Ginseng chicken soup (samgyetang in Korean) is a hot, steaming, delicious dish that features a small chicken stuffed with rice, ginseng, garlic, and  jujube. You have to commit to eating a whole chicken all by yourself when you sit down for a bowl of samgyetang! But it’s totally worth it.

Koreans traditionally eat this dish during the hottest days of summer as a way to keep up their energy and to balance their body heat with the weather outside. We have a saying: Yi yeol chi yeol (以熱治熱: 이열치열), which means “fight fire with fire.” If it’s hot outside, you have to overcome it with hot soup!

A while ago I ran into one of my readers in a restaurant here in New York. He was sitting at a table with his friend. The first thing he said was: “Oh man, Maangchi!! I can’t believe I ran into you here!” We talked for a while and I asked him what his favorite recipe of mine was. He answered “Samgyetang” and told me how he often made it for himself and his mother. I was very impressed!

Koreans designate the 3 hottest days of a year as sambok (3 bok: 삼복) and their dates vary from year to year but they usually fall in July and August. First is chobok (beginning), and then 10 days later is jungbok (middle), and 20 days after that is malbok (last).

During this time, well-known samgyetang restaurants will be lined up outside, and inside they are full of diners eating hot, steamy, ginseng-infused soup, with sweat trickling down their foreheads as they fight fire with fire! Housewives make samgyetang for all her family, too. I usually prepare samgyetang and cold watermelon. After finishing hot samgyetang, finish with cold watermelon. The contrast makes your body feel shocking cold.

So if you like to follow Korean tradition, you can join them in 2015 on July 13 (chobok), July 23 (jungbok), and August 12 (malbok). Let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients

  • 2 cornish hens. Each hen weighs about 1½ pounds, a nice portion for 1 person.
  • ½ cup short grain rice (or glutinous rice), rinsed and soaked in cold water for 1 hour.
  • 2 fresh ginseng roots, washed
  • 2 large dried jujubes, washed
  • 16 garlic cloves, washed and the tips are removed
  • 2 to 3 green onions, chopped
  • kosher salt
  • ground black pepper

fresh-ginseng (susam: 수삼) cornish-hens

For the sesame dipping sauce:

For sweet sour soy dipping sauce:

  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon honey (or sugar)
  • ½ a medium size onion, cut into chunks
  • 1 Jalapeno (or green chili pepper), chopped

Directions

Make the dipping sauces:

  1. Combine salt, sesame seeds, ground black pepper, and toasted sesame oil in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
    sesame salt dipping
  2. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, and honey (or sugar) in another bowl. Mix well with a spoon. Add onion and jalapeno. Set aside.
    soy-dipping

Cook the chicken:

  1. Strain the rice.
  2. Remove the giblets from the hens and rub them with salt all over to clean them nicely. Rinse under cold running water.
  3. Put the hens on the cutting board, pat dry, and remove any extra fat around the body cavities with kitchen scissors. Cut off the tips of wings if you want.
  4. Stuff each hen with rice, 1 ginseng, 1 jujube, and 8 garlic cloves. Put any leftover rice in the pot.
  5. Place the hens into a heavy pot. Add 8 cups of cold water, cover, and cook over medium high heat for 30 minutes.Samgyetang making (삼계탕)
  6. Turn down the heat to medium and cook another 40 minutes until the chicken, ginseng, and rice turn soft. Open up the pot from time to time and ladle some broth from the bottom over top of the chickens. If the broth evaporates too much, add more water.
  7. Remove from the heat.samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup: 삼계탕)samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup: 삼계탕)

Serve:

  1. Place each hen into 2 individual bowls and add the chicken and broth. Sprinkle with chopped green onion and ground black pepper. Serve with kimchi, the 2 kinds of dipping sauce, and a small bowl of salt on the side for seasoning.
  2. If you serve them in earthenware pots, preheat the pots with a little water inside (about 2 tablespoons) and add the chicken and broth. Let them sit in on the heat until the samgyetang starts to sizzle. Then remove from the heat and sprinkle green onion over top and grind some black pepper. Serve hot with the dipping sauce, kimchi, and a small bowl of salt on the side for seasoning. 

Samgyetang

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203 Comments:

  1. yantiyanti Czech joined 7/18 & has 1 comment

    Hi manchii!!!!

    Can I have Samgyetang Hmota during pregnancy and also confinement (after delivery baby)? I appreciate for your advice.

  2. jonah36 4231 rundlehorn drive ne,Calgary joined 1/18 & has 4 comments

    Hi maangchi thanks for your recipe,i love it so delicious even without juju and ginseng root.


