Korean Chicken Radish Soup
Quick answer
Dak mu-guk is a Korean chicken and radish soup that produces a clear, deeply flavored broth from two simple main ingredients.
What makes this special
- Dak mu-guk draws deep flavor from blanched chicken thigh meat and sweet radish in a clear, light soup.
- Blanching thigh meat 1 minute removes impurities and keeps the broth clear
- Thin nabok-cut radish turns translucent in 10 minutes, releasing sweetness fast
Key ingredients
Core cooking flow
- 1 Cut 500 g chicken thigh meat into bite-size pieces.
- 2 Slice 350 g radish into thin, flat squares so it can turn translucent quickly.
- 3 Put 1600 ml water, the blanched chicken, 8 g ginger, and the onion in a pot.
Dak mu-guk is a Korean chicken and radish soup that produces a clear, deeply flavored broth from two simple main ingredients. Chicken thigh meat, cut into bite-sized pieces, is blanched for one minute in boiling water before the main simmer - this step removes impurities and blood, which is the most reliable way to achieve a transparent broth rather than a cloudy one. Onion and ginger then build the aromatic backbone over twenty minutes of gentle, low heat, allowing the chicken's natural depth to develop without aggressive boiling. The radish is cut into thin, flat squares rather than thick slabs; this shape turns translucent within ten minutes and releases its clean sweetness into the liquid quickly and evenly. Soup soy sauce and salt season the broth, and diagonally sliced green onion goes in just before the heat is turned off to preserve its color and mild bite. The result balances the richness of chicken stock against the cool, vegetal sweetness of radish in a soup that is light enough to eat when recovering from illness yet satisfying as an everyday meal.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Finish
Cut 500 g chicken thigh meat into bite-size pieces.
Blanch it in boiling water for 1 minute, just until foam and blood rise, then lift it into a strainer so the finished broth stays clear.
- 2Finish
Slice 350 g radish into thin, flat squares so it can turn translucent quickly.
Cut 100 g onion into thick strips, slice 60 g green onion diagonally, and keep the green onion aside for the finish.
- 3Control
Put 1600 ml water, the blanched chicken, 8 g ginger, and the onion in a pot.
Once it boils, lower to medium-low heat and simmer for 20 minutes, keeping the bubbling gentle rather than rough.
- 4Control
Add the radish and 1 tbsp minced garlic, then simmer for 10 more minutes.
Keep the heat steady and gentle until the radish edges look translucent, because hard boiling can cloud the broth.
- 5Control
Season with 2 tbsp soup soy sauce and 0.5 tsp salt, then taste the broth.
Add the sliced green onion and simmer for only 2 minutes so it keeps some color and a mild bite.
- 6Finish
Turn off the heat and skim off any fat or foam from the surface.
Serve the soup hot when the chicken is tender and the radish looks clear through the center, not opaque or firm.
After the steps
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