Korean egg bread is a popular Korean street food. It makes a perfect brunch or snack. Now, let’s make it at home!
The other day I shared a photo of Korean street style egg bread (Gyeran bbang ,계란빵) on my Facebook page and one of the readers asked where the recipe was. I didn’t have it. In fact, I’ve never had this famous Korean street food, egg bread, in my life! I was surprised about this fact myself. How could this be!
Anyhow, I promised that I would share a recipe some time in the future but I was quite eager to try it out myself sooner rather than later. So I went on my quest in search of a decent egg bread recipe shortly after.
What is Korean Egg Bread (Gyeran Bbang)?
Egg bread is a popular winter street food in Korea along with Sweet pancakes (Hotteok, 호떡). Based on other people’s descriptions, it has a somewhat similar taste to corn muffin with egg and has a slight sweet and salty taste at once. Below is a picture of egg bread sold in Seoul.
(Image source: http://www.foodquesttv.com)
There are a couple of variations to this egg bread. Some look like a sandwich as in the above picture: the egg is in between bread batter.
For other ones, egg is right on top of the bread, so you can clearly see the egg yolk. Also, interestingly, some people mentioned that some vendors squeeze in some tomato sauce on top of the bread too.
So I decided to make mine with all these variations incorporated, as below.
- Plain egg bread: Batter + Egg
- Cheesy bacon egg bread: Batter + Egg + Cheese + Bacon + Parsley flakes
- All in one egg bread: Batter + Egg + Cheese + Bacon + Parsley flakes + Tomato sauce + Mayonnaise (Our favourite choice but not necessarily the street style)
I was also going to try the sandwich style egg bread: Batter + Egg + Batter, however my muffin tray was too shallow for this to work, so I left this combination out. 😉
While I can’t verify how similar my egg bread is to the street style in taste, I definitely enjoyed having this special egg bread for my afternoon snack! I also think it will be good for a late Saturday/Sunday morning brunch.
It’s now your turn to cook up and have fun with this simple yet joyful (at least it makes me happy) dish. Tell me what you think of it and what is your favourite combination! I hope you enjoy my recipe!
Ingredients for Korean Egg Bread (Gyeran Bbang)
(Serves 6 to 8 depending on the size of your bakeware)
Main
- 2/3 cup self-raising flour
- 1/3 cup castor sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground salt
- 1 large egg (for batter)
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/3 cup melted salted butter (75g/2.6 ounces of butter before melting)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
- 6 small eggs (for individual bread)
- Pinch of ground salt (to sprinkle on top of the egg yolk)
- A bit of melted butter (to brush onto a muffin tray)
Optional
- 1 slice of cheddar cheese
- 1 slice of ham or bacon
- Dried parsley flakes
- Tomato sauce (Ketchup)
- Mayonnaise
* 1 Cup = 250ml
How to Make Korean Egg Bread
1.Preheat oven to 180 degree C (350 degree F) for 20 mins.
2.Brush some melted butter on the individual muffin holes of the tray.
3.Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl.
4.Mix 1 egg (for batter), milk, butter, vanilla essence in a small bowl and whisk them well.
5.Combine 3 and 4 above in the large bowl and mix them well. (I used a hand mixer.)
6.Scoop out some batter (from step 5) onto the muffin tray. Fill 1/3 of the muffin hole first then add the egg on each muffin hole. (Optionally, you can add any of the optional ingredients listed above per your liking.)
7.Put the muffin tray in the oven and bake it for 25 mins.
8.After 25 mins, take the tray out and check whether it’s all cooked. (You can test this by sticking in a skewer or toothpick through the bread. If the skewer/toothpick is clean – no batter came out – then it is all cooked.)
9.Cool the tray down for 3-4 mins.
10.Carefully take out the egg bread and enjoy!
Note
- You can use ramekins if you don’t have a muffin tray.
- If you fill more than 1/3 of the muffin hole, the batter can overflow.
- While the bread tastes best when it’s just came out of the oven, you can keep the leftover in a fridge (but preferably no more than 24 hours) and microwave it the next day. It’s not as good as freshly cooked bread , of course, but it’s still good. Keep the leftovers in a well sealed container.
