Korean Fried Chicken is wonderfully crispy and both sweet and spicy. Made with boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces, this fried chicken is wonderfully addictive.
Using chicken thighs works really well for this recipe because they stay juicier and have more flavor than chicken breasts.
The chicken pieces are coated in a 3-step process. First they are coated in all-purpose flour, then dredged in egg, and finally coated in cornstarch. This double coating creates a fabulously crispy coating.
Once the chicken is fried, it is drained and then tossed in an easy Korean sauce made with gojuchang paste, rice vinegar, light brown sugar, soy sauce, and ginger. The sauce doesn’t even need to be cooked. Just mix it together in a bowl. It’s wonderfully thick with lots of spicy heat.
Gojuchang is a spicy, fermented chili paste that’s sweet, salty, and spicy. It’s very thick with a deep red color. Not all supermarkets carry it, but you can order Gojuchang online. Don’t confuse Gojuchang paste with Gojuchang sauce which has other ingredients added.
Recipe Tips:
Fry the chicken in batches. You don’t want to crowd the chicken while it fries or cause the oil temperature to drop too much.
Best eaten right away, but leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Can be eaten plain or over rice.
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Korean Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/3 cup gojuchang red pepper paste
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- Vegetable or Canola oil for frying
- sliced green onions and seasme seeds for garnish
- rice for serving
Instructions
- Place the flour in a bowl Place the eggs in a second bowl. Lightly beat them.Place the cornstarch in a third bowl.
- Coat the chicken pieces in flour, then in egg, and finally in cornstarch.
- Stir together the gojuchang paste, rice vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, and ginger in a bowl. Set aside.
- Heat 2 inches of oil in a Dutch oven or a deep sided skillet to 375 degrees F.
- Fry the chicken in batches for 3 to 4 minutes, or until crispy and cooked through. Place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
- Toss chicken with sauce and sprinkle with green onion and sesame seeds.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Dinner, Then Dessert
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Was a great recipe! I have five picky boys, and this one and all of your recipes we have tried so far have been excellent!
Waaaaaay too sweet. I would add 1/2 the sugar it calls for. Added sesame oil to calm down the sweetness. Also added a little more soy sauce. Used rice wine instead of rice vinegar. Probably will not make this again. I have grown up eating and cooking Korean food my entire life and this is not very Korean. Just because it has gochujang in it does not make it Korean.
I would like a simple recipe for fried chicken. I do not want to use buttermilk.
Buttermilk is not one of the ingredients in this recipe. If you meant the sauce ingredients instead of buttermilk, just omit them. It will still be very crunchy because of the cornstarch. You would want to heavily season the chicken and do all of the other steps, if cutting that coating out to simplify.
I’ve made a similar recipe before with just cornstarch, and it was good. The texture and crunch are unique and tasty, but it won’t taste as good if you go light or even normal on whatever seasoning you use if you omit the glaze.
Dip your chicken in flour and fry it in hot oil.
Simple enough for you?
No,it is not simple enough. Have you tried the recipe to compare results?
If you want simple, don’t flour the chicken. Just season it and fry sans flour!