Prepare yourself for an extraordinary experience with this incredible tteokbokki with cheese recipe!
Brace yourself for a taste that will tantalize your taste buds and make your mouth water uncontrollably.
This dish is so incredibly scrumptious that it will undoubtedly leave you craving for more.
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This tteokbokki with cheese is spicy tteokbokki with a twist. It has the perfect balance of spicy and savory.
This cheese tteokbokki recipe is comfort food, highly addictive, and oh so delicious!
Traditionally, tteokbokki is made without cheese and is a spicy rice cake dish. Tteokbokki originates from Korea and is a popular street food.
In Korean, the word “tteok” means rice cake, while the word “bokki” means something that is fried.
Combining the two words tteokbokki translates loosely to stir fried rice cake.
If you are after other tteokbokki recipes, you might like to try rose tteokbokki or jajang tteokbokki.
What is Tteokbokki?
Tteokbokki is a rice cake in a cylinder shape. They are chewy in texture and soft. You can purchase them fresh or frozen.
For this recipe I was unable to get fresh tteokbokki, so I used frozen.
If you are using frozen tteokbokki, be sure to bring them to room temperature before you add them to the mixture. To do this, simply soak them in warm water.
If you are using dry tteokbokki, submerge them in water to allow them to soften.
When tteokbokki is cooked it becomes chewy with a bit of a bite to it in the middle.
The starch found in the cakes helps to create a thick sauce which gives the tteokbokki dish the perfect sauce.
Adding cheese to tteokbokki is a relatively new addition. This is because cheese wasn’t as readily available in Korea before.
The addition of cheese to this usually spicy dish provides the perfect balance in flavor. So, if you are worried you can’t handle spicy food, fear not!
If you are still a bit hesitant to try this dish, you could also reduce the amount of chili flakes or chili paste in it to make it less spicy.
In this recipe for cheese tteokbokki, I use mozzarella cheese, however, any other cheese can be used that you would use for pasta or pizza.
For example, you could use cheddar cheese. Or a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It takes under 30 minutes to make and is so addictive. The combination of chewy rice cakes and cheese with the chili in this dish provides the perfect balance between spice and savory.
- What’s more is that it has under 12 ingredients.
- It is so simple to make and is budget friendly.
- Quick and easy to make, perfect for those lazy weekends or busy weeknights.
Cost To Make
Estimated cost = $3.10, or $1.03 a serve
Ingredients
Please note that below is a guide for some of the ingredients we used in the recipe. The printable recipe further down the page has the complete list of ingredients, including quantities and step-by-step instructions.
- Fresh/frozen Korean rice cakes: Can be found at your local Korean store.
- Korean soup stock / dashi: If you are unable to get dashi, you can use water instead or an Asian style chicken stock/broth.
- Mozzarella cheese, grated: This will go on top of the cooked tteokbokki and sauce. It helps reduce the spiciness of the dish when eaten with the sauce. It mellows the spiciness of the dish down.
- Sesame oil: To garnish
- Green onions/scallions: Finely chopped, to garnish
- Sesame seeds: Lightly toasted, to garnish
Tteokbokki Sauce
- Korean chili flakes (gochugaru): This adds a “kick” to the tteokbokki. It can be increased or reduced as to your needs. I was unable to get gochugaru which is finer chili flakes. I used more coarse chili flakes instead.
- Korean chili paste (gochujang): This also provides spice to the dish. As with the chili flakes, you can adjust this to suit your liking. If you add less, the dish will not be as spicy. This holds more spice than the chili flakes.
- Granulated sugar: This helps balance out the spiciness of the chili flakes and chili paste.
- Soy sauce: Provides saltiness to the dish.
- Minced garlic
Instructions
Step 1 - If you are using frozen rice cakes. In a bowl large enough to hold your rice cakes, submerge the rice cakes in warm water. This will bring them to room temperature. If you are using fresh rice cakes, you can skip this step.
Step 2 - In a small bowl, combine chili flakes, chili paste, granulated sugar, soy sauce, and minced garlic. Mix until well combined.
Step 3 - Heat a large frying pan over medium to high heat. Add soup stock and rice cakes.
Bring to the boil. This will gradually cook and soften the rice cakes. Stir the rice cakes gently so that you do not break them.
Step 4 - Add the sauce to fry pan and gently stir until the sauce and stock are well combined. Allow the mixture to boil until it thickens.
Step 5 - Once the sauce has thickened to your liking, lower the heat, and gently push all the rice cakes to the centre of the pan. This will help the cheese stay above the sauce instead of sinking into it.
Step 6 - Sprinkle the mozzarella over the top and place a lid on the pan. Cook until the cheese has melted. Remove from heat.
Serve hot with scallions, sesame seeds, and sesame oil on top.
Tips for Success
- Gently stir the rice cakes to slowly release the starch from them and so you do not break them.
- Do not have the heat too high when cooking otherwise the rice cakes may stick to the bottom of the pan. Using a non-stick pan helps them not to stick to the pan.
Substitutions / Variations
You could make this with any kind of cheese you’d like.
If you are unable to get dashi stock, you can substitute chicken stock. However, it will have a different taste.
Storage
Best stored in a fridge once cooled down in an airtight container. This tteokbokki with cheese can last up to 1 week in the fridge.
Tteokbokki can be reheated in a microwave or on the stovetop.
FAQ
Tteokbokki goes perfect with a variety of foods. For example, you could have it with rice balls, pickled radish, or fish cake soup.
There are also different sauces you can make with tteokbokki, such as the traditional spicy chilli sauce used in this recipe, and jjajang tteokbokki.
Tteokbokki tastes chewy and very filling. Depending on what sauce you pair with the tteokbokki, it can be spicy or sweet.
Other Rice Cake Recipes
If you love rice cakes as much as we do, you might like to try some of our favorites like milk rice cake, ube butter mochi, rice cake toppings, potato mochi, mango mochi, jajang tteokbokki, chocolate mochi, reindeer Christmas rice cakes, Nutella mochi, and Asian rice cakes.
Made this recipe? Let us know how it went in the comments below! We'd love to hear how it turned out.
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Recipe
Tteokbokki with Cheese
Ingredients
For the Rice Cakes
- 500 grams (1.10 pounds) Korean rice cakes fresh or frozen
- 2 cups (480ml/grams, 16.93 ounces) Korean soup stock (dashi) or water
- 1 cup (225 grams, 7.94 ounces) mozzarella cheese grated
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil to garnish
- Green onions (scallions) finely chopped, to garnish
- Sesame seeds lightly toasted, to garnish
Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
- 1 tablespoon Korean chili paste (gochujang)
- 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
Instructions
- Submerge rice cakes in warm water to bring them to room temperature, if you are using frozen rice cakes. If you are using fresh rice cakes, you can skip this step.
- Combine chili flakes, chili paste, granulated sugar, soy sauce, and minced garlic in a small bowl. Mix until well combined.
- Add soup stock and rice cakes to a large frying pan over medium to high heat. Bring to boil.
- Add sauce to fry pan and gently stir until the sauce and stock are well combined. Allow the mixture to boil until it thickens.
- Once the sauce has thickened to your liking, lower the heat, and gently push all the rice cakes to the centre of the pan. Sprinkle the mozzarella over the top and place a lid on the pan. Cook until the cheese has melted. Remove from heat.
- Serve hot with scallions, sesame seeds, and sesame oil on top.
Dale says
I've never heard of tteokbokki before. this looks like a nice easy recipe to make. I think I will try it this weekend.