This Korean Chicken Stew with Gochujang comes together easily, all in one pot, with only 15 minutes of prep. Boneless chicken thighs and spinach are simmered in sweet, spicy, garlicky chili sauce that’s to die for. The key to this easy flavorful recipe is store-bought Gochujang (Korean chili sauce). When you see how easy this amazing sauce is, you’ll want to cook everything with it.
Gochujang is Korea’s favorite chili sauce and an essential cooking ingredient in Korean cuisine. Gochujang is made from fermented soybeans and chilies. It has a wonderful range of sweet, spicy and umami flavors. You can purchase Gochujang at Asian markets, online and in the Asian section of many grocery stores.
The sauce for this Korean chicken stew has a good amount of Gochujang, mixed with sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and brown sugar. This mixture of ingredients is pure heaven. I have become totally enamored with it. In addition to making this Korean chicken stew once a week, I’ve been trying out a variety of different recipes using this sauce. Last night I marinated salmon in it – wonderful! Stay tuned for more recipes with gochujang.
How To Make Korean Chicken Stew with Gochujang
To make the sauce for this stew, store-bought Korean Gochujang Sauce is mixed with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, brown sugar. For the stew, you’ll need boneless chicken thighs sliced into bite-sized strips, lots of fresh baby spinach, and green onions.
- Marinate the chicken: Put the chicken and green onion bottoms in a big bowl, add sauce ingredients, toss to combine and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
- Simmer the Stew: To cook the Korean chicken stew, bring 1/3 cup of water to a boil in a heavy pot. Add the chicken and marinade ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. That’s it, done. I love that there’s only one pot needed here and no messy or oily sautéing. An easy recipe.
- Stir in Spinach and Scallions: After the stew cooks for 30 minutes, throw in the sliced green onion tops and fresh baby spinach leaves and stir until the spinach is wilted. Don’t be alarmed if when you add the spinach to the pot it comes up to the top or even higher. Raw spinach is mostly water and it’s about ten times more voluminous when raw than when cooked. As soon as the spinach makes contact with heat it will start to deflate. Just keep stirring and tossing the spinach into the hot stew and within a minute or two it will be perfectly incorporated.
How To Serve Korean Chicken Stew
This Korean chicken stew calls out for rice to soak up all the delicious sauce. I’ve served it with white rice because it’s more popular in my house than brown. But I think brown rice would be delicious too and you’ll get the added nutritional benefits of a whole grain. While your stew is simmering and filling the air with its incredible aroma, you’ll have just enough time to set the table and make a pot of rice.
This Korean chicken stew is best enjoyed hot. I like to serve it in shallow bowls, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and a big self-serve bowl of rice on the side.
Other delicious easy chicken recipes from around the world
- Chinese Orange Chicken
- Curried Butternut Squash, Lentil and Chicken Stew
- Asian Honey Soy Chicken
- Quick Chicken Pizzaiola
- Chicken Piccata
Whenever you’re in the mood to cook a delicious Korean dish, pay a visit to the ever-expanding Panning The Globe Korean Recipe Archive. This recipe is minimally adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light Magazine. Cooking Light is one of my long-time favorite recipe sources for delicious healthy recipes.
Here’s the recipe for Korean Chicken Stew with Gochujang Sauce. If you try this recipe I hope you’ll come back to leave a rating and a comment. I’d love to know what you think.
PrintKorean Chicken Stew with Gochujang Sauce
An easy one-pot recipe for Korean chicken stew with spinach simmered in an addictive sweet and spicy sauce that uses store-bought Gochujang. Serve this with rice for a delicious meal that the whole family will love.
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4-5 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/2-inch strips
- 1 large bunch of green onions, cut in half crosswise so the bottoms (white and light green part) are separate from the dark green tops. Cut the bottoms into 1/2-inch pieces. Slice the tops thinly.
- 1/3 cup Gochujang (Korean chili sauce)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of minced ginger root (from a 3-inch piece)
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 6 large cloves)
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 8–10 ounces of fresh baby spinach leaves
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 3 cups of cooked rice (white or brown) to serve with the stew
Garnish: 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Put the chicken, green onion bottoms and all the marinade ingredients: Gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and brown sugar, into a bowl and stir to combine. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Heat 1/3 cup water over high heat in a Dutch oven or a heavy pot with a lid. As soon as the water boils, add the chicken and all the marinade ingredients. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Give the stew a stir and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes more, to thicken the sauce.
- While the stew is simmering, get your rice cooking.
- Remove stew from heat and immediately add green onion tops and spinach to the pot. Stir and toss until the spinach has wilted from the heat of the stew.
- Divide the stew among shallow bowls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with rice.
Notes
Nutrition information for this recipe is calculated for the stew only and doesn’t include the rice.
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator for websites. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but nutrition information can vary based on many factors. If your health and well being is in question we recommend you check with a licensed dietitian or nutritionist.
Keywords: Korean chicken, spicy Korean Chicken with spinach, chicken with Gochujang sauce and spinach, quick and easy Korean chicken stew
Originally published Nov 29, 2018. Updated May 10, 2021 with a few new photos, clarifying details and step-by-step instructions added to the written post. The same delicious recipe!
