Korean Fried Chicken

Name: Korean Fried Chicken
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 kg chicken wings or drumettes; 100 g potato starch or cornflour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp black pepper; 1.5 litres neutral oil, for frying; 3 tbsp gochujang; 3 tbsp honey; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp rice vinegar; 4 cloves garlic; 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil; 2 tbsp sesame seeds; 2 spring onions

Fried twice, which is the whole secret, then tossed in a sticky gochujang glaze that somehow does not soften the crust.

🕐 50 min👥 4 servings🍽️ Main Course 🍜 Korean

Nutrition Info (per serving)

720
Calories: 45g
Protein: 40g
Fat: 42g
Carbs

NiacinVitamin B6Vitamin B12Vitamin ESeleniumPhosphorusZincIron

Ingredients

1 kg chicken wings or drumettes
100 g potato starch or cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1.5 litres neutral oil, for frying
3 tbsp gochujang
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 spring onions

Instructions

1Pat the chicken thoroughly dry with kitchen paper and leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 30 minutes if you have time. Dry skin is the precondition for everything that follows.
2Mix the potato starch, baking powder, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken and turn until every piece is evenly coated in a thin dry layer, shaking off the excess.
3Grate the garlic. Whisk it with the gochujang, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil in a small saucepan. Slice the spring onions.
4Heat the oil in a deep heavy pan to 160C. Fry the chicken in three batches for 7 minutes a batch — it will be pale and cooked through but not yet crisp. Drain on a wire rack.
5Let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes and bring the oil back up to 190C.
6Fry each batch a second time for 2 to 3 minutes, until deep golden and audibly crisp. The first fry cooks the meat and drives moisture out of the skin; the second, at higher heat, sets a hard glassy crust. One fry cannot do both.
7While the second fry happens, warm the sauce over low heat for 2 minutes until it loosens and turns glossy. Do not boil it — honey and gochujang catch and turn bitter.
8Tip the drained chicken into a large bowl, pour over the warm sauce and toss quickly to coat.
9Scatter with sesame seeds and spring onion and serve immediately, while the crust is still holding.

Korean fried chicken is thinner-crusted and crisper than the American kind, and it stays crisp under a wet sauce. Both of those come from technique rather than ingredients.

Frying twice is the whole thing

The first fry, at a moderate 160C, cooks the chicken through and pushes moisture out of the skin. The chicken comes out pale and unremarkable, and this is correct.

Resting it for ten minutes lets more moisture migrate out and evaporate from the surface.

The second fry, at 190C, is short and violent. With most of the water already gone, the surface dehydrates fast and sets into a hard, glassy shell rather than a soft breading.

A single fry has to choose: long enough to cook the meat means the crust overbrowns, and short enough for a good crust means raw chicken. Two fries solve it.

Potato starch, not flour

Wheat flour contains protein that browns and softens. Potato starch is nearly pure starch, and it fries into something noticeably lighter, thinner and crunchier that also resists going soggy when sauced.

Cornflour is the common substitute and works well. Do not use plain flour if you want the characteristic texture.

The coating should be a thin dry dusting, not a thick batter. Shake off everything loose.

Baking powder

A teaspoon in the coating raises the pH of the surface slightly, which speeds up browning and helps the skin blister and crisp. It is a small addition with a visible effect.

Warm the sauce, do not cook it

The glaze is honey and gochujang, both high in sugar. Boiled, they scorch and turn acrid. Two minutes over low heat is enough to loosen it into something pourable.

Toss and serve immediately. The crust holds against the sauce for a while but not forever, and this is not a dish to plate up early.

Nutrition

Around 720 calories a serving. Deep frying adds a real amount of fat, though less than people assume when the oil is properly hot — chicken fried at the right temperature absorbs far less than chicken fried in cool oil, which is another argument for the thermometer.

An oven version at 220C on a rack, sprayed with oil, for about 40 minutes gives a decent result and much less fat, though not the same shattering crust. The sauce is worth making either way.

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