Is Hotteok Healthy? (3 Tips for Weight Loss)

Hotteok is one of the most famous desserts that is associated with street food culture in Korea. 

If you are one of many who have been hit by the Hallyu Wave (Korean Wave), you might have heard of this delicious Korean dessert. 

You may have also seen your favorite idols, actors, or actresses eating this snack in a live stream or a drama scene which is how you’ve found yourself here!

If you have not necessarily been hit by the Hallyu Wave and are just simply looking to expand your taste buds and experience the finer foods in life, you’ve come to the right place to learn everything Hotteok. 

Hotteok is a sweet Korean pancake most popularly served with a brown sugar syrup filling. 

Although this is the most popular way to eat this pancake, it can be filled in a variety of different ways, such as with vegetables and japchae. 

It is a staple Korean treat that has most likely been served in Korean households at least once. 

Although it is delicious, is Hotteok healthy?

Hotteok is not healthy because there are 30 grams of carbs with 8.2 grams of sugar which means that this is a calorically dense food that is not optimal for sustaining a healthy weight. However, this does not mean that you need to completely cut Hotteok out of your life to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

In this article, we will be explaining three easy and beneficial ways in which you can incorporate this dish into your diet: 

Tip 1. Understand the nutritional value behind Hotteok

Tip 2. Keep your activity level high when eating Hotteok 

Tip 3. Find healthy alternatives to fill your Hotteok with 

Let’s get started!

How to lose weight while eating Hotteok

In order to lose weight, it is important to understand the meaning of calories in and calories out. 

This essentially asks you the question of “Do I burn more calories than I consume on a daily basis?”

If you are burning more calories than you are consuming, then you will be in a calorie deficit, which is the only way you can experience fat loss. 

When eating a dish such as Hotteok, you have to be mindful of its nutritional content as well as how many calories you are consuming while eating it. 

We will go over the specific contents of Hotteok in the following section because first and foremost, you need to know and understand how many calories you should be consuming as an individual. 

After you’ve figured out the average calorie intake you should consume on a daily basis, you need to make sure that you are exercising regularly and consistently. 

This means that you should also be building muscle. 

In order to build muscle, some resistance training is required. 

This statement in itself can be very intimidating for readers who are just starting off as beginners in their workout journey, but don’t worry because we all have to start somewhere!

Muscle allows us to burn calories at rest which means we can eat more and still lose fat. 

This is essentially the ultimate goal of working out and is what keeps us healthy as our metabolism continually increases. 

Now that we’ve briefly discussed how to stay fit and lean while eating a dessert as sweet as Hotteok, let’s get into discussing the nutritional value of Hotteok. 

This will help you figure out if incorporating Hotteok into your diet is the right choice for you to make!

Tip 1. Understand the nutritional value behind Hotteok

Hotteok is a Korean street food that is most popular during the wintertime because it is served straight off of the pan, fresh and hot. 

It is made of yeast dough with sweet brown sugar and nutty filling. 

In the following section, we will begin to look at the nutritional content of Hotteok which is essential in bringing success to your weight loss journey. 

One serving of Hotteok typically contains 200 calories, 7 grams of fat, 30 grams of carbs, and 4 grams of protein. 

As you can see, Hotteok is very high in carbs and very low in protein which makes it a less than ideal food to eat when trying to lose weight. 

Even though Hotteok is not a very healthy food, it is a great snack that you can incorporate into your daily calorie intake. 

For just 200 calories, you can incorporate this delicious treat to satisfy your sweet tooth and cravings. 

As long as you adjust your other snacks and meals to be lower in carbohydrates and remember to maintain a calorie deficit, you can easily eat Hotteok while still losing weight. 

Portion control is really the key here as well as making sure that you're not eating over your daily calorie limit. 

So when looking at food like Hotteok, we can see that most of the calories come from fats and carbs. Therefore, we need to have our other meals packed with protein as this is the only macronutrient that is lacking. 

Now that we’ve covered the nutritional value of Hotteok,

Let's look into what you can physically do in order to incorporate Hotteok into your diet while still keeping fit and healthy. 

Tip 2. Keep your activity level high when eating Hotteok 

As mentioned before, Hotteok has a lot of calories coming from fats and carbs. 

This means that we want to utilize these fats and carbs otherwise they will be stored as excess energy within our bodies (this means excess fat). 

Activity level accounts for 15-30% of our metabolism. 

This means that we are in control of 15-30% of how many calories we burn in a day. 

