Crispy Korean Fried Chicken in a spicy, sweet glaze that is so crispy and sticky you’ll coat everything in this sauce from wings to baked chicken breasts and more!
Korean Fried Chicken is a deliciously crispy chicken with a super sticky and savory bite you’ll love. Plus it takes just 20 minutes to make it!Korean Fried Chicken is a dish I first tried in New York about ten years ago. The spicy gojuchang red pepper paste immediately adds a ton of flavor that is balanced by the sweet and acidic notes of the brown sugar and rice wine vinegar.
It may sound like a lot of flavors going on, but honestly it is just a few ingredients and once you try this blend of flavors I guarantee you’ll be topping it on all the different cuts of chicken you can find!
The version I tried in New York was at Momofuku and it was based on a bibim sauce which is much more heavy on the soy garlic sauce than this recipe which is based on gojuchang.
You can also try a few different breading options. Serious eats uses baking powder to create a super crispy exterior (but requires a bit of drying time), I have a tempura batter I love (look to my Crispy Sesame Chicken for that breading) and there is of course the rice batter used in the Spicy Cashew Chicken.
WANT MORE ASIAN FOOD RECIPES?
- Honey Orange Firecracker Shrimp
- PF Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken
- California Pizza Kitchen’s Kung Pao Chicken Spaghetti
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Easy Mongolian Beef
- Panda Express Recipes… every single one in fact: Panda Express Recipes Index including Panda Express Orange Chicken (Copycat)
- Many more Asian food options…
Tools used in the making of this Korean Fried Chicken:
Korean Gochujang: This is the primary flavor in Korean Fried Chicken, I wouldn’t swap it for any other ingredient. You can also find it in your local Asian grocery stores. There is a more Americanized brand as well from Annie Chun’s too if you can’t find the more authentic version.
Soy Sauce: Nothing much to say here except Kikkoman has the best flavor overall and I always recommend reduced sodium.
Rice Vinegar: Readily available in almost all grocers these days, this is a great vinegar to keep on hand. It does have a hint of sweetness to it, so don’t replace with any other vinegar except perhaps a red wine vinegar if you absolutely need to.
Korean Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- oil for frying
- 1/3 cup Korean gojuchang red pepper paste
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Toss the chicken in the flour, then dredge into the egg and finally coat in the cornstarch.
- In a large glass bowl add the gojuchang, vinegar, brown sugar and soy sauce and whisk until well combined.
- Heat up a heavy bottomed pan with 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees.
Fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes or until browned and crispy.
- Drain the fried chicken and add to the bowl with the sauce.
- Toss to combine, garnish with sesame seeds and serve immediately.
I have made this formula multiple times, with my sisters on facetime. It is a victor with everybody, and we make some incredible memories making it. Now and again we add some snappy pickled carrots to serve. Much obliged to you for the superb formula!
That’s awesome!
Greetings from London. 🙂
I’ve cooked this multiple times now for family and friends and it always goes down a storm so just wanted to say thanks.
Cheers!
Thanks for coming back to let me know how much you enjoy this dish!
This was AMAZING. Followed it to the letter. Twice. Served with scallion rice and steamed broccoli.
Yay!!
Hi, I’m wondering if I could make wings with this recipe?
Sure 🙂
I bought the Korean fried chicken mix at the Korean grocery.I saw Seonkyoung using it. The directions are in Korean. Can you give me the English directions? Thank you so much?
You might be better off inputting it into google translate.
Hi, 2 things happened when I made this first the sauce ended up looking black and secondly the chicken when. Fried went pure white bit crispy, Although still ate it as was amazing soo good, thank you for recipe.
What can i use as a substitute of brown sugar?
You can substitute with white sugar if you have that on hand.
I made this tonight and we LOVED it. Thanks for the recipe!!
You’re welcome!
I am a huge fan of the hotter, the better! A girl I used to work with had a Korean mother who made me some kimchi that I requested so hot she sent word for me to come put my hands in the mix cause she wasn’t going to burn hers anymore. I would like to get a good kimchi recipe so I can make it and I’ll adjust the heat level to my extreme taste for hot and spicy.
I love it!! I’ll add kimchi to my research list. 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion.
Excellent We love this. Made extra sauce and use it on other meats.
