Meat, Grills & Lauk · Korea

How Many Calories in Dakgalbi?

Also known as 닭갈비, Chuncheon Dakgalbi, Korean Spicy Stir-fried Chicken, Dak-galbi.

Dakgalbi is boneless chicken thigh marinated in gochujang, stir-fried on a big iron pan at the table with cabbage, sweet potato, rice cakes and perilla leaves. Chuncheon's dish, now on every university street for 13,000 to 16,000 won a serving.

580kcal / 1 serving (1인분, about 300g, no rice)
A 1인분 of dakgalbi is about 580 calories for a 300g serving, using the fatsecret.kr figure of 195 kcal per 100g. It gives you about 35g of protein from 180g of chicken thigh, but the sweet marinade, the rice cakes and the sweet potato bring it to 45g of carbs. The fried rice at the end is another 450.

Nutrition facts

Per 1 serving (1인분, about 300g, no rice) (300g)AmountPer 100g
Calories580 kcal193 kcal
Protein35 g12 g
Carbs45 g15 g
Fat28 g9 g

Where the calories come from

Chicken thigh, skin on180g
320 kcal
Gochujang marinade (with sugar)40g
70 kcal
Cabbage, sweet potato, rice cakes, perilla80g
120 kcal
Cooking oil8g
70 kcal

The real talk

Dakgalbi is thigh meat, skin on, which is why 180g of chicken carries 320 calories rather than the 200 you would get from breast. The gochujang marinade is about 70 calories per serving and roughly 12g of sugar, and the pan is oiled with 8g or so before anything goes in. The chicken itself is honest food; the pan around it is not.

Then the extras. Tteok (rice cakes), sweet potato and cabbage share the pan, and while the cabbage is nearly free, the rice cakes and sweet potato are about 120 calories per serving. Cheese dakgalbi, where a ring of mozzarella melts on the edge of the pan, adds about 150 per person. That version is 730 before rice.

The bokkeumbap finish is the real number. When the meat is gone, the staff scrape the pan and fry rice with seaweed and sesame oil in the leftover sauce, about 450 calories a portion, and nobody says no. Two servings of dakgalbi between two people, cheese, and fried rice is about 1,180 per person.

How the portions compare

290 kcal
Half serving (shared)
580 kcal
1 serving, no rice
1180 kcal
1 serving with cheese and fried rice

Dakgalbi variants, ranked by calories

VariantCaloriesNotes
Charcoal grilled dakgalbi (숯불닭갈비), 1 serving420 kcalGrilled, no pan oil or rice cakes
Standard pan dakgalbi, 1 serving580 kcalWith rice cakes and sweet potato
Cheese dakgalbi, 1 serving730 kcalMozzarella ring added
Dakgalbi plus fried rice1030 kcalStandard finish

How to eat it lighter

Common questions

How many calories in dakgalbi with fried rice?
About 1,030 for one serving of dakgalbi (580) plus the bokkeumbap portion at the end (450).
Is dakgalbi healthy?
It is chicken and cabbage, so better than most Korean barbecue, but the skin-on thigh, sugar in the marinade and pan oil put it at 580 a serving. Skipping the fried rice makes the biggest difference.
How many calories in cheese dakgalbi?
About 730 per serving. The mozzarella adds roughly 150 calories per person.
Is charcoal dakgalbi lower in calories?
Yes. Chuncheon's grilled version has no pan oil, rice cakes or sweet potato, about 420 for a 250g serving of marinated thigh.

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Calorie and macro figures are estimates for a typical restaurant or pojangmacha serving. Actual numbers vary by stall, recipe and portion size. Use them as a guide, not gospel.

Calorie figure based on fatsecret.kr 닭갈비 195 kcal per 100g, scaled to a 300g 1인분. Macros estimated from the ingredients.

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