What a fabulous recipe! I made a double batch last night knowing I would want leftovers. I logged back in to see if there were any suggestions in the comments for how to cut the heat for my kids who complained the dish was too spicy. I used Gochujang paste and I wonder if Gochujang sauce is something altogether different and if it would be less potent? Having never used this ingredient before I may have screwed up and bought the wrong thing. My version does have a significant kick to it. In the mean time, do you have suggestions for how to cut the heat for my kids in our leftovers? Every ingredient I think of to add feels not just right. Thanks for any guidance! And thanks for the recipe!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed the stew Suzanne. Sorry it was too spicy for the kids. It’s likely the paste is more concentrated than the sauce. Generally, the best way to lower the heat is to add full-fat dairy such as cream, yogurt or sour cream. Make sure the stew isn’t boiling hot when you add the dairy, to avoid separation. Good luck – let me know!!
One of the best recipes I’ve ever made! Thank you so much Lisa
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Wow, that’s so great to hear Stephanie! I feel that way too!! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Hi Lisa! This was delicious, and so easy. I’m not sure if this is ok to do with Korean fare, but we added peanuts… and loved it! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes….
Hoping to meet up with you in Brooklyn one day!
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Hi Laura! I’m so glad you enjoyed!! And yes, peanuts are ok. I love fusion. Anything that works is great by me. I, too, look forward to meeting up with you in Brooklyn!!
Lisa, your recipes are fabulous! I haven’t met one that I didn’t love. This one will occupy a place in my frequently-made line-up. You are a real treasure! (You already know how wild I am about the Guatemalan Green Chicken Stew and your Bubbie’s Stuffed Cabbage with the essential golden raisins!!!)
Have you published any cookbooks? I’d love some cookbooks that would incorporate your wonderful artwork!
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Hollis you are too kind. Your comments make my day 🙂 I have not published a cookbook. It’s a lot of work and I can barely keep up with the blog! But it is a dream of mine. Maybe some day I’ll get it done. Thanks for your encouragement.
Wondering if this could be adapted as a SOUP? mmmmmm 🙂 Thanks
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Ooh that’s a nice idea! I bet it would be delicious as a soup. I would probably add a few cups of chicken broth or stock and then at the end, add some rice and chopped scallions. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
Great healthy recipe. I didn’t have the Gochujang so instead I used 1/2 miso paste (soy bean paste) and half garlic with chill pickle and it was delicious. Thank you for the inspiration!🙏🏼
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Hi Melissa, I’m glad you enjoyed!! Your adaptation with miso sounds delicious! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment.
Hi there! This sounds and looks amazing – will definitely try it out! I’m Europe-based though and have no idea how much a cup is O_o How much is 1/3 cup of Gochujang in tablespoons?
Hey Julia, I’ve been thinking about this issue and planning to put a conversion chart on my site. But for now, I apologize for the confusion – 1/3 cup is 5 tablespoons.
Awesome, thank you Lisa <3 Funny how tablespoons and teaspoons are the only measuring method that work all over the globe. Can't wait to give this recipe a go!
Made the recipe as written, and both my partner and I LOVED IT! Nice amount of heat without being “spicy.” Will definitely be making again.
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Yay! I’m so glad to hear it!! Thanks for your comment Laura.
I like the Korean kitchen so this post will complete my collection of recipes. thank you
Yes! I adore Gochujang and this turned out amazing.
I made Korean marinated slow cooked pulled beef recently that I bet would go great instead of the chicken in this recipe. I may try it and turn it into a pot pie at the same time
Thank you so much for the great recipe. I’m having fun with it
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I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipe Andii!! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment.
Hi! This sound delicious and simple.
Can you suggest what might work well as a vegetarian or fish substitute?
Thank you!
H Lianne, I would recommend firm tofu! I bet it will be delicious. You could also do all veggies: spinach, broccoli, green beans… and throw in some cashew nuts for protein. I hope you enjoy!
Lisa, this website very nice for cooking. Cheaf come here…
I’ve made this twice – so delicious! Actually used half chicken thighs and half breast meat.
Made this a couple weeks ago for the first time and the family has been asking for it ever since. Simple and a crowd pleaser.
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Thanks for such a lovely recipe! Your style of writing and photos made it looks so tempting 🙂
I made it for the whole family tonight, Plates were left clean and everyone thought it was absolutely delicious! We are British Indian and l love cooking Chinese/Thai influenced foods. It is the first time I have made Korean style at home and I used Gochujang paste instead of sauce, I suspect it is more potent (but we like our food spicy so it worked for us). Highly recommend this recipe! Look forward to exploring your blog and getting more inspiration. Planning to try a fish marinade as suggested with the left over paste next week.
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Made this over the weekend. Delicious! And so easy. Ok, I confess, I marinaded in the cooking pot for 1 less dish to clean. I added the water after the 30 min marinade time was up and simmered as directed. Perfect. I needed the rice because this dish is spicy but not over the top spicy. It was a really nice balance. A Keeper
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Thanks for your comment Donna. I’m very happy that you enjoyed the chicken. And what a great idea to marinate the chicken in the pot! Why didn’t I think of that!?
Lisa
Another amazingly simple, yet delicious recipe- wine winner chicken dinner!
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Lisa, You had me at Gochujang and Korean! THis looks amazing and quick to make. Thanks for another
great recipe.