Matcha Patbingsu – Korean Shaved Ice Dessert (Super EASY!)

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The most popular and refreshing Korean summer dessert right at home! Milky shaved ice topped up with sweet red beans, cornflakes, chewy mini rice cakes, roasted shaved almonds, strawberries, a drizzle of condensed milk and some incredible creamy homemade matcha ice cream!

What is Patbingsu?

Patbingsu 팥빙수 is a popular Korean dessert made of shaved ice topped with sweet red beans and possibly other toppings. Pat (팥) refers to the sweet red beans while bingsu (빙수) refers to the shaved ice. You will mainly find bingsu in summer since it is a cold dessert, trust me having this in the middle of a hot day feels INCREDIBLY REFRESHING.

The regular patbingsu consists of shaved ice and sweet red beans only, you will even find that ready-to-go in some small cups in the supermarkets/convenience store ice cream section. In cafes, patbingsu often comes with some fruits, cornflakes, tiny rice cakes and some ice cream. You will find plenty of variations of bingsu, just like my Mango Bingsu or Strawberry Bingsu which are other popular ones.

The traditional patbingsu is made with ‘water’ shaved ice but you will also find “shaved ice” made out of icy milk. To be honest my preference goes to the MILKY ICE! It adds a sweet milky flavor to the ice which I particularly enjoy!

Do I need an ice shaver?

Patbingsu is incredibly easy to make, it’s basically just about putting ingredients together. The only thing you’ll have to make yourself is the shaved ice. The best and most convenient is to use an ice shaver, that will get you some super thin shaved ice bits, the shaved ice mountain will look light and fluffy.

But, if you don’t own any, there’s a simple method consisting in freezing milk in plastic bags and then roughly crushing the ice yourself (see instructions in the recipe below).

Which ingredients do I need to make patbingsu?

• milk – I used semi-skimmed milk which is the type of milk I normally use for everything but you can substitute it with skimmed milk, full-fat milk or even 0-lactose milk. If you prefer to make shaved very traditionally, you could also simply freeze water (in which case, omit condensed milk).
• sweetened condensed milk – sweet condensed milk brings this extra milky and sweet flavor to the shaved ice.

toppings:

• Korean sweet red bean paste – make sure not to use the Chinese red bean paste which doesn’t have red bean chunks in it and is quite different compared to the Korean one, both in terms of taste and texture.
• strawberries – I used strawberries since it complements well matcha ice cream but you can substitute for any fruits you like!
• corn flakes – you’ll often see corn flakes with bingsu, they bring this crunchy texture to the dessert.
• roasted shaved almonds – this is one of the toppings I love to add, shaved almonds especially when roasted bring this nutty flavor to the bingsu!
• mini rice cakes – in my opinion, mini rice cakes are indispensable in a bingsu! I love them, they bring this chewy texture that goes so well with shaved ice, ice cream and fruits. Trust me, don’t omit them. They can be hard to find in some Korean grocery stores abroad, mine did not have any. But they’re SO EASY to make and will take you barely 15 minutes. I’ll add the recipe in the Notes section of the recipe card if you’re interested in making them.
• condensed milk – a drizzle of condensed milk on top of the bingsu is very frequent. But you’ll also see caramel sauce and chocolate sauce.
• matcha ice cream – this recipe is a matcha patbingsu so I’ve used my homemade matcha ice cream however you can definitely substitute it with vanilla ice cream or any flavors you fancy!

How to prepare matcha patbingsu?

1. Mix milk with sweetened condensed milk. If using an ice shaver, use the provided containers to pour the milk in. Freeze them for at least 6 hours. If you do not dispose of an ice shaver, place the milk in two plastic bags, lay them flat, and freeze them for at least 6 hours.

2. Once the milk is well frozen, place the milk blocks into the ice shaver and process. If not using an ice shaver, use a rolling pin to crush the frozen milk placed in the plastic bags.

3. Add the red bean paste, then the strawberries. Sprinkle cornflakes, roasted shaved almonds, mini rice cakes.

4. Add a scoop of matcha ice cream and drizzle condensed milk on top.