Tteokbokki

Allergens at a glance

• UsuallyGlutenWheat-flour cakes are common; fish cakes and gochujang usually contain wheat.
• UsuallyFishFish cakes (eomuk) and anchovy-kelp stock.
• UsuallySoyGochujang contains soybean; soy sauce in the sauce.
• OftenEggsBoiled eggs are a standard addition; some fish cakes contain egg.
• SometimesMilkCheese toppings and cream-based rosé sauces.
• SometimesMolluscsSquid and other shellfish in seafood versions.
• SometimesCrustaceansPrawns in seafood versions; some fish cakes contain prawn.
• SometimesSesameSesame seeds or oil to finish, and in the soy-based royal court version.

Usually in the standard recipe. Often in many versions. Sometimes in some kitchens, or a cross-contact risk.

Diets

• Rarely vegetarian: fish cakes and anchovy stock are standard, though the sauce looks plant-based.
• Not suitable for coeliacs (celiacs) as standard: even rice cakes sit in a wheat-containing sauce.
• Halal needs checking: commercial gochujang can contain added alcohol, and some pots add sausage.

Recipes change from kitchen to kitchen. If you have an allergy, confirm every ingredient with the restaurant before you order.

What is tteokbokki?

Tteokbokki is a Korean street food of thick, chewy rice-cake sticks cooked in a bright red, sweet and spicy sauce. It's sold from street stalls (pojangmacha), snack bars (bunsikjip) and dedicated chains, often next to fried snacks and sundae (blood sausage). The original palace dish was a soy-sauce stir-fry; the red gochujang version became popular after the 1950s.

What's in it

• Tteok: cylinder-shaped cakes made from rice flour (ssal-tteok) or wheat flour (mil-tteok). Many street stalls use wheat because it soaks up sauce.
• Sauce: gochujang, gochugaru (chilli flakes), sugar or corn syrup, soy sauce and garlic, simmered in anchovy and kelp stock or water.
• Additions: eomuk (fish cakes), boiled eggs, cabbage, spring onion.

Popular versions add instant noodles (rabokki), cheese, a cream and gochujang rosé sauce, black bean sauce (jjajang), or seafood. Gungjung tteokbokki is the mild royal court style, stir-fried with beef, vegetables and soy sauce.

Allergens and diets

"Rice cake" makes people assume gluten-free, but that's often wrong. Mil-tteok is wheat, fish cakes are made with wheat flour or starch, and most gochujang contains wheat. Ask whether the cakes are rice or wheat, then ask about the sauce.

Fish is in the fish cakes and usually in the stock too, so a pot with the fish cakes picked out still contains fish. Soy comes from gochujang and soy sauce. Boiled eggs are standard at most stalls.

Cheese and rosé versions add milk. Seafood versions add squid (molluscs) and prawns (crustaceans), and some fish cakes contain prawn. At a stall, everything is ladled from one big tray of sauce, so you can't order around ingredients that are already in the pot.

On the menu

Tteokbokki is written 떡볶이. Words that change the dish:

• 쌀떡 ssal-tteok: rice cakes; 밀떡 mil-tteok: wheat cakes
• 어묵 eomuk or 오뎅 odeng: fish cake
• 라볶이 rabokki: with instant noodles
• 치즈 chijeu: cheese
• 로제 roje: rosé (cream) sauce
• 짜장 jjajang: black bean sauce
• 궁중떡볶이 gungjung tteokbokki: royal court style

Stalls often sell it with 순대 sundae and 튀김 twigim (fried snacks), and dipping fried snacks in the tteokbokki sauce is common.

Last checked 1 November 2026. Spotted something wrong? Email support@inventum.com.au.