Dakgaejang (Spicy Chicken Soup)

Name: Dakgaejang (Spicy Chicken Soup)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 100 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 1 small Whole chicken; 2.5 l Water; 1 Onion; 6 cloves Garlic; 1 thumb Ginger; 2 tbsp Rice wine (cheongju) or mirim; 3 stalks Large green onions (daepa); 150 g Rehydrated bracken (gosari); 100 g Rehydrated taro stems (torandae); 150 g Mung bean sprouts (sukju); 3 tbsp Gochugaru; 2 tbsp Neutral oil; 2 tbsp Soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang); 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil; ¼ tsp Black pepper

닭개장

Romanization: dakgaejang

Shredded chicken simmered with bracken, taro stems and plenty of green onion in a fiery chili-oil broth — the chicken cousin of yukgaejang.

Serves: 4
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 70 min

RegionGyeongsang · Seoul & Gyeonggi

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Recipe

Ingredients · Serves 4

1 smallWhole chickenabout 1.1 kg, or 1 kg bone-in thighs and legs
2.5 lWater
1 Onionhalved, for the broth
6 clovesGarlic4 whole for the broth, 2 minced
1 thumbGingersliced, for the broth
2 tbspRice wine (cheongju) or mirim
3 stalksLarge green onions (daepa)cut into 8 cm lengths, thick parts halved
150 gRehydrated bracken (gosari)cut into 8 cm lengths
100 gRehydrated taro stems (torandae)optional, cut into 8 cm lengths
150 gMung bean sprouts (sukju)optional
3 tbspGochugaru
2 tbspNeutral oil
2 tbspSoup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)plus salt to taste
1 tspToasted sesame oil
¼ tspBlack pepper

Method

Technique: Making Guk and Jjigae, Making Yuksu: Anchovy-Kelp Stock, Drying and Rehydrating Vegetables

Step 1: Put the chicken, water, onion, whole garlic, ginger and rice wine in a large pot. Bring to a boil, skim, then simmer 45 minutes, until the meat comes easily off the bone.
Step 2: Lift out the chicken and let it cool slightly. Strain the broth and skim off some of the fat. Pull the meat into thick shreds, discarding skin and bones.
Step 3: Blanch the green onion pieces for 30 seconds and drain. If the bracken or taro stems are tough, simmer them in water for 10 minutes and drain.
Step 4: In the empty pot, warm the oil over low heat, add the gochugaru and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant and red — do not let it scorch. Add the chicken, bracken, taro stems, green onion, minced garlic, soup soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper, and stir-fry 2 minutes.
Step 5: Pour in about 2 liters of the broth and simmer 20 minutes, adding the bean sprouts for the last 5 minutes.
Step 6: Season with salt, and serve very hot with rice. Check that the chicken in step 1 reached 165 °F (74 °C).

Origin & History

Dakgaejang takes its name from the way it is cooked rather than from its meat. In an entry written by the food historian Joo Young-ha, the Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture explains that gaejang-guk was originally a dog-meat soup; people who would not eat dog made the same soup with beef and called it yukgaejang, which appears in late-nineteenth-century manuscripts such as Siui jeonseo and Eumsik bangmun as beef and offal torn or cut into pieces and simmered with lightly blanched green onion and water dropwort. Swap in chicken (dak) and the result is dakgaejang.

It is a modern dish. The folk encyclopedia dates written records to the 1960s onward and says the dish is thought to have come out of homes and restaurants in North Gyeongsang Province in that decade — fitting, since yukgaejang itself is believed to have developed in the northern part of the same province. As poultry farming grew, cheap chicken replaced dog or beef. From the 1980s, the encyclopedia adds, low-cost Korean restaurants in Seoul made it a menu staple.

A 1988 newspaper recipe quoted by the folk encyclopedia captures the standard method that most cooks still follow: boil a chicken with onion and rice wine, shred the meat and strain the broth; blanch long pieces of green onion and boil bracken and taro stems; fry gochugaru in oil with the chicken and vegetables; then simmer it all in the broth and season with salt.

Key Ingredients

Nutrition

Estimated, per serving (700 g, as analyzed by MFDS for home-style chicken yukgaejang)
Calories	~140 kcal
Protein	~19.2 g
Fat	~2.9 g
Carbohydrates	~9.9 g
Fiber	~4.9 g
Sodium	~1169 mg

Notable forProtein · Folate · Potassium · Dietary fiber

Scaled from the MFDS analysis of home-style chicken yukgaejang (육개장_닭고기; per 100 g: 20 kcal, 2.74 g protein, 0.42 g fat, 1.41 g carbohydrate, 0.7 g fiber, 167 mg sodium, 106 mg potassium, 17.5 µg DFE folate) to the database's large 700 g serving, giving about 740 mg potassium and 120 µg folate. The fiber is plausible given the bracken, taro stems and green onion. MFDS's calculated value for a restaurant bowl (118 mg sodium per 100 ml, 420 ml serving) is lower, at about 500 mg sodium. Actual values vary with ingredients, portion size and preparation.

Health Benefits

High in protein and low in fat by the MFDS analysis, since the chicken is shredded and the broth skimmed.
Bracken, taro stems, sprouts and green onion make it a vegetable-rich soup, with a good share of fiber, folate and potassium.
Its heat follows the summer custom of iyeol chiyeol, fighting heat with heat; see capsaicin and spicy food.

Regional Variations

North Gyeongsang home style: the folk encyclopedia describes shredded chicken with seasoned dried napa-cabbage leaves (baechu-siraegi) and chopped green onion, salted and simmered.
Chili-oil style: the method in the 1988 newspaper recipe — chicken, taro stems, bracken and blanched green onion fried with gochugaru before simmering in the strained broth.
Relatives: beef yukgaejang, the model for the dish, and the clear samgyetang and baeksuk — all eaten in the summer dog days in the spirit of fighting heat with heat; see boknal and summer foods.

Pairings

Sources

Last updated October 13, 2026