Samgyetang
삼계탕
A small whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng and jujube, simmered until the broth goes milky and kind.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 삼계탕.
0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 15 min
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 1 hr 40 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- A bit special$16–28 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Samgyetang is a summer stamina soup that looks like winter: a whole young chicken in a pot, rice bursting from the cavity, ginseng in the broth. You eat the meat, the rice porridge that forms, and the soup. It is medicinal-feeling without being a pharmacy. A small young bird is the point; a roasting chicken will not cook through before the breast dries. Soak glutinous rice, pack the cavity loosely, and simmer rather than boil to rags. Ginseng, garlic and jujube go in the broth, not as a garnish afterthought. Done is meat leaving the bone, rice swollen into porridge inside, and a cloudy-gold soup; salt at the table; if the pot tastes only of chicken water, you under-simmered or used too large a bird.
Ingredients
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Soak the rice. Stuff the chicken loosely with drained rice, a few garlic cloves and a jujube. Do not pack tight — the rice swells. Tie the legs if you can.
10 minStep 2
Cover with water, add ginseng, remaining garlic and jujube. Bring to a boil, skim, then simmer gently 60–75 minutes until the meat is falling and the broth looks cloudy-gold.
70 minStep 3
Serve the whole bird in the broth with spring onion. Salt and pepper at the table — the pot itself stays quiet until you season your bowl.
Adapt this recipe
The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 10 October.
Substitutions
Fresh ginseng → A smaller piece of dried ginseng
Stronger. One piece is enough.
Tips
- Chestnuts in the cavity are a common extra.
- Leftover broth is breakfast. Do not throw it away.
History & culture
Eaten on the hottest lunar days (boknal) to fight heat with heat. Also a get-well pot. Restaurants serve one bird per person in a stone bowl. Boknal summer days still fill samgyetang alleys with one stone pot per person. Gift ginseng appears in nicer rooms; home pots use what the grocer had. It is also a get-well delivery. Sharing one bird is possible and slightly missing the restaurant ritual, which is solitary sweating over your own carcass.
Ginseng-chicken soup has older herbal cousins. The stuffed-rice restaurant version is the one people now photograph. Herbal chicken soups are older than the stuffed-rice restaurant bowl people photograph. That plated version — small bird, rice packed, ginseng visible — is twentieth-century shop food sold as summer stamina. Health-food marketing around boknal is modern hospitality. We are writing the restaurant-shaped pot, not a medical claim.
Traditional
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.
How long does Samgyetang take?
1 hr 40 min all in — 25 min prep, 1 hr 15 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 2 pots. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Medium.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free.
What does it cost to cook?
A bit special — about $16–28 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Stockpot, Dutch oven.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at 1 tsp (to serve, with black pepper).
What can I use instead?
Fresh ginseng → A smaller piece of dried ginseng. Stronger. One piece is enough.
Any tips from this recipe?
Chestnuts in the cavity are a common extra. Leftover broth is breakfast. Do not throw it away.
Can I prepare this ahead?
Leftover broth is breakfast. Do not throw it away.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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