If we do nothing or frequent low activity levels, then we are not maximizing the amount of calories we burn. 

Therefore, this means that foods such as Hotteok will be more likely to add to our midsection. 

Also, we want to make sure that the calories we eat will fuel our muscles to grow. 

This will act as the catalyst for the increase in our metabolism. 

Muscle is really the key to staying fit and it keeps you healthy as it will burn calories at rest. 

So the more muscle we gain, the merrier!

If you’re looking for a great workout plan to increase muscle mass, then be sure to check out our workout regimen:

Women 

Monday (Full Upper): 

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10 

• Knee Push Ups: 4x20

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

Wednesday (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps) 

• Assisted Pull Ups: 3x10

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12 

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

Friday: (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Squats: 5x5 

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

MEN 

Mon: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs (Push Day)

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

Wed: Legs & Abs

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Stiff Leg DeadLift (Romanian Deadlift): 4 sets 15 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Weighted Sit Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

Fri: Back & Biceps (Pull Day)

• Assisted Pull Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets 10 reps (Each Side)

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

This is a simple resistance training workout plan.

What I recommend is to just look these workouts up on Youtube and choose weights that are not too heavy at first so you can really get your form down. 

All it takes are a couple of adjustable weights (bowflex adjustable weights on Amazon) and a reliable workout bench (steelbody bench on Amazon) that will allow us to do all the necessary workouts. 

When you feel that you’ve grasped the form, feel free to go heavier and heavier every week. Remember, this will not get you big and bulky. It will get you nice and lean.

So now that we know the importance of building muscle and staying active, let’s take a look at some healthier alternatives to fill your Hotteok with.

Tip 3. Find healthy alternatives to fill your Hotteok with 

Hotteok is most commonly enjoyed as a snack or dessert. 

Although it is traditionally recognized as a sugary treat that is high in calories and carbs, there are plenty of healthy alternatives you can incorporate into your Hotteok recipe to help lessen the guilty conscience of indulging in this treat. 

How would you feel if I told you that you can enjoy Hotteok as a savory snack or even enjoy it as a meal replacement?

This is actually not as uncommon as you would think!

When searching for Hotteok recipes online, people are often hit with an abundance of Hotteok images, specifically promoting the sweet, gooey brown sugar filling. 

In Korea, although people love to treat themselves with the dessert version of this food, people also largely enjoy the savory version of this food. 

The savory version of Hotteok is known as Yachae-Hotteok.

Yachae-Hotteok can be translated to Vegetable Hotteok. It incorporates chopped vegetables and glass noodles to make up the filling.

Yachae-Hotteok is often eaten as a breakfast food but it is not limited to just breakfast. 

You can eat this in place of any meal you desire. 

Because Yachae-hotteok incorporates noodles into its filling, you may be wondering if this is even a much healthier alternative to the original version of dessert Hotteok. 

I would say that since this is a savory food that is able to fill you up as much as a typical meal does, it is in fact a great alternative to enjoying this dish. 

The dessert version of Hotteok is usually eaten after a hearty meal while the Yachae-Hotteok would serve as the meal itself as well as the dessert.

You can think of it as a two-for-one deal that would save you the calories of eating a meal plus dessert after. 

It also doesn’t hurt that you will be consuming vegetables in the most delicious way possible!

Again, portion control and activity level are a big contributor to weight loss.

After reading about the Yachae-Hotteok and you’re thinking to yourself, “I still kind of prefer to try Hotteok in a classic way but I’m worried about how it’ll affect my diet and weight loss journey,” then I have the perfect alternative and solution for you! 

Three words. Monk fruit sweetener. 

Monk fruit sweetener has the power to sweeten your Hotteok filling without adding any additional calories to it. 

Not only will it save you the excess calorie intake, but it will also save you the stress of consuming sweet foods that have way too many carbs and way too much fat in them.

There you have it. Here are some of the healthy alternatives to Hotteok that’ll help you enjoy the tasty food with no regrets!

If you’d like to check out a specific recipe for a healthier alternative of Hotteok, you can visit our YouTube channel and follow our Hotteok recipe. 

CONCLUSION

Now It’s Time To Go And Experience The Amazing World Of Hotteok!

Now that you’re more informed about how to incorporate Hotteok into your diet, it’s time for you to try it out and see for yourself!

These were 3 tips to enjoying this Korean treat while still keeping your health journey in mind. 

It is very important to understand how much of an impact workout and diet has on you, especially when you want to enjoy a delicious Korean treat such as this one!

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