Korean Samgyetang Recipe — Ginseng Chicken Soup

Koreans eat samgyetang on three specific summer days: chobok, jungbok, and malbok — the first, middle, and last heat days of the lunar calendar, roughly coinciding with the hottest period of July and August. The logic is iyeol chiyeol (이열치열): fight heat with heat. Eating a hot, fortifying soup on the hottest days is believed to restore the energy lost to the summer.

The dish is built on contrast: the clear, delicate broth; the stuffed, collapsing chicken; the earthy, slightly bitter ginseng. At good samgyetang restaurants, the chicken is so soft it comes apart in the bowl when you touch it. The rice inside absorbs the chicken fat and broth as it cooks and becomes almost creamy.

What You Need

Per serving (serves 1 generously):

• 1 whole Cornish hen (800g-1kg) or small chicken
• ¼ cup sweet glutinous rice (chapssal), soaked 2 hours
• 4-6 cloves garlic, whole
• 1 fresh ginseng root (or 1 dried ginseng root, rehydrated) — or 2 tbsp ginseng powder as substitute
• 3-4 jujubes (dried red dates), rinsed
• 1 scallion
• Water to cover (about 1.5-2L per chicken)
• Coarse sea salt and white pepper (served on the side, not added to the pot)

How to Make It

Prep the chicken: Remove giblets. Rinse inside and out. Pat dry.

Stuff the chicken: Pack the cavity loosely with soaked glutinous rice (it will expand), 2-3 garlic cloves, 1-2 jujubes, and the ginseng. Close the cavity by tying the legs together with kitchen string or tucking the legs under.

Into the pot: Place stuffed chicken breast-side down in a pot just large enough to hold it. Add remaining garlic, jujubes, and scallion. Cover with cold water — the chicken should be fully submerged.

Simmer: Bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off any grey foam that rises to the surface. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer gently, partially covered, for 1.5-2 hours. The chicken is done when the meat is falling off the bone and the broth is a clear golden color.

Do not season the broth during cooking. Samgyetang is deliberately unsalted — each person seasons their own portion with coarse sea salt and white pepper at the table. This is the traditional and correct service method.

Serve: Ladle one whole chicken into a deep individual stone bowl or deep soup bowl. Ladle broth over and around. Set coarse sea salt, white pepper, and sliced scallion on the side.

Eating: Season the broth in your own bowl to taste. Eat the chicken directly from the bone. The stuffing — now cooked glutinous rice — is eaten directly from the cavity with a spoon.

Variations

Without fresh ginseng: Use 2 dried ginseng root pieces (available at any Korean grocery) or 1 tbsp ginseng powder added to the pot. Fresh ginseng is ideal but dried works well.

Abalone samgyetang (jeonbokjuk version): Some restaurants add 2-3 small abalone to the pot. The abalone cook in the broth and the flavor transfers.

The rice question: Some cooks use regular short-grain rice instead of glutinous rice. The glutinous rice (chapssal) becomes sticky and creamy, which is the traditional texture. Regular rice stays more distinct. Either works.

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Samgyetang requires nothing except time. The two-hour simmer is not hands-on — once the pot is simmering, walk away. The dish rewards patience and a cold beer while you wait.