This is my recipe for dakbokkeumtang, or spicy braised chicken, also called dakdoritang. Many people have requested this dish over the years. It’s spicy, savory, and hearty.
This video was filmed in Amsterdam with Sarah Moore as part of my Gapshida project. She emailed me: “I really want to learn dak-doritang, Maangchi. When I lived in Korea when I was young, I always used to eat it at a Korean restaurant. I miss the taste and the smell.” The camera person is Sarah’s friend Rei Nilde, who’s an artist.
Sarah and I made dak-bokkeumtang for this video and also our potluck party later. The video shows how we served a large group, and everybody enjoyed it with rice, as well as the amazing side dishes that they brought. All of us became good friends even though most of us were meeting for the first time.
I was thrilled when I read a recent email from Sarah: “…Guess what? Seeing you pursue your dreams and travelling the world with your Gapshida project really inspired me to start making more art and putting it online. I opened a little Etsy shop and I want to start working on a design/art blog :) to share visual inspiration.”
This traditional-style recipe is made with chicken wings and thighs, but I also made an updated version using chicken breasts.
Ingredients (for 4 servings)
- 1 kg (about 2 pounds) of chicken wings or chicken thighs
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup of minced garlic
- ¼ cup hot pepper paste
- ¼ cup Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
- 1 tbs sugar
- 2 or 3 medium sized onions (2 cups’ worth), cut into chunks
- 3-4 large potatoes (about 600 grams or 1.5 pounds)
- 2 green onions
- 2 green chili peppers
Directions
Cooking time: 45 minutes to 1 hour
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Wash and drain.
- Make seasoning paste by mixing the soy sauce, minced garlic, hot pepper paste, hot pepper flakes, and sugar.
- Put the chicken and onion into the seasoning paste. Mix it with a spoon.
- Add 2 cups of water to the pot and mix it up.
- Cook for 20 minutes over medium high heat.
- Meanwhile, peel the potatoes. Wash and drain them, then cut into large chunks 2 inches across. Set aside.
- Chop the green chili peppers and green onions into small pieces. Set aside.
- 20 minutes later, add the potato chunks and chopped green chili peppers to the pot. Stir with a spoon, then cover and cook for another 20 minutes.
- Open the lid and cook another 3-5 minutes. Keep the lid open to boil away some broth and thicken.
- Occasionally take some broth from the bottom of the pot and pour it over the top so everything gets some delicious broth.
- Transfer it to a large serving plate and sprinkle 2 chopped green onions over top. Serve.
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
The meat was tender and full of flavor, and the potatoes were a great complement to the spicy broth. I set some aside for a co-worker, and she LOVED it. She’ll be making plenty more on her own!
awesome!
This looks yummy! Could I decrease the amount of hot pepper paste and flakes a bit to make it less spicy? What would you recommend?
yes, you can use less amount but you may add more soy sauce or salt. Adjust to your taste. I use mild hot pepper flakes, so it looks very spicy but actually it’s not that spicy.
Annyeonghaseyo Maangchi !
I was wondering if we could use chicken breast instead of the legs/thighs. Would it make any differences?
Kamsahamnida!
Yes, chicken breast sounds good to me!
Hi maangchi.
I made this chicken, it was delicious. I want to make some for my family, but the portion will be bigger. What should I add more?
This recipe uses 1kg for 4 servings, so you can double or triple all ingredients depending on how many people are in your family.
I would love to make this in a crockpot or slow cooker. Are there any modifications I should make? Mabe less water?
Yes, definitely use less water. I never made this in a crock pot, but you can try!
Kamsamnida Maangchi!! I made the dakbokkeumtang for dinner tonight with bimbimguksu. My husband is half Korean and he loved it!!! Thank you for the awesome recipes!! How do I upload picture of the recipes I made tonight?
dakbokkeumtang and bibimguksu! Good choice! “How do I upload picture of the recipes I made tonight?” here you go! https://www.maangchi.com/photos/upload
Good luck with your Korean cooking!
Thank you Maangchi
I made this recipe tonight and…we had a feast!!! my family just loves this dish! thanks for sharing, Maangchi!
Congratulations! Sharing delicious food is always fun. Happy cooking!
