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Korea takes fast food dessert seriously. While the rest of the world settles for soft serve or a generic apple turnover, Korean branches of global fast food chains have built cult followings around their own dessert menus, releasing limited-edition pies, tarts, and sundaes that send tourists to McDonald's and KFC just for a taste. Here are two iconic Korean fast food desserts that deserve a spot on every food traveler's list.
1. McDonald's Korea Dessert Pies: Fried, Molten, and Worth the Trip
McDonald's Korea is famous among fast food fans for one reason: its pies are still fried. While McDonald's in the United States switched to baked pies back in 1992, the Korean branches kept the original deep-fried crust, the one with a blistered, crackling shell that shatters as you bite in. The result is a hot pocket of crisp pastry with a molten filling, closer to a dessert pastry from a bakery than a fast food side.
Over the years, McDonald's Korea has rotated through limited-edition flavors that have gone viral around the world. The Rich Chocolate Pie launched in 2017 is a chocolate-on-chocolate creation, a chocolate crust filled with gooey, molten chocolate ganache. Within ten days of release, Korean Instagram and Twitter were so flooded with photos that media outlets like Mashable, Teen Vogue, and Metro News picked up the story, urging McDonald's to bring it abroad. It never officially left Korea.
The Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie That Broke the Internet
In late 2018, McDonald's Korea followed up with the Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie, a chocolate-shell pie stuffed with cream cheese and chunky raspberry jam. It became one of the most photographed fast food items of the year, sold for about 1,600 won at the time and quickly featured by Singaporean, Korean, and English-language food blogs alike. Locals had mixed feelings about how artificial the raspberry tasted, but tourists and expats lined up for it anyway. The pies are best eaten straight out of the fryer, when the filling is dangerously hot and the crust is at its crispest.
The Pie Lineup: Corn, Choco, and Seasonal Surprises
The Korean pie lineup keeps evolving. McDonald's Korea's Corn Pie, originally a Thai favorite, became one of the chain's bestselling sides after a 2019 launch event in Seoul's Sangam DMC, with most stores selling out on day one. The classic Apple Pie remains on the permanent menu, but the chain rotates in seasonal flavors like Choco Pie and the recent bite-sized chocolate churros coated in cinnamon sugar that arrived in early 2025. The strategy works: each pie release becomes a small social media event, with food bloggers documenting every new filling.
If you visit a McDonald's anywhere in South Korea, the dessert section is on the right side of the menu board. Pies usually cost between 1,500 and 2,000 won (about 1 to 1.50 US dollars), making them one of the most affordable souvenirs on the entire fast food map. Grab one with a McCafe drip coffee for an instant Korean fast food experience.
2. KFC Korea Egg Tarts: Portuguese Pastry by Way of Macau
The second dessert worth seeking out is the KFC Korea egg tart. Yes, that KFC. While American KFC long ago stopped trying to sell desserts beyond a generic cookie, KFC Korea built its dessert menu around Portuguese-style egg tarts, with a flaky, buttery pastry shell holding a wobbling, lightly caramelized egg custard. They come out warm, slightly sweet, and shockingly close to what you would find in a Lisbon bakery.
The story of how an egg tart ended up on the KFC menu is a journey across continents. The pastel de nata was perfected by Portuguese monks in Belem in the 19th century, brought to Macau by colonial merchants, then popularized across Asia in the 1990s by a British baker named Andrew Stow. KFC introduced its own version of the tart in Hong Kong in 1999, and the dessert spread to KFC menus across China, Southeast Asia, and South Korea, becoming one of the most successful regional desserts the chain has ever launched.
How KFC Korea Tarts Compare to the Pastry Shops
Egg tarts have become a full-blown trend across Seoul, with dedicated pastry shops like Nata de Nata in Seongbuk, Butter Cream Factory in Mangwon, and Tongin Sweet in Jongno each putting their own spin on the classic. Specialty shops fold their dough into 18 layers by hand and run prices from 3,000 to 5,500 won per tart. KFC Korea tarts come in at a fraction of that cost, usually around 1,500 to 2,000 won, and you can order them with a bucket of fried chicken at midnight.
Are they as refined as the artisan versions? No. But the KFC tart hits a sweet spot for travelers: hot custard, crisp shell, available almost everywhere, and bundled into combo meals that are hard to resist. KFC Korea has also rolled out limited-edition tart variations including the cheese tart, with a soft, salty cheese custard inside the same buttery shell. Both are still considered some of the better fast food desserts you can buy without making a special trip.
The Wider World of Korean Fast Food Desserts
McDonald's and KFC are not the only chains playing the dessert game in Korea. Lotteria, the homegrown burger chain that recently opened its first US store in Fullerton, California to lines several hours long, offers ice cream cones, sundaes, and a Korean version of the McFlurry called the Tornado that you can swap for fries in any meal set. McDonald's Korea also runs a steady McFlurry rotation that includes Korea-exclusive flavors like Strawberry Oreo and the newer Caramel Popcorn McFlurry, which adds buttery caramel popcorn to soft serve.
SPC Group's Baskin Robbins Korea pushes seasonal flavors like hongsi, a sorbet made with hachiya persimmons, while Burger King Korea and Mom's Touch each have their own sundae line. The fast food dessert scene is competitive, fast-moving, and constantly refreshed with regional twists you can only get inside South Korea.
How to Try These Desserts on Your Next Korea Trip
The good news is that both desserts are extremely easy to find. McDonald's Korea operates more than 400 locations nationwide, with a dense cluster in Seoul, Busan, and Incheon. KFC Korea, after years of consolidation, has been expanding again and now operates more than 200 stores. Both chains list their menus in Korean and English on their official websites, and the McDonald's app lets you order ahead in English. If you spot a pie release or limited edition tart while you are visiting, do not wait, since the seasonal items disappear quickly.
One last tip: order your pie and tart the same way the locals do, hot and straight from the warmer, paired with a McCafe Americano or a KFC zero soda. The contrast of the cold drink against the molten dessert is part of what makes Korean fast food desserts feel like a small ritual rather than an afterthought.
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