Dakgalbi (Korean Spicy Chicken Stir-Fry)
Quick Chuncheon-style dakgalbi made in one pan, a spicy Korean chicken stir-fry with tender thighs, chewy rice cakes, and veggies coated in a glossy gochujang sauce. It comes together in about 25 minutes for an easy and cozy weeknight dinner.
The first time I had dakgalbi (닭갈비) was in Chuncheon (춘천), the city where this spicy Korean chicken stir-fry began. The gochujang sauce was spicy, savory, a little sweet, with that warm curry aroma Chuncheon dakgalbi is famous for — and I was hooked after one bite.
This is the version I make at home: similar in spirit to my chicken bulgogi in its deep, savory flavor, but cooked as a one-pan stir-fry with juicy chicken thighs, chewy rice cakes, cabbage, and sweet potatoes. There’s no grill or marinating involved, but you still get those caramelized, smoky edges I remember from Chuncheon.
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Finish it with crispy dakgalbi fried rice at the end — the best part in Korea — and you have the full dakgalbi experience at home.
And if you’re in the mood for more meaty Korean mains, you can browse my Korean meat dishes collection — all easy, comforting, and weeknight-friendly.
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Chicken thighs: For the best flavor, boneless, skinless chicken thighs are the way to go. They stay juicy and absorb the dakgalbi sauce beautifully, giving you the rich, authentic taste. Chicken breast can be used, but it tends to be drier.
Tteok (rice cakes): Tteokbokki-style rice cakes work best here. I use the same chewy cylinder-shaped rice cakes here as I do in my authentic tteokbokki recipe. They soak up the spicy sauce perfectly. Soak them for 10 minutes so they soften quickly and stay chewy.
Cabbage + sweet potato: These add natural sweetness and pair well with the sauce beautifully.
Perilla leaves (kkaennip): Optional, but they add freshness at the end.
Gochujang + gochugaru + curry powder: This classic combo gives dakgalbi its deep, spicy, Chuncheon-style flavor.
How I Cook Dakgalbi Step-by-Step
Mix the dakgalbi sauce in a bowl, then add it to the chicken, rice cakes, and vegetables. I use a large cast-iron skillet because it heats evenly and helps the sauce caramelize instead of steam.
Start stir-frying over medium-high heat. Let the chicken get a little color before everything softens. That light browning adds great flavor. If the pan looks dry at any point, add a splash of water so the sauce coats the rice cakes smoothly. That’s all the cooking!
Once the chicken is fully cooked and the sweet potatoes are tender, toss in the perilla leaves. They wilt quickly and add a fresh, herbal finish. Give everything one last mix, and it’s ready to serve.
Dakgalbi Fried Rice
In Korea, dakgalbi always ends with fried rice — it’s the best part.
Once most of the chicken and vegetables are gone, add cooked rice to the same pan and mix it with the leftover sauce. The rice will soak up every bit of flavor.
Spread it out and let the bottom crisp over medium heat until you get that golden, crunchy layer like nurungji (scorched rice). Finish with crumbled roasted seaweed and sesame seeds.
If you enjoy Korean-style fried rice, this version is very similar in spirit to my kimchi fried rice — crispy, flavorful, and the perfect way to wrap up the meal!
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Dakgalbi (Korean Spicy Chicken Stir-Fry)
Recipe Video
Ingredients
For dakgalbi
- 1 lb (450 g) boneless, skinless chicken thigh, diced
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) oil
- 1/2 lb (225 g) Korean rice cake sticks
- 1/4-1/2 green cabbage, diced
- 8-10 perilla leaves , sliced
- 1/2 large onion, sliced
- 1 medium sweet potato, sliced into 1/4-inch thick wedges
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) oil
- 2-4 tbsp (30–60 ml) water
- 1 tbsp (12 g) toasted sesame seeds , to garnish
For dakgalbi sauce
- 3 tbsp (60 g) Korean chili paste (gochujang)
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) soy sauce
- 2 tbsp (12–14 g) Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp (4 g) curry powder
- 1 tsp (3 g) ginger powder
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) sweet rice wine (mirim)
- 1 tbsp (12 g) sugar
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) sesame oil
- 1 tsp (2 g) pepper
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Korean corn syrup (mulyeot), optional
For optional fried rice
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) oil
- 2 cup (320–350 g) cooked rice
- 1 tbsp (15 g) dakgalbi sauce
- 2 handful crumbled roasted seaweed
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) sesame oil
- 1 tbsp (12 g) toasted sesame seeds
Equipment
- cast iron skillet large size
Instructions
For the dakgalbi sauce
- To make the dakgalbi sauce, combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside 1 tablespoon of sauce if you are making fried rice at the end.