I made this recipe tonight for dinner. It is absolutely wonderful. I was so delighted to find your web site and try your recipes. My very good friend is Korean and she cooks for us often but does not have any of her recipes recorded so I have tried to learn to make these dishes by watching her cook but have never been able to duplicate the recipes perfectly. Your recipes are spot on. Thank you so much for your videos.
I’m glad to hear that! yummy!
It has been incredibly hot in Ottawa for the past few days and my partner said I was crazy for making a hot and spicy dish like this, but It turned out to be so delicious we didn’t care! We may have sweat a little bit, but the flavour was totally worth it haha.
We also had some refreshing radish water kimchi that I’d made to help cool us down- that and ice cream sandwiches for dessert…. lol.
Anyways, another great recipe! I’m having a lot of fun making lots of korean foods from your recipes.
Thanks!
Maangchi, I just served this with some boribap. I browned my chicken and garlic well before cooking, and it was delicious. Thanks to your recipes Korean cuisine has become my favorite thing to eat.
boribap and dakbokkeumtang, umm delicious!
I’ve been feeling under the weather and thought some chicken soup might help me feel better. But Korean chicken soup sounded even better. Even though this isn’t really a soup it was soup-like enough. It was easy to make (always a plus when one does not feel well), and I had all of the ingredients. I skipped the fresh chiles but did everything else according to the recipe. It was perfect! Spicy, but it too spicy. Everyone liked it and my son, who typically doesn’t like Korean food, had seconds. Also, I feel a lot better now. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
Great story about this dish! Happy cooking!
with the 1/4 cup of garlic when you use fresh garlic is that still a 1/4 cup?
I believe so….I don’t think I have ever seen traditional Korean cooking with garlic powder. At least I think it’s kinda taboo to use garlic powder in Korean cooking! :-)
When I watched the video the garlic was from a jar which I thought is less strong than using garlic cloves
yes, use 1/4 cup fresh garlic.
Peterhobit , you sounded very surprised with 1/4 cup of garlic .. believe me , it’s super delicious ! beside , 1/4 cup garlic is nothing compared to when i made Maangchi’s chicken porridge , which took 1 and 1/2 cup of garlic !! That was some peeling LOL ..
lol “1/4 cup garlic is nothing” : ) When I traveled to Mexico, I saw they also use lots of garlic.
Yes 1/4 cup of garlic did sound a lot, but is is delicious. Today I made it again, this time with 6 kg of chicken and 4 heads of garlic. To peel the garlic I learned a trick, break up the garlic into cloves, have two big bowls the same size, put garlic in one bole and invert the second bowl on top to make a lid, the shake like crazy for about 20 seconds, and all garlic is peeled. I saw this on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d3oc24fD-c.
love this dish (I use waxy potatoes Nicloa type) THanks all
Hi Maangchi,
I’ve tried making dakbokkeumtang, its was very spicy but delicious…
ahh.. i used chilli powdered instead of hot pepper flakes since i couldn’t it… heheh..
thanks Maangchi for a great recipe.. looking for what’s next to cook..
“i used chilli powdered instead of hot pepper flakes..” ouch! ooh spicy! : )
Hi Maangchi!
I just came across your youtube video the other day for kimchi, but I ended up staying up the whole night watching your other videos! You inspired me to cook dakbokkeumtang this weekend for a potluck party my friend is hosting – it looks so yummy!
Quick question: if I don’t have red pepper flakes, will the taste still be okay? I went to the Korean grocery store last weekend and I didn’t realize I had already run out in my pantry.
” I ended up staying up the whole night watching your other videos!” lol
” if I don’t have red pepper flakes, will the taste still be okay?” hmm, hot pepper flakes are a very important ingredient for dakbokkeumtang. I would wait until I get the right ingredient if I were you. But if you can’t wait, make it without hot pepper flakes and use a little more hot pepper paste. Good luck!
Hi from Germany !
I am half Korean and I can’t live without korean food- since I found this website, I started Korean cooking by myself and my mum is very proud of me :)!
I made this dish two days ago and it was fantastic- so I’m gonna make it again today!
Thank you so much for posting!
Thank you for sharing your fantastic Korean cooking experience with us! If you want to share your food photos, upload it here. https://www.maangchi.com/photos/upload
안녕하세요!!!!!! I tried this yesterday and it was amazing!!!!!
awesome news! Cheers! ; )
Yes finally I made this receipe, We loved it and put it directly for the Dutch readers on our website in Dutch..http://koreaanskoken.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/dakbokkeumtang-pikant-gesmoorde-kip/
It looks great! Let’s twit about your Dutch translation!
