.) The batter should be thin enough to flow around when you tilt the bowl.
- Step 3
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the bottom of a flat-bottomed wok or an 8- to 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high until shimmering. You should be able to make about two 10-inch pancakes or three 8-inch pancakes, or several smaller pancakes. Add enough batter that you can spread it into a thin pancake with the back of a spoon. Let the pancake cook, undisturbed, until the bottom of the pancake is set, about 2 minutes. Use a thin spatula to gently release the pancake from the pan if it is sticking at all. Continue to cook, swirling pancake around to encourage even browning until the first side is well browned with a few darker spots, another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Step 4
Use a wide spatula to carefully flip the pancake. Continue cooking until second side is well browned, about 4 minutes.
- Step 5
Slide the pancake out onto a cutting board, and cook remaining pancake batter, repeating Steps 3 and 4. Once cooked, cut into wedges with a pizza slicer or knife and serve with the prepared dipping sauce.
Tips
- This recipe is very versatile. Here are two variations:
- Kimchi, Cabbage and Mushroom Pancakes: Stir-fry or sauté 4 ounces sliced shiitake or cremini mushrooms in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Follow recipe for sauerkraut pancakes, substituting thinly sliced cabbage kimchi and kimchi juice for the sauerkraut and sauerkraut juice, and 2 tablespoons of gochugaru (Korean chile flakes) in place of the pickled peppers. Follow recipe as directed, adding the sautéed mushrooms to the mix in Step 2.
- Garlicky Zucchini and Carrot Pancakes: Cut a small zucchini and a small peeled carrot into fine matchsticks by hand or on a mandoline. Toss with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and set aside in a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl for 15 minutes. Squeeze firmly by hand to express excess liquid. Use the pressed zucchini and carrot in place of sauerkraut and replace sauerkraut juice with ¼ cup of the zucchini-carrot liquid. Replace the pickled cherry peppers with 4 minced garlic cloves. Follow recipe as directed.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Eric Phillips
Everyone in my house of 4 conservative diners gave this a thumbs up. The recipe author is a master of technique - he reminds me of Jacques Pepin. Careful attention to technique will reward you; not exact adherence to the recipe. Use what you have. I had leftover tinga chicken and the old jar of sauerkraut. Thank you Mr. Lopez-Alt for expanding our family's world food vocabulary!
Expat Angela
I've just made a version of these for lunch and they were SUPERB! No Kimchee or Sauerkraut in my fridge, so I marinated raw hipsi cabbage and chopped spring onions in a mix of garlic/chili sauce, gochaguang, and rice wine vinegar for an hour. I made the batter with GF Flour as that has rice flour in it. One of our supermarkets here sells "Stir Fry Oil" which is flavoured with ginger and sesame and that is what I used to cook. I can see myself making all kinds of variations on these. Thank you!
J. M.
I've been making a lot of these lately too -- I use sourdough discard in the batter, for even more help cleaning out the fridge....
mls
How did you know I had kraut and two scallions left in my fridge this morning? Delicious, made it as written but with pickled jalapeños. Can’t wait to try variations—this is right up my improv style in the kitchen and my salted-pickled taste preference.
Carroll S.
I was perusing the NYT in my PJ's when I read this recipe. I realized I had some left-over kim-chi in the fridge that had lost it's appeal as a stand-alone. I chopped up the kim-chi, added a few sliced fresh jalapenos and used 3/4 c flour (all purpose), 1/4 c corn starch, 3/4 c club soda, fried in a non-stick pan coated with veg oil and VIOLA! Delicious! This looked and tasted so authentic and complex, yet took all of 2 minutes to prepare. This will be in the regular brunch rotation!
CurryCook
Great recipe! Much better than Korean pancake mix from the store. Having made this twice now, I'd cut the amount of add-ins. It gets stodgy and gummy with too many add-ins. Thin and crispy is the way to go. Sauerkraut and ham was a nice combo.
Mendicity
Made these with what I had on hand: replaced the sauerkraut with 1/2 spicy fermented garlic kohlrabi and 1/2 cabbage kimchi, and used chickpea flour instead of AP. The kohlrabi was an impulse buy a while ago but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. I know now! These were absolutely delicious.
CL
Why is the sugar needed in the batter?
Tracy
A video or something would be nice. This was a disaster for me. My “pancakes” were way to thick...too much chunky to batter ratio, maybe? Anyway I couldn’t spread them thin enough even though the batter part was very liquid-y, and they ended up gummy and undercooked tasty, and basically a messy heap. The flavor was good but how do I make these into the thin pretty pancake I see above? A major fail. Next time I’ll find a you tube recipe for this and try that.