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  3. chrisnnho87 melbourne, victoria, australia joined 5/18 & has 1 comment

    Hi Maangchi,
    I cannot find any fresh or freshly frozen korean ginsengs in melbourne, australia, so would that still be authentically delicious if i use dried korean ginseng roots soaked in water over night to cook it? i hope it does not turn out too medicinal

    Thank you!

  4. sanne Munich joined 8/14 & has 309 comments

    It’s freezing cold here in Munich (and will even get much colder from Sunday on) – so I made a (heart-)warming dish today. Guess what! ;-)
    While eating it, I had so many good memories of where and when we had 삼계탕 in Korea – including prepared with precooked filling and rotary-grilled.
    There was a tom-cat there named “나비” (butterfly) – not a stray, but still, he was begging for the gristle. Afterwards, he lay on the (not at all busy back then) road and took a nap. ;-)
    Our cat must be of Korean heritage, she does the same – except for a soft cushion on the couch after enjoying the 인삼-flavored gristle… ;-D

    Bye, Sanne.

  5. Dayane Delaqua Brazil joined 2/18 & has 2 comments

    I looked around all my city and I don’t find jujuba or ginseng root. I just find ginseng powder. How can i substitute?

  6. CallMeNuna Malaysia joined 11/17 & has 3 comments

    Maangchi, just made this recipe today. I could not finish the whole bowl however. I shared it with my sister! I thought it was delicious. I feel like i want to have it as often as possible. It is possibly my new soul food ❤ oh and I had it with homemade kimchi. Your recipe is delicious and I make kimchi so often now I have memorized it thank you so much for providing the means to explore Korean cooking. 감사합니다~

  7. gretta.o MN, USA joined 9/12 & has 1 comment

    This was the first dish I had when I went to Korea in summer. So excited to try and make it myself! Thanks for the recipe!! :D

  8. Glo13 California joined 10/17 & has 1 comment

    Hello Maangchi,
    I bought a fresh ginseng in the korean store and excited to make my first ginseng chicken. But I still have a lot of left over of ginseng, I want to know how I can keep them for later use and how long i can keep them?

  9. Lovely20032003 New York joined 6/17 & has 3 comments

    My first time making Ginseng Chicken Soup and it came out perfect and delicious!!
    Thank you so much for this recipe! My family loved it!


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  10. cecilia chile south america joined 5/17 & has 2 comments

    Hi Maangchi ! May you help me ? I`m so happy because I bought this bag specially for cooking samgyetang. But ¿ what is this ? ¿ pieces of wood ? Do you know it ?
    I´m enjoying so much your blog and youtube`s videos. Thanks to you I`m prepare tasty kimchi ! ñami !


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  11. HoosierMama Virginia joined 10/16 & has 1 comment

    Hi Maangchi!! Could this be prepared family style with a larger roaster size chicken? My kids have have an aversion to Cornish hens because they look like baby chickens :-(.

    • sanne Munich joined 8/14 & has 309 comments

      Prepare the chicken without the rice, but with everything else (let it simmer until it’s tender), take it out of the pot, keep it warm, remove the oily fat on the broth and cook the rice in the broth.
      Tear or cut the chicken in suitable pieces. Serve it on a big plate and the juk in individual bowls. Dipping sauces as usual.
      We had it this way with friends after harvesting daeju. With lots of banjan and somek… ;-)

      Bye, Sanne.

  12. jmy NJ joined 9/16 & has 1 comment

    Hi, maangchi. Do you have some tips for making samgyetang for a large group? Would you put many hens into one extra large pot? Thank you for your help!

  13. sanne Munich joined 8/14 & has 309 comments

    Tomorrow evening I will cook this – it will be 말복 in Korea then.

  14. LauraCooks USA joined 7/16 & has 1 comment

    Maangchi, thank you for this recipe! I have been wanting to make this for a long time.
    Is there any difference for cooking Samgyetang in a dolsot? I am thinking about splitting this recipe so I can just make one. 감사합니다!

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments

      “Is there any difference for cooking Samgyetang in a dolsot?” You can cook samgyetang either in a regular pot or in a dolsot. I would make samgyetang in a large pot so that you can cook it more easily without it boiling over, and then transfer it to a dolsot for serving. Good luck!

  15. reesejin corona joined 4/10 & has 1 comment

    I’ve made this dish so many times now. It’s super easy to make and my husband loves it! Thank you Maangchi for sharing your recipes!

  16. gel122190 Davao City, Philippines joined 7/16 & has 3 comments

    Hi Maangchi!