THANKS… I also write a column for the dutch adoptees magazine in Holland,next item….Kimchi Jigae… I’ll let you know
I am so glad I found your website. I love Korean food and now that i have found your website and recipes I can make it at home. This chicken was great. Easy to make and did not require many ingredients. Will be one of my favorites. Ate it with cucumber kimchi, yummy.
Hi Maangchi Nim!
I am a busy mom with 2 jobs. Cooking always made me frustratied because of not enough time and missing of ingredient. Korean market is at least 1 hour away where I live:(
I made this Dakbbokeumtang on my Mother-in-laws birthday and they all loved it including kids who were born here. thank you so much. And I love your recipe and you!
yay, I’m happy to hear that! Happy cooking!
can you make this with chicken breast instead of chicken wings? I’m trying to make foods a little healthier since I want to get fit.
yes, you can use chicken breast. Many people have let me know their dakbokkeumtang made with chicken breast turned out delicious!
this was just so good to make, although since I had quite an empty fridge I skipped the green onions. I will definitely make again. Thanks Maangchi <3
great great!
Hi, Maangchi!
Another big fan of yours for years now~ This dish turned out the best out of all the ones I tried. Yum!! I used chicken thighs cut into bite sizes. Thank you for sharing!!
oh, you were one of my silent readers! : ) Yes, chicken thighs will work well, too! Happy cooking!
Thank you Maangchi! I finally made it to a Korean market to get the proper ingredients and made Dakbokkeumtang tonight. All I want to know is how I have lived 53 years and never eaten this wonderful dish! :)
haha, it sounds like you are going to make this often from now on. : )
I made this tonight. It was very delicious! My whole family enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was too spicy, I thought it was perfect. :D
yummy yummy happy family!
Thank you Maangchi! I was one of the many people who requested this recipe! I might add some more vegetables at the end to make it a sort of “one-pot” sort of meal….
Good idea!
that was too spicy… a very spicy korean dish… but i just want to make it love to eat that dish as well! :D
If it’s too spicy for you, get mild hot pepper flakes. Actually I use mild hot pepper flakes. https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/hot-pepper-flakes Happy cooking!
ouhh that was super hot..!
Use mild hot pepper flakes if it’s too hot for you. Happy cooking!
I have one word for this Maangchi: “BURNING!!!!” Haha. It was so hot, and I absolutely loved it! Favorite chicken dish!! Mom thought it was
too spicy though, but I just thought it was great!!
Cheers! Happy cooking!
Maangchi,
Is pepper paste the same as “fermented” pepper paste?
Thank you!
yes, hot pepper paste called gochujang :고추장 in Korean is fermented.
Made this dish yesterday and it turned out amazing!! My sister and I had fun making this dish for our family! Now my parents are proud that their two young children can cook not only regular food but Korean food as well :D
Great news! Happy cooking!
Ohh this look easy! I can’t find the hot pepper flakes, is the hot pepper paste still ok to use it? :)
yes, skip hot pepper flakes then. Cheers!
That looks magnificent and it seems you had a lot of fun making it. ^__^
I hope we can cook together someday! It will be very fun!!!
This dish is so quick to make, only took me about 30-40 minutes which included prep and cooking time. Unfortunately it took me about 10 minutes to gobble it up! Very tasty recipe. I cut the recipe in half because I only had a lb of chicken. I’ll definitely be making this recipe regularly. It is so good! Made date 12/29/11 Thursday. :)
“10 minutes to gobble it up” lol! Happy cooking!
It looks delicious maangchi , and not to mention super easy too !!! Going to put this on my list to cook this weekend , thanks !!
Yay, I’m happy to hear from you! It sounds like you are ready to cook again!
Hey Maangchi,
can I also add some coconut milk ? I wonder if they work good together though.
This recipe is actually almost the same as spicy stir-fried pork, only it has water added.
then it becomes thai food ( curry ) :D not korean anymore .. LOL , i hardly seen any korean food with coconut milk … just sayin’
Haha, I thought so. But even thought it is a fusion, I’m still wondering if they will indeed taste good together, Anyone with experience ?