This mouthwatering Dakdoritang recipe is our favourite spicy Korean Chicken Stew to cook at home.
Our quick & easy homemade Korean Chicken Stew features perfectly cooked drumsticks simmered with tender potatoes and carrots in a spicy red sauce made with gochujang chili paste.
Serve this traditional Dakdoritang recipe as a comfort food at your next Korean dinner party with steamed rice or noodles.
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What Is Dakdoritang?
Dakdoritang, also known as Dak-dori-tang is a traditional Korean dish made by braising chicken with vegetables and spices in a large pot.
Dak translates to chicken, dori originates from the Korean word dorichida, which means “cut up”, and tang means stew.
Spicy Korean chicken stew ingredients include potatoes, carrots, peppers, scallions, onions, garlic, ginger, gochujang chili paste, gochugaru chili powder, soy sauce and sesame oil.
The result is succulent pieces of chicken packed with spicy and savoury flavours. It’s a very popular chicken dish made at home and served in restaurants.
Authentic Dakdoritang recipes are made with bone-in chicken pieces like drumsticks, legs, wings and thighs. The stew can be cooked over a stove or in a slow cooker.
Travel to Korea by Cooking Dakdoritang at Home
I love traveling through Asia.
As a professional food and travel writer I’ve eaten my way through India, Maldives, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.
My first visit to Asia had me living in South Korea for a year as an English teacher. That’s when I was first introduced to yummy fermented vegetables like kimchi.
In Korea, I’ve enjoyed many steaming bowls of Dakdoritang at restaurants in Seoul, Suwon, Busan, Samcheok, Jeju and even the North Korean DMZ.
My first time eating Korean Chicken Stew was almost immediately after getting off the plane in Seoul. I spent my first week in Korea attending intensive teacher training classes. Whenever we’d break for lunch they’d serve us plates filled with bulgogi, mandu, Dakdoritang and selection of healthy banchan.
This delicious recipe is a simple Korean dish that is quick and easy to make on the stove in a large pot. Vegetables are sautéed in the pot then drumsticks are added and braised in liquid until the meat falls off the bone.
After enjoying your first few bites, you’ll realize why a bowl of Dakdoritang enjoyed with a cold pint of Hite beer is a must-try when visiting South Korea!
Where To Eat Spicy Korean Chicken Stew
If you live in a large city in Canada or America you’ll likely have access to a local Korean restaurant that serves Dakdoritang.
Haven’t traveled to Korea before? It may be helpful to first sample Korean Chicken Stew at a local restaurant to better understand how it is served. You can determine your favourite cuts of meat to use in the stew, how spicy to make the sauce and the best side dishes to serve at the table.
In Toronto, popular Korean restaurants that may serve Dakdoritang include Doma, Korean Village Restaurant, Arisu, Charcoal and Salt, Koko Share Bar, The Owl of Minerva, Seoul Shakers, Té Restaurant, Barrio Coreano, Momofuku Noodle Bar, Tofu Village and Korea House.
My Family Loves Korean Dakdoritang
My parents flew to Asia to visit me on holiday during the 12 months I lived in Seoul. Before landing at Incheon they visited Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan.
They had never been to a Korean restaurant at home in Toronto or Oakville before so every dish was a delight and surprise to their taste buds.
It’s no secret that my dad is a picky eater so I was a little nervous about him finding commonplace menu items like raw fish, spicy soup and fatty samgyeopsal to be unappealing.
Thankfully my parents both fell in love with the local comfort food Dakdoritang! They ordered the dish many times during visits to Insadong and Dongdaemun.
I knew my parents would love the dish because they enjoy chicken, easy stew recipes and the unique flavour of Korean gochujang chili paste.
I often cook this recipe during the colder months of the year in the Fall and Winter. After spending a day outdoors in the cold there’s no better way to heat up your chilly bones then forking through a comforting bowl of spicy Korean Chicken Stew!
Your hungry (and thawing) dinner guests will be smiling from ear to ear, chopsticks on the ready!
Korean Chicken Stew Recipe Cooking Tips
This Dakdoritang recipe is quick and easy to make at home. We’ve included a few tips and tricks to get you started:
- We suggest preparing this Korean chicken stew recipe in a large pot or Dutch Oven.
- Only use bone-in skin-on chicken pieces. We’ve used drumsticks in this recipe which is traditional but you can also use thighs, legs or wings.
- You can purchase Gochujang and Gochugaru at an Asian supermarket, Korean grocer or on Amazon.
- We’ve used red onion in this recipe but you can substitute for Spanish cooking onions, white onion or sweet Vidalia onions.
- We’ve used a jalapeno pepper in this recipe but you can use a Thai long red chili as well.
- Feel free to get creative with your recipe by adding additional vegetables like mushrooms, daikon radish or sweet potatoes.
