Introduction
It is a scrumptious dish, with a crispy outside as well as juicy meat that loved to be devoured on the streets all around Korea or in any restaurant. Korean Fried Chicken: It’s notable because it features an ultra-crispy double-fry coating that has flavorings, such as spicy gochujang, sweet soy, or even garlic-soy glaze. Its double-fry process guarantees to be crunchy on top, even over a sticky sauce, and this is a feature of the fried chicken style in question.
Origin is Korean and dates back to the 1970s. Its popularity was something like a natural process, simply because it is modern, adaptable, and very tasty-it satisfies the desire for traditional Korean flavor and the most basic cravings for fried chicken by all possible levels of the population.
Korea- Fried Chicken: juicy, crispy but full of flavor and drenched in sweet and spicy sauce. Well, now that’s really pretty easy fried chicken recipe with a nice spicy kick for dinner or an appetizer. You know, really, this chicken can be good anytime.
If you like fried chicken, I’ll ask you to try it in this Korean fried chicken recipe because it is inside tender and juicy but crunchy outside, sweetness is just great. The gochujang in the sauce added another layer of spiciness to a very bold one in the flavor scale.
I’ve been eating too much lately at this restaurant that serves the world’s best Korean fried chicken; it just had to be made at home. I think I even ended up pretty close to a really good version of the restaurant one. Does anybody know if I said it’s pretty easy to make? It is!
Recipes like this, I enjoy mainly because they will allow me to be able to play with flavors and ingredients from around the globe-right there in my own kitchen. Korean Fried Chicken comes here every week.
Prep for Crispy Savory Korean Fried Chicken
Ingredients
For the Chicken
1.5-2 pounds of chicken wings or drumettes (or combination of drumsticks and wings)
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 eggs
1 cup cold water
Vegetable oil, for frying
For the Sauce (optional):
2 tbsp gochujang (Korean red chili paste)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey or sugar
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp sesame oil
End
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tsp grated ginger (optional)
Instructions
Prep Chicken
Use paper towels to drain out as much water as possible from the chicken pieces you have.
Then add a lot of salt and pepper to the chicken.
It should be left at room temperature for about ten to fifteen minutes so that the potatoes can absorb the seasonings.
Batter Prep
Combine all the dry ingredients – flour, cornstarch, and baking powder along with a pinch of salt in the large bowl.
Combine eggs and cold water in the other bowl – just whisk together.
Mix the wet dough with the dry until it forms a runny batter
Pan Fried in Oil
Vegetable oil to fry in a deep fryer, or other acceptable equipment, in a large, heavy-bottomed pot to 350F, 175C. It’s much better to have a little oil that is deep enough so the pieces of chicken will be covered in oil and will not stick to each other if you cook them without crowding the pot.
4 Fry the Chicken- First Fry
Breading Chicken Whole.
Dunk the batches of breaded chicken pieces into very hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pot with too many pieces at one time. Fry for 6 to 8 minutes, lightly colored but undercooked. Remove the fried chicken from the oil and place on a wire rack or paper towels.
Double Fry for Extra Crunch:
Dipping oil to 375 degrees F or 190 degrees C. Put chicken back in oil and fry
Heat for 4-6 minutes or until golden brown deep. In this manner, even the breaded chicken slices that had sauces on them would still be crunchy from the outside.
Sauce Preparations (Optional):
Mix gochujang sauce ingredients in a pan: soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, minced garlic, sesame oil, and ginger; on medium heat. Stir it constantly until it thickens up and shines.
Double fry to crisp the chicken. To coat it with the sauce, toss it around, or if a watery layer is desired, brush for desired coverage.
Serving
Top toasted sesame seeds and pickled radish, or make better serving the dish with an immediate side of rice.
Success Tips:
Double Frying- This would be the greatest secret of achieving the much-enduring crisp texture of deep-fried chicken in the process of double-frying. The inside of the chicken will have been cooked, but it is in the second fry where that coating will be crunchy.
Cold Batter: In this case, the batter comes from cold water that gives fluffiness and lightness when it’s fried. It can also make very crispy chicken.
The Sauce Variation – You can try different sauces. Soy garlic, spicy gochujang, or even honey butter, which has a sweeter taste. The Korean fried chicken – preferably hot and crispy because it’s just something you can’t resist having for any occasion!
What is Korean Fried Chicken?
KFC is a popular food brand of fried chicken from South Korea common name often used is chikin in the popular dishes huraideu-chikin and spicy yangnyeom-chikin.
So Korean fried chicken is also utterly unlike anything we’re used to: it’s made with an Asian frying technique in which the fat wells into the skin-in-it becomes, essentially, a thin, crunchy crust. It stays in the food and infuses super-strong flavor without ever signifying it. In South Korea, this fried chicken is a meal, an appetizer, anju, or an after-meal snack. Such juiciness that one would love to take home and crunch into it anytime.
