Korean Grilled Chicken Heart Skewers
Quick answer
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.
What makes this special
- A milk soak and a savory soy-gochujang glaze define these tender grilled chicken heart skewers.
- Milk soak for 15 minutes removes organ-meat odor cleanly
- Sauce layered in stages while grilling for glossy coating
Key ingredients
Core cooking flow
- 1 Rinse 300g chicken hearts under running water and trim any visible blood vessels with scissors.
- 2 Remove from the milk, rinse under running water, and pat completely dry with paper towels.
- 3 Combine 25ml soy sauce, 20g gochujang, 12g sugar, 10g minced garlic, 15ml mi...
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.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Step
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.
- 2Step
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.
- 3Season
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.
- 4Finish
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.
- 5Control
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.
- 6Finish
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.
After the steps
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Dak-kkochi-gui is a Korean grilled chicken skewer built on the flavors of street-stall cooking, made by threading bite-sized chicken breast or thigh onto bamboo sticks and painting them with a sauce of gochujang, soy sauce, honey, and minced garlic. Thigh meat is the better choice because its higher fat content keeps each piece juicy over direct heat, while breast will dry out quickly. Applying the glaze in two or three separate coats rather than all at once builds a thick, sticky, caramelized surface. Cutting the chicken into uniform cubes ensures even cooking, and alternating pieces with slices of green onion or bell pepper adds moisture and prevents the meat from tightening up. Turning the skewers frequently over medium heat keeps the sugars in the sauce from scorching while the surface develops an even, deep char. The same result comes out well in an air fryer at 200 degrees Celsius for twelve to fourteen minutes. Gochujang's fermented heat against the sweetness of honey and the smell of searing meat is the unmistakable signature of Korean pojangmacha.
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