Why Is Everything So Sweet? 11 Korean Foods That Surprise Foreigners
Last Updated on July 21, 2026
Coming to Korea, I thought I knew how to spot sugary food. I certainly didn’t expect so many Korean foods to be sweeter than the versions I grew up eating. I grew up in the United States, after all. We practically invented neon-colored cereal, frosting that glows in the dark, and desserts so sweet they make your teeth hurt just looking at them. Suffice to say, I thought I knew what to avoid.
In Korea, however, it isn’t usually the brightly colored desserts that catch me off guard. It’s the perfectly innocent-looking savory foods. The garlic bread. The sandwich. The pizza. The salad of all things. Foods that have absolutely no business being sweet. Somehow they look exactly like the version you grew up with, probably smell exactly like the version you grew up with too… and then you take a bite.
Surprise. Sugar.
Now, before anyone comes after me, I know tastes are cultural. Many Koreans grew up loving these flavors, just like Americans grew up putting marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers together. I’m not saying these foods are wrong. I’m just saying they’ve personally betrayed me and they’re foods that I will not go back for. The smell of garlic bread is enticing and has unfortunately tricked me far too many times in Korea. I just keep wanting to believe it will hit the spot.
Many visitors eventually ask the same question: “Why is Korean food so sweet?” The short answer is that much of Korea’s traditional cuisine isn’t. Instead, it’s many of the Western-inspired foods that have been adapted to local tastes, where balancing sweet, salty, spicy, and savory flavors is common.
Get ready to side-eye 11 foods that have no business being this sweet:
- Garlic Bread
- Stevia Tomatoes
- Tomato Juice
- Korean Corn Dogs
- Salads served with Yogurt Dressings
- Sandwiches
- Chips
- Pizza
- Spaghetti Sauce
- Cheese-Flavored Snacks
- Bburinkle Chicken
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Why Is Korean Food So Sweet?
While many traditional Korean dishes aren’t especially sweet, many Western-style foods in Korea have been adapted to local tastes that balance sweet, salty, spicy, and savory flavors in the same bite. That’s why visitors are often surprised by sweet garlic bread, pizza, sandwiches, and even spaghetti sauce. The dishes that read as “safe” and familiar are usually the ones that get you, and man they get you where it hurts.
Garlic Bread
One of the most commonly talked about too sweet for comfort foods in Korea is garlic bread. This is the ultimate culinary catfish. It smells like normal garlic bread. It looks like normal garlic bread. You confidently order it or pick it up at any local bakery because surely garlic bread is universal. You think you’re making a safe choice. You’re not.
Take a bite and you’ll quickly realize that savory garlic bread that should accompany a nice bowl of pasta is in fact sweet and you’ll never want garlic bread again. The sweetness usually comes from sugar mixed into the garlic butter. Plenty of Koreans love it, I however, am not now and never will be a fan.
Stevia Tomatoes
Tomatoes are already sweet to a certain extent. They are fruits after all, but in Korea there’s a kind of tomato that tastes more like candy than a natural sweet tomato and you’ll even find them topping cakes. The combination actually dates back decades when fresh fruit was less accessible and tomatoes were considered a colorful, refreshing topping. Plenty of Koreans have fond childhood memories of tomato-topped birthday cakes.
Stevia tomatoes have become incredibly popular in Korea. They’re grown using stevia cultivation methods that naturally increase their sweetness. The problem with these is they blend right in and when you go to shop for tomatoes at the market, you could easily buy some without realizing it. I unfortunately did that, picked some up without paying much attention assuming a tomato is a tomato is a tomato, had heard the tales of these sweetly ambitious tomatoes but had never tried one, and then I did… it was horrific.
When the expectation of a bite is a lovely lightly sweet crunch, an overly sweet candy-like forkful was too much to comprehend. I tried two and that was it… never going back for more.
Tomato Juice
Similarly, I was a bit surprised when I had my first tomato juice in Korea. In the United States the tomato juice I had was always more like cold tomato soup, it wasn’t trying to be juice really. In Korea though, the tomato juice is very much like your other sweeter fruit juices and suits the shelf next to orange juice, apple juice, and mango juice. It’s not bad, but it’s not how I like my tomato juice.
Korean Corn Dogs
One of the most popular things for tourists to try when they come to Korea, Korean corn dogs go big, the breading is fluffy, it’s a meal, but then it’s rolled in a coating of sugar. If you’ve never had one before, the sweet coating can be a surprise. Once you know it’s coming, it actually works pretty well with the salty cheese and sausage. The first bite, though? A little confusing. I’d still eat these, but I had to adapt my taste receptors.
Salads served with Yogurt Dressings
It’s like someone looked at a picture of a Western salad, saw a white sauce like Ranch or Bleu Cheese and thought, ah I know what that is, went to their nearest market, picked up some yogurt and called it a day. I’ve had salads served with strawberry yogurt, blueberry yogurt, all kinds of sweet yogurts. It’s odd. It’s not what I asked for or wanted, but that’s the way it comes out. I guess it’s healthy, but… it’s just a no for me. Who wants lettuce in their yogurt or yogurt in their lettuce?
Sandwiches
Convenience store sandwiches have gotten much better over the years, but every now and then Korea reminds you that it likes sweet surprises. Ham and cheese with strawberry jam. And the thing is, you might inspect it and think it’s ketchup you see which you can deal with… but then it’s not.