For stir-frying dakgalbi
- Soak rice cakes in water for 10 minutes and drain.
- Drizzle oil in a cast iron skillet, arrange the chicken, vegetables, sweet potato wedges, rice cakes, and 1/2 the amount of perilla leaves. Drizzle the sauce over and bring the skillet over med-high heat.
- When you hear a loud sizzle, start tossing everything to combine. Stir-fry for about 6-7 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and the rice cakes and sweet potatoes are tender. If the food sticks too much, add 2 tablespoons of water (or more) to loosen the sauce and help everything cook evenly.
- Add the remaining perilla leaves toward the end of stir-frying. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately when it is hot.
To make fried rice
- After finishing dakgalbi, turn the heat back to medium and drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil into the skillet. Add the cooked rice and reserved dakgalbi sauce, then start stir-frying to coat the rice with the sauce residue remaining in the skillet.
- Press the rice gently to the bottom of the skillet and let it crisp up for 2 minutes over medium heat.
- When the rice sticks to the skillet and becomes golden and crispy, drizzle sesame oil over the top and sprinkle crumbled seaweed and toasted sesame seeds. Toss everything together until well combined. Serve the dakgalbi fried rice immediately while it's still hot and crispy.
Holly, Thanks for this great recipe. I’ve made it couple of times to the exact specifications and it taste great. This is one of those dishes that I can’t get as good as I’ve had it in Korea in Los Angeles even though L.A. has great Korean food. And your recipe is as good as I’ve had it a Korean restaurant so I’m so happy to have it.
Made this last night. We have no leftovers. I followed your recipe EXACTLY – even the palm sugar. I think this is the 6th or 7th recipe of yours’ I’ve made. My boys officially love you.
Great, Lisa! I am glad that your family loved this dish.
Thank you for such a delicious recipe! I’ve made it quite a few times, and have even used it as a way to impress Koreans with my skills. Making it on Thanksgiving for some friends as a poultry dish that I can still make in my small city in China, with only one hotplate and no oven! I’m looking forward to it already 🙂 (Also just realized this is my second time commenting on this recipe. Guess I really like it!)
I just realized that this is one of those recipes I’ve made several times over the years, but I’ve never thanked you for sharing. We adore it at my house. Cheers!
Thank you. That is so sweet of you.
This dish looks amazing. Curry does give different spiciness than the other chili peppers. As a spicy food lover, I definitely will make this dish. Thanks for sharing the recipe and the story, love it.
Hi Patty
Thanks for letting me know about this. It does look like they did not only just “borrowed” my dak-galbi photo, but also the recipe itself as well without my permission. I will contact the site owner. Thanks for your support.
GREAT story! Mahalo for this; makes me want to get back to blogging! But if I make this I will have to cut waaay back on the chili factors, as the family is not heat-tolerant.
DO NOT USE CRUSHED RED PEPPER PEOPLE!!! Lol uhm, whoops, it was almost impossible to eat because it was so hot. I doubled the recipe and still only used 3 TBL crushed red pepper instead of 4 TBL. I will make this again because we could tell that the flavor was great, but I will remember the Korean chili flakes next time haha.
Hi Sarah
Korean chili flakes are not for everyone. It can be quite spicy. But I am happy to hear that you like the flavor, though.
We are actually really good with spicy food. Our problem was instead of korean chili flakes we used regular crushed red pepper. I googled it after the fact and read that they should not be interchanged and crushed red pepper has seeds making it hotter lol. I found some perilla leaves today though (we used basil last time), so I will be making it again this week with korean chili this time. 🙂
:-)! Loved your story, Holly! And yes, as you have shown, super delicious food can make heartache go away… Interesting use of curry in Korean food too.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe and the interesting insight on love and food 🙂
What brand of rice wine did you use? I bought one but its alcohol content is 30%. I think it’s too high, isn’t it? How much is yours?
The alcohol will evaporate as it cook. I wouldn’t worry about the alcohol content in your rice wine. You can even omit it if you want.
