Jjimdak is my favorite way of eating chicken. The balance of sweetness and saltiness with a hint of spiciness (although spicy can be optional) makes this dish so addicting. It’s super easy to make once you get the feel of it.
My favorite part of this dish is definitely the glass noodles although this is not a noodle centric dish. Noodles are supposed to be in there as a little side kick so you eat it once in a while as this dish is eaten with rice.
If you want to add more noodles, you will have to also increase the sauce amount. Also remember adding lots of noodles will change the flavor of the dish a bit.
Jjimdak is best served with a bowl of rice and kimchi.
Jjimdak (Korean Braised Chicken) 찜닭
Equipment
Wide shallow pot Use wide or large pot so all chicken and ingredients can be placed in one layer.
Get Jjimdak ingredients here!
Ingredients
- 3.5 LB Chicken one whole chicken cut OR your favorite parts, Bone-in, skin-on results in best flavor
- 1 cup Water
- 1/2 cup Soy Sauce
- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar White sugar ok
- 1/4 cup Rice Wine or white wine
- 1 Green Onion
- 4 Dried Chili Pepper optional but highly recommend using it
- 3 TBS Garlic minced
- 1 TBS Ginger minced
- Pinch Black Pepper
To add later
- 1.5 cup Water Just before adding veggies
- 290 g Potato 1 large or 2 small, cut into two-bite sizes, if two small they will break
- 100 g Onion 1 small, cut into chunks
- 100 g Carrot 1 small, cut into two-bite sizes
- 1 tsp Instant Coffee or Caramel Sauce (for colors only) optional, only if you want darker color
- 100 g Glass Noodle (Regular or flat) must presoak or preboil
For Starch Water to finish off
- 1 tsp Potato Starch or flour
- 1 TBS Water
Garnish
- 2 Green Onion sliced
- 2 Red Chili Pepper optional, sliced
Instructions
- IMPORTANT - Use wide or large shallow pot so all chicken and ingredients can be placed in one layer! This will help all your chicken to absorb the flavor and the liquid will boil down fast. If you change ingredient amount, you will have to change seasoning amount or cooking time. The most challenging part of this recipe is being able to get the feel of how much the liquid should be boiled down before adding noodles so that the chicken and veggies are not too bland or not too salty.
- Soak Glass Noodles in warm water for at least one hour (If not enough time, boil for about 6 min in boiling water and wash in cold water and drain)
- Wash chicken. For large piece, make incisions. (You can parboil and wash chicken to remove gaminess if chicken is not fresh.)
- Place skin side down in a wide pot.
- Add all initial seasoning ingredients. (Add only 1 cup of water here because you want the chicken to absorb strong soy sauce flavor first)
- Bring to boil (took 7 min but may vary depending on amount and heat)
- Once boiling, keep cooking on high heat UNCOVERED for 15 min
- Add additional 1.5 cup of water, potato, carrot, onion. You can add 1 tsp of instant coffee for darker color (if you want restaurant style color).
- Bring to boil again (took 3 min but may vary depending on amount and heat)
- Once boiling again, cook on high heat UNCOVERED for another 15 min
- Flip chicken and make room for noodles
- Add noodles and cook on high heat UNCOVERED for 3 min (If you don’t have much liquid left, lower the heat)
- Add starch water and cook on medium heat for 3 more min
- Add green onion and red chili pepper before serving.
- If not eating immediately, take out noodles right away and store separately. Otherwise it will soak up all the liquid.
- The end result should be salty enough so you can eat this with plain rice. This is NOT a stew so there should be only a small amount of sauce at the bottom. Depending on the amount and heat, cooking time will be different so make sure you boil it down until there is good saltiness. If you feel like it's too bland, add more soy sauce and sugar gradually towards the end while tasting.
Notes
Glass noodles: You can use regular or flat glass noodles. I like flat ones better but sometimes it's hard to find. Buy Korean glass noodles and read ingredients and buy ones with 100% sweet potato flour if possible.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
I made this today.. It’s absolutely delicious and all my family loved it.. Will sure be making it again.. Thaaaaaaaaaank you and many warm greetings to your wonderful 부모님 😍
Awesome. Thank you for the kind words! Happy new year!
Made this for the 2nd time today.. I realized I used rice wine vinegar the first time so used rice wine this time and it didn’t seem to make a difference. I decreased the chilis because last time was very spicy so I only used 1 this time. The first time I thought the flavor didn’t penetrate deep enough into the chicken so marinated it in black soy sauce this time, it was a bit salty I’ll probably just stick to the recommended cook. Anyway super delicious! This will continue to be on my weekly meal list.
YOu can marinate in the sauce and leave it overnight if you want the flavor to be penetrated more.
Yum!!!!! Tasty as always. I’ve made this recipe a few times now, and it’s always great. I personally love the chewy texture of the noodles and how much flavor they absorb, so i doubled the amount of noodles and liquids (plus some more potatoes) and it worked perfectly. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome. Glad you are enjoying it!
It’s me again! I make this once a month. I love it! Plus, as a student, i love how cost effective it is. I can add more potatoes to make the meal stretch longer, and use the cheapest chicken cuts (drumsticks, wings, etc) and it tastes awesome every time ☺️
This is a good recipe. I cut the veges bite size but the potatoes needed extra time. A quick min in the microwave and then back in the pot worked well. My teenage son was silent throughout dinner because he was so busy eating. Thank you!