Patbingsu
팥빙수
Shaved ice with sweet red beans, milk and a few chewy toppings — summer dessert that is not a smoothie bowl.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 팥빙수.
0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 1 hr
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 1 hr 20 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Patbingsu is milky shaved ice under sweet azuki beans. The old-school bowl is beans, a drizzle of condensed-style milk, and maybe a rice cake. The cafe mountain with cereal and ice cream is a later cousin. This is the bean-forward bowl you can make with a blender if you do not own a shaver. The ice wants to be fluffy, not a blender slush that collapses into water. Cook azuki with sugar until the beans are soft and sweet, not salty-savoury. Condensed milk is a drizzle, not a second soup. Done is a cold mound you can fork, beans in every bite, optional rice cake still chewy; if you skip the beans you have a different café dessert; no shaver means pulsed frozen milk-ice, not ice cubes in a glass.
Ingredients
- Sweet red beans, dried, or 300g canned sweet red beans150 g
- Sugar, for the beans, skip if canned sweet80 g
- Milk, plus extra to drizzle; condensed milk if you have it120 ml
- Water, frozen into cubes, for the ice500 ml
- Garaetteok, small rice cakes, optional60 g
- Rice, toasted injeolmi-style soybean powder stand-in, optional30 ml
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
If using dried beans: soak 4 hours or overnight, then simmer in fresh water until very soft, 45–60 minutes. Stir in sugar and a pinch of salt. Cool.
60 minStep 2
Blend ice cubes with a splash of milk until snowy, or shave if you have a machine. Pile into two cold bowls.
5 minStep 3
Spoon on red beans, drizzle milk, add tteok if using. Eat before it becomes soup.
Adapt this recipe
The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 10 October.
Substitutions
Shaved ice machine → Blender snow from ice cubes
Coarser. Still cold. Still beans.
Tips
- Canned sweet azuki is how a lot of homes do this on a Tuesday.
- Fruit on top is a cafe version. Beans still have to show up.
History & culture
Summer in Korea. Also a year-round cafe order now. Red beans are the point; skip them and you have a different dessert. Family summer bowls still look like beans and milk; café mountains with cereal, ice cream and fruit are a later date-food cousin. Injeolmi crumbs are a popular extra, not a requirement. Year-round café orders exist because air-conditioning does. Red beans remain the point in the old-school bowl.
Ice desserts existed in court kitchens; the red-bean-and-milk bowl is a 20th-century popular classic that cafes keep remixing. Crushed-ice desserts have court and popular ancestors; azuki with a milky drizzle is a twentieth-century sweet-shop classic. Department-store and café 'mountains' from the 1980s onwards are remixes. We are writing the bean-forward bowl, not a mythic palace shaved-ice we cannot plate. Date the milky popular version as modern café food sitting on an older ice habit.
Traditional
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.
How long does Patbingsu take?
1 hr 20 min all in — 20 min prep, 1 hr cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 2 bowls. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Milk. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian.
What does it cost to cook?
Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Saucepan, Blender.
How much salt do I put in?
This recipe does not list a salt amount. We will not invent one.
How much sugar?
80 g (for the beans, skip if canned sweet) of Sugar.
What can I use instead?
Shaved ice machine → Blender snow from ice cubes. Coarser. Still cold. Still beans.
Any tips from this recipe?
Canned sweet azuki is how a lot of homes do this on a Tuesday. Fruit on top is a cafe version. Beans still have to show up.
Can I prepare this ahead?
If using dried beans: soak 4 hours or overnight, then simmer in fresh water until very soft, 45–60 minutes. Stir in sugar and a pinch of salt. Cool.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
Similar dishes
Checking your allergy settings…