Roasted Peanut and Anchovy Banchan

On February 3, 2026 0 Comments - Cooking

Roasted Peanut and Anchovies:

This is one of my all time favourite Korean side dishes. It is much more common to see it called Fried Anchovy and Peanut / 멸차땅콩볶음 but this version has far more peanuts than fish so I reversed the name to Peanut and Anchovy / 땅콩멸치볶음. There are a few different grocery stores around me that sell ready made versions and I have tried all of them. Some are spicy, some are not and the ratio of anchovy to peanut is all over the place. Some are mostly anchovy, some half and half and some (in the cheaper places) are mostly nuts with just a few fish. Peanuts are cheaper than dry anchovies by far. This recipe is a mostly peanut version..which is really the one I love most. I also have an anchovy only recipe here.

Ingredients:

  • 250 grams (about 1.5 cups) dry non-roasted peanuts
  • 25 grams (1/2 cup) medium small dried anchovies
  • 45 grams (3 tablespoons) brown sugar
  • 50-60 ml (4 tablespoons) water
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic
  • pinch of korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
  • sesame oil and sesame seeds (optional but tasty)
  • olive oil for frying
Raw ingredients.

Feel free to change the ratio of peanuts to anchovies. You can even make this without anchovies for a vegan side dish.

The peanuts should be non-roasted and unsalted. I found these red skin dry (but not roasted) peanuts at a local asian grocery store. If you can’t find raw peanuts…you can substitute roasted peanuts and skip the oven step.

I am using medium small dried anchovies. They are roughly twice the length of a peanut and probably the biggest anchovy I would use without gutting them. I found these at a Korean grocery store in the freezer section.

You can use white sugar instead of brown.

Process:

On a tray, roast nuts in a single layer at 350F / 175C for 20-25 minutes.
Meanwhile, mince the garlic. Tiny dice is better than crushing the garlic into a paste.
Combine the water, brown sugar, garlic and chili flakes in a small bowl.
Mix it well until the sugar is mostly dissolved.
After around 25 minutes in the oven, the nuts with be somewhat darker, the skins will split a little and they will smell deliciously roasted. Taste one..if it still has a raw texture, put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
Once the nuts are finished roasting, drop the anchovies into a warm dry pan. Set the heat to high.
I like to mix them with my hands until they get almost too hot to handle. This will remove any moisture from the fish.
Once the fish are warmed through and dry, add some oil to start frying. I am using olive oil…around 1 or 2 tablespoons.
Add the roasted peanuts to the pot.
Mix together until everything is hot. They should already sound pretty dry and crunchy in the pan. The heat should still be set to high.
Once everything is hot, push the fish and nuts to one side and drop in the sugar, water, garlic mixture. Let it bubble and hiss until it reduces and thickens.
Once it has thickened up, stir to coat all the nuts and fish.
Keep stirring until the sugar starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. There will probably be some smoke and a strong caramel aroma.
Turn everything out onto a pan or plate to cool completely to room temperature. It will seem kind of sticky at first but once it cools completely it will have a crunchy candy coating.
After cooling, taste them and add any other seasonings you may like. You can dust a little chili flakes on them if you want them more spicy. I like to toss in some roasted sesame seeds and a squirt of good sesame oil. Store them in the fridge in an airtight container. They should last for a couple of weeks but really, they are so delicious that I am surprised if mine last even 3 days!

How to eat them

These are delicious to eat straight out of the container with a beer, like a bar snack while you watch a movie. You can, of course, serve them as a side dish to any food. Probably my favourite way to eat these is to use them as a crunchy topping on fresh salad. The deep savoury and nutty sweetness can really make a pretty plain salad extraordinary.

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