Braised Kimchi Chicken With Sweet Potatoes

By Eric Kim

Updated March 31, 2026

  • Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Media 1 of 2
Ready In
1 hr
Rating
5(53)
Comments
Read comments

A ginger- and gochugaru-infused butter underpins the multilayered seasonings in this savory braised chicken dish. Kimchi’s acid tenderizes the meat and provides intensity to the final gravy, an electric-red pool of umami. White rice tastes great with this, as do mashed potatoes or crusty bread, to sop up all the buttery juices. An age-old secret to juicy chicken is blanching, then shocking the meat with cold water, a technique that appears in dishes like Chinese white-cut chicken and Hainanese chicken rice. This initial step also results in a clean chicken flavor and a rich, pure-tasting sauce.

Featured in: A Simple Trick Makes This Chicken Dinner Especially Delicious

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks or leg quarters

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 1 (3-inch) piece ginger, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks

  • 2 tablespoons gochugaru (see Tip)

  • 1 ½ packed cups finely chopped kimchi, plus any juices

  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce

  • 1 tablespoon honey

  • 2 fresh or dried bay leaves

  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 large or 2 small Asian sweet potatoes (about 10 ounces), peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks (see Tip)

  • 1 small yellow onion, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

26 grams carbs; 239 milligrams cholesterol; 578 calories; 12 grams monosaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 33 grams fat; 5 grams fiber; 1145 milligrams sodium; 44 grams protein; 9 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Fill a medium bowl with ice water. Then, fill a large Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot with cold water and bring to a boil over high. Add the chicken and poach for just 5 minutes (it’s OK if the water doesn’t come back to a boil). Shock the chicken in the ice water to stop the cooking and set aside. Drain the Dutch oven, rinsing if very dirty, and return the pot to the stove.

    1. Step 2

      In the now-empty, fairly dry pot, melt the butter over medium. Add the ginger and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the gochugaru into the gingery butter, just a few seconds, then immediately add the kimchi, fish sauce, honey, bay leaves and 1 cup water. Nestle in the chicken pieces so they’re partly covered by liquid. Season with salt and pepper.

    1. Step 3

      Raise the heat to high and bring the pot to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low to continue simmering the chicken for 10 minutes to begin its braising journey.

    1. Step 4

      After 10 minutes, place the sweet potato and onion over the chicken, coaxing them into the liquid if possible (or at least spooning over some of the liquid). Continue simmering the stew, partly covered, until the sauce is reduced, the potatoes are tender and the chicken falls off the bone, about 30 minutes. Serve the chicken and vegetables with the sauce ladled over.

Tips

  • Asian sweet potatoes have tapered ends with reddish-purple skins and yellow-white interiors. They also become gloriously fudgy when braised like this (or dry-roasted whole). Their orange-bellied American counterparts, varieties such as Beauregard, jewel and garnet, would disintegrate into a soft sludge, but the Asian sweet potato — particularly the Japanese satsumaimo and the Korean goguma — remains sturdy even after a long, slow cook, their chestnut-sweet interiors only deepening with time.

  • Gochugaru, a mild, intensely savory Korean red-pepper powder, ranges from a fine dust to tiny coarse flakes. Try to buy the coarse variety for a deeper, sweeter flavor. You can find gochugaru at Korean and other Asian supermarkets and at many grocery stores, as well as online.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
53 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Cyn In Den

@mitch The recipe … calls for kimchi and it’s juices?

MK

I made this today, using my homemade kimchi, which is pretty spicy. But not overpoweringly so. Only thing I did differently from how the recipe is written was to pop the chicken, skin side up, under the broiler to crisp up the skin a bit before serving. I loved how the sweet potatoes soaked up the flavors of the sauce. This is a delicious recipe and I will be making it again!

john golden, Camden Maine

I love braising and this recipe seems almost irreverently delicious. Not a fan of drumsticks but using the whole leg saves it. I’m curious about Asian sweet potatoes. I don’t think I’ll find them at any stores in my small town along Midcoast Maine

Zawn

These yams are so sweet that I’m not sure I’d bother with the honey next time… but this was truly delicious!

Jules

Nervous about how the woody flavor of the bay leaves will interact with the kimchi and the honey. Notes, anyone?

Phil

This was delicious. I was missing a few ingredients, so I used a gochugaru miso teriyaki sauce I had instead of the pepper flakes, honey and fish sauce. Will make it again.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.