Jjimdak (Korean Braised chicken)

Here’s how to make a hearty, flavorful Korean braised chicken dish, jjimdak! It’s very easy to make at home with a few basic ingredients! Simply omit the chili peppers for a mild version.

Jjimdak (찜닭) is a braised chicken dish. Jjim generally refers to the dishes that are steamed, stewed or braised in a sauce, and dak means chicken. These two syllables can be reversed, so jjimdak is also called dakjjim (닭찜). A popular spicy version is known as Andong jjimdak (안동찜닭). It’s a huge restaurant favorite that’s easy to make at home with a few basic ingredients!

This Andong-style jjimdak recipe was originally posted in February 2011. I’ve updated it here with an improved recipe, more information, and new photos.

What is Andong jjimdak?

Andong jjimdak, which originated from the city of Andong, is a spicy version of braised chicken that has become enormously popular since late 1990’s. Braised in a sweet and savory braising liquid, the nicely clean spicy kick comes from dried whole red chili peppers and fresh hot chili peppers. Unlike dakbokkeumtang (also called dakdoritang), no gochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste) or gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes) is used!

Making Andong jjimdak is relatively simple. The dish uses small sized chicken pieces and is cooked over high heat. As such, it cooks up pretty quickly. In Korea, braised chicken dishes are usually made a whole chicken cut up, but you can use pre-cut pieces if you want. However, for this dish, you’ll still need to cut the chicken parts into smaller pieces.

Jjimdak variations

You can reduce the amount of the peppers or omit them entirely to make a mild version. This reminds me of the braised chicken dish I grew up eating.

When I was a small child, my parents raised a few chickens in our backyard. I remember feeding baby chicks and watching them grow. I remember how fascinated I was to see a mother hen lay her eggs. They were great company and provided us with warm fresh eggs every day. Occasionally, some of their lives were cut short by my father who had to do the unpleasant job to feed his family. These events apparently stirred strong emotions in one of my brothers. To this day, he does not eat chicken. As for me, I loved a sweet and savory braised chicken dish my mother used to make.

For vegetables, I used potatoes, carrot, onion, mushrooms, and scallions. Green cabbage is also a common ingredient for this dish. Some people also add a little bit of green leafy vegetables such as spinach and bok choy.

If you care about the color of the dish to be dark as a restaurant’s version you might have had in Korea, you can add a tablespoon of instant coffee powder or some caramel sauce.

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