Gochujang Chicken Tacos
These Dak Galbi Street Tacos are a spicy and fun twist on a traditional Korean dish Dak Galbi. This recipe has been Americanized in a delicious weeknight recipe kind of way! Spicy chicken and white rice are served with cooling lettuce, shredded mozzarella, and tortilla shells to make a fun and delicious recipe. Warning – its spicy!
These gochujang chicken tacos are an easy recipe, making them perfect for a weeknight dinner. The sauce is sweet and smokey, flavorful and full of fire at the same time.
A lot of times the heat of a dish tends to overtake the flavor, but here you get the perfect combination of heat and flavor. You will be sweating and wanting more at the same time.
This is my ONLY recipe that I don’t serve my kids. Its also the only really spicy recipe that I really enjoy. It has a LOT of heat, but its not just fire – it also has so much depth of flavor.
Try these other great Korean recipes:
There’s a new condiment in our lives. Its dark, complex, slightly sweet, fiery as hell, and super versatile. It’s everything you have ever wanted in a condiment, and its been around a lot longer than ketchup, barbecue sauce and Sriracha. And I am so excited to introduce you to her.
If you have not heard of Gochujang yet, you need to run to your nearest store and pick some up! Also known as Korean pepper paste, this spicy condiment comes from Korea and is probably one of my favorite spicy hot sauce ever!
What do you need to make this recipe?
Here is what you need to have on hand to make this recipe:
- Gochujang (Korean Pepper Paste) is a thick and sticky condiment made with special peppers whose flavor cannot be substituted. Its the perfect blend of spicy and sweet, as well as having a wonderful complex and pungent flavor, and super concentrated (meaning a little goes a long way!).
- Gochugaru (Korean Red Pepper Powder). This differs from your average red chili powder in that it is coursley ground – kind of between a flake and a powder. It is made from sun-dried chili peppers, and has a hot, sweet, and slightly smokey flavor. Here you really want to buy the best you can!
- Chicken – You will want boneless, skinless chicken. Either breasts or tights work well in this recipe, but I like the texture that thighs give.
- Rice Wine – This is a flavor enhancer for the sauce, and also helps to sweeten it a little. You could use rice wine vinegar as well, that adds a little more tang than sweetness to the recipe.
- Honey – This helps sweeten the sauce a little. You can sub for sugar if you need to.
- Soy Sauce
- Turmeric (affiliate link) Powder
- Ginger – I suggest using fresh grated ginger here, but you can use powdered dried ginger if needed.
- Tortillas – I like using white flour tortillas for this. I feel like corn tortillas and whole wheat tortillas tend to mute the other flavors of the dish.
- Sushi Rice – I really like sushi rice for the added texture, but any white rice will work.
- Mozzarella – You want the fresh mozzarella that is packaged with water in it. This will help counterbalance the spice level in the tacos.
- Iceberg Lettuce – Iceberg lettuce helps give a great crunch texture to the tacos, but also helps cool the heat back down.
- Green Onions
Try these other taco recipes:
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Dak Galbi Street Tacos
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb skinless boneless chicken thighs
**Sauce:
- 3 TBSP Korean Chili Pepper Paste Gochujang
- 2 TBSP rice wine
- 1-2 TBSP Korean Chili Pepper Flakes Gochugaru
- 1 TBSP honey
- 2 TBSP soy sauce
- ½ tsp tumeric powder
- ½ tsp grated ginger
- 2 TBSP sugar
**Toppings:
- Tortillas
- 1 cup cooked sushi rice
- mozzarella cheese
- iceberg lettuce shredded
- green onions
Instructions
- In cup, mix together the ingredients for the sauce.
- Cut the chicken up into pieces.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat with 1 TBSP of oil.
- Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes, or until browned, stirring occasionally.
- Add in the sauce and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for another 10 minutes.
- When the chicken is done, serve in tortillas with sushi rice, shredded mozzarella cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce and sliced green onions.
These sound so good! A few years back, a new food truck launched in Los Angeles that did Korean style street tacos, and everyone in the city lost their dang mind over them. They had lines around the block! I never had patience to wait for them, but maybe now I'll get to see what the buzz was all about afterall 🙂
I'm obsessed with gochujang! Totally agree that it's the new sriracha! These tacos look so amazing. Definitely pinning!
I recently tried gochujang in braised short ribs and am hooked! Love having another recipe that uses it! These look wonderful!
I also love gochujang! What a wonderful condiment – these tacos look awesome!
Yum. I love hot sauce and your sauce looks intriguing. Thanks for sharing Jenni.
Elaine