Hannah
I really liked the idea of this but wasn't sold on the results. I think I might have made them too thick. The texture was just unpleasent to me. The dough was very soft and chewy and the sauerkraut and peppers and red onion didn't go along with that.
Deborah VC
What an interesting, delicious way to use up sauerkraut. My batter was slightly thick so I had a tough time getting my cakes thin and crispy enough but they were delicious! I should have thinned it with a bit more water. Next time...
sandra
Had big time issues with sticking. Anyone else? I liked the flavor, though. Will try again.
Angie
I think they mean 1 at a time and whichever size pan you have ;)
Michelle
I had to add a lot more liquid to get the batter to be thin enough to flow around the bowl when tilting. Did anyone else experience this? Also gummy - I think I over worked it. Thanks
nope
disagree
Barbara S
I overworked the batter and, yes, the end result was dense and gummy, but the flavor was good. So, next time maybe I will quickly mix the liquids and flours together and then gently fold in the veggies? Seemed hard to not overwork the batter and get the veggies incorporated properly otherwise.
jean
Way too much oil! I guess it depends on the pan you are using but cheez!
julia
I wish this had worked for me, but it was kind of a disaster - albeit a tasty one. The large pancakes fell apart (and stuck to the pan) and when I tried to make smaller, thicker ones, they were gummy. I hadn’t overworked the flour, though I maybe did add too many veggies (1 head bokchoy) and I was using kimchi rather than sauerkraut.
Kerri
I made this gluten free by using Bob’s 1 to 1 gf flour mix. I thought it was tasty and crisped nicely. However I’ve never eaten it before so I can’t compare to the gluten filled original.
EW
Thought this was great! I wonder if some people who said the texture was too thick missed the 3/4 c of water? My second pancake was much better than the first, I figured out a little better how to flip it and I think my pan was better seasoned. Didn't have any pickled peppers so left them out. I did kraut and mushrooms. Yum!
Robert Serinsky
Though they were very tasty, as so many people said, they were also terribly greasy. What did I do wrong?
Linda Wurm
Delectable! Sauerkraut and veggies that were in the fridge. Love that this has no eggs! And that it tasted yummy
Clarenoi
OK. My very first comment after many years of subscribing to NYT cooking. Sorry to disagree with most, but this was AWFUL. I followed the recipe, substituting pickled green beans for pickled peppers. My advice, leave sauerkraut alone, vegitarians! My mouth hurt after eating these. Not what I'm after. Sauerkraut needs to mellow for hours with some kind of pork (bacon, kielbasa, other sausage). Don't try to make it a veggie dish. It is meant to compliment a meat dish. Happy to debate this.
nope
disagree
DEW
Was excited to try this last night. Thought I followed recipe instructions faithfully-esp. in how much to stir the batter--but ended up with a browned, gooey product instead of the crispy pancake I was looking for. Not sure I'll be trying again anytime soon, but am still interested in what went wrong. Any thoughts?
JRTHiker
Try the potato starch, it's a distinctive texture when cooked. There should be very little batter in the Western sense, the main ingredients in jeon are just barely covered, not swimming in batter. Start with half the cold water until you mix everything with the dry ingredients first, only add more water if you need it. Kimchi and sauerkraut should have enough juice already. This makes for a proper nicely chewy and crispy jeon. And try adding more oil around the edges after flipping.
Erica
Has anyone tried this gluten free? With a rice flour or something else?
Dan
I skipped the onion and pickled peppers and used homemade sauerkraut (unspiced or flavored, just cabbage and salt) pickle juice and fresh fennel leaves. Turned out great!
Zaza C
Delicious. Followed the recipe exactly except added more water to get the right consistency. I liked using peanut oil for frying. (If you’re shopping for non stick, I can highly recommend ScanPan. A bit expensive but they last for years. Always great results.)
Huge Winner
I’ve made these over and over and over again. Simple, cheap and delicious.
L. Stout
Very yummy, and a reminder of the utility of a non-stick pan (must go buy one today).
Susan Margaret
Great use for leftover sauerkraut. Skipped the red onion (but used the scallions); added a small carrot, slivered; finely diced jalapeño (instead of the cherry peppers); about a tablespoon fresh ginger. Mixed the batter in a large measuring cup, and used half for each 10-in pancake. Had to cook each side longer than recipe says to get them done and brown enough. Can think of many variations, depending on what’s on hand.
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