Potato Fritters or Gamjajeon is what is called in our home but it is not shredded or chopped like most Korean Gamjajeon recipes you will see online.
As I decided to write this post, I realized that this is probably not a common Korean food. I don’t think I have seen it served at any restaurant or in anyone’s home. But we always had it in our family as long as I can remember. I even did a search online in Korean and I did not find (I can’t say I looked at every image but only looked at about 50+ images :)) any blogs or images that had Gamjajeon that looked like mine here. I’m sure there are some Korean families out there that make this but I haven’t met any so far. Anyway, I call it Potato Fritters or Gamjajeon for lack of a better name since it is Gamja/Potato and it does belong to the Jeon category as it is pan fried with some type of coating or batter.
But instead of shredding or chopping the potato as in my Crispy Potato Pancakes (Gamjajeon) recipe, I slice the potato and then coat the whole slice in batter. It is so simple and easy but it is just sooo good that I bet you – you won’t be able to eat just one! This simple and easy potato gamja jeon pairs wonderfully well with any Korean jjigaes (Kimchi, Gochujang, Doenjang) and soups. And it certainly does not require any special Korean ingredients except soy sauce for dipping so you can make it easily with what you have.
This is really one of my go-to banchan for my everyday Korean meal as it is also my daughter’s and husband’s favorite. I mean you can never go wrong with potatoes, right? This Gamjajeon is delicious both warm and cold (at room temperature) so you can make ahead for dinner or for a buffet party or even bring it to a party as appetizers!
Now, my main reason for making Potato fritters this time is because I had leftover potatoes in my pantry that had begun to sprout! Yikes!! I had to eat them quickly before they sprouted even more.
I know that some of you may be wondering –
Is it safe to eat sprouted potatoes?
Yes, as long as they are not green and the sprouts are removed.
Don’t eat the sprouts or the green part since they are an indication that the potato now contain a toxin called Saponine. But once you remove the sprouts and any green part then they are safe to eat. If the potato is mostly green under the skin and it has started to shrivel up then throw it away.
And here’s what U.S. National Library of Medicine says about potato poisoning:
- Never eat potatoes that are spoiled or green below the skin. Always throw away the sprouts.
- Potatoes that are not green and have had any sprouts removed are safe to eat.
Here is a pic of my organic potatoes with sprouts –
Potato fritters or Gamjajeon is perfectly good as both gluten free and regular.
Potato Fritters (Korean Gamjajeon) Recipe
Servings: 3-4 Cooking Time: Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- 3 potatoes, sprouts removed and peeled
- vegetable oil
- soy dipping sauce (Choganjang 초간장)
- 2 T soy sauce (Jinganjang 진간장)
- 1 T vinegar
- sprinkling of sesame seeds
Regular flour batter
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Gluten Free Batter
- 1 1/4 Cup gluten free flour (may vary depending on type of GF flour)
- 1 Cup water
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Make dipping batter by mixing flour, water and salt. Mix until smooth. For Gluten Free version, use your favorite GF flour. Mine is Cup4Cup or Trader Joe’s GF flour. This particular version was made with Trader Joe’s GF flour. You may need a little more if you are making GF version because they tend to be more runny than plain flour.
- Peel and remove all sprouts from potatoes. Leave in water until you are ready to cut.
- Cut potatoes into slices around 0.5 cm/0.2 inches thick. If it’s too thin, the batter coating will overtake the potato and if it’s too thick it will take longer to cook all the way.
potato slices for korean potato fritters or gamjajeon - To help the potato cook, pre cook the potato slices in the microwave. About 2 minutes at full power for 3 potatoes. You are not trying to cook the potatoes all the way but just enough so that it is starting to cook. Some parts of your potato slices will be cooked and some will not.
semi-cooked potatoes for potato fritters (gamjajeon) – the darker part is cooked - Immediately add all the potatoes into the batter and keep it covered. Otherwise the potato will start to turn black pretty quickly.
- Heat about 2 Tbs of oil in a pan on medium high heat.
- Take potato slices coated with batter and then add to the pan. Reduce heat to medium.
potato in batter for potato fritters potato fritters or gamjajeon frying in pan - Pan fry in oil for 4-5 minutes on each side. Cook until it is nicely browned.
potato fritters or gamjajeon frying in pan gamjajeon or potato fritters browned in my favorite cast iron frying pan - While the potatoes are cooking, mix 2 Tbs soy sauce and 1 Tbs vinegar to make Choganjang. See my Korean Sauces (For Dipping) for other dipping sauce recipes.