    I am from the Philippines and I don’t know where to find Ginseng root or Ginseng powder. I also have a lot of allergies and I don’t know if I’ll be allergic to Ginseng.. Any advice on what alternative I could use in place of Ginseng? I really want to try this, specially during colds/sickness season. Thank so much.

  17. RosalinaS Indonesia joined 2/16 & has 8 comments

    Hi Maangchi and all

    I need help here. I am about to buy ginseng in Seoul but I read from internet there are 3 types of ginseng – susam, baeksam, hongsam. which one of these type you use to make ginseng chicken soup above?? Any advise how I choose good quality ginseng?

    I read one of the comments I can substitute it with 1tbs ginseng powder, any recommended ginseng powder brand you have? Thank you!!

  18. Mi Heui Iran - Tehran joined 5/16 & has 18 comments

    Hi dear in my country just have a dried ginseng. for make 삼계탕 how many times i should ginseng soaked in water?!
    감사합니다 ^^

  19. Mi Heui Iran - Tehran joined 5/16 & has 18 comments

    Hi dear in my country just dried ginseng. for make 감계탕 how many times i should ginseng soaked in water?!
    감사합니다 ^^

  20. Kandracar Mesa, Arizona joined 1/15 & has 4 comments

    hi maangchi i bought this package of dried veggies but i don’t know if is good to use it to make this dish, and is yes how to use it.


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    • jaekoh Los Angeles, CA joined 11/13 & has 4 comments

      Kandracar,

      My assumption is going to be that it should be fine to use this but since the veggies look like they’re frozen(?) they might not taste the same. This package does say it’s for the same recipe… but I always try to go for the fresh ingredient route.

  21. hi Maangchi
    I don’t have a ginseng root..can i use a ginseng powder? And how many tea spoon does i need? Thank you before..

  22. pp_123 Hong Kong joined 12/14 & has 9 comments

    Maangchi I found out that my soup turned out to be kinda yellowish instead of having that beautiful white colour. Is it something to do with the chicken I used? The chickens we commonly eat here in Hong Kong are rather big in size and the chickens’ skin is kind of yellowish. My first attempt of following this recipe didn’t go so well. The taste was good but the soup somehow became very thick and it looked like some kind of chicken porridge lol. I think I must have cooked it for too long over high heat…

    • pp_123 Hong Kong joined 12/14 & has 9 comments

      Maangchi, your comment doesn’t sound like making samgyetang lol

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments

      ” I found out that my soup turned out to be kinda yellowish.. ”
      I thought you talked about ox bone soup! lol
      It’s normal the color of samgyetang turns out a little dark because of ginseng and jujubes. Use less ginseng and skip jujubes (or use only 1) if you like to make yours milky.

      “the soup somehow became very thick.” I would add more water to thin it out before serving. Good luck! : )

  23. Lynlyn Sweden joined 10/14 & has 1 comment

    hi Maangchi

    Im just wondering is it necessary to have jujubes on the soap? because its hard to find jujubes here, and i really want to cook your Samgyetang,..

  24. nemeriza82 philippines joined 8/14 & has 1 comment

    Hi just wanna ask if i could use other pot like stainless pot.since i dont have that kind of pot you are using. Thank you

  25. Raymond Singapore joined 12/13 & has 1 comment

    Great video, easy to follow steps. First time making, the taste was great but not enough soup at the end and the chest meat was still not as soft as those Korean stall.
    Next time I need a bigger cooking bowl and cook it longer. :)
    The sweet rice was finger licking good.

    Thanks for the video.

  26. virulain United States joined 4/12 & has 5 comments

    I found a samgyetang “kit” with the sticky rice, dried jujubes, and dried ginseng in it at our small, local Korean grocery and remembered that I always see this in my Korean cookbooks and on your site, Maangchi! Tonight I will try to make it using your recipe as guidance, since I cannot read Korean well (yet). My husband is excited to try it; maybe 어머님 will be impressed when he tells her I made it, haha!

  27. mabellth Australia joined 6/13 & has 3 comments

    Hi Maangchi,

    Is the soup suppose to not add salt and pepper? :)

  28. ana lee malaysia joined 8/12 & has 5 comments

    Hi maangchi..
    where can I get the sweet rice? Can I just substitute with Thai’s sticky rice?? or normal rice???

