Easy Sikhye (Sweet Korean Rice Drink)

posted by Holly Ford on Jan 23, 2022 (updated Dec 17, 2023) 2 comments »

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Sikhye is a traditional Korean rice drink often served after a meal. It’s a sweet, non-alcoholic beverage made from malted barley and cooked rice. This easy recipe lets you make the tasty Korean punch at home using an Instant Pot or rice cooker.

Two glass bowls of sikhye garnished with rice grains on top.

If you’ve dined in Korean restaurants, you may have been served Sikhye, a sweet Korean rice drink, after your meal. This drink is notable for a few grains of rice floating on top, adding to its unique texture and taste.

Traditionally, preparing sikhye requires quite a bit of effort. However, there’s a simpler method that greatly reduces the effort by using modern appliances like an Instant Pot, rice cooker, or slow cooker. These devices allow you to enjoy this authentic Korean beverage with much less work.

What is sikhye?

Sikhye, also known as rice drink or rice punch, is a traditional Korean non-alcoholic drink made from malt barley and cooked rice. It tastes sweet and has a unique, mild malt flavor.

It’s often enjoyed as a light dessert drink at the end of a big meal, especially during Korean festivals like New Year’s Day (Seollal) and Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok). Similar to other Korean drinks like cinnamon ginger punch (Sujeonggwa) and watermelon punch (Hwachae), sikhye is perfect for special occasions.

Sikhye offers benefits like aiding digestion and hydration. Perfect for hot summer days, a half-frozen sikhye slush is a great cool-down treat. It’s also a favorite in jjimjilbangs (Korean saunas/bathhouses) for a refreshing post-sauna drink.

While you can find canned Korean rice drink in stores, homemade tastes even better. It’s not too hard to make at home using an instant pot, rice cooker, or slow cooker.

If you are looking for plain savory drink to serve with your meal, try Korean barley tea (boricha).

Malt barley and cooked rice to make sweet Korean rice punch.

Recipe Ingredients

Malted Barely (yeot-gireum, 엿기름): You can find barley malt in any Korean market. It can come crushed, powdered, or in individual pouches. For taste, I recommend either the crushed or pouched kind.

Look for white-ish malt barley instead of brown, which contains more malt. If you can’t find barley malt, malt wheat can be substituted but it will alter the taste slightly.

Rice: Use cooked short grain white rice (no brown rice!): If you don’t have cooked rice handy, use microwavable commercially cooked rice (Hetbahn, 햇반). That’s perfectly fine!

Sugar: Sugar is added at the end of the fermentation to sweeten the drink. You can adjust the amount of sugar depending on your preference.

Additional: Some people like to add a few of slices of ginger to add a hint of spice. It’s optional.

Clean fabric pouch or a fine strainer: Use a natural fiber kitchen pouch to hold malt barley inside.

Korean rice drink stored in a glass bottle.

Cooking Tool Options

For making Sikhye at home, you can use any of the following appliances:

If you don’t have these appliances, there’s an old-fashioned Korean method involving a warm floor and blanket, similar to what Korean great-grandmothers used. However, this traditional method might not be practical for most people outside Korea.

Traditional Sikhye Preparation

Long before the advent of modern electric appliances, our ancestors in Korea relied on the ondol (온돌), a unique Korean floor heating system, for fermenting rice drinks. They would mix malt and rice, place it in a pot, and set it on the warmest part of the floor, often in the master bedroom. The pot was then covered with thick blankets to retain heat. After several hours, this traditional method produced a richly flavored rice punch, often considered superior to that made with modern appliances.

I remember my mother preparing rice punch this way during Korean holidays. She would strictly keep us away from the pot and blankets in her room. After all, she had 5 wild little munchkins and accidents always had a way of happening! 😭

How to make Sikhye

Prepare malt barley

A clean linen pouch used to hold malt barley.

A linen pouch holding malt barley in a bowl of water to make shikhye.

I prefer using a clean cotton or linen fabric pouch for the malted barley.
Fill the pouch with barley malt, tie it tightly with a string, and place it in warm water.

Don’t have a fabric pouch? You can soak the barley malt directly in the water, and rub it with both of your hands harshly to extract all the malt from the barley. Remove the barley with a fine strainer. Make sure you strain the liquid and remove all the small barley pieces.

Barley malt inside of kitchen pouch to extract the malt into the water.

While the pouch is in water, press and squeeze it several times. This helps release the malt powder from the barley into the water. Do this for 1-2 minutes.
After squeezing the pouch well to extract all the juices, discard the remaining malt barley inside the pouch..

Barley malt water is letting sit to collect the starch on the bottom.

Barley starch sinks to the bottom of bowl.

Allow the barley malt water to settle for at least 30 minutes, letting the starch sink to the bottom.
Gently pour the malt liquid into another bowl, making sure not to disturb the settled starch.
- Try to keep the sediment from falling into the new bowl (a small amount is fine). Discard the leftover starch.

Steeping rice with malt barley liquid

Cooked rice added to the instant pot to make shikhye.

Barely malt water added to the rice in an instant pot.

Put cooked rice in your Instant Pot or rice cooker and lightly break it up with a spatula. Adjust the rice amount as needed.
Add the malt water to the rice. Close the lid and set the Instant Pot to Keep Warm.
- Fermentation time varies from 4-8 hours, depending on your appliance’s heat.
It takes about 4-5 hours in an Instant Pot, while a rice cooker or slow cooker may take longer

Cook’s Tip: Seeing a few rice grains floating on top means the rice punch is well fermented. If no rice floats, give it 1-2 more hours. But don’t exceed 8 hours, as the rice can spoil.

Sugar added to the fermented Korean rice punch in an instant pot.

Fermented barley malt water and rice boiling in the instant pot.

Add your preferred amount of sugar and ginger slices (optional). Boil the punch for 5 minutes.
For an Instant Pot, use the “Saute” setting. If you’re using a rice cooker, transfer the punch to a pot and boil it on the stove.

A fine skimmer removing the foam on the sikhye (sweet rice punch).

Fermented rice soaking in a bowl of cold water.

Use a fat skimmer to remove any debris or foam from the surface of the punch.
Take a few scoops of rice from the bottom of the punch and soak them in cold water for later use.

Serving Suggestions

Sikhye is usually served in a small bowl, often with rice grains floating on top and sometimes garnished with pine nuts and jujube slices.

To get the rice grains to float, rinse them in water and set them aside until serving. This step is mainly for visual appeal and is optional in the recipe.

For a fun twist, partially freeze the sikhye and then break it into a slushy texture using a spoon or fork. Enjoy your sikhye slush!

Sikhye, Korean rice punch, served in glass bowls with jujube flower garnish.

Storage

Allow the punch to cool completely before pouring it into sterilized, airtight glass bottles. Stored in the refrigerator, it will remain fresh for up to a month. Sterilizing the bottles can extend its shelf life. Additionally, you can freeze this rice drink up to 6 months.

More Drink Recipes

If you are looking for a light beverage to enjoy after meal, Korean drink recipes come in handy. Some of my favorites are;