This recipe for Korean-style Sotteok is a fun and delicious way to enjoy rice cakes and mini sausages on skewers, glazed with spicy gochujang sauce.
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What is sotteok?
Sotteok is a popular Korean street food snack consisting of spicy rice cakes with Korean sausages skewered together, grilled and glazed with spicy gochujang sauce.
It's similar to tteokkochi, which are Korean rice cakes skewered and glazed with gochujang sauce, except sotteok contains sausage.
The name sotteok is a portmanteau of two words "so" which refers to "sausage" and "tteok" which means "rice cakes" in Korean.
This trendy street food was invented by a Korean comedian.
It's also known as "so-tteok so-tteok" (or sotteok sotteok) which is a cute way to refer to the chewy and delicious snack, and is commonly found at Korean snack bars/restaurants, known as bunsikjip.
What are Korean rice cakes?
Korean rice cakes are also known as tteok, which is made from a combination of steamed rice flour and glutinous rice flour, and formed into various shapes.
Cylindrical rice cakes are known as garae-tteok and are used in dishes such as tteokbokki and budae-jiggae.
Flat, oval rice cakes are also used in Korea, mainly for New Year's soup tteokguk.
In Chinese cuisine, the flat oval rice cakes are most commonly used in stir-fried nian gao.
Find Korean rice cakes in the refrigerator or freezer section in Korean grocery stores or large Asian supermarkets.
Why you'll love this recipe
This recipe for Korean-style sotteok is:
Easy to make: it's only a matter a few steps of boiling the tteok, making the sauce, and skewering before you get to enjoy delicious street food at home.
Uses minimal ingredients: with rice cakes and mini sausages as the main ingredients, the rest are pantry staples.
Gluten-free: great for those who are looking for delicious wheat-free appetizers.
Delicious: the rice cakes are slightly crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and pairs well with the savory flavor from the smoky, salty sausages. The addition of the sweet, tangy and spicy glaze tantalizes all your taste buds.
Ingredients you'll need
- Korean rice cakes: for this recipe, you'll need the cylindrical rice cakes, which are also known as garae-tteok, and used in tteokbokki
- mini sausages: you can use mini Vienna sausages, cocktail sausages, smokies, or little hot dogs, cut into smaller pieces
- spicy gochujang sauce: this glazing sauce is adapted from my Korean Fried Chicken, which has a sweet and spicy, savory flavor; if you don't like spicy or a milder sauce, you can substitute with a little ketchup
- gochujang: is a slightly spicy Korean red chili paste, which is the base of the sauce
- gochugaru: Korean red chili flakes; omit if you don't like it too spicy
- rice vinegar: is a clear/white-colored vinegar with a tangy, acidic flavor, also used in sushi rice
- rice syrup: or honey, as a sweetener, also adds shine
- soy sauce: adds savory, salty flavor to the sauce
- sesame oil: toasted, adds aroma
- minced garlic: adds a light garlicky flavor; you can also use garlic powder too
You can find these ingredients at Korean grocery stores or Asian supermarkets.
How to make sotteok
Make the spicy gochujang sauce
In a small saucepan, combine gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, rice vinegar, rice syrup, sesame oil, brown sugar, and garlic.
Give it a stir, and bring to a boil.
Once thickened, remove from heat and set aside.
If using frozen/refrigerated rice cakes
Bring a pot of water up to a boil.
Add in the rice cakes and blanch for about 30 seconds, until slightly softened.
Drain the rice cakes and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.
If using fresh rice cakes, skip the above.
Make two small slits in each of the mini sausages.
Skewer a rice cake followed by sausage in an alternating pattern.
Repeat with the remainder.
Note: depending on how long your skewers are, you can adjust the amount of rice cakes and sausages.
Preheat a grill or pan-fry over medium-high heat.
Lightly oil the grill or pan.
Place the skewers onto the grill/pan and cook for 4-5 minutes per side (flipping halfway through), or until slightly charred and the rice cakes puff up and get slightly crisp.
Remove from the grill/pan and brush the gochujang sauce on both sides of the rice cake skewers.
Garnish with parsley, scallions, sesame seeds, or crushed peanuts.
Enjoy immediately.
How to serve
Serve sotteok immediately, or while warm. They are best served warm so you can enjoy the chewy texture from the rice cakes.
