Most "Korean snack boxes" sold online are a random handful of whatever was cheap that week, marked up three times. You can do better. Below are the snacks Koreans actually grew up on, what each one tastes like, and what it costs at our store today, so you can put together a box for the same price we charge at the register in Northvale.
The six-item starter box
- ChipsHoney Butter Chips
- ChipsShrimp Crackers
- SweetChoco Pie
- SweetPepero
CandyHi-Chew- DrinkBanana Milk
Those six come to about $23 at today’s prices. Add a cup noodle and you have a care package.
Chips and savory
Haitai Honey Butter Chips
Thin potato chips with a sweet honey coating and a salty butter finish. In 2014 Korea ran out of these for months and people were reselling bags online. The hype has calmed down; the chip is still very good. Expect to eat the bag in one sitting.
Nongshim Shrimp Crackers (Saeukkang)
Korea’s first snack, on shelves since 1971. Light, airy sticks with real shrimp in the dough and a salty finish. The bag is bigger than it looks and cheaper than almost anything else here. Every Korean over thirty has a story about these.
Orion Turtle Chips, Sweet Corn
Four layers of corn chip pressed together, so the crunch is loud and the texture is closer to a cracker than a chip. Sweet-corn flavor is the one everyone starts with. The newest classic on this list.
Gompyo Fried Squid Snack
Crispy strips with a deep roasted-squid taste. This is a beer snack, not a kids’ snack, and the people who like it buy several bags at a time. If you enjoy dried squid or fish jerky, start here.
Nongshim Onion Rings
Puffed rings with a sweet-savory onion coating. Light enough that a whole bag disappears during one episode of whatever you are watching. Stock goes up and down; the Nongshim collection shows what is in today.
Sweets and cookies
Orion Choco Pie
Two soft cake layers, a marshmallow middle, a thin chocolate shell. Korea’s most famous sweet since 1974 and the standard gift for army barracks and school trips. Twelve to a box, individually wrapped, so it travels well.
Lotte Pepero Original
Thin biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate. November 11 is Pepero Day in Korea because the date looks like four sticks, and people swap boxes the way Americans swap Valentine cards. Original first, then Almond and Crunchy.
Haitai Homerun Ball
Bite-size cream puffs with a chocolate cream center. Put the box in the fridge for an hour first; cold is how Koreans eat them and it makes the shell crisper.
Haitai Matdongsan
Fried wheat sticks glazed in syrup and rolled in crushed peanuts. Crunchy, nutty, a little old-fashioned, and one of the snacks older Korean customers pick up without looking at the price.
Nongshim Banana Kick
Puffed corn curls with a sweet banana coating that dissolves on the tongue. Very light, very sweet, and the one to put in a box for kids.
Orion Choco Mont
Choco Pie’s smaller, crispier cousin with a thicker chocolate shell. Good if you find Choco Pie too soft.
Orion Cosomi
Thin cookies with sesame and coconut, sweet and salty at the same time. The Korean cookie for coffee. If you add a box of Maxim coffee mix to the order you have the full Korean office break.
Candy and drinks
Hi-Chew Original Mix
Japanese, not Korean, and we are including it anyway because every box someone builds here ends up with a bag. Soft fruit chews in strawberry, grape and green apple.
Binggrae Banana Milk
The chubby yellow bottle from every K-drama. Sweet, creamy, and the right thing to drink after spicy noodles because dairy actually cools capsaicin and water does not. Sold as a pack of bottles.
Lotte Milkis
A fizzy soda with milk and yogurt notes. Sounds odd, tastes like cream soda. Original is the one to start with; strawberry and grape are in the drinks collection.
Three boxes we would build
| Box | What goes in | About |
|---|---|---|
| Kids | Banana Kick, Choco Pie, Pepero, Homerun Ball, Hi-Chew, Banana Milk | $24 |
| Movie night | Honey Butter Chips, Shrimp Crackers, Turtle Chips, Onion Rings, Squid Snack, Milkis | $24 |
| Care package | Honey Butter Chips, Choco Pie, Pepero, Cosomi, Banana Milk + a Buldak Carbonara Bowl | $25 |
Questions we get
What is the most popular Korean snack?
Choco Pie and Honey Butter Chips are the two most famous. Shrimp Crackers is the oldest and still sells steadily.
Are Korean snacks vegetarian?
Most of the sweets here (Choco Pie, Pepero, Banana Kick, Matdongsan) are vegetarian but contain milk, egg or wheat. Shrimp Crackers and the squid snack contain seafood. Check the ingredient panel on jellies for gelatin.
How long do they keep?
Chips and cookies are usually dated 6 to 9 months from production. Choco Pie and Pepero about 9 to 12. The date is printed on the back of every package.
Do you ship snacks in summer?
Yes. Nothing on this list melts easily except chocolate-coated items on a very hot day; we pack those with the rest of the order and they arrive fine.
More than 80 Korean snacks in stock, shipped from Northvale, NJ.
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