Korean fried chicken is my favourite kind of fried chicken. I also very much enjoy when my food hurts me back.
So I decided to make some spicy Korean fried chicken.
THIS CHICKEN HAD SUCH A GOOD FLAVOUR, it was pretty easy to make and it was nice and spicy. I loved it so much.
Video Tutorial
Breakdown of the process
Making these is pretty easy, but I thought I would give a quick breakdown of the process:
Marinate the chicken
The first thing we’re going to do is season the chicken and then leave it to marinate.
You can use this straight away, but the chicken will have a better flavour if you leave it to marinate in your fridge for an hour. Or you can leave it overnight.
Make the coating
For the coating, we’re going to mix some plain/all purpose flour, corn flour and some seasonings together. The corn flour is going to give you crispier chicken.
Then with this mixture, we’re going to take half of it and add some eggs and water to it, to make a batter.
Coating the chicken pieces in both a batter and a flour mixture will give you super crispy chicken.
Coat the chicken
Once the chicken has marinated, coat it in the batter and then the flour.
Fry the chicken
Once all the chicken has been coated, you can fry them, then leave them on a wire rack whiles you make the sauce.
Make the sauce and coat the chicken in this
After this, it is done. You can now dig in!
The chicken
To make this Korean fried chicken, you need…chicken of course.
I used 4 chicken breasts, and I cut these up into bite size pieces.
Well I mean they were a little bigger than bite size I think, but you can make them whatever size you want.
By the way I used chicken breasts because this is what I like. If you prefer chicken thighs you can absolutely use these too.
Just get some boneless chicken thighs and cut them them into small pieces.
The seasonings
Like I mentioned, the first thing to do is season the chicken and leave it to marinate. Here are the seasonings I used:
- Gochujang
- Soy sauce
- Lemon juice
- Minced garlic
- Minced ginger
- Chilli flakes
- Salt
- White pepper
You don’t need to use the same seasonings I used, and you also don’t need to use the same quantities of the seasonings that I’ve said to use in the recipe card below.
I say this in every savoury recipe I post, but make this to taste. There is no need to make it exactly the way I did.
A few tips for coating the chicken
Shake of any excess batter
We’re going to coat the chicken in the batter, and then the flour mixture.
Before adding a piece of the chicken into the flour, shake it so that any extra batter comes off.
We don’t want there to be too much batter. Otherwise after the chicken has been fried, the coating will be too thick, instead of light and crispy.
Press the flour into the chicken
When you coat the pieces of chicken in the flour, firmly press the flour onto the chicken, just so that it sticks.
We don’t want the coating to fall off after the chicken has been fried.
Leave the coated chicken on a wire rack for a few minutes before frying
I’ve learnt that leaving the chicken to rest before frying, ensures that the coating doesn’t fall off.
So it’s helpful to leave it to sit for a bit.
You don’t have to leave it for long. Just coat all of the chicken and place it on a wire rack.
Now heat up your oil, once the oil is ready, you can start frying.
Frying the chicken
To fry the chicken, I used vegetable oil, rapeseed oil to be more specific. Any flavourless oil works though.
You want to fry the chicken in oil that is around 180c. I fried mine for around 8 minutes, but it really just depends on the size of your chicken pieces.
If you’re unsure, just take a piece out and cut it in half, to check if it is done. This will give you an idea on how long they need to be fried for.
HELP I don’t have a thermometer
If you don’t have a thermometer, that’s fine, there are other ways to check if the oil is ready.
I recommend just cutting a small piece of your chicken and adding this into your oil.
If this chicken starts gently bubbling, the oil is ready.
It it doesn’t bubble, the oil needs to be heated for longer. If it starts aggressively bubbling, the oil is too hot. Turn off the heat for a few minutes.
Double frying the chicken
A lot of times, Korean fried chicken is double fried, for extra crispiness.
I didn’t double fry mine, just because I felt like it was crispy enough.
Personally I feel like there is a limit to crispiness. Sometimes when things are too crispy I feel like my my mouth gets tired of eating.
So I didn’t double fry. But you absolutely can.
Once your chicken has fried for about 6-8 minutes, take it out and put it on a wire rack.
Then increase the heat of your oil, until it’s around 200c, and add the chicken back into it for a few minutes!
The sauce
The last step is to make the sauce, here are the ingredients I used for this:
- Water
- Gochujang
- Brown sugar
- Chilli flakes
- 2 green chillies, I used Thai chilli peppers
To make it, you just throw the ingredients into a pot and heat it until the sauce thickens slightly.
If you wanted a less spicy sauce, you can leave the green chillies out, or if you wanted it to be spicier, add more. Again, make this to taste!
Here are some other recipes I think you also need to try:
Spicy
Korean Fried Chicken
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (or thighs, use whatever you want)
- For the marinade:
2 tablespoons gochujang
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
- For the coating:
250g plain flour
250g corn flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
80ml water
2 eggs
- For the sauce:
120ml water
5 tablespoons gochujang
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
2 green chillies, chopped (I used Thai chilli peppers)
- Extras:
Sesame seeds, to sprinkle on top
1 spring onion, also to sprinkle on top
Directions
- Marinating the chicken:
- In a large bowl, add the chicken and all the ingredients for the marinade. Mix all this together.
- Cover and leave this in your fridge for at least an hour or you can leave it overnight.
- Coating the chicken:
- Once the chicken has marinated, you can start coating it.
- In a bowl, add the flour, corn flour, salt, garlic powder and white pepper. Mix these together.
- Get half of this mixture and put it into a separate bowl. Add your eggs into this and your water. You're looking to get a smooth batter, that is a little thin but thick enough to coat your chicken. If it's too thin, add some more flour, if it's too thick, add more water.
- Get your marinated chicken and mix this with the batter.
- Take a piece of the chicken out of the batter, shake off any extra batter, then coat it in your flour mixture. Make sure to press the flour into the chicken, so that it sticks well.
- Repeat until you've used all your chicken. Leave the coated chicken on a wire rack whiles your oil heats up.
- Frying the chicken:
- You want to fry your chicken in oil that is at 180c.
- Fry the chicken for around 8 minutes. This time will depend on the size and thickness of your chicken pieces, just keep an eye on them. If you're unsure, take one out and cut a piece to check.
- Once fried, leave them on a wire rack.
- Making the sauce:
- In a pot, add all the ingredients for the sauce. Mix these together then place this onto medium heat.
- Let this come to a boil, then let it boil for a minute or two. You just want the sauce to thicken slightly.
- Coat your chicken in the sauce, sprinkle some sesame seeds and spring onions on top, then they're ready to eat. Enjoy!