Note: as the rice cake cools down, it will stiffen.
Pair them with with other dishes such as tteokkochi, pajeon (Korean savoury pancakes), gimbap (Korean seaweed rice rolls), Korean fried chicken, or Korean hot dogs.
How to store
If you have any leftover sotteok, you can place them into an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
How to reheat
To reheat, microwave for 10-20 seconds, until warmed through.
Alternatively, you can place them back onto the grill to heat through.
Other additions
You can also brush on honey mustard for more of a sweet and tangy flavor.
Sprinkle on crushed peanuts, scallions/green onions and/or sesame seeds.
Add mozzarella cheese for a cheesy variation.
Try switching out the hot dogs for pepperoni, tomato sauce and cheese for a pizza-flavored version, (drawing inspiration from my Pizza Hotteok).
Expert tips & FAQs
Frozen or refrigerated rice cakes are stiff and hard. If your tteok (rice cakes) are frozen, you can soak them in warm water for a few minutes to soften them up, but be sure not to oversoak.
Rinse the rice cakes under cold water to halt the cooking/warming process.
When skewering the rice cakes, if you find the rice cakes a little crumbly/dry when pushing it through, moisten the skewer under water and slide on the rice cakes.
To prevent the skewers from getting being dry/burnt, you can soak them in water prior to grilling over a BBQ. (If you're pan-frying, you don't have to do this step).
There's no hard and fast rule as to how many rice cakes or sausages you can add to your skewer!
You can also air-fry or bake the sotteok -- just spray the surface of the rice cakes before adding them to the air fryer/oven.
Can I double the recipe?
For sure, you can easily double the recipe to make more skewers.
Other Korean recipes you may like
Be sure to check out these recipes:
Tteokkochi (Skewered Korean Rice Cakes with Spicy Gochujang Glaze)
Pillowy Soft Korean Sausage Bread
Tteokbokki (Korean Rice Cakes in Gochujang Sauce)
Gimbap (Korean Seaweed Rice Rolls)
Let me know if you try out this recipe -- tag me on Instagram @siftandsimmer or leave me a comment/rating below!
Sotteok (Skewered Korean Rice Cakes with Sausages)
Equipment
- 6 bamboo skewers
For accuracy and precision in baking recipes, use weight (metric) measurements when available.
Ingredients
Gochujang sauce:
- 1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste)
- ½ teaspoon gochugaru (Korean red chili powder)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoon rice syrup or 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 18 Korean cylindrical rice cakes (tteok)
- 12 mini sausages you can use Vienna sausages or cocktail wieners
Garnish:
- green onions/scallions
- sesame seeds
- crushed peanuts
Instructions
Make the spicy gochujang sauce:
- In a small saucepan, combine gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, rice vinegar, rice syrup, sesame oil, brown sugar, and garlic.
- Give it a stir, and bring to a boil.
- Once thickened, remove from heat and set aside.
If using frozen/refrigerated rice cakes:
- Bring a pot of water up to a boil.
- Add in the rice cakes and blanch for about 30 seconds, until slightly softened.
- Drain the rice cakes and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.
If using fresh rice cakes, skip the above:
- Make two small slits in each of the mini sausages.
- Skewer a rice cake followed by sausage in an alternating pattern.
- Repeat with the remainder.
- Note: depending on how long your skewers are, you can adjust the amount of rice cakes and sausages.
- Preheat a grill or pan-fry over medium-high heat.
- Lightly oil the grill or pan.
- Place the skewers onto the grill/pan and cook for 4-5 minutes per side (flipping halfway through), or until slightly charred and the rice cakes puff up and get slightly crisp.
- Remove from the grill/pan and brush the gochujang sauce on both sides of the rice cake skewers.
- Garnish with green onions/scallions, sesame seeds, or crushed peanuts.
- Enjoy immediately.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided should be considered as approximate and is not guaranteed. Please use your best judgment to ensure food is safely prepared and/or a good fit for your diet.
Ben | Havocinthekitchen
I'm not familiar with Sotteok, but these skewers look and sound absolutely delicious; loving the shiny exterior!
Raymund | angsarap.net
I've always been a fan of Korean street food, and this combination of rice cakes and mini sausages on skewers, glazed with spicy gochujang sauce, sounds like a mouthwatering treat.