Korean Roasted Sweet Potatoes (Gun Goguma) - Toaster Oven Recipe
When people think of Korean street food, what comes to mind?
For many people, it’s Korean street toast (which I’ll share a crazy delish recipe for soon!).
But there’s another classic Korean street snack that’s just as traditional: roasted sweet potatoes, or “gun go-gu-ma.”
In the winter, when the weather was freezing cold, it used to be common to see black roasting machines on the streets selling hot roasted sweet potatoes. These days they’re much harder to find, but they used to be everywhere.
People would gather around, waiting for them to finish roasting. When they were finally ready, you’d hold one in your hands, blow on it because it was so hot, and take the first bite.
Warm, sweet, soft, and comforting. It’s one of those simple foods that brings pure happiness. Honestly, you can only understand how good it is once you try it.
The good news is that you can easily recreate this at home. If you have a toaster oven (like a Balmuda or any toaster oven), making roasted sweet potatoes is incredibly simple. The hardest step is honestly just washing the sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are easy to find at H Mart. In Korea, the most common types are chestnut sweet potatoes (bam goguma) and pumpkin sweet potatoes (hobak goguma). Pumpkin sweet potatoes are harder to find in the states, but chestnut sweet potatoes work perfectly and still taste amazing.
For an extra treat, try adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of a hot roasted sweet potato. The combination of hot sweet potato and cold creamy ice cream is unbelievably good.
Healthy, naturally sweet, and incredibly comforting! Give this simple Korean street snack a try!
Cooking Gallery
Cooking Tips
- Choose Korean sweet potatoes.
You can usually find Korean sweet potatoes with purple skin at stores like H Mart. Try to choose smaller ones, around 3 - 4 oz (about 85 - 115 g) each. If the sweet potatoes are too think or large, they can take a very long time to cook in a toaster oven. - Cut off the tip of the sweet potato.
Before putting the sweet potatoes into the toaster oven, cut off the tip of the sweet potato. This helps prevent them from bursting in the oven while roasting. - Start roasting at a lower temperature.
Korean roasted sweet potatoes should start at a lower temperature. This allows the starch to slowly convert into sugar, which makes the sweet potatoes much sweeter and more flavorful.
Korean Roasted Sweet Potatoes (Gun Goguma)
Ingredients
- Sweet potatoes (about 3–4 oz / ~100 g each), as many as you want
- Optional: 1 scoop vanilla ice cream per 1 sweet potato (highly recommended for serving)
Instructions
- Prepare sweet potatoes. Wash them well.
- Cut off both ends of the sweet potatoes before roasting.
- Roast in a 350°F (175°C) toaster oven for about 30 minutes.
- Increase the heat to 450°F (230°C) and roast for 15–20 minutes more, depending on the size of the sweet potatoes.
