Today’s recipe is super-spicy chicken, called buldak in Korean. The Korean word bul means fire, and dak means chicken, so you can call this “fire chicken.”

I first heard about this dish years ago, when I still lived in Korea. One evening I saw a truck on the street selling barbecued chicken. The guy had set up a homemade grill with real fire underneath, and was barbecuing huge chunks of chicken covered in a thick, spicy paste. With the flames and the smoke, it was a real festive sight, and there was a crowd of people gathering around, some to buy his chicken and some to just take part in the revelry.

He had a banner on the side of his truck that said “불닭” (buldak). I had never heard the name before, but between the spicy chicken and the fire he was cooking it over, it seemed like a great name to me. I bought some and brought it home to my family. It was fantastic!

These buldak trucks caught on: they would come out in the evenings, set up their makeshift fire pits, and grill spicy chicken over the flames. People would come out and take part in the fun.

I can’t set up a fire pit in my apartment, but my version is still plenty fiery! This buldak is spicy, a little sweet, and plenty soft and juicy. The crunchy rice cakes are my own variation and optional, but they give the dish a wonderful texture. If you want to make it less spicy, cut down on the hot pepper flakes, or use milder flakes. I use chicken breast in my recipe, but you could use chicken thigh, too.

I hope you love this recipe! Let me know if you try it!



Ingredients (4 servings)

2 pounds of chicken breast, cut into 3/4 or 1 inch cubes

½ cup hot pepper flakes

2 to 3 tablespoons hot pepper paste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

3 tablespoons vegetable or corn oil

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

⅓ cup rice syrup (or corn syrup, sugar, honey)

6 large garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons ginger, minced

1 pound mozzarella cheese (optional), cut into small pieces

1 cup of sliced rice cake (optional)

1 green onion, chopped

¼ cup water

Directions