Korean Zucchini Pancakes, How to Make them Super Crispy

Korean Zucchini Pancakes are a quick and easy dish you will not be able to stop making and eating, partially because there's So. Much. Zucchini. right now. But mostly because they're quick and easy to make and absolutely delicious. Shall we?

Explore More

• What are Korean Zucchini Pancakes?
• What Ingredients You Need for Korean Zucchini Pancakes
• How Many Zucchini in One Pound?
• What's the Best Way to Cut Zucchini for Pancakes?
• How to Make Korean Zucchini Pancakes
• Pro Tips, Tricks, and Techniques
• Ingredients Substitutions and FAQs
• Korean Zucchini Pancakes Recipe

What are Korean Zucchini Pancakes?

Dietary Considerations of Korean Zucchini Pancakes

As published, this recipe for Korean Zucchini Pancakes is:

• 100% plant-based, suitable for vegans
• vegetarian
• dairy-free
• refined sugar-free
• anti-inflammatory

This recipe for Korean Zucchini Pancakes is easily gluten-free-adaptable with easy substitutions.

What Ingredients You Need for Korean Zucchini Pancakes

If you've spent some time around here and made some of the recipes, then you more than likely already have the pantry ingredients. If not, they're some of the easier ones to find at the grocery store.

Korean Zucchini Pancakes fresh/refrigerator ingredients:

• zucchini, 2 large
• garlic, 1 clove, grated or finely minced (substitute ½ teaspoon garlic powder)

Korean Zucchini Pancakes dry/pantry ingredients:

• sea salt
• all-purpose flour, ¼ cup
• cornstarch, 1 tablespoon
• ice cold water, ¼ cup
• avocado oil or other neutral oil for cooking

Dipping Sauce Ingredients

• soy sauce, 2 tablespoons
• apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon
• gochugaru, ½ teaspoon
• green onion, 1 teaspoon finely chopped

How Many Zucchini in One Pound?

Because zucchini come in so many different sizes and shapes like so many um, other things, it's better to "measure" zucchini by actual ounces or even in cups, not by number of zucchini.

The average zucchini based on my own experience weighs 10 ounces. So 2 zucchini is about 20 ounces, or 1¼ pounds.

This recipe is cooking though, not precision baking, so it's ok to come close enough with the amount of zucchini.

What's the Best Way to Cut Zucchini for Pancakes?

The best way to cut zucchini for Korean Zucchini Pancakes is to finely julienne into thin matchsticks either on a mandoline (quicker) or using a sharp knife on a stable cutting board (slower).

A box grater is not recommended, as it will make the zucchini to thin.

Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources

Flour

Cornstarch

Gochugaru: Gochugaru is a bright red Korean chili pepper powder made from a specific variety of Korean chili pepper. Its heat level ranges, but gochugaru is generally considered a medium spicy chili powder. Look for gochugaru that is made from Korean peppers that are sun-dried, and for this recipe specifically, a coarse grind, or flakes, not a fine powder. You can find gochugaru in Korean grocery stores like H-Mart and other Asian grocery stores. I have also seen some independent, new-ish spice companies like this and this at Whole Foods. This organic brand and the one in the photo above, purchased at HMart, are currently what I have in my pantry.

Soy sauce or tamari: Tamari is Japanese-style soy sauce brewed without the use of wheat so it is gluten-free. If you are not sensitive to wheat, the two are essentially interchangeable, though tamari has a slightly high-toned tartness to it. I use this brand, which is organic. For most soy-based products (soy sauce, tofu, soy milk, etc), try to buy organic or non-GMO, since soy beans are one of the crops that are more often sprayed with harmful weed-killing chemicals.

Apple Cider Vinegar. Use whatever brand of apple cider vinegar "ACV" works for you, as long as it has the "mother," i.e. the little cloud floating inside. The mother is what causes the fermentation and is partially what makes this salad good for the gut. This is the well-known apple cider vineger brand that's available everywhere. This store brand tastes great and is generally slightly more affordable.

Onions, garlic, and all other fresh herbs and produce from either the Santa Monica Farmers' Market on Wednesday, or Whole Foods Market.

How to Make Korean Zucchini Pancakes

Prep Zucchini

Make Korean Zucchini Pancake Batter and Cook

Serve Zucchini Pancakes with Soy Dipping Sauce. Zucchini Pancakes taste best immediately after cooking.

