Sauerkraut Jeon (Korean Pancakes) Recipe (2024)

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!

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!

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....

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.

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!

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.

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.

Why is the sugar needed in the batter?

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.

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.

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...

Had big time issues with sticking. Anyone else? I liked the flavor, though. Will try again.

I think they mean 1 at a time and whichever size pan you have ;)

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

disagree

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.

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.

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!

Though they were very tasty, as so many people said, they were also terribly greasy. What did I do wrong?

Delectable! Sauerkraut and veggies that were in the fridge. Love that this has no eggs! And that it tasted yummy

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.

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?

Has anyone tried this gluten free? With a rice flour or something else?

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!

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.)

I’ve made these over and over and over again. Simple, cheap and delicious.

Very yummy, and a reminder of the utility of a non-stick pan (must go buy one today).

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.

Made with zucchini and carrot option. Delicious and made a nice and unexpected side to our black-eyed peas. I grated the zucchini and carrot and let this combo drain for an hour or so. Not much juice until I squeezed it.

This recipe is both excellent and pretty darned easy. It's my first experience making this or, frankly, any Korean food, and it turned out beautifully. I put into the batter leftovers of kraut and some steamed broccoli, added the onions & scallion as well as some minced garlic. Fantastic! Will make again, over and over - and who knows what will go into the next batch? Thanks!