Sticky Rice Cakes With Sausage and Greens
Published Aug. 21, 2025
- Total Time
- 50 minutes
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1pound refrigerated or thawed frozen tteok sticks
- 1pound seedless cucumbers, cut 2-inch-long spears
- Salt
- 1cup ketchup
- 1tablespoon white miso
- 2teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided
- ½ cup thinly sliced scallions, plus more for garnish
- 1tablespoon black or white sesame seeds
- 2teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed if needed
- 1small yellow onion, diced
- 3garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- 3small bok choy, cut into 1-inch pieces
- Chile crisp or hot sauce (optional), for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Put the tteok in a medium bowl and add enough cool water to cover them. Run your fingers through the rice cakes to loosen any pieces that may be stuck together and allow them to soften for at least 20 minutes. (Rice cakes can be soaked in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours.)
- Step 2
Toss cucumber spears with 1 teaspoon kosher salt or ½ teaspoon fine salt in a colander and let drain in the sink.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, miso, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 cup water.
- Step 4
In a medium bowl, toss the drained cucumbers with the scallions, sesame seeds, rice vinegar and remaining teaspoon sesame oil.
- Step 5
Heat a large skillet over high until very hot. Add the sausage and spread in an even layer. Cook undisturbed until pieces start to brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, to break into tiny bits and cook through. If the pan starts to darken too much, turn the heat down.
- Step 6
Push the meat to one side and add the onion to the sausage fat on the other side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally with the sausage, until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the ketchup mixture and allow the sauce to come to a simmer, about 2 minutes.
- Step 7
Drain the rice cakes. Turn the heat down to medium and add the rice cakes to the skillet, turning the rice cakes occasionally with a wooden spoon and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the sauce has reduced and the rice cakes are soft, glossy and well coated, about 8 minutes. Stir in the bok choy and add a tablespoon of water. Cook until the bok choy is tender, about 3 minutes, then remove from the heat.
- Step 8
Serve with the cucumbers on the side and chile crisp or hot sauce if you’d like and garnish with scallions.
Private Notes
Comments
My immediate first thought upon reading the recipe would be to add some gochujang to the sauce (or replace the miso with the gochujang if you are worried about tilting too hard towards the umami side of the scale)
Made recipe exactly and this is a solid dish for anyone who likes a comforting, tasty-yet-mildly-flavored dish that can quickly come together. I found it slightly dryer than I’d like and needing a kick, so I added a mix of pantry hot sauces with some tteokbokki sauce and now we’re talking!
Sketchy exactly how? Puzzling comment.
I made this with 1/2 cup gouchujang and 1/2 cup ketchup, but it was still too sweet for me. Has anyone tried subbing the ketchup with tomato paste or tomato sauce? I might also suggest doubling the bok choy!
I was a little hesitant about the flavor combination: Italian sausage + ketchup + sesame/miso = a little odd. But it’s fantastic, fast, and easy! Used hot Italian sausage instead of sweet, plus a tablespoon of gochujang, and the spicy/sweet/sour/savory balance was excellent. This is going in the regular rotation as an easy weeknight staple.
I was skeptical, but I had a lot of ttoek to use up so I tried it. pretty good, like a very tomatoey and sweet spaghetti sauce. I did use chorizo sausage instead of sweet Italian sausage. If you hate ketchup I would skip this recipe and make regular tteokbokki instead. the bok choy is important for the texture (and you've got to eat more vegetables, right?)