For years Koreans travelled across the country for famous bakeries. In 2026 the queue moved to rice cakes. Tteok, the chewy glutinous-rice cake Koreans have eaten for centuries, is now the dessert people line up for, and the big convenience-store chains are racing to put new versions on their shelves.
From bread pilgrimages to tteok pilgrimages
Koreans have a word for crossing the country to visit famous bakeries: bbangji-sullye, the bread pilgrimage. In summer 2026 a new word joined it, tteokji-sullye (떡지순례), the tteok pilgrimage. Dong-A Ilbo reported open-runs and long waits at rice-cake dessert shops in late August. It also noted that online mentions of Buja Tteokjip, a rice-cake shop in Gongju, grew more than sixfold without the shop launching anything new.
Part of the pull is what Koreans call halmaenial: halmeoni (grandma) plus millennial. Younger Koreans are going back to the flavors their grandparents liked, such as roasted soybean powder, black sesame, mugwort and honey-fried yakgwa, and buying them in new forms.
Chapssaltteok you eat frozen
The biggest hit came from Hanjeongseon, a tteok shop that opened in Seoul's Seongsu district in 2023 and became known for not shipping its rice cakes at all. In September 2026 it teamed up with the convenience-store chain GS25 on a frozen yogurt chapssaltteok. Eaten frozen, it is closer to gelato. Left to thaw, it turns back into a soft, chewy rice cake.
Chosun Biz reported that it sold 100,000 on its first day, a record for a new ice-cream launch at GS25. A second flavor, pistachio, followed in October.
Pizza seolgi: rice cake as pizza dough
Seolgi (설기) is a fluffy white steamed rice cake, a classic for birthdays and celebrations. The newest twist uses it as a pizza base, topped with tomato sauce and cheese. Pizza Hut Korea launched its own version, and the convenience-store chain CU followed with a sliced-rice-cake take it calls Pizza Jeolpyeon. TV Chosun summed up the speed of it all: the Dubai chewy-cookie craze faded within about six months, and pizza seolgi is next in line.
Rice cake in ice cream and snacks
Korea's snack makers have hidden chewy tteok inside familiar products for years, and 2026 gave those lines new life. Lotte Wellfood's Chewy Tteok Ice wraps ice cream in a layer of glutinous rice cake. A black-sesame injeolmi version, made with a tvN variety show, sold out its first run of 500,000 early. Lotte also refreshed Myeongga Chewy Tteok Pie, its long-running pie with chapssaltteok inside, with new flavors.
Yakgwa and "yakketing"
Yakgwa (약과) is a flower-shaped cookie of wheat flour, honey and sesame oil, fried and soaked in syrup. Famous handmade yakgwa became so hard to get that Koreans coined "yakketing", yakgwa plus ticketing, after the race to buy concert tickets. In September 2026 the chain emart24 launched an exclusive mini yakgwa from Janginhangwa, one of the names behind that rush.
Butter tteok, a rich, buttery rice-cake dessert, is also on Korea's 2026 trend lists. EconomyTalk reported that GS25 was among the first chains to release one.
The flavors to know
You will see these words on Korean packaging this year:
Injeolmi (인절미): rice cake rolled in roasted soybean powder, nutty and lightly sweet. The flavor now shows up in bingsu bread, chocolate, Pepero and snack cakes.
Heugimja (흑임자): black sesame, roasted and ground. Several café chains added black-sesame lattes and desserts this autumn.
Ssuk (쑥): mugwort, an herbal green flavor common in traditional rice cakes.
Pat (팥): sweet red bean, the classic filling of chapssaltteok.
Chapssaltteok vs mochi
Both are made from glutinous rice, so they share that soft, stretchy chew. Chapssaltteok is the Korean name, and the classic version is filled with sweet red bean. The 2026 versions break from that: yogurt cream, pistachio, fruit and fresh cream fillings, and some are made to be eaten frozen.
How to try them
Most of these launches are limited runs, and they move fast. TV Chosun noted that Korean dessert trend cycles now run shorter than three months. If you are visiting Korea, the convenience-store chains GS25, CU and emart24 have been the quickest to bring tteok desserts from famous shops to their freezers and shelves, so the dessert aisle is the first place to look.
Sales figures are as announced by the companies and reported in Korean media. Where meokbogo.com lists label details for these products, they come from filings with Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS).
- Dong-A Ilbo, "빵지순례 다음은 떡지순례", 2026-08-28: donga.com
- Chosun Biz, Hanjeongseon yogurt chapssaltteok first-day sales, 2026-09-04: biz.chosun.com
- Newsis, GS25 pistachio chapssaltteok, 2026-10-05: newsis.com
- Meokbogo ORIGINAL, the Hanjeongseon story (Korean): meokbogo.com
- Asia Economy, CU Pizza Jeolpyeon, 2026-10-06: asiae.co.kr
- Newsprime, Pizza Hut pizza seolgi, 2026-10-08: newsprime.co.kr
- TV Chosun, trend cycles and pizza seolgi, 2026-09-16: tvchosun.com
- TF Media, Chewy Tteok Ice black-sesame injeolmi sellout: tfmedia.co.kr
- Dong-A Ilbo, Lotte's long-running snacks in new flavors, 2026-07-14: donga.com
- etnews, emart24 Janginhangwa mini yakgwa, 2026-09-09: etnews.com
- EconomyTalk, "두쫀쿠 다음은 떡지순례", 2026-09-20: economytalk.kr
- Newspim, black-sesame autumn menus and the halmaenial trend, 2026-08-27: newspim.com
No comments:
Post a Comment