Pro Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

Make One Giant Pancake. You can also make one giant pancake so you don't have to flip a lot of small ones. Slice the pancake before serving.

Double, triple, or even quadruple the sauce. The amount of ingredients for the spicy dipping sauce make about ¼ cup, which fits this specific recipe for Korean Zucchini Pancakes. But I highly recommend scaling up to make triple the amount of the sauce! Use the amount you need for the recipe, then store the rest in an airtight glass jar in the refrigerator. The sauce is great as an all-purpose spicy dressing over greens, grains, or even dip for fresh vegetables!

Use a Variety of Summer Squash. If you want to add some more variety to your dinner table, use a variety of squash like yellow squash or white squash.

Make double the amount of Korean Zucchini Pancakes. If you make enough Korean Zucchini Pancakes to eat now, it will be crisp and crunchy. If you make enough to save some for later, the Korean Zucchini Pancakes can be a banchan you can tomorrow or the next day right out of the fridge.

Ingredients Substitutions and FAQs

If you have trouble finding any of the ingredients for this recipe, here are some suggested substitutions and variations:

• Other chile pepper powder for Gochugaru. If you cannot find Korean gochugaru, you can substitute in cayenne pepper! Because cayenne pepper is spicier, use about a quarter of the amount to start, taste, and add more if you want more heat. Other red chili pepper powder that is medium heat, more fruity than earthy, with a subtle smoke works as well like aleppo pepper and paprika. I highly recommend still getting gochugaru online because it has its own flavor profile and is worth having in your spice pantry!
• Other vinegar for Apple Cider Vinegar. If you don't have apple cider vinegar, use any mild-ish vinegar like rice vinegar or white wine vinegar. You can even use lemon or lime juice, though you may have to increase the amount to get the same level of acidity. If you only have plain distilled vinegar, which is much sharper than the others, cut the intensity by using only half the amount and adding half lemon juice.
• Sub for Soy sauce/tamari - Substitute any kind of alternative soy sauce in the same amount like liquid aminos made from soybeans or coconut aminos if you avoid soy products.

Advance Prep, Leftovers, and Storage

Advance Prep

Korean Zucchini Pancakes taste best when they're hot and fresh out of the pan. However, you can make Korean Zucchini Pancakes up to three days in advance.

• Cook and store the Korean Zucchini Pancakes in an air-tight zipper top bag or container, make the dipping sauce and store separately in an air-tight glass mason jar or container, and serve the two just before serving for the crispest crunchiest freshest flavor, or
• Reheat Korean Zucchini Pancakes in a pan over medium heat, or in an air fryer or toaster oven for the best texture. If you use the microwave, the pancakes will be on the chewier side.
• Korean Zucchini Pancakes taste pretty good cold right out of the fridge to the table, to be honest. Because there's little batter, they won't taste thick and floury.

Leftovers

Store leftover Korean Zucchini Pancakes in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Freezing

Freeze Korean Zucchini Pancakes by placing in a single layer in an air-tight container or plastic zipper bag. Frozen Korean Zucchini Pancakes will keep for 3 months in the freezer.

Tools and Equipment

There isn't any special tool or piece of equipment that is absolutely required for Korean Zucchini Pancakes. You can make them using a sharp chef's knife on a sturdy cutting board to julienne the zucchini! However, that isn't to say there are a few tools that might make it slightly easier to get Korean Zucchini Pancakes from the farmers market to your fork (or chopsticks), namely a mandoline!

• Japanese mandoline, for faster uniform slicing
• regular mandoline with storage container
• Chef's knife, my personal workhorse
• Wooden cutting board, oversized for all those carrots
• Glass mixing bowls 
• Mini ¼-cup liquid measuring cup
• Mini whisk
• Glass storage container with airtight lids, perfect size for storing Korean Zucchini Pancakes you make it in advance
• Glass mason jars, wide mouth because they're easier to use and wash
• Mason jar lids that are better than those horrible 2-piece metal lids

What to Make with Zucchini

Why yes, I love zucchini, how can you tell?