Korean Sauce
For the gochujang sauce, you can use any hot sauce that you like; however, I personally think Sriracha or Sambal Oelek is actually a better substitute. Gochujang is that red chili paste whose flavor comes with undertones of both savory and sweet ones as well as spicy. You ought to find this in the Asian aisle of your grocery or look for the Asian market in your area.
Honey agave or maple syrup instead.
Brown sugar-use plain granulated sugar, or mix 3 T granulated sugar and 1 tsp molasses to make brown sugar.
Soy sauce used low sodium.
Garlic-use fresh! Minced.
Ginger- Use fresh, minced. If you don’t have access to fresh you can use the dried. For keeping ginger fresh for as long as possible just put it in a ziploc bag or plastic bag and freeze it. Grate it when you are ready to use it.
If you have none of the rice vinegar, then you can also opt for another variety of solution. Apple wine vinegar.
Other great light oils are peanut oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and nut oil. Among others, olive oil and lighter variants of olive oil can also be used since these are lighter compared to other oils. Other lighter oils also take its place.
Another possible substitute is light olive oil. The dish would be without however the toasted sesame oil flavor.
Some flavoring can be had using toasted sesame seeds in light oil.
Garnish
Green Onions – Cut
Toasted Sesame Seeds
Red Chilis – Cut
Korean Fried Chicken
Chicken pieces preparation: Dip the chicken pieces in the beaten egg, and put it in cornstarch.
How to fry chicken: Pour the oil inside a deep pan. Add heat and wait until it reaches 375 ⁰F. Allow some of the pieces to fall into the pot. Fry for around 3-4 minutes for each batch. Let them drain on a plate with paper towels. Do the same for all the other chicken pieces that are not fried yet.
Put the chicken with the prepared sauce in the bowl. However, butter needs to be melted in a skillet over medium. Add garlic and ginger; sauté for thirty seconds in the skillet or until aroma comes out. It is important to have brown butter by allowing the mixture to simmer almost for a minute by adding honey and brown sugar to the butter. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and gochujang sauce to the skillet; stir-fry for 30 seconds. Put chicken in the skillet with its sauce pan-frying, Serve Garnish chopped green onions, toasted sesame seeds, and red chilis over them, and serve them hot, Garnish
I mean, where they are, they serve it over Korean-fried chicken with two or three slices of pickled radish and boatloads of beer or soju; however, I really like mine over nice simple sticky rice. Well, you can just serve that over a stir-fry, or even dump it over a fresh salad; you can just shovel it down straight from the jug. This Korean fried chicken flavor profile is going to be bananas- you’re gonna wanna shovel it into your mouth however you serve it.
Want something quick and easy to make to go along with your chicken? Try these! Stuff things can be made way in advance. Can I make this ahead of time?
Absolutely! You can prepare your chicken and sauce the night before; keep them both separate and covered in the fridge, and just fry them up before serving! Easy and quick to do.
Leftovers
Keep them refrigerated in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Cooked chicken is far too sensitive quickly to let bacteria grow on it, so you’re really not best to let it sit at room temperature any longer than an hour.
Cooked chicken can be kept for quite a few months longer if it is frozen in a covered, airtight container, heavy-duty freezer bags, or tightly wrapped in aluminum foil or freezer wrap. Of course, you lose a bit of quality when you freeze, but at least its safety is ensured for much longer.
Conclusion
This Korean Fried Chicken is crispy with crunch on the outside and delicate and juicy inside. That perfect taste-texture balance makes the meal great. Already great, that’s going to take the meal to another notch higher with its unawaited sweet, spicy, and savory sauce made of gochujang put atop the deliciously crispy chicken achieved through its signature double-frying process. A crowd-pleaser – served with an abundance of options on the side, such as pickled radishes or kimchi – Korean fried chicken will undoubtedly satisfy whether it’s an appetizer or snack, or one of the entrées. This recipe allows you to taste a new-age take on a favorite Korean delicacy.
FAQs
- What distinguishes Korean Fried Chicken from all other fried chicken?
In terms of technique, double-frying brings crunchiness at the end, and, above all else, the glaze from flavors such as gochujang, soy sauce, and honey makes Korean fried chicken special.
- Is it only bone-in chicken?
You can cook this Korean Fried Chicken using boneless chicken thighs or breasts. However, in this recipe, you will save your frying time because these boneless pieces will fry much faster.
- What is gochujang and how to replace
This really lets out some very interesting heat and umami from that fermented Korean chili paste called gochujang. Of course, you can sub with Sriracha, but it won’t taste the same. Close enough was good for the purposes of this dish.
- Can I make this dish less spicy?
Yes, omit the gochujang or substitute it with a milder chili sauce. A little more honey or sugar helps too.
- Do I double-fry the chicken?
You can double-fry the chicken for extreme crunch if you like. You don’t have to.
- How do I store leftovers?
Coleslaw: Refrigerate overnight then toss with the remaining half of the dressing. Boudin: Leftovers are fine held in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. It’ll crisp back up again using the oven or air fryer to reheat.