Today’s recipe is Fire Chicken with cheese, Korean Cheese Buldak, super spicy and so indulging! It features chunky, juice chicken pieces cook in a spicy sauce and melty cheese. It is extremely easy to put together and takes no time to make. If you’re looking for a 1-pan dish, look no further.
I came across the recipe and adapted the recipe from Maangchi, but omitted the use of Korean rice cakes and reduced the amount of chili flakes. It’s one of my favourite go-to sites for Korean recipes. When I saw melty pulling cheese, I knew had to try it.
At a glance, it may be mistaken for a familiar Italian dish, or a baked pasta of some sort, with gooey cheese and deceivingly mild red sauce. However, don’t be fooled by its appearance. It’s as epic as it looks, fiery, spicy and bomb! If you’re looking for something mild, it is not. You may wonder why I reduced the amount of chili flakes from Maangchi’s recipe, well, I’m glad I did.
HOW TO COOK KOREAN CHEESE BULDAK
In Maangchi’s recipe, she mentioned that it was initially made in a fire pit to melt the cheese. However, fret not, I finished the dish in a … mini TOASTER OVEN! It can also be done with a torch gun, regular oven or air fryer. Either way, we make it work.
- Mix paste and spices in a bowl. Mix in chicken.
- Heat pan, preferably something oven proof, cook aromatics and chicken till it’s cooked (about 10 minutes)
- Add cheese and melt in broiler / oven / toaster oven / air fryer or use a torch gun.
That’s it!
COOKING NOTES:
- INGREDIENTS: Use chicken thigh or chicken breast, whichever you prefer and boneless. Gochugaru (Hot pepper flakes) and gochujang (hot pepper paste) are the main ‘heat’ from the dish, adjust to your spicy tolerance. Rice syrup gives the dish sweetness and to balance off the spiciness. If not available, use corn syrup, honey or regular sugar). Use Mozzarella cheese for the pulley, stretchy effect, fresh, shredded or cubed will be ok.
- PAN. I cooked in a small paella pan which is stove top and oven proof. If you do not have any oven-friendly pan, you can cook chicken in a normal saucepan, and then transfer chicken into an oven proof dish, spread cheese on top then bake in the oven.
- HOW TO MELT CHEESE WITHOUT OVEN? There are a few ways, use a small bread toaster oven. It is usually big enough to fit a small dish. And because it is so small, the top heat will melt cheese quickly. Use air-fryer, same concept as the bread toaster. If you have a torch gun, you may use that too. Last solution is on the stove top, once cheese is added to the top, cover with a lid and turn down the heat. The steam will melt cheese under the lid.
- SERVE WITH RICE! Trust me.
Korean Fire Chicken with Cheese (Cheese Buldak)
Ingredients
- 2 pcs chicken thigh, deboned (about 400g-450g total)
- 2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean Hot Pepper flakes) (1tbsp for less spicy version)
- 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean Hot Pepper paste)
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 tbsp rice syrup (or corn syrup, sugar, honey)
- pinch of salt
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp ginger (grated or minced)
- 3 tbsp water
- 170-200 g shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 stalk spring onion chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven / broiler / toaster / airfryer if using either.
- Cut chicken thigh to 1 inch cubes. Combine hot pepper flakes, hot pepper paste, soy sauce, 1 tbsp oil, rice syrup, salt, garlic and ginger in a bowl. Mix together into a paste. Mix paste with chicken.
- Heat up skillet or oven-proof pan with remaining oil over medium heat. Add marinated chicken and stir.
- Add water into the empty sauce bowl to rinse and get the last of sauce into the pan.
- Cover and cook over medium high heat for 8 minutes. Stir every 2 minutes to ensure chicken doesn't burn. Remove lid, let it simmer on low heat for another 2-3 minutes to let the sauce reduce.
- Once chicken is cooked, add cheese on top. If melting cheese on stove top, cover with lid and let it cook until cheese has melted.
- If using oven, slip pan or oven proof dish in at 200C for a few minutes or until cheese has melted.
- Sprinkle with chopped green onion and serve hot.
Check out other dishes from this series:
- Malaysian Buttermilk Chicken
- Easy Chicken Curry with Potatoes
- San Bei Ji (3 Cups Chicken)
- Steamed Chicken with Essence of Chicken
Did you try this dish?
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