Sikhye (Sweet Malted Rice Drink)

Name: Sikhye (Sweet Malted Rice Drink)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 300 min
Total time: 330 min
Yield: 12 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 250 g Barley malt powder (yeotgireum-garu); 3 L Lukewarm water; 300 g Short-grain white rice, cooked firm; 120–150 g Sugar; 20 g Fresh ginger; 1 tbsp Pine nuts

식혜

Romanization: sikhye

Cooked rice steeped in barley-malt water until it sweetens and the grains float, then chilled — the traditional after-feast drink of Korean holidays.

Serves: 12
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 300 min

RegionAndong · Gyeongsang

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Recipe

Ingredients · Serves 12

250 gBarley malt powder (yeotgireum-garu)
3 LLukewarm water
300 gShort-grain white rice, cooked firmabout 2 cups cooked, from about 140 g raw rice
120–150 gSugarto taste
20 gFresh gingerthinly sliced, optional
1 tbspPine nutsto garnish

Method

Technique: Cooking Bap

Step 1: Put the malt powder in a cloth bag or fine sieve set in a large bowl, add the lukewarm water and rub and squeeze it for several minutes until the water turns milky. Discard the husks and let the liquid settle for 1–2 hours.
Step 2: Carefully pour the clear malt water off the top into a rice cooker or heavy pot, leaving the cloudy sediment behind (it makes the drink murky and bitter).
Step 3: Add the cooked rice, breaking up any lumps. Keep warm at about 60–65°C, on a rice cooker's keep-warm setting or in a pot set over the lowest heat with a thermometer, for 4–5 hours, until a dozen or more grains float to the surface. If it is too cool the rice sours; too hot and it will not sweeten.
Step 4: Scoop out the floating grains with a fine strainer, rinse them in cold water, drain and refrigerate.
Step 5: Pour the liquid into a pot, add the sugar and ginger, and bring to a boil. Simmer 5–10 minutes, skimming off the foam so the drink stays clear. Remove the ginger, cool, and chill thoroughly.
Step 6: Serve very cold in small bowls with a spoonful of the rice grains and a few pine nuts floating on top. Keep refrigerated and drink within 3–4 days.

Origin & History

Sikhye is made by steeping firm-cooked rice in water infused with malted barley (yeotgireum) at a warm, steady temperature until the malt's enzymes turn the starch to sugar and the grains float; the liquid is then boiled with sugar and served cold with the grains on top. The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture puts the contrast neatly: rice fermented with nuruk becomes liquor, while rice steeped with malt becomes a sweet drink with no alcohol. The method, temperatures and its relative gamju are described in traditional beverages.

Its early history is uncertain. Some scholars read a Goryeo poem by Yi Gyu-bo as referring to a malt drink, and Samguk yusa mentions gamju offered at rites for King Suro, but the first concrete recipe dates to about 1740 in the manuscript Somun saseol. The Korean Food Promotion Institute records a theory that the drink split off from sikhae, the fermented fish-and-grain preserve: fish, grain, salt and spice became grain and malt with spice, and finally grain and malt alone, with Andong's spicy radish sikhye as a surviving intermediate form. The early-twentieth-century cookbook Joseon musang sinsik yori jebeop preferred ordinary rice over glutinous rice for flavor and gave a quick version with malt cooked into the rice.

Sikhye has a place in ritual as well as hospitality. The folk encyclopedia notes that the head house of the Hakbong Kim clan in Andong offers the malt-softened grains instead of rice at ancestral rites, and that a lineage in Yeongam, South Jeolla, uses sikhye in place of liquor. The Korean Food Promotion Institute relays sayings that show how seriously cooks took it: a feast could be judged by its sikhye, and a fickle person was likened to sikhye in summer, which sours quickly. Once an autumn and winter drink, it is now sold year-round in cans and bottles, and both encyclopedias observe that commercial versions often taste more of sugar than malt. See jongga cuisine.

Key Ingredients

Nutrition

per serving (one glass, about 240 ml)
Calories	77 kcal
Protein	0.1 g
Fat	0 g
Carbohydrates	19 g
Fiber	2.4 g
Sodium	5 mg

From the Korean Food Composition Table entry “Sikhye, Sweet rice beverage made from malt, Canned” (식혜, 캔; per 100 g: 32 kcal, 7.9 g carbohydrate including 5.9 g sugars, all maltose, 2 mg sodium), scaled to 240 g. This is a commercial canned drink; homemade sikhye made with the recipe above contains the floating rice grains and roughly 10–12 g of added sugar per glass on top of the malt sugars, so it will be higher in calories. Sikhye is not a meaningful source of vitamins or minerals. Actual values vary with ingredients, portion size and preparation.

Health Benefits

A traditional digestif: malt is rich in starch-digesting enzymes, and Korean sources describe sikhye as the customary drink after heavy holiday meals, traditionally believed to aid digestion.
Low in fat and sodium: almost all its energy comes from sugars.
Hospitality and ritual: its role at feasts and rites is a large part of its value. See traditional beverages.

Regional Variations

Andong sikhye: rice fermented with malt water, radish, ginger and chili-tinted water into a pink, spicy, refreshing drink. See Andong.
Yuja or ginger sikhye: ginger simmered into the liquid, or yuja steeped in it and its peel floated on top.
Yeonyeop-sikhye: glutinous rice and malt wrapped in lotus leaves and steeped overnight, recorded by the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture.
Gamju: the closely related drink cooked until the grains dissolve, served warm and sweeter.

Pairings

Sources

Last updated October 13, 2026