- Potatoes are done if you can easily poke through with a chopstick. The outside will be crispy and nutty while the inside will be the beautiful potato that will be soft and yummy. You can also always do a taste test instead – be careful the inside will be HOT!
Potato fritters Recipe (Gamjanjeon) My sage plant in my garden had some beautiful flowers so I tried them with my gamjajeon. Sage leaves are a bit strong but the flowers are quite mild and went great with my Korean potato fritters!
Potato Fritters served with soy vinegar sauce Gamjajeon or Korean potato fritters styled with sage flowers and leaves
Korean Potato Fritters (Gamjajeon)
Ingredients
- 3 potatoes , sprouts removed and peeled
- vegetable oil
- soy dipping sauce (Choganjang 초간장)
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
Regular flour batter
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt (Trader Joe's)
Gluten Free Batter
- 1 1/4 Cup gluten free flour (may vary depending on type of GF flour)
- 1 Cup water
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt (Trader Joe's)
Instructions
- Make dipping batter by mixing flour, water and salt. Mix until smooth. There are 2 recipes for gluten free and regular, make one or the other.
- Peel and remove all sprouts from potatoes. Leave in water until you are ready to cut.
- Cut potatoes into slices around 0.5 cm/0.2 inches thick. If it's too thin, the batter coating will overtake the potato and if it's too thick it will take longer to cook all the way.
- To help the potato cook, pre cook the potato slices in the microwave. About 2 minutes at full power for 3 potatoes.
- Immediately add all the potatoes into the batter and keep it covered. Otherwise the potato will start to turn black pretty quickly.
- Heat about 2 Tbs of oil in a pan on medium high heat.
- Take potato slices coated with batter and then add to the pan. Reduce heat to medium.
- Pan fry in oil for 4-5 minutes on each side. Cook until it is nicely browned.
- While the potatoes are cooking, mix 2 Tbs soy sauce and 1 Tbs vinegar to make Choganjang. See my Korean Sauces I recipes (For Dipping) for other dipping sauce recipes.
- Potatoes are done if you can easily poke through with a chopstick.
Tips & Notes:
Store in fridge and reheat on stove top.
To serve as appetizer, you can also try serving with some creamy dipping sauce with chives or green onions.
Nutrition Information:
Tips
- Serve Gamjajeon hot right from the pan or at room temperature.
- Store in fridge and reheat on stove top.
- To serve as appetizer, you can also try serving with some creamy dipping sauce with chives or green onions.
Hope you get to enjoy these easy Korean potato fritters!
Happy Friday~
JinJoo
What kind of potato can I use? Can I use red potatoes?
Regular russet potatoes work best but you could use red potatoes – it will not be as starchy and soft like the russet. Hope that helps. Good luck!
Hello! I love your recipes and this one looks really good to me. I wonder, could I use potato starch or potato flour instead of regular wheat flour?
Hello Alex, sorry for the late reply. Hmm.. honestly I’m not sure – you can try it. If you don’t want to use regular flour, you can certainly use gluten free flour and that should work fine. Good luck!
Are you sure the measurements are accurate? I tried the 250g:240ml flour to water ratio and had a pretty hard dough instead of a batter. I had to dilute it with more water but the damage was done and the “batter” turned out very lumpy.
Hello, so I think you must have converted the recipe to Metric which then converted the 1 cup flour to 250ml flour. So even with 250ml, Please note that we are talking about VOLUME not weight. 1 cup flour is about 120g not 250g. I’m sorry the conversion made it confusing but please try to just use the volume or convert the flour weight correctly. Thank you. Oh btw, even if you diluted with water later, if you mixed it well with a wisk, it should have worked ok.
Can’t wait to try it!
I hope you like it!! Thank you!
Is this
Possibly a street food in small towns and Seoul? I remember eating something similar from street vendors in the early 1980’s. They were my favorite item. They were sold in brown lunch bags hot out of the fryer.
Hmm.. maybe, I don’t remember this ever being street food. There are deep-fried or oven baked versions without the batter I use. I’ve seen that as street food.
Thank you for the recipe.
What type of sesame seeds do you use? Do they need to be washed and toasted?
Sure – I just wrote couple pages regarding the sesame seeds used in Korean cooking. Please read these 2 pages and let me know if you have more questions. https://kimchimari.com/ingredient/sesame-seeds/ and the one we use for cooking is this https://kimchimari.com/ingredient/toasted-roasted-sesame-seeds/ Hope that helps!