Creamy carbonara tteokbokki is the perfect dish to satisfy your comfort food cravings. It’s rich and flavorful with rice cakes and noodles added!
Tteokbokki + ramen = rabokki
What is tteokbokki?
Tteokbokki (떡볶이) translates literally to stir-fried rice cakes. There are several spelling variations such as topokki, ddeokbokki and dukbokki, but all are referring to the same dish.
Rice cakes, or tteok, come in many different shapes and sizes but small cylinder shaped is most popular for tteokbokki. All types of rices cakes are suitable for this recipe – if you’re lucky enough to find cheese-filled tteok, buy it!
The rice cakes itself have a mild flavor and take up the flavor of whatever sauce you cook it in. This is why the sauce is so flavorful! Rice cakes are known for it’s chewy texture. It’s kind of like a thicker and chewier udon noodle.
Tteokbokki can be made in so many different ways, which is why I have so many recipes for it on my page!
- Spicy tteokbokki with gochujang – this is more of a traditional recipe that is similar to what you will find on the streets of Korea.
- CHEESE tteokbokki – I honestly think cheese can be added to almost any dish to make it taste better. Here, I added cheese to spicy tteokbokki with fish cakes and hard-boiled eggs.
Where to buy tteokbokki
All of the ingredients needed for this recipe can be found at an Asian market. If you’re lucky enough to have an H-Mart (Korean grocery store chain) near you, even better! H-mart is stocked with every single ingredient you could ever need to make Korean food, and more. Check the refrigerated section for rice cakes because these are superior in taste to frozen ones.
You can also try the International section of your large grocery store chain. I’ve noticed that more grocery stores carry staple Asian ingredients nowadays, compared to just a few years ago. If you’re still having trouble, then there’s always Amazon! You will pay a premium for this route, though.
How to store leftovers and reheat
Creamy carbonara tteokbokki is best enjoyed fresh, but it also stores well in the fridge. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Here’s my method for reheating –
Add the leftovers to a pan and heat on low. Add a splash of chicken broth to help it all come together and cover until heated through. It’s important to have patience when reheating leftovers. You will certainly notice the difference, trust me!
Watch my video tutorial below!
Creamy Carbonara Tteokbokki
Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon
- ½ onion (100g)
- 6 baby bella mushrooms, sliced (100g)
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped (30g)
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup rice cakes, rinsed (175g)
- ramen noodles *see notes below
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese (20g)
- ¼ tsp dried basil
- fresh basil
Instructions
- Add the bacon to a cold pan and turn the heat on to medium high. Flip the bacon occasionally and cook until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and leave the rendered fat in the pan.
- Add the onion and mushrooms to the same pan and cook until softened and browned, about 4 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook until slightly browned.
- Next, add the garlic powder and chicken broth to the pan and scrape the bottom to release more flavors. Slowly add the heavy cream and rice cakes and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat.
- Add the noodles to the pan and cover to cook on low heat. Give it a mix halfway through to help it cook evenly.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the parmesan cheese, dried basil and fresh basil. Enjoy!
Notes
Prepare the dried ramen noodles by parboiling it in a separate pot so it’s cooked halfway. This step is optional, but helps ensure you don’t overcook everything.