Cooked it today (again) and it was delicious (again). Thank you for your labour of love!
Hi, I really want to try this dak-galbi recipes, but I have 1 question.
About the rice wine, since I couldn’t consume rice wine (or any kind of wine), could we leave or replace them with something? By changing or leaving them, would it make the taste different?
Thank you.
Hi Dewl, You can eave out the rice wine. It won’t change the flavor much.
This spicy chicken looks delicious! It is perfect for cold winter days.
Love your story! It’s very cute to compare soggy noodles with ex-boyfriend 😉 I believe good food brings comfort anytime in life.
Thanks Cecilia.
This is awesome!! Dak Galbi is one of my favorite Korean dishes but I just always assumed it would be really difficult and time consuming to make… This recipe is perfect! Can’t wait to try it out 🙂
Thanks for this delicious and very well-written recipe. I was stationed in Chuncheon as an officer in the US Army in the late ’80s, and some of my fondest memories of that time revolve around evenings spent at one of the array of restaurants, all clustered together at the center of town, that all featured Dak Galbi exclusively on their menus. When I went back to Seoul years later, I was surprised to find that this particular dish was such a Chuncheon specialty that even though everyone seemed to know and love it, nobody knew of anyplace outside of Chuncheon that served it (as anyone who has ever eaten in any one of the 500 or so Ray’s Pizzas in NYC, such a thing would never happen in the US, where there would be no shortage of folks claiming to have invented the recipe in their own home town). I’ve recently not only found a great Dak Galbi chain in Seoul, but also an impressively authentic version here in the LA area as well. Yours, though, is the best version of a cook-at-home recipe I’ve seen, and I’m excited to try my hand at it here soon. Thanks again!
Made this for the second time, and somehow, it’s gotten even more delicious! Not many one-dish meals are this impressive, but this is really so satisfying.
Great to hear that, Mehkko! I love this recipe and it is truly satisfying to me, too. 🙂
When i was stationed in Seoul, there was a warming gate that when you exited, there was a restaurant that served Dak Galbi. So many memories. Going out later today to find the ingredients.Thank you so much.
Thanks for this recipe! It was so good!! Since we can’t go back to Chuncheon anytime soon, this helps satisfy our craving!
Is there a substitute for rice wine..?
You can omit the rice wine in the recipe. It won’t change the taste much.
I made this for dinner tonight. Delicious.
hey Holly,
my bestfriend and i lived in Chouncheoun for a year and would try a different dak galbi resturant every weekend. our fav one was just around the corner and the family that ran it were amazingly friendly and by the end of or year we were like there adopted daughters! kkk so miss that place and the soju! cheers for the recipe.
Thanks for the recipe! Tried this and it was truly delicious!
Just found your blog..Thank you for the stories and the great recipes. on my way to the OMart to get what i dont have to cook this
This looks AMAZING! Can’t wait to cook this. I am from South Africa and I lived in Korea for a year and I really really miss Korean food so much. I miss everything about Korea 🙁
I’m am trying to get all my friends to open their minds and try Korean food.
Thanks for an amazing and inspiring blog. Looking forward to hosting my next Korean dinner party. 🙂
holly –
just wanted to say i LOVE your site. i have been SCOURING the internet for some traditional korean recipes and yours is hands down THE BEST- i have already made the scallion pancakes – love! – and one of your pork dishes! i cant say enough good things about your food! i cant wait to make this for my husband. he is very wary of korean food because he doesnt like fish but so far has absolutely raved about your dishes. After i made the tuna pancakes he said – “what makes that korean?! thats just delicious!” – i am so excited to make this chicken because i have a well seasoned cast iron skillet – his cooking “baby” – and he will be thrilled that i used it. Thanks to your site my husband and i are cooking these new dishes together – i am having a lot of fun introducing him to the culture and the cuisine. (side note: i am a HORRIBLE cook. i burn water and i dont know the difference between garlic and scallions BUT your site has made me quite popular! my mom cant believe im in the kitchen and my husband cant believe how “good i am” now at cooking) a thousand thank yous! khamsam-mida
Thank you Shay. I am so happy to hear that everything turned out great. I don’t believe you are a horrible cook. I think you have quite a talent in cooking. Keep up the good work. Tell your husband how lucky he is to have a wife who cooks great Korean food. Wife like you doesn’t come easily. 🙂
Please let me know if you need any help with my recipes. Have a great week!