If you, like me, buy carrots by the 6-pound bulk bag from Costco, then these recipes are for you so you don't just eat raw carrots every day and get a beta-carotene tan (yes, it's real thing google "overdose carrot tan!"). Get this recipe down, then try making these carrot side dishes as well:

• Garlic Sautéed Zucchini Banchan
• Doenjang Jjigae, Korean Soybean Paste Stew
• Roasted Zucchini, Chef Thomas Keller's Life-changing Method
• Zucchini Ghanoush
• Easiest Zucchini Bread
• Healthy Zucchini Bread

Best Banchan and Korean-ish Side Dishes

• Oi Muchim, Korean Spicy Cucumbers
• Din Tai Fung Spicy Cucumbers copycat, similar but different
• Spicy Cucumber Avocado Salad
• Korean Spinach banchan "shi-geum-chi"

Food for Afterthoughts

After writing my 500th post then reading through it, I realized how utterly depressing it was. The inevitable fate of getting older, flabbier, uglier, and not having achieved anything of value made you just want to curl up under the covers in your fat clothes with Ben, Jerry, and a bottle of Xanax. It was downright dismal, wasn’t it?

Worse than merely being depressing though, it was self-pity – horribly self-centered *wah wah woe is me* about the miserable state of my non-existent, non-Delicious life. No one sharply, swiftly comment-kicked my ass. No one said what needed to be said. No one was brave enough to risk deletion of a bold, italicized “Get over yourself, Sarah.” I wouldn’t have deleted it, even if it was anonymous. I should have commented that to myself.

Accomplishments

So in this 505th post, I have not completely gotten over myself. But I am getting there. I realized that yes, after 504 posts, it may seem I have not accomplished much. Maybe I have nothing to show for it. Perhaps I’m no better, if not worse, off than I was 504 posts ago. Hmph. That is not entirely true.

This Delicious Life has been an outlet for me to healthily spew the garbage in my brain instead of letting it build up like a 2 quart souffle trapped inside a tiny, covered cupcake holder, or worse yet, forcing it onto friends and family. And through one-sided, somewhat anonymous cyber-therapy, I’ve learned a lot. In trying to take better photos, I’ve understood the strangely oxymoronical zen-like “aha!” rush of a new discovery like the macro function on my camera. I’ve learned how to ask for help when I can’t figure things out on my own. I’ve learned patience, when internet connections were slow, when software failed; and I’ve learned to appreciate patience in others who were forced to wait while their entrees were on a photoshoot, when we had to turn around and go back home because I forgot my camera, when I needed five more minutes “to finish a post” before heading out for a dinner reservation.

This is a food blog, so I’ve learned the fine, finer, finest details about fine foods, but at the same time, I’ve learned to not take food so seriously. It’s just...food. The food on the plate, the atmosphere, the service are all important, but I’ve confirmed for myself that food has no meaning without the pleasure of someone’s company. That is why I cook. That is why I (attempt to) bake. That is why I go out to eat. Food is to be shared. Even if I eat alone, it’s been simply a pleasure sharing it with someone on the other side of the world who just happens to click his way to my Delicious Life via a google search in another language.

Gains

And yes, I have “gained” from the Delicious Life in ways that go beyond the 5, 7, *ahem* 10 pounds on my bathroom scale. I haven’t physically met many people face-to-face, but I have virtually met many via comments, DM, and email. These conversations – lighthearted, funny, silly, refreshing, informative, educational, serious, honest, encouraging, constructively critical, helpful – make my day. Every day. I’ve learned the value of honesty, especially being honest with myself, because it is much easier to be honest when you blog it out loud, and yet can’t see or hear the immediate reactions of the people with whom you are communicating.

It’s been a real relationship. "You were with me all the while." (Song reference! Who will get it first?!?!)

Stats

Blogging software doesn’t have any sexy statistics beyond the total number of posts, but if I do some sophisticated consulting case interview calculations and assume that on average, each post contains approximately 1,200 words and receives a pro-rated 5 comments, then 505 posts later, we’ve written 600,000 words and made 2,525 comments. Wow. I am speechless, which means a lot since I am very rarely at a loss for 600,000 words. It’s hard to believe that in just over a year, we’ve come a long way, baby.

And while most birthdays are celebrated with a gorgeous cake set ablaze with candles, this is a post-iversary, more like a wedding anniversary. We reminisce and we cuddle. DeBeers would like for me to shout how much I love you on the steps of some dove-filled plaza while reaching into my pocket to surprise you with a diamond tennis bracelet, but uh, let’s try to forget for a moment that I have no job and would in no way be able to afford such a gift. We go for a naughty tumble in a tub of Cool Whip and when we wake up in the morning all disheveled, but positively glowing, we have pancakes. On your birthday you get a cake. On your anniversary, you get bananniversary pancakes. In bed, if I’m feeling particularly domestic.

But made with zucchini because we’re older now. We need the fiber.