Sweet pickles. Sweet sauces. Then there’s Isaac Toast. People absolutely love Isaac Toast, and for good reason, I love them myself on certain days. For me they harken back to my first years in Korea some 20 years back when they were my best bet for a frugal fill up. But if you’re expecting a classic breakfast sandwich, be prepared for the signature sweet sauce that comes with almost everything. These are certainly not bad, I grab an Isaacs every now and again, but it is sweet and definitely not the savory breakfast sandwiches you may be expecting.
Chips
You think chips are safe. They’re not. One of the most common comments I got when I surveyed The Soul of Seoul followers was that even familiar snacks taste sweeter in Korea. Doritos. Cheetos. Potato chips. Somehow they all seem to have a little extra sweetness compared to the versions people grew up with.
It’s subtle enough that you can’t quite put your finger on it and it made me realize why when I’m abroad I love a good potato chip but somehow go off them equally fast when I’m back in Korea.
Pizza
I asked around and the masses agree, pizza is sweeter in Korea. If you’ve ever wondered why Korean pizza tastes sweet, you’re definitely not imagining it. The tomato sauce often has more sugar, sweet corn is a common topping, and then there are the sweet potato mousses, honey drizzles, and mayonnaise spirals decorating the top. All of it adds up to a sweeter taste than you may be expecting. I’ll be honest, I haven’t had a “Koreanized” pizza in decades and I wasn’t about to order one just for the picture for this article. These are pictures straight from the source because I couldn’t bring myself to eat them again.
Most… well all chains serve pizza with little cups of sweet pickle on the side as well. Honestly, I’ve gotten behind this, it’s a nice bite between cheesy slices, but the pizza itself should not be sweet. If you’re looking for a more classic New York or Italian-style pizza in Korea, you’ll usually have better luck at independent pizzerias or restaurants run by foreign owners.
Spaghetti Sauce
This is actually why I started making my own pasta sauce years ago. Finding a tomato sauce in Korea that wasn’t noticeably sweet felt like an impossible mission. Eventually I gave up. Now I buy canned tomatoes, garlic, onions, herbs, and make a huge batch myself because my pasta simply refuses to taste like dessert.
The good news is there are more imported brands available than there used to be, but sweet tomato sauce still pops up often enough that I just prefer making my own. That’s one thing you’ll learn to do in Korea if you do want the good ‘ole savory taste, cook it yourself, whatever “it” may be.
Cheese-Flavored Snacks
There’s just something about cheese in Korea. Anything with cheese is often sweetened in some way. Convenience stores are filled with “cheese” flavored crackers, puffs, breads, pastries, and snacks and this is where you’ll really spot this in action. Cheese here can often mean sweet cream cheese, sweet cheese powder, sweet cheesy frosting. It’s like one kind of cheese managed to become the standard and all of the other glorious cheeses the world over just never stood a chance.
I’ve learned that when a package says cheese, it doesn’t necessarily mean savory. It just means there will probably be cheese involved somehow.
Bburinkle Chicken
I finally tried the Bburinkle chicken and honestly was so glad we’d also ordered some normal fried chicken. Wham bam, no thank you ma’am. Bburinkle Chicken from BHC has an almost cult-like following in Korea. The chicken itself is coated in a sweet, cheesy seasoning (yep that cheese from above showcased proudly here) that’s unlike anything I’d ever had before. Then it comes with the famous Bburinkle dipping sauce, which somehow manages to be sweet, creamy, tangy, and even sweeter all at once.
Some people absolutely love it, the kids from my daughter’s class who were with us for dinner last week among them, but I’m not one of those people. If you like sweet-and-savory combinations, you may understand the hype. If you’re expecting classic fried chicken, though, prepare for a very different experience. Generally though, Korean fried chicken is amazing, so go classic and you’ll be satiated.
FAQ
Why is Korean pizza sweet?
Korean pizza sauce often has more added sugar than Western versions, and toppings like sweet corn, sweet potato mousse, and honey drizzles are common. It’s a deliberate flavor choice, not a mistake.
Is Korean garlic bread sweet?
Yes. Most garlic bread in Korea is made with sugar mixed into the garlic butter, giving it a sweet flavor rather than the purely savory taste common in the West.
Is all Korean food sweet?
No. Traditional Korean dishes like kimchi jjigae, samgyeopsal, and sundubu jjigae are savory and spicy rather than sweet. It’s mainly Western-inspired foods adapted to Korean tastes, like pizza, bread, and sandwiches, that tend to be sweeter than visitors expect.
Why do Korean snacks taste sweeter than Western versions?
Many familiar snack brands sold in Korea, including chips and cheese-flavored products, are formulated with local flavor preferences in mind, which often lean sweeter than the original Western recipes.
The funny thing is that most traditional Korean food isn’t overwhelmingly sweet. Your bowl of kimchi jjigae isn’t secretly dessert. Samgyeopsal isn’t sprinkled with sugar. Sundubu jjigae isn’t trying to trick you.
It’s often the foods Korea adopted from elsewhere that are surprisingly sweet: breads, pizzas, pasta, sandwiches, fried chicken, convenience store snacks, and baked goods. In other words, they’re the foods I recognize instantly and am ready to devour.
You think you’re making a safe choice. You’re not. Eventually, you learn that in Korea, it’s usually the familiar-looking foods that surprise you the most.
Over time, many of these foods were adapted to Korean tastes, which often favor a balance of sweet, salty, spicy, and savory flavors in the same bite. Sometimes it works brilliantly. Sometimes it leaves foreigners staring at a slice of Korean garlic bread, wondering what exactly just happened in their mouth.
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