Korean Grilled Chicken Heart Skewers

Quick answer

Total time: 45 min
Level: Medium
Servings: 2 servings
Ingredients: 9

About this dish

Dak-yeomtong-kkochi starts by soaking trimmed chicken hearts in milk for fifteen minutes to remove any off-flavors, then threading them onto skewers for direct grilling.

A glaze of soy sauce, gochujang, sugar, garlic, and cooking wine is applied in stages during grilling, building up a salty-sweet coating with gentle heat. Unlike regular chicken meat, hearts have a firm, springy chew that deepens in nuttiness the more you bite into them. The milk soak combined with garlic and cooking wine in the glaze cleanly removes any organ taste, so the finished skewers carry only the char from the grill and the layered seasoning. A common sight at street stalls and pojangmacha tents, these skewers work equally well as a quick snack eaten on the spot or as drinking food alongside a cold beer.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmountUnit

chicken hearts300 gg

milk200 mlml

soy sauce25 mlml

gochujang20 gg

sugar12 gg

minced garlic10 gg

cooking wine15 mlml

black pepper2 gg

cooking oil10 mlml

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Instructions

Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.

6 steps

1

Step

Rinse 300g chicken hearts under running water and trim any visible blood vessels with scissors.

Soak in 200ml milk for 15 minutes to draw out the gamey odor.
2

Step

Remove from the milk, rinse under running water, and pat completely dry with paper towels.

Thread 3 to 4 hearts per skewer. Moisture prevents the marinade from adhering.
3

Season

Combine 25ml soy sauce, 20g gochujang, 12g sugar, 10g minced garlic, 15ml mirin, and 2g pepper in a bowl and mix well to complete the marinade.
4

Finish

Brush half the marinade evenly over all sides of the skewers and let rest for 10 minutes.

Reserve the other half for basting during cooking.
5

Control

Heat a pan or grill and add 10ml oil.

Cook the skewers over medium heat, turning every 2 minutes, for 6 to 8 minutes total. The hearts are fully cooked when a cross-section shows no pink - only grey throughout.
6

Finish

Brush the reserved marinade over all sides and cook over medium-high heat for 2 more minutes until the sauce caramelizes to a glossy finish.

Practical Cooking Checks

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: A milk soak and a savory soy-gochujang glaze define these tender grilled chicken heart skewers.
Finish cue: Brush the reserved marinade over all sides and cook over medium-high heat for 2 more minutes until the sauce caramelizes to a glossy finish.
Avoid this: Remove promptly once cooked through to avoid toughness.