Yeong Gye Baeksuk – Korean chicken soup for the soul.. I have been making yeong gye baeksuk or young gye baeksook (영계백숙) for over 20 years now – ever since I got married. It’s my husband’s favorite soup and according to my mother-in-law, yeong gye baeksuk is one of the best foods for him. She also told me a whole list of other foods but that’s probably worth a whole different blog…
What I do know is that whenever my husband feels worn out, tired or has terrible allergies, this Korean chicken soup definitely helps him recover pretty quickly. It’s also another one of my daughter’s favorite and she’s been asking for it so here it is.
There are mainly 3 variations of the clear Korean chicken soup having various names:
- Yeong gye baeksuk(영계백숙) – soup made with young chicken without any additional herbal ingredients
- Dak baeksuk (닭백숙) – soup made with adult chicken without any additional herbal ingredients
- Sam gye tang(삼계탕) – soup made with young chicken using ginseng, dates and sweet rice stuffing
As you can imagine, sam gye tang is a lot more involved but yeong gye baeksuk is quite simple to do. BTW, here’s my Instant Pot Chicken Soup recipe in case you want to use your pressure cooker.
Difficulty: easy Servings: 4 Prep time: 15 min Cooking time: 35-40 min
Ingredients
- 1 cornish game hen (or young chicken 2-3 lbs) – should be thawed in fridge over night if frozen
- 1 whole head of garlic, peeled (or 8-10 cloves of garlic)
- 1 whole onion, peeled
- 3 green onions
- salt and pepper
- sauce for chicken – 1 T dark soy sauce(진간장) + 1 tsp vinegar
Directions
1. Cornish game hen works best. It is tender and has less fat. If you can buy fresh, unfrozen ones that’s great. If not, buy the frozen ones and it’s fine as long as you thaw it fully. If cornish hens are not available you can also buy small, young chicken. Best way to thaw is to leave in the refrigerator overnight or 10 hrs. If you have less time, you can also put the chicken(still wrapped) in cold water to thaw for 3-4 hrs. If you are really short on time, you can also thaw the chicken in the microwave but it’s really not recommended.
2. Cut off the wing tips, neck and the tail end. My mom told me that the wing tips and the tail end are bad for you so why eat it since there’s not much to eat there anyway. If the chicken has any giblets inside the stomach, discard it. There may be quite a bit of fat near the breast area or near the bottom, trim the fat as much as you can. Wash the chicken well under running water and pat it dry.
2. Prepare the garlic – if you have a whole bulb, soak it in water and peel them.
3. Peel the onion and leave it whole.
4. Add chicken, garlic, onion and 7 C of cold water to pot and bring to a boil.
5. Simmer at medium low or low heat for 35 min for smaller chicken (less than 2 lb) and 40 min for chicken larger than 2 lbs. Check if chicken is fully cooked by piercing the area between the thigh and the belly to see if any blood comes out. Cook a few minutes longer if you see any redness.
6. Take the chicken out onto a plate and let it cool a couple minutes. Chop up the green onions into small pieces (1/3 in). Serve the soup, rice, pieces of the chicken and green onions in a bowl. Serve with salt and pepper so it can be seasoned at the table. Also make some vinegar-soy sauce for dipping the chicken meat if people want to eat the meat alone without the soup. You can also serve chicken with salt and pepper and people can dip the chicken pieces in salt/pepper mix instead of the soy sauce dip. Finally serve some kimchi and dried roasted seaweed and you have a complete, delicious and healthy dinner!!
Tip: Do NOT overcook the chicken. Smaller the chicken, the shorter the cooking time should be. Keep testing by poking the chicken once 35 min. has past. Overcooking the chicken will make it taste mushy and pasty.
Yeong gye baeksuk – Korean Chicken Soup for the Soul
Ingredients
- 1 cornish game hen (or young chicken 2-3 lbs) – should be thawed in fridge over night if frozen
- 1 whole head of garlic , peeled (or 8-10 cloves of garlic)
- 1 whole onion , peeled
- 3 green onions
- salt and pepper
Dipping Sauce for Chicken
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp white vinegar
Instructions
- Best way to thaw is to leave in the refrigerator overnight or 10 hrs. If you have less time, you can also put the chicken(still wrapped) in cold water to thaw for 3-4 hrs.
- Cut off the wing tips, neck and the tail end and discard.There may be quite a bit of fat near the breast area or near the bottom, trim the fat as much as you can. Wash the chicken well under running water and pat it dry.
- Prepare the garlic – if you have a whole bulb, soak it in water and peel them.
- Peel the onion and leave it whole.
- Add chicken, garlic, onion and 7 C of cold water to pot and bring to a boil.
- Simmer at medium low or low heat for 35 min for smaller chicken (less than 2 lb) and 40 min for chicken larger than 2 lbs. Check if chicken is fully cooked by piercing the area between the thigh and the belly to see if any blood comes out. Cook a few minutes longer if you see any redness.
- Take the chicken out onto a plate and let it cool a couple minutes. Chop up the green onions into small pieces (1/3 in). Serve the soup, rice, pieces of the chicken and green onions in a bowl. Serve with salt and pepper so it can be seasoned at the table. Also make some vinegar-soy sauce for dipping the chicken meat if people want to eat the meat alone without the soup.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Enjoy!
I think the writer mentioned green onion is spring onion.
Because usually once complete bacsuk ,we put it last on each individual dishes that is korean style bacsuk ingredients in it.
Thanks for this. I am Malaysian Indian and love love Korean food. My Japanese hudband isn’t feeling so well today so I’m making him and our kids this dish for dinner!! 🙂
Hi!! So glad you found my blog and that you made the chicken soup for your husband. Hopefully he is all better now. 🙂 Take care! and thanks for commenting!
Dinner tonight!
Yay!! Hope your family enjoyed it!! Remember if you have any leftover soup and chicken from the Young gye baeksuk, you can make ddukguk with it! Take care~
Thank you for that note!
My son Loved the soup. People tell you how time heals wounds, but what they don’t tell you is how peeling garlic can remind you of your Korean mother and suddenly your heart feels like there’s a fit around it. I hate how Americans demonize garlic and don’t embrace it like so many other cultures.
Anyhow, I will definitely re-read the duk gook recipe and do exactly that.
Sorry for the long comment… Maybe I need to visit my own blog 😉
K
Oh Kathrin…I totally know about garlic and Korean moms 🙂 I actually have several dishes that remind me of my Dad every time I make it because he used to make it for us all the time. He passed away when I was in high school.. (maybe I told you already). BTW, I don’t think I actually mention in my duk gook recipe about using the leftover chicken soup. But just use the chicken stock and chicken meat instead of the anchovy stock and beef topping and it should taste just as good! BTW, I love long comments!! 😉
Hi Kathrin! I just posted shikhye – hope it tastes as good as your mom’s!! Take care~
Compliments, this website is terrific! I appreciate your traditional recipes. They are very similar to my mom’s cooking style. Yummy!
Thank you!~ I am so happy to hear that it is similar to your mom’s cooking. I think that is the greatest compliment!!
But what was those green things. I’ve tried those once long time back but didn’t know the name. Could you plz tell me the recipe for that also.
They are roasted sea laver or seaweed. It’s called Gim or Kim in Korean. You can buy the dried Kim and then lightly coat each sheet with vegetable oil (mix in some sesame oil for added flavor) and then sprinkle good quality sea salt all over. Then roast it in a frying pan or in a 315 F oven for 2-3 minutes until the color changes to a brighter green. It is actually a lot of work to do this so if you can, buy a ready made package from a Korean market if you can. Thanks for asking and good luck!