Sweet Mama take a bath. That is some top shelf chicken! So good. Followed the recipe exactly. Wouldn’t change a thing. Excellent, and have told everyone I know about it. Thanks!
Haha, I love it!! Thanks!
Wal-Mart only had Momofuku’s SSAM sauce (closest thing to Gochujang I could find) do you think it would be an alright substitute?
I’ve never tried it so if you decide to give it a go, I’d love to know what you think. Thanks!
Hi Sabrina,
This recipe looks delicious, but I have never tried the paste you use. How spicy is it say on a scale from one to ten. ( I like mild spice, )
Thanks, Nina
I’d say about a 4. 🙂
Tweaked this a little due to what was available . I used Sriracha , red wine vinegar, grated ginger, grated garlic , brown sugar , soy sauce, and a splash of lemon juice and cooked the sauce a little but it tastes amazing thanks for the inspiration!!
You’re welcome, Bradley. So glad you were able to adapt to what you had on hand.
I made it once exactly as you say, and today I tried again changing all the coat for just cornstarch and double frying the chicken. The result was extra-crispy and delicious!
Greetings from Spain!
Oooh that sounds so delicious! I want to try that too! Thank you for the review and now I just want to eat Spanish food!
can i use chicken breasts instead
Sure 🙂
I made this last night. It was so delicious – I made tons and it was all eaten. I used potato starch instead of cornstarch because I prefer the taste, otherwise I did exactly what you said. We had it with rice and green salad. Thanks Sabrina! From Pil in Tasmania.
Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and letting me know how much you enjoyed it, Pil! I appreciate the 5 star rating.
Hi. Instead of the paste, can I use McCormack Korean red pepper? It something I bought in the spice aisle.
I think they have a different consistency. The paste is thicker than the spice blend. I’m not sure it would work. If you decided to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
Korean red pepper is just the ground up Korean pepper, the Gochujang has been fermented. different flavor all around.
Was wondering what I could use blade of the gojuchng (?) pepper paste – I don’t have it on hand…? Thank you for any guidance! Beth
It’s really hard to duplicate the complex flavor of the paste. It’s availabe on Amazon if you are still needing to find it.
Here’s the link:
http://amzn.to/2w5FX7n
Hi, regarding the sauce portion of the recipe, I added 1/3 cup of the pepper paste, and it’s really spicy and opaque, doesn’t look like your recipe one at all, am I doing it wrong?
I’m not sure what it could be. Did you change any ingredients or amounts? If you’d like, you can email me at contact @ dinnerthendessert .com and we can try and troubleshoot to figure it out.
Hi Sabrina. Curious what kind of oil you would recommend. I am so looking forward to making this! My teen loves to eat Panda’s orange chicken. Want him to take a break and try the korean way!
I used canola oil for frying 🙂
The next time I do this, I am SO tagging you on the ‘gram. Thank you so much for sharing this. I made a couple of small edits: for the bird, I skipped the egg wash and dredged in a mix of half potato starch and half rice flour (I tried it with the egg and cornstarch the first time out and the texture was a little off but I see how it works for thigh or breast pieces rather than party wings). For the sauce I added sriracha, ginger paste, and chopped garlic. my husband went wild, my coworkers went wild and I am THRILLED to have another copycat dish in the bag!
Yes, tag away!! Thank you so much for all the positive feedback! Love it!
I thought this recipe was baked not fried.
Sorry if there was any confusion but these are fried.
I want to try this with chicken wings tonight
it’s gochujang not gojuchang
Thanks for catching that!
pretty sure i’d devour this entire recipe!
It’s hard to share….the struggle is real, haha!
Swooning over how delicious this chicken looks! I have to make it soon!
Thanks Anna!
I love quick savory meals! Perfect for our busy weeknights!
Definitely, we all need a break once in a while!
Wow! What a great chicken dish! I want to devour some right now!
Thanks Amy!
Oh wow! I need this and a fork, stat! This is just the kind of dish I crave – it looks amazing!
I am looking at the sauce portion of your recipe. The instructions list water as one of the 5 ingredients to be combined. But, the list of ingredients does not include any water. I could improvise, but would prefer to have the proper amount.
How much water should be added when making the sauce? Thank you!
Skip the water, I dropped it from the recipe after additional recipe testing and forgot to remove it from my directions. Sorry about that!