Dak Galbi

Dak Galbi (Korean Spicy Chicken Stir Fry). Tender juicy chicken stir fried in a smoky, spicy, sweet sauce with carrots, cabbage, perilla leaves, rice cakes and onion. Ready in 25 minutes!

Easy Recipe

My Korean dak galbi recipe is simple to make at home and it’s incredibly delicious and satisfying. It's a delicious recipe that is great as a weeknight meal and serves well as leftovers. In fact, it's my favorite Korean dish to eat with a bowl of rice.

How do you eat dak galbi?

This gochujang chicken stir fry is popularly eaten with rice or ramen at any dak galbi restaurant. It’s usually served in the center of the table as it cooks while you converse with a couple of friends.  Alternatively, you can scoop a small portion of the dish into fresh perilla leaves or lettuce leaves and enjoy it like a fresh wrap.

Served at many Korean Restaurants

In Korea, this spicy food is served at a high concentration of restaurants. There are numerous dakgalbi restaurants that specialize in this Korean food. In fact, there is a famous dakgalbi alley called Chuncheon Myeongdong Dakgalbi Street located in a small city of Chuncheon, in the Gangwon province. This alleyway is lined with restaurants that serve this spicy chicken dish, specifically Chuncheon dakgalbi.

In addition, this iconic Korean dish has become very popular through social media thanks to its ease and deliciousness! This Korean spicy chicken is usually fried on large frying pan or large cast iron skillets that sit on an open flame, usually cooked on a portable gas stove, in the middle of the table. It's a communal dish that you and your group of friends can share. After all the chicken and veggies are eaten, white rice or instant ramen is usually fried with the leftover sauce and it’s so good! 

Ingredients

The below ingredients are required for Dakgalbi recipe. Please scroll down to the below Recipe card for full measurements.

• Chicken thighs: preferably boneless chicken thighs without the skin. You may use chicken breast and dice them into boneless chicken pieces but please reduce the cooking time as breast tends to dry out faster than thighs.

Sauce Ingredients

• Gochujang: aka Korean hot pepper paste. This is the key ingredient to make your spicy gochujang sauce. Most Korean grocery stores, select Asian grocers or online retailers like Amazon will carry this ingredient. It's commonly used in Korean cuisine. It's a spicy sauce that has a sweet smoky flavor.
• Gochugaru: aka Korean red pepper powder. It's a red chili powder or flake that is seedless. It's spicy and very red in color. Commonly used in Korean cooking. It one of those Korean ingredients that give any dish a vibrant red color.
• Regular soy sauce: Just your regular all purpose soy sauce that isn't light or dark soy sauce. Feel free to substitute with low sodium soy sauce to taste.
• Ginger: this helps tenderize the chicken and gives our sauce extra flavor.
• White granulated sugar, or sub with sweetener of choice: to balance the spicy and salty flavors of our sauce.
• Garlic cloves: this adds a delicious garlicky taste and aroma to our dish. Garlic is very commonly used in Korean cuisine.
• Onion: to give our sauce extra flavor. Onion pairs amazingly well with chicken.

Other ingredients

• Napa cabbage or regular cabbage: I like using napa cabbage as it's softer but feel free to use regular green cabbage if you can't find the napa kind.
• Carrot: This makes our spicy stir-fried chicken dish healthier and gives it some more color. If you don't have carrots, you can substitute with sweet potatoes or regular potato.
• Onion: white onion or yellow onion. You can also substitute with green onions.
• Cooking oil: any neutral oil like avocado oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, canola oil or vegetable oil.
• Perilla leaves: a wonderful leaf found in Asia that is commonly used in Korean cooking. It is optional. Often incorporated into dishes or used like a 'lettuce' wrap. Most Korean grocers will carry this leaf.
• Korean Rice cakes: aka tteok. These are thick chewy rice cakes like a mochi like texture. Most Korean grocery stores or select Asian grocers will carry this ingredient. It's optional and can be omitted if you can't find it.

Optional garnish: Green onions, toasted sesame seeds, mozzarella cheese, or a drizzle of sesame oil.

Required equipment: large skillet or iron pan.

How to make Dak Galbi

Below are visuals to show you how to make Korean spicy chicken stir fry. Please scroll down to the recipe card below to find full instructions and details.

1. Soak rice cakes in warm water and set aside. When ready to cook, strain out the water.
2. Slice chicken thighs into bite size pieces, about 1.5 x 1.5 inches wide. Then transfer to a large bowl.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine Sauce ingredients (as listed above). Pour on top of chicken and set aside to marinate for 10 minutes or longer.
4. In a large pan set over medium heat, add avocado oil followed by sliced onions. Cook until onions are translucent. Next mix in carrots, cabbage, rice cakes and perilla leaves. Cook until cabbage has softened, about 3-4 minutes.
5. Add chicken with marinade sauce and mix with other ingredients. Spread evenly across the pan. Fry chicken for 10 minutes, flipping over half way. Once cooked, remove off heat and enjoy! Don't forget to enjoy the reserved sauce by mixing in some steamed rice or instant ramen noodles.

FAQ

Below are frequently asked questions about this spicy Korean chicken stir fry:

How can I make cheese dakgalbi?

After your chicken has fried in the pan, sprinkle about 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and allow it to melt for another 1-2 minute on the stove top.

Where can I find Gochujang and Gochugaru?

Generally, you can source both ingredients from an Asian or Korean grocer or online for my Korean Spicy Stir Fried Chicken recipe.

Where may I find Perilla leaves?

Korean grocers will sell this item in the produce aisle.

Can I omit perilla leaves or substitute with something else?

If you can’t find this item, I would simply omit in this Korean hot spicy chicken recipe.

Where can I find Korean rice cakes?

Any Korean grocer will carry them in the refrigerated aisle. Furthermore, it’s best to use the non-frozen kind to avoid any splitting.

Can I use chicken breast for this Korean chicken recipe?

Yes, but I would reduce the cooking time because breast tends to dry out faster than thigh due to low fat content.

Other recipes you may like!

If you enjoyed this Korean Dak Galbi, you may like these other recipes:

• Dakbokkeumtang Korean Chicken Stew|
• Jeyuk Bokkeum (Korean Spicy Pork)
• Air Fryer Korean Fried Chicken
• Bulgogi (Korean Bbq Beef)
• Sweet Sticky Korean Chicken
• Sweet Spicy Gochujang Chicken