How to Make Korean Egg Bread (Gyeran Bbang)
- 2/3 cup self raising flour
- 1/3 cup castor sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground salt
- 1 large egg (for batter)
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/3 cup melted salted butter (75 g / 2.6 ounces of butter before melting)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
- 6 small eggs for individual bread
- Pinch fine sea salt to sprinkle on top of the egg yolk
- Some melted butter to brush onto a muffin tray
- 1 slice cheddar cheese
- 1 slice ham or bacon
- Some Dried parsley flakes
- Some Tomato sauce (Ketchup)
- Some Mayonnaise
-
Preheat oven to 180 degree C (350 degree F) for 20 mins.
-
Brush some melted butter on the individual muffin holes of the tray.
-
Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl.
-
Mix 1 egg (for batter), milk, butter, vanilla essence in a small bowl and whisk them well.
-
Combine 3 and 4 above in the large bowl and mix them well. (I used a hand mixer.)
-
Scoop out some batter (from step 5) onto the muffin tray. Fill 1/3 of the muffin hole first then add the egg on each muffin hole. (Optionally, you can add any of the optional ingredients listed above per your liking.)
-
Put the muffin tray in the oven and bake it for 25 mins.
-
After 25 mins, take the tray out and check whether it's all cooked. (You can test this by sticking in a skewer or toothpick through the bread. If the skewer/toothpick is clean - no batter came out - then it is all cooked.)
-
Cool the tray down for 3-4 mins.
-
Carefully take out the egg bread and enjoy!
I was an ESL instructor ii Taegu, So Korea from 1992-1994 and often ate lunch in the mkts. I am now 80 yrs old and will have a hip replacement surgery soon. What light Korean dishes would be suitable for this heealing period? Please advise. Thank you.
I made it and this egg bread tasted soooo good!! It tastes exactly like the eggbread I Always eat in Korea.
Thank you so much for this recipe
Really?! Awesome! 🙂 Thanks for that.
Thanks for the recipe. This is simple to make for weekend brunch. I alter it to make it gluten free but turn out really well. Checking out other recipes for tonight as we love Korean food. 🙂
That’s awesome! Hope you enjoy my other recipes too! 🙂
I LOVE this recipe! I’ve made it time and time again, and everyone is always so amazed at the beauty but then the taste afterwards! I like putting a bit of sliced Canadian bacon and green onions in my bread. It is so simple and relatively inexpensive as well that even a penniless college student like myself can whip up several batches without worrying too much about the price. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks Kim! Happy to hear that! 🙂
Do these freeze well?
Hi Jen, I haven’t frozen them before so you will have to find it out yourself. Fingers crossed! Let me know how it goes though. 🙂
I love this recipe, and have used it alot, (but with sriracha instead of the tomato sauce) It’s awsome, thank you.
Wow, using sriracha sauce for this recipe is a very interesting take! Regardless I’m happy that you are enjoying it so much! That’s all that matters after all. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe, your photos are lovely too! I tried making these with some of the alterations that others suggested and wrote about them on my blog. Thanks again! 🙂
I’ll check out your version now! Thanks for trying it out. 🙂
Hi! Is it ok not to add vanilla essence?
Hmmm, I’ve always added vanilla essence in this recipe so I don’t know what the outcome’s going be like without it. But it’s mainly there for the flavour so if you don’t want it, I guess it’s OK to not add it. 🙂
Hi. Thank you for the recipe! I tried to make it for my roommate’s birthday since she said she enjoyed the egg bread she had in Korea, but my bread turned out doughy and the egg was hard. 🙁 Also, would it be ok to use multi-purpose flour? Thank you! 🙂
Hi Jackie,
Yes, you can use multi purpose flour as long as it’s self raising. If not, you will have to add some raising agent such as baking soda. Though I can’t give you the exact Qty as I haven’t tried it this way.
Sorry to hear your egg bread didn’t turn out well. I’m not sure why yours turned out doughy. For the egg, your oven temperature may have been set a bit higher than it should or you cooked it a bit longer than it should. Most likely your oven would be different to mine, so I recommend you experiment your oven setting and cooking time a bit. I hope your next one turns out well!
hello, how do you stop the egg from overcooking and getting dry?? mine comes out crispy not white like yours… also i use a fan oven..would it still be 180 degrees??
