Jennie's Avocado Sandwich Recipe: The BLACKPINK Snack She Can't Stop Eating
Photo: Jennie Kim, May 2026 (CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
I have made this sandwich more times than I want to admit. Not because it's fancy. Because Jennie said one sentence in an interview and now I can't eat a sandwich without avocado on it.
Back in a 2019 Star Road episode, BLACKPINK played a "how well do you know each other" game. Jisoo answered for Jennie: sandwiches are her favorite food, and she wants avocado on top, every time. Lisa backed it up. Jennie didn't deny it. That's the whole origin story, and it's held up for years — she's mentioned avocado as a daily staple in multiple interviews since.
The Story
Jennie isn't a picky eater, but she has strong opinions. Pizza is out. Sandwiches, especially loaded with avocado, are non-negotiable. Jisoo even said BLACKPINK stopped ordering pizza for group delivery because of it — that's how firm this preference is. So this isn't a one-off comment. It's a running bit among the members, which is exactly why fans kept bringing it back up years later.
What makes this story stick around isn't the sandwich itself — plenty of idols have "favorite food" answers that fans forget within a week. It's that Jennie's answer never changed. Interviewers have brought up her diet in multiple shows since 2019, and avocado keeps showing up, whether it's in a salad, on toast, or stacked into a sandwich. For someone whose public image is built on being effortlessly selective, this is one of the few times she's been openly, repeatedly specific about liking something without qualifying it.
Ingredients (with swaps for outside Korea)
| Ingredient | Amount | Outside Korea? Use this |
|---|---|---|
| Sourdough or multigrain bread | 2 thick slices | Any hearty bakery bread — avoid flimsy sandwich bread |
| Ripe avocado | 1 whole | Same everywhere, just make sure it's actually ripe |
| Soft-boiled or fried egg | 1 | Same |
| Korean gochujang mayo | 1 tbsp gochujang + 2 tbsp mayo | No gochujang? Sriracha + mayo, 1:1 |
| Baby greens or lettuce | a handful | Arugula works great if you want peppery bite |
| Cherry tomatoes, sliced | 4–5 | Same |
| Sea salt & cracked pepper | to taste | Same |
Step-by-Step
None of this requires special equipment — a toaster, a bowl, and a pan for the egg is the entire setup. The only real technique here is timing: get the egg cooked while the bread is still warm from the toaster, so everything comes together while it's fresh instead of sitting around cooling off.
- Toast the bread until it's sturdy enough to hold a loaded sandwich without going soggy.
- Mash half the avocado into the gochujang mayo, and slice the other half.
- Spread the spicy avocado mayo on both slices of bread, thick.
- Layer greens, tomato, sliced avocado, then the egg on top.
- Season with salt and pepper, close the sandwich, and press down gently so it holds together when you cut it.
- Cut in half on a diagonal. This step is not optional. It just tastes better.
🇰🇷 How Koreans Actually Eat It
In Korea, this style of thick, egg-and-avocado sandwich is a cafe staple — you'll find versions of it at brunch spots all over Seoul, usually paired with an iced Americano. It's less of a "recipe" and more of a category: the loaded cafe sandwich, built around whatever's fresh, always finished with something creamy. Gochujang mayo is the local twist that separates it from a Western avocado toast — it adds heat without overpowering the egg.
Avocado itself is a relatively recent staple in Korean cooking — it wasn't a common grocery item a decade ago, but cafe culture picked it up fast once brunch menus started expanding past toast and pasta. Now it shows up in salads, kimbap, rice bowls, and sandwiches almost interchangeably, which is part of why Jennie's answer didn't sound unusual to Korean fans the way it might to someone unfamiliar with how mainstream avocado has become in Seoul's cafe scene.
Jamie's Tips
- Don't skip toasting the bread. Untoasted bread turns to mush the second the avocado touches it.
- Salt your avocado before you assemble, not after. It actually changes the flavor if you do it early.
- If your egg yolk is too runny, it'll slide out the side the second you bite in. Soft-boiled and sliced is more forgiving than a runny fried egg.
- Use avocado that gives slightly to a gentle squeeze but isn't mushy. Underripe avocado won't mash properly, and overripe avocado turns the whole sandwich watery.
- If you're making this for two, don't just double the mayo mix and assume it'll spread evenly — mix it in smaller batches so the ratio of gochujang to mayo stays consistent.
Want It in Seoul?
If you're chasing this exact vibe in person, head to a brunch cafe in Seongsu-dong — the neighborhood is full of them, and most menus have some version of an avocado-egg sandwich with a spicy mayo. Ask for it "maeulge," a little spicy, and you're basically eating Jennie's order. Seongsu is also where a lot of idol-adjacent cafes cluster, so it doubles as a decent afternoon if you're already in Seoul chasing K-pop landmarks — just don't expect anyone to confirm which cafe Jennie has actually eaten at, because that detail has never been officially confirmed.
The BLACKPINK Avocado Divide
Here's the part that makes this trivia answer even better: in that same 2019 game, Rosé revealed that avocado is one of her least favorite foods — the exact ingredient Jennie can't get enough of. Same group, same dorm, same shared fridge for years, and two completely opposite verdicts on one fruit. It's a small detail, but it's the kind of thing that makes a four-member group feel like four actual individual people instead of one unit with matching preferences.
Why This Combo Actually Works
Avocado is rich and a little bland on its own, egg adds protein and a creamy yolk that acts almost like a second sauce, and gochujang mayo brings the sharp, spicy contrast that keeps the whole thing from tasting flat. It's the same logic behind why avocado toast blew up globally in the first place, just built into sandwich form with a Korean spice profile layered on top. None of the ingredients are unusual on their own — the combination is what makes it worth remembering.
Recipe Card
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Serves | 1 |
| Spice Level | Mild — adjust gochujang to taste |
FAQ
Is it very spicy? No. One tablespoon of gochujang mixed into mayo is closer to a warm, savory kick than actual heat. Cut it in half if you're spice-sensitive.
Can I make it vegetarian? Yes, it already is if you skip nothing — there's no meat in the original. Leave out the egg for a vegan version and add a bit more avocado to make up the richness.
Do I have to use gochujang? No. Plain mayo with black pepper works fine. The gochujang is what makes it distinct, but the core of the sandwich is really the bread-avocado-egg combo.
What bread does Jennie actually use? That detail was never specified in the original interview — only that she loves sandwiches with avocado on top. The bread and exact build here are a fan-and-cafe-culture interpretation, not an official recipe card from Jennie herself.
Can I meal-prep this? Not really. Avocado browns fast once it's cut and mashed, so this is very much a make-it-right-before-you-eat-it sandwich. You can toast the bread ahead and keep the mayo mixed in the fridge for a day, but assemble fresh.
💬 Jamie's Take
What gets me about this one is how small the original story is. It's not a viral cooking segment or a polished recipe video — it's one throwaway answer in a friend-group trivia game that fans have kept alive for years because it says something real: Jennie knows exactly what she likes and doesn't perform indecision for the cameras. That's rarer than it should be. Also, the sandwich is genuinely good, which helps.^^
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