Traditional Korean desserts are some of the best in the world. They’re soft, sweet, delicate, and packed with unique flavors that will make your tastebuds sing.
And the good news is, you don’t have to travel all the way to Korea to enjoy them!
Discover your absolute favorite Korean dessert recipes from this list of twenty-three Korean culture classics. What are you waiting for?
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What is a Popular Dessert in Korea?
There are many most popular Korean desserts in Korean food, but perhaps the best place to look for a dessert dish that represents the country is to look at its national dessert.
That’s bingsu! Bingsu is the ultimate summertime dessert, featuring a base of flavored shaved ice as the main ingredients topped with anything and everything under the sun.
From fresh fruits to piles of candy, bingsu can look like anything you want. That’s what makes it so popular! Everyone can create the perfect dessert or sweet snack to suit their unique tastes.
Best Korean Desserts
1. Strawberry Milk
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Korean strawberry milk has a naturally sweet flavor, super creamy. This traditional Korean drink great way to celebrate this tasty summer fruit.
This strawberry milk recipe is also one of the most delicious dairy-free desserts.
2. Matcha Hotteok
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Hotteok are adorable Korean sweet pancakes.
This tasty dessert recipe calls for a healthy dose of matcha green tea powder to be added to the batter to give the hotteok an earthy taste.
These are filled with a tasty cinnamon sugar peanut mixture that helps balance out the smooth matcha casing.
3. Candied Sweet Potatoes
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Also known as goguma mattang, these candied Korean sweet potatoes are living proof that you can turn a root vegetable into a delicious dessert.
In particular, these sweet potatoes are covered in a hard candy shell! They’re like the crème brulee of vegetables, boasting a soft texture inside that contrasts the crunchy shell.
4. Matcha Mochi Bread
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Mochi bread is on a level all its own. It’s super soft and springy, with a crispy exterior that makes them so addictive. This recipe, in particular, calls for matcha and sesame, making them earthy.
5. Instant Pot Dalgona Candy
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With just two ingredients and your Instant Pot, you can easily make these homemade dalgona candies.
Get the kids involved by trying to break the shapes out of the candies. You can use super simple or complex shapes. It all depends on what kind of cookie cutters you have at home.
6. Matcha Bingsu
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Combine a Japanese flavor with a Korean dessert by creating this delicious matcha bingsu. The earthiness of the matcha is super interesting against the cool ice.
Top this delicious dessert with anything that tickles your fancy. Everything from white chocolate spheres to red beans is welcome here, so go nuts!
7. Mango Bingsu
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The tropical fruit sitting atop the pile of shaved ice makes this super sweet and refreshing. The hot chili splash helps pull back on that sweetness slightly, so every bite feels new!
If you love fresh mango, this mango chia pudding is also sure to satisfy!
8. Crystallized Ginger Scones with Sake Poached Asian Pears
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These ginger scones with sake-poached pears are out of this world. After a date night-ready dessert, you can prepare it in under an hour. This is the place for you.
The flavors in this dessert are super refined, but the elements are familiar and comforting.
9. Sweet Pancakes
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Here’s the original version of hotteok without the extra matcha flavoring. This time, the filling is a mouth-watering combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts.
The yeast in the surrounding dough helps pull back on this dessert’s sweetness.
10. Matcha Cake
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This delightfully airy matcha sponge cake makes tea time a hundred times better. The earthy, woodsy flavor of matcha against the delicate sponge is such a fun contrast.
This cake takes forty minutes to make from start to finish, and it’s best served only just cooled from the oven.
11. Cinnamon Ginger Punch
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Also known as sujeonggwa, this is a delicious cold drink you can enjoy at any time of the day.
There’s a ton of ginger in this recipe, plenty of cinnamon, and some dried persimmons. Ginger is great for your health, reducing inflammation and aiding your gut health.
12. Banana Milk
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Banana uyu – or banana milk – is a simple Korean drink, almost like a more diluted smoothie version. Using fresh bananas, water, sugar, and milk, you can have this creamy treat in no time.
Have lots of ripe bananas? Try these other best banana dessert recipes!
13. Dalgona Coffee
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Dalgona coffee is a soft, delicious beverage that’s fun to drink.
The best part about dalgona coffee is that it’s easy to make. All you need is instant coffee, some sugar, some water, and some elbow grease. Serve over hot or cold milk to start your day right!
14. Dalgona Matcha
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As it turns out, you can also make dalgona drinks with other flavors, including matcha! This light and airy version of a matcha latte works beautifully as a dessert or morning caffeine.
With just four ingredients (only one more than the original dalgona), this is a super simple drink to make.
15. Twisted Donuts
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Kkwabaegi is crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and coated with an addictive blend of cinnamon and sugar.
They’re crunchy and melt-in-your-mouth, the perfect companion to a cup of coffee!
16. Tea Cookies
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Dasik – or Korean tea cookies – are light and delicious cookies designed to go perfectly with a cup of tea.
These cookies don’t require an oven, and they’re traditionally served to loves ones in the New Year.
17. Fish Shaped Pastry
Source: mykoreankitchen.com
Our next recipe was originally a Japanese dessert, but it became very popular in Korea. In fact, it became popular enough to garner its own name: bungeoppang.
This is a stuffed Korean fish-shaped pastry, usually filled with different flavors like matcha, sweet red beans, sesame, or some other mild sweet filling.
18. Healthy Sweet Rice Cake
Source: koreanbapsang.com
Youngyang chaltteok – a healthy sweet rice cake – is the simplest rice cake you can make at home.
You can also tweak these Korean rice cakes to include whichever fillings you like with a sweet taste. Try them with nuts and dried fruits!
19. Red Bean Paste Bun
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Danpatbang are Korean red bean pasta buns shaped exactly like little blossoms.
The sweet red bean paste filling isn’t for everyone, so you can always find a different filling to create your buns with. Matcha, sesame, and even white chocolate are fantastic places to start.
20. Half-Moon Shaped Rice Cake
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Songpyeon is a special dessert out of Chuseok, a delicacy, if you will. These adorable little rice cakes are a bit like mochi but slightly chewier. They’re perfect for a Lunar New Year celebration!
This songpyeon recipe only takes about an hour to make, and it produces plenty of little cakes.
21. Sweet Rice Mini Bundt Cake
Source: kimchimari.com
Next up, we have a tteokpang recipe that’s bound to blow your mind. This miniature bundt cake has a dense crumb, almost like cornbread, but with a delicious chewy crust.
Put your cake pan to good use with these other scrumptious mini bundt cake recipes!
22. Caramel Apple Hotteok
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This caramel apple hotteok is essentially a better version of an apple pie. It’s pure comfort in an unassuming package with a melt-in-your-mouth flavor.
You can enjoy this as a breakfast or a dessert, so it’s truly up to you!
23. Fruits Shaved Ice Milk
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Our final recipe is a Korean shaved ice dessert inspired by bingsu, with a ton of fresh fruit topping a bowl of shaved milk ice.
That’s right, this ice cream alternative uses frozen milk as the base and tops everything with sweetened condensed milk.
Continue to discover more cuisines with these best Filipino dessert recipes!
Explore the rest of All Nutritious for more lists of the top desserts, meals, and delights from all over the world!