Nokdujeon, aka nokdu bindaetteok, is a type of savory Korean pancake made with ground nokdu (mung beans). These crispy golden brown pancakes are soft on the inside with some crunch from the vegetables. They are deliciously nutty!
In Korea and many other Asian countries, the holiday season is not over until after the lunar New Year, which falls on January 25 this year. Called Seollal (설날) in Korea, it’s one of the two most celebrated traditional holidays. Along with tteokguk (떡국, rice cake soup), nokdujeon (녹두전) is a must for the New Year’s Day feast.
As for my family, these crispy golden brown savory pancakes are a favorite year round!
What is nokdujeon?
Nokdujeon is a type of savory Korean pancake made with ground mung bean batter. It’s also called bindaetteok (빈대떡) or nokdu bindaetteok (녹두 빈대떡). While nokdujeon is a classic holiday dish, it’s highly popular also as a street food, as you may have seen in the Netflix Street Food episode of Gwangjang Market in Seoul.
You may be thinking you’ve never heard of mung beans. Actually, you might know these beans better by their sprouts — those bean sprouts which are common in many Asian dishes. The most well known Korean dish made with mung bean spouts is the side dish called sukju namul (숙주나물).
Importantly, mung beans are highly nutritional and provide many health benefits. In Korea, they are well known as a detoxifying food. Hope you add more mung beans and their sprouts to your diet this new year.
How to make mung bean pancakes
To make these pancakes, you’ll need to soak the dried mung beans in water for a few hours, and then ground into a batter. I usually buy pre-hulled and split ones, so soaking and preparing the beans is fairly simple.
Growing up, we used to have a stone mill, called maetdol (맷돌), to grind soaked beans. These days, most people use an electric blender. Be sure not over blend the beans. The batter should be creamy but slightly coarse and sandlike.
Typical additions to the batter include ground pork, bean sprouts, gosari (fern brakes), scallions, and kimchi. These add tons of flavors and textures to the pancakes. I blanch the bean sprouts before adding to the batter, but you can add fresh sprouts if you want.
For a vegetarian or vegan bindaetteok, you can simply omit the pork and use vegetarian/vegan kimchi.
If you’ve seen these pancakes being made on the streets of Korea, you’ve probably noticed that the vendors deep fry them in a bath of hot oil. At home, we pan fry these pancakes with much less oil. However, for crispy, delicious pancakes, use a generous amount of oil.
This recipe makes quite a few pancakes, but it’s very easy to cut the recipe in half if desired.
These pancakes will keep well in the fridge up to 4 days. They also freeze well. Simply defrost them at room temperature, and then reheat in a pan over low heat or in the microwave. Also try adding the frozen nokdujeon to your kimchi jjigae within the last few minutes of cooking. Delicious!
More Korean pancake recipes
Haemul pajeon (seafood pancakes)
Buchujeon (garlic chives pancakes)
Kimchi jeon (kimchi pancakes)
Gamjajeon (potato pancakes)
Hobak buchim (zucchini pancakes)
Have you tried this nokdujeon recipe? Please rate the recipe below and leave a comment! Stay in touch by following me on YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Nokdujeon or Nokdu bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes)
AppetizerIngredients
- 2 cups dried peeled and split mung beans* yields about 4 cups soaked
- 8 ounces sukju namul (mung bean sprouts)
- 8 ounces grams kimchi
- 6 - 8 scallions
- 4 ounces pork , ground or finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- salt
- vegetable oil for pan frying
Dipping Sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon vinegar (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons water
- pinch of black pepper
- pinch of red pepper flakes gochugaru - optional
Instructions
- Rinse and soak the mung beans in water for 3 - 4 hours. Drain.
- Meanwhile, cook the mung bean sprouts in boiling water for about 2 minutes (you can skip this blanching if preferred). Rinse in cold water to stop cooking. Drain and gently squeeze out excess water. Thinly slice the kimchi and scallions. In a large bowl, combine the kimchi, bean sprouts, scallions, meat, soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic. Mix well.
- In a blender, grind 2 cups of the soaked beans in 3/4 cup of cold water with 1/2 teaspoon of salt until it has a coarse, sandlike consistency.
