What Pizza Seolgi Actually Is

Start with seolgi. It is a family of Korean rice cakes made by steaming rice flour into a soft block, and baekseolgi, the white one, is the plainest of all: rice flour, water, a pinch of salt and a little sugar, nothing more. It turns up at baby's 100th-day celebrations and on the counter of every neighborhood tteok shop, and it has never been anyone's idea of an exciting snack.

Pizza seolgi changes that by treating the rice cake as a pizza base. A square of baekseolgi gets a layer of tomato sauce, melted cheese and toppings such as pepperoni, ham and sweet corn. The name simply joins the two words: pizza plus seolgi. What you get is not crisp like a crust. The base stays soft and slightly crumbly, the mild rice flavor sits under the salty cheese and sauce, and the whole thing eats more like a warm savory cake than a slice.

Korean news reports trace the idea to a family-run tteok shop in Yeongdo, Busan, where a younger generation had been mixing trendy foods into traditional rice cakes. Since then, shops all over the country have added their own versions, so there is no single recipe. Some stick close to a classic pepperoni pizza; others add sweet potato, bulgogi or corn cheese.

How a Market Rice Cake Went Viral

Pizza seolgi spread the way so many Korean food trends do now: through short videos of someone pulling apart a warm square while the cheese stretches. According to keyword data from the analytics platform Sometrend, cited by CU, social media mentions of pizza seolgi went from fewer than 100 in April 2026 to about 2,000 in August and more than 10,000 in September. Fans began sharing maps of shops that sell it.

The trend also gave Korean a new word: tteokjisullye, a play on "rice cake" and "pilgrimage," for traveling from one tteok shop to the next to try their versions. Many of those shops sit inside traditional markets, which is part of the fun. In September, Korean reporters found lines forming before the morning batch came out of the steamer at Myeonmok Market in eastern Seoul, where a piece cost 2,000 won, and shoppers of every age waiting alongside twenty-somethings who first saw it on Instagram. If you like this kind of wandering, our guide to Seoul's traditional markets is a good companion.

Bigger names followed. Pizza Hut Korea added its own Pizza Hut Pizza Seolgi on October 8, a cup-sized version sold at its stores nationwide for 3,900 won. CU and GS25, Korea's two largest convenience-store chains, came next with packaged versions, the same way GS25 brought Hanjungsun's viral fruit chapssaltteok to its shelves earlier this fall.

Where to Buy It: Tteok Shops, CU, GS25 and Pizza Hut

You have four options, and they are not the same product.

• Neighborhood tteok shops. This is the original format: baekseolgi baked or warmed with toppings, usually sold by the piece for around 1,500 to 2,000 won. Popular shops make it in batches, post the times and often sell out, so mornings are your best bet. The easiest way to find one near you is to search 피자설기 (pizza seolgi in Korean) on Naver Map or Kakao Map.
• CU: Pizza Jeolpyeon. On sale since October 8 as a regular item, not a limited run, for 3,800 won. CU swapped the base for jeolpyeon, a pounded rice cake that is chewier and more elastic than seolgi, then added tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, corn and olives. The 160-gram pack is kept chilled, so look in the refrigerated dessert case for a red-and-yellow box marked "Pizza Rice Cake" in English.
• GS25: Sulbing Pizza Seolgi. Made on a baekseolgi base with pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni and corn, and sold frozen: 130 grams, two 65-gram pieces, 3,900 won. The orange pack carries the logo of Sulbing, the Korean dessert cafe chain known for its bingsu. GS25 is taking 5,000 pre-orders from October 26 to 31 in its Korean-language app, Uri Dongne GS, and the regular in-store launch at GS25 branches nationwide is set for November 5.
• Pizza Hut Korea. Its cup version, 3,900 won, layers milk seolgi made with Korean rice and milk under Pizza Hut's sauce and a three-cheese mix of gouda, provolone and mozzarella. Pizza Hut launched it at its stores nationwide, with ordering online and through delivery apps as well.

On a short trip, a pre-order app built for local shoppers may not be worth the effort. From November 5, you can simply walk into a GS25 and check the freezer case for the orange pack, which spells out "Pizza Seolgi" in English under the Korean name. If you don't see it, ask at the counter: "Pija seolgi isseoyo?" means "Do you have pizza seolgi?"

How to Heat, Store and Eat It

Warm is the whole point. Rice cake firms up as it cools, and the cheese needs a little heat to come back to life. CU suggests about 20 seconds in the microwave for its Pizza Jeolpyeon, and most Korean convenience stores keep a microwave for customers, so you can eat it on the spot. GS25's Sulbing Pizza Seolgi goes from freezer to microwave without thawing; follow the time printed on the pack.

Storage is where rice cake differs from bread. Seolgi turns hard quickly in the fridge as its starch sets, which is exactly why GS25 chose to sell its version frozen. For a fresh piece from a tteok shop, the simplest rule is to eat it the same day, ideally while it is still warm from the batch.

Make it part of a bigger snack run. A pizza seolgi, a canned coffee and something sweet from the dessert case is a very Seoul afternoon, and our guide to Korean convenience store food has more ideas for what to put in the basket.