- You can also add your favourite Korean noodles or tteokbokki rice cakes for a complete one-pot meal. You will have to add more water if using any of these.
Dakdoritang Health Benefits
Our homemade Korean Chicken Stew recipe is packed full of healthy ingredients!
Chicken is high in protein and provides B vitamins such as niacin, which helps your body access the energy in foods.
Chili in the gochujang has been proven to help reduce the duration of sickness, prevent heart disease, and promote weight loss.
It is only recently that scientists have begun to identify the components responsible for garlic’s myriad health benefits. Rich in phytochemicals and potassium, garlic helps boost your immune system, fight cancer and protect your heart.
Onions are a humble vegetable packed with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. Regular consumption of onions can help boost digestive health and reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
Potatoes are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Studies have linked potatoes to a variety of impressive health benefits, including improved blood sugar control, reduced heart disease risk and higher immunity.
An excellent source of vitamin A and the phytochemical beta-carotene, carrots help keep your eyes and bones healthy, and may help protect against several types of cancer.
A useful source of copper, calcium, manganese, and phosphorus, sesame seeds help support circulatory, digestive and skeletal health.
What To Serve with Dakdoritang
There’s nothing more comforting than cozying up to a bowl of spicy Korean Chicken Stew.
In Korea the chicken dish is typically served with a local beer like Hite or Cass. An ice cold lager does a great job at quenching your thirst while eating this finger-licking-good comfort food.
If you’re celebrating a special occasion unscrew a bottle of freezer-chilled soju before serving each of your guests a steaming bowl of Dakdoritang.
Since the dish is hearty we suggest pairing it with healthy side dishes (banchan) like kimchi, a fresh Korean salad, noodles and steamed rice.
If you’re hosting a Korean dinner party you may like to serve this Dakdoritang recipe with these other popular recipes:
- Korean Spicy Chicken Cheese Tteokbokki
- Spicy Korean Kimchi Soju Cocktail
- Homemade Korean Strawberry Milk
- Oven Roasted Korean Gochujang Pulled Pork Shoulder
- Korean Breakfast Recipe Gochujang Baked Eggs & Potato
- Korean Beef Bulgogi Noodles
- Sangchu Geotjeori Sweet and Sour Korean Lettuce Salad
- Crispy Vegan Pan Fried Korean Tofu
- Buchimgae Buchu-Jeon Korean Chive Pancake
- Spicy Gukbap Korean Rice & Beef Soup
- Homemade Spicy Pork Bibimbap
- Baked Korean Gochujang Chicken Wings
- Peanut and Sesame Noodle Bowl with Korean BBQ Pork and Pickles
- Korean Ssamjang Chicken Kimchi Nachos
You May Also Enjoy These Chicken Recipes…
- Filipino Pineapple Chicken Adobo
- Creamy Indian Chicken Handi Curry
- Sherry Cream Sauce Lemon Chicken Casserole
- Indian Chicken Boti Kabab
- Pakistani North Indian Karahi Chicken Curry
- Creamy French Poulet a la Creme Casserole
- Grilled Joojeh Kabab Persian Saffron Chicken Kebab
- French Orange & Fennel Braised Provencal Chicken
- BBQ Tavuk Sis Turkish Chicken Kebab
- Chicken Pork & Shrimp Mexican Paella
- Riz a Djej Lebanese Rice with Chicken
- Crispy Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich
- Aguadito de Pollo Peruvian Chicken Soup
- Moroccan Chicken Lentil Stew Rfissa
How To Make Dakdoritang Spicy Korean Chicken Stew
Dakdoritang Spicy Korean Chicken Stew
Equipment
- French knife
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- Dutch Oven
- Mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 2 lb Chicken Drumsticks
- 1/3 cup Light Soy Sauce
- 1/4 cup Gochujang
- 1 tsp Gochugaru
- 2 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 8 Garlic Cloves grated
- 1 Red Onion cut into 1 inch chunks
- 2 Yukon Gold Potatoes peeled, cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 Large Carrot cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 Large Jalapeno Pepper seeds removed, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 4 Scallions thinly sliced
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat and add chicken drumsticks, poaching them until no longer pink, around 5 minutes. Drain, rinse the chicken under cold tap water, return to empty pot.
- In a small bowl, stir the soy sauce, gochugaru, gochujang, brown sugar, garlic, 1 1/3 cups water and add to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook at a gentle boil until the sauce has reduced slightly about 10 minutes.
- Add the onion, potatoes, carrot, jalapeno and continue gently boiling until the chicken is tender and no longer pink, 20-30 minutes.
- Stir in the sesame oil and garnish with sliced scallions.
- Serve the pot of Dakdoritang with steamed rice.
Nutrition
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