How Many Calories in Hotteok?

Also known as 호떡, Korean Sweet Pancake, Hoddeok, Seed Hotteok, 씨앗호떡.

Hotteok is a yeasted dough ball stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts, pressed flat on an oiled griddle until the sugar melts into syrup. Winter street food, 1,500 to 2,000 won a piece.

280kcal / 1 piece (street cart)

One street hotteok is about 280 calories for a 90g piece. Fatsecret.kr lists a 70g shop hotteok at 270 and a large one at 344, so the cart size falls in that range. About 150 of the calories are the dough, 90 the sugar filling and 45 the oil on the griddle.

Nutrition facts

Per 1 piece (street cart) (90g)	Amount	Per 100g
Calories	280 kcal	311 kcal
Protein	5 g	6 g
Carbs	46 g	51 g
Fat	9 g	10 g

Where the calories come from

Wheat dough, pressed and griddled60g

150 kcal

Brown sugar, cinnamon and nut filling25g

90 kcal

Griddle oil absorbed5g

45 kcal

The real talk

Hotteok is a doughnut with the sugar on the inside. The 60g of dough is 150 calories, the 25g of brown sugar and cinnamon filling melts into about 90 calories of syrup, and the griddle is slick with oil, so each piece picks up 5g or so, another 45. That is 280 in something you finish in 4 bites while walking.

The seed hotteok (씨앗호떡) from Busan is not the healthy version, even though it has sunflower seeds and nuts in it. Fatsecret.kr lists it at 363 per piece, higher than plain, because it is deep fried in a shallow pool of oil rather than griddled, then split and stuffed with seeds and more sugar.

The price makes it dangerous. At 1,500 won a piece, two hotteok is 560 calories for 3,000 won, which is the same as a full bowl of bibimbap for a quarter of the cost. Winter markets in Seoul usually have a hotteok cart within 30 metres of the bungeoppang cart, and people hit both.

How many calories in 2, 3 or 4 pieces?

How many	Calories	Protein
1 piece	280 kcal	5 g
2 pieces	560 kcal	10 g
3 pieces	840 kcal	15 g
4 pieces	1120 kcal	20 g
5 pieces	1400 kcal	25 g
6 pieces	1680 kcal	30 g

How the portions compare

220 kcal

Small shop piece (70g)

280 kcal

1 street piece (90g)

560 kcal

2 pieces

Hotteok variants, ranked by calories

Variant	Calories	Notes
Frozen supermarket hotteok (57g)	165 kcal	Samlip honey hotteok
Plain street hotteok	280 kcal	Griddled
Cheese or japchae hotteok	320 kcal	Savoury filling
Seed hotteok (Busan)	360 kcal	Fried, then stuffed with seeds

How to eat it lighter

One piece, eaten slowly, is a 280 calorie treat. Two is a meal's worth of sugar.
Choose the griddled plain version over the Busan seed hotteok. That is 280 versus about 360.
Ask the vendor for less oil (기름 조금만). Some carts will dab it on paper, which saves 20 to 30 calories.
Have it with a bottle of water, not a sweet latte. The drink can double the sugar.
The supermarket frozen versions (삼립 꿀호떡, 57g) are about 165 each, half the size and calories of a cart piece.

Common questions

How many calories in one hotteok?

About 280 for a street cart piece of around 90g. Smaller shop pieces at 70g are closer to 220.

Is seed hotteok healthier than regular hotteok?

No. It is about 360 calories per piece, more than plain, because it is fried in more oil and still has the brown sugar filling.

How much sugar is in a hotteok?

Roughly 20g, mostly the brown sugar filling that melts into syrup. That is about 5 teaspoons.

Is hotteok vegan?

Usually yes. The dough is flour, water, yeast and a little sugar, and the filling is sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Check for milk in the dough at bakery versions.

Related foods

Bungeoppang

110 kcal per 1 piece

Tteokbokki

335 kcal per 1 serving (1인분, street cart or bunsik shop)

Apam Balik

290 kcal per 1 wedge (~100g)

Pisang Goreng

135 kcal per 1 piece

Eomuk

100 kcal per 1 skewer (with a cup of broth)

Haemul Pajeon

600 kcal per 1 whole pancake (restaurant size, about 300g)

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Calorie and macro figures are estimates for a typical restaurant or pojangmacha serving. Actual numbers vary by stall, recipe and portion size. Use them as a guide, not gospel.

Calorie figure based on fatsecret.kr 호떡 (호떡당 70g 270 kcal, 일반 1개 344 kcal); street piece scaled to 90g. Macros estimated from the ingredients.

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