Hi Vivi,
I can think of two ways you can stop the egg from overcooking .
1. Lower the temperature from the beginning (pre-heating stage) or
2. Taking the egg out earlier than 25 mins, say 20 mins as an example.
Regarding your fan forced oven (reminds you, I’m not a baking expert), you could bake 20C lower than 180C. That being 160C. Because, when I do cookie baking from the pre-mix packet, it often says to lower 20C if you’re using a fan-forced oven.
Bottom line is, you need to experiment a bit more with your temperature and baking time as everyone’s oven is different.
I hope you get the right egg texture next time! Let me know how you go. 🙂
Hi Sue: what is the degree to bake for 25mins? Thanks
Hi Vincent. It is baked at 180 degree C (350 degree F). It’s the same temperature for preheating.
I used to eat this every Saturday morning near the bus terminal when I was in Pyeongtaek, on my way to the Air Bass. They were sold alongside the sweet bread baked into the shape of a walnut, with walnut paste inside. They were always so good, a bit sweet, and salty. Much better than any egg mcmuffin you’d get anywhere else. This brings back great memories.
You can’t compare walnut cake with egg bread. They’re completely different snacks. Walnut cake is more of a dessert type and egg bread is more of a breakfast/brunch type. 🙂 But I do agree that walnut cake is my personal favourite too! It’s been my favourite since I was very little. I’m planning to post walnut cake recipe one day on my blog. So stay tuned!
Hi Sue:
May I know the degree used to bake the batter for 25mins? And the heat is both blowing from up and down?
Thanks for your verification.
Hi Vincent
It is baked at 180 degree C (350 degree F) – It’s mentioned in the step 1. 🙂 Also my oven doesn’t blow heat from up and down. It’s an electric oven with 56L capacity and it’s not fan forced.
Can’t wait to try this out! I wanted to make this since I watched it on ‘The Return Of Superman” lol
I hope you like it Wendy! I don’t recognise the TV show you’re referring to but thanks for stopping by!
OMG..SAME HERE!! I also watched it on that show and have been meaning to make this..thanks for posting this awesome recipe~ ^_^
Me third.. lol.. craving for some sweet egg bread after watching Superman Is Back. Thanks a lot for the recipe Sue 🙂
I hope you get to try the recipe. I really should watch Superman is back. You guys are making me curious. 🙂
Haha. Me too. I watched Jang Hyunsung, the “amateur cook”, made this for his kids and neighbour on Return of Superman. Looked delicious so i tried the recipe. Thanks.
i’d like to try these. they look great!
Hi Dina, Give it a go! I hope you like it. 🙂
I LOVE learning about street food. My mom visits Korea often but I’ve never been yet. I never heard or tried this dish, so it was fun learning about it. At first shape looks like red bean paste dessert we have in Japan, but this one is completely savory and I’d love to try this one out! Hope you are feeling great! 🙂
You should visit Korea and try variety of street food! I’m sure you’ll enjoy them. There’re so many of them even I haven’t tried yet. 🙂
This is SUCH a cute cute dish!!! A whole egg inside a soft fluffy egg muffin, yum! It looks gorgeous and perfect for packed for lunches or picnics! I first came across this in a korean drama- and was obsessed with finding a recipe for it. Yum!
Thanks Shu! I hope you get to try this recipe!
So cute! They look like savoury muffins with eggs! Most of all they remind me of egg “baskets” I bake from flattened slice of bread, baked in muffin moulds. Your recipe sounds more difficult of course, but I bet it’s totally worth it.
Thanks Sissi! Yes, it’s totally worth it. I was afraid of making it at first (as I’m not much of a baking person) but since I know how easy it is, I get tempted to make this mmore often. 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever had this bread before. Looks quite intriguing. I remember having something similar (the same oval shape) that has sweet red beans inside but forgot the name of it. Love the idea of using the cupcake pan.
hmmm I’m not sure what would that be… All I can think of is Bungeoppang 붕어빵. 🙂
This is like eggs in the basket but better 😀 I love all your ideas, and I can’t wait to try all three. Thanks for sharing Sue, and have a great rest of the week!
Thanks Sandra! I just looked up what “eggs in the basket” is. I’ve never heard of it. 🙂 I hope you get to try this. I’m sure you will like it. 😉