Tteok has been enjoyed not only as desserts or seasonal delicacies, but also as meal. It can range from elaborated versions made of various colors, fragrances, and shapes using nuts, fruits, flowers, and namuls, to plain white rice tteok used in home cooking.

Some common ingredients for many kinds of tteok are red bean, soybean, mung bean, mugwort, pumpkin, chestnut, pine nut, jujube, dried fruits, sesame seeds and oil, and honey.