- Add to the vegetable and meat mixture. Repeat with the remaining beans. Gently mix the mung bean batter until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Heat 2 tablespoons or more of oil in a non-stick pan over medium to medium high heat. (See note.) Ladle the mixture into the pan and spread it evenly into a thin round shape. Cook until the bottom is golden brown (2 - 3 minutes), and turn it over, adding more oil. Press it down with a spatula, and cook for another 2- 3 minutes. Repeat the process with the rest of the mixture.
- Serve hot off the pan with a dipping sauce.
Notes
This mung bean pancake recipe was originally posted in December 2011. I’ve updated it here with new photos, more information and minor changes to the recipe.
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My Korean friend, Kim Sum, made these for me and added perilla leaves thinly sliced, so when I made these I added the leaves and they were delicious.
Great! I’m sure perilla leaves added a lot.
I made these without the pork and they are delightful. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know.
May Says — Will you please share how you handled omitting the pork? Did you increase any of the other ingredients or did you simply leave it out?
You can simply leave it out. There’s really not much seasoning in the recipe, so it should be fine.
can eggs be added to the batter or would eggs spoil the consistency?
thanks for the recipe, i’m eager to try it!
You can add eggs. I don’t think it’ll spoil the consistency. Just use the yolk part.
Your presentation and plating is simply beautiful. I have admired your ceramic dishes and bowls so much that I have actively been searching for and collecting beautiful and interesting pottery. I often find them in resale shops, but also support our local potters. I know it sounds silly, but I believe that food tastes better in beautiful receptacles!
Hyosun, thank you for this recipe! I have loved the Mung Bean pancakes from H-Mart especially because they seem to be Gluten free? AND are full of nutritious vegies. Just curious–why did you leave out the fernbrake? I see elderly ladies picking it near where I live, and H-Mart includes it in its Bibimbap vegies. What is so good about fernbrake?
I just make these and they are so delicious!! My family loves them!!
Great to hear that! Thank you, Anonymous!
Can you tell me which brand of the split and peeled mung beans you use? I can get to several Korean (and Indian) grocery stores so I should be able to find it. Thanks!
Courtney
Courtney – I like Jayone Nara brand. It’s a Korean brand but the beans are grown in the U.S. I will add a photo of it to this post soon.
Thanks so much. Can you tell me which store you usually buy it from? (Lotte, H-Mart, Grand Mart?)
Courtney
I bought a couple of bags from Hanaro in Centreville a while back, which has been taken over by H Mart. I don’t think H Mart carries this brand. I saw them in Grand Mart in Centreville today. Hope this helps.
update – I recently bought a bag from Lotte in Fairfax.
Excellent recipe, thank you for sharing.My family loved the pancakes.
Anonymous – I am delighted to hear your family loved the pancakes. Thank you so much for trying out my recipe and leaving me the feedback. I greatly appreciate it.
Looks wonderful! This is actually on my to-try-list, when I first saw this mungbean pancake recipe in a cookbook, it’s really intriguing me and I wanted to know how it tastes like. I am curious about using the mungbean in the batter and the nutty taste. It’s kind of tedious but I will sure to make it one day. 😉
Little Corner of mine – Hope you try it! You’ll really like it. Cheers!
Hi, I am a new follower, it is nice to meet you. I have been looking for a recipe like this, thank you, I just bought mung beans yesterday. Can’t wait to try this. Happy New Year.
Suzi – Nice to meet you as well! Try it. You will like it. Happy New Year!
AMAZING!!! i LOVE nokdujeon and when i saw the recipe i got very excited. i made this for new years day lunch at my in-laws and everybody raved about them. thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Hi, Anonymous! I am so happy to hear you and your in-laws like them. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me the feedback. I really appreciate it.
Delicious. These remind me of these other korean pancakes we would eat a lot while living there. I think they were called Pajeon? I just ate some kimchi, and now I want those!
Thank you, Loveforfood! You are so kind.
Emily – Pajeon is great too. Thanks for stopping by!
I would say these are some of the best photographs I have seen.