  29. MeepKitty Florida joined 10/12 & has 9 comments

    Hi Maangchi! Thankyou for the great recipe!! The weather has been chilly lately, and my boyfriend fell into sickness..so I was in search for a good healing soup for him and decided this was the one..~ I added some small carrot pieces and shredded the chicken and placed it back into the soup so it was easier to eat.The balance of flavours were soooo good (:. He told me this soup reminded him of his own mother’s soup! We ate it with a lot of black pepper and the garlic was soft and sweet. Yummm!!! Thank you again :)!!!

  30. Cselestyna canada joined 2/10 & has 8 comments

    I make this dish alot it’s one of my favorites and i always look forward to it, but cornish hens here are expensive and i wanted to experiment, so last night i did and it was the worst it’s ever turned out! So here is my tip: if you are using a piece of chicken instead of a Cornish hen, make-sure the skin isn’t real fatty! I used a leg last night and it turned out that the skin was so fatty that it actually ruined the soup, it ended up being disgusting! the small amount of meat i actually got was fine but the fatty skin and fatty meat ruined this dish! so if you’re trying this out use a good piece of chicken with minimal fat and a nice thin skin!

    lol However on a side note, I didn’t have any ginseng and couldn’t find any in my area for that time of evening, so I went to the superstore and bought ginseng tea. i used Korean ginseng tea that came in granular form. I used 3 packages and it worked really well, of course since my fatty chicken ruined my soup i’ll have to try it again!!

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments

      Simple solution! Just skin the chicken and make samgyetang if you don’t like to see the floating fat. Or make it and later scoop out the floating fat

      • Cselestyna canada joined 2/10 & has 8 comments

        LOL, the fatty skin actually made the liquid part of the soup more of a gross gelatinous texture, it ended up being more of a really weird half jelly- half liquid like chicken dish that only tasted somewhat like ginseng soup; i ended up taking the chicken out, rinsing it under running water and eating it with steamed rice :p next time i will pick out a nice piece of chicken instead of whatever is in my freezer hahaha :D

        • jaylivg Houston joined 7/10 & has 107 comments

          LOL , here is tips for you .. next time do not use chicken thighs , why ? because chicken thighs contains the most fat . Next time , do use chicken breast , skinless , boneless , if you don’t want any fat floating around , but i must warn you , if you choose chicken breast , skinless and boneless then u must be careful , why ? because your meat might turn out pretty dry . Even cooking regular chicken noodles soup , i still end up with some fat floating around .. no biggie , don’t fuss over it , just remove it .. end of story !! Even the cornish hens still have little fat floating around !!!

  31. tspoke Wisconsin joined 4/12 & has 2 comments

    Great video! I love Korean Food, especially Samgyetang and kimchi chigae. Where can I purchase the pot you used in this video? What is it called? I live in Wisconsin, so I probably need to order it online. Please help! I need to make this!

  32. ZenMistress California joined 4/12 & has 7 comments

    This was really really delicious. Wonderful delicate flavored broth, thank you for this recipe. I was fortunate to find some fresh ginseng at the Korean grocery store, and immediately wanted to make your recipe. I made this with both a small chicken and cornish game hen! They were both really good. Thank you for sharing this truly traditional old world korean recipe. I remember my mom making this for my dad when I was growing up.

  33. Ange 창원시 joined 1/12 & has 1 comment

    I’m living in Korea, and just stumbled on this blog after a quick search for 삼계탕. My reaction? OMFG. I’m never going to a restaurant again! Or, at least, less.

    Thank you so much for making this website~~~<3!

  34. hapacalgirl California joined 7/11 & has 2 comments

    Hi Maangchi,

    I love your recipes! Lucky for me we have a Zion Korean Market in my city so finding ingredients is really easy. I have question, for the ginseng, do you need to peel it first or do you just put it in the hen as is? Thanks!

  35. Urahara Canada joined 8/11 & has 5 comments

    Hello Maangchi!

    I’ve been wanting to make Samgyetang for a while now, especially for my eomma’s birthday which is on sunday, but I discovered this week that it is illegal in Canada to buy or sell or export fresh ginseng… Can I replace it with something else? Jujubes are impossible to find too :(
    Aigoo Eotteoke~!

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments

      “Aigoo Eotteoke~!” lol!
      Skip ginseng then. It will still be delicious.

    • GiveMeKimchi Philadelphia joined 3/11 & has 8 comments

      I know this was posted almost a year ago, but if you ever get to read this Urahara, I think you’ve been misinformed. Who told you that fresh ginseng is illegal to buy in Canada? It seemed improbable, so I tried looking it up, and nowhere did it say that fresh ginseng is illegal to buy, sell, or export. Hopefully, you found out the truth and was able to make yourself some samgyetang, because it would be such a pity not to haha.

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