Korean Spicy Chicken recipe with crispy deep-fried chicken in spicy, sweet, and savoury Korean sauce. Super quick and easy to make at home with simple ingredients. Perfect as an appetizer, savoury snack, or a main meal!
Lightly battered chicken glazed with well-balanced spicy, sweet, sticky sauce, topped with toasted sesame seeds and spring onions. This dish is very similar to the Chinese Sesame Chicken recipe but it has a distinct spicy flavour from Korean chilli pepper paste called Gochujang. If you like Crispy Honey Butter Fried Chicken, Sesame Chicken and General Tso's Chicken recipe, you will definitely love this Korean fried chicken recipe.
Spicy Korean fried chicken is very popular fast food in Korea and now available in many countries and across the world. You can find it in all most all Korean and Oriental restaurants. There are two most famous fried chicken recipes called Yangnyeom Chicken and Dakgangjeong Chicken. Yangnyeom chicken is usually made with chicken wings or chicken pieces with bones, while Dakgangjeong chicken is a made with boneless chicken thigh or breast.
As I am a Korean Dramas' fan, I love to make the food that I've watched in the movies. Here is more of our family’s favourite Korean dishes you can also try out :
- Vegan Japchae ( Sweet potato noodles with colourful crisp vegetables. )
- Korean Fried Chicken Wings ( The best-fried chicken wings! )
- Spicy Korean Beef ( Spicy, sweet, savoury Korean beef recipe. )
- Korean Beef Bowl ( Ground beef Korean style! )
In this post I'll share how to make Dakgangjeong, Korean-style popcorn chicken at home. You will amazed by how easy and tasty your fried chicken turns out!
Spicy Sweet Sticky Korean Fried Chicken Sauce
To make this homemade fried chicken sauce you will need Korean chilli pepper paste gochujang and few other simple ingredients. The taste is hot, tangy and sweet at the same time. If you prefer the milder sauce, you can reduce the gochujang amount and replace with mild chilli sauce or tomato ketchup. As this sauce is very appitizing vibrant red colour, you will even get hungry while making the sauce.
If you haven’t tasted this mouth watering homemade Korean sauce, I highly recommend to try at least once! The result will worth your effort and I am definitely sure that you will love it!
You can add this sauce in different recipes, like fried shrimps/prawns, fish fillets or even taste great with fried tofu. You can make a large batch of this sauce and store it in an air-tight container. It will last in fridge for a couple of week.
Here is the most frequently asked questions and answers that might useful for your Korean cooking adventure.
What is Gochujang?
Gochujang is a fermented Korean chilli pepper paste, which is widely used in Korean cooking. You can add in marinade and sauces. It has a deep red colour and taste bold spicy, sweet, salty, rich umami flavour. As gochujang is the key ingredient to make this sauce, I do not recommend to swap with other chilli sauce or paste. However if you cannot get it easily, you can try with following options.
Any substitute for Gochujang? One of the most frequently asked questions on our website. There is no exact same substitute for Gochujang chilli paste. But Thai Sriracha chilli sauce is an alternative you can try.
Here is my Quick Fix Gochujang Recipe you can try out: For 1 tablespoon of Gochujang paste substitution, mix 1 tablespoon of paprika/cayenne powder, ½ teaspoon of light soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon of sugar syrup or honey. Mix well and make it into a paste. The taste won’t be exactly same as a unique fermented taste like Gochujang. This quick chilli paste can bring a spicy, sweet, and smoky chilli flavour to your dish.
Where to buy it? You can buy it in most supermarket Asian aisle, Oriental grocery stores or Amazon online.
How To Make It
Cut chicken into medium bite size pieces. Add all the ingredients from the chicken marinate list, mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.
Add one egg into the marinated chicken and mix well. Coat the chicken pieces with Corn/potato flour and toss the excess flour out before frying.
Heat the oil into high heat about 350° F. Add the coated chicken pieces and deep fry for 2-3 mins till chicken turn into cispy golden brown. Remove from oil and set aside.
Heat the pan, drizzle a tablespoon of oil and add the chopped garlic. Stir for few seconds with medium heat till the nice smell come out.
Pour all the ingredients from the sauce mix in it. Mix well and let it simmer for few seconds.
Lower the heat, add the fried chicken pieces, mix well to combine the sauce and chicken pieces together for few seconds. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds in the final step.
Transfer to serving plate. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, korean chilli flakes and spring onions slices. Delicious Korean Fried Chicken is ready! Serve immediately.
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Watch How To Make Recipe Video
📖 Recipe
Korean Spicy Chicken
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 250 g Boneless chicken thigh/breast About 9 oz
- 1 cup Potato /Corn flour
- 2-3 cloves Garlic
- 1-2 tbsp Toasted sesame seeds
- 1 Egg
- Oil for frying
Marinate for Chicken
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tsp Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Ginger & Garlic paste
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
Sauce mix
- 2 tbsp Gochujang (Korean Chilli Paste)
- 3 tbsp Ketchup
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- 3 tbsp Water
Garnish
- Toasted Sesame seeds
- Korean Chilli Flakes/Powder ( Optional )
- Spring Onions ( cut thin slices )
Instructions
- Cut chicken into medium bite size pieces. Add all the ingredients from the chicken marinate list, mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.
- Add one egg into the marinated chicken and mix well. Coat the chicken pieces with Corn/potato flour and toss the excess flour out before frying.
- Heat the oil into high heat about 350° F. Add the coated chicken pieces and deep fry for 2-3 mins till chicken turn into cispy golden brown. Remove from oil and set aside.
- Heat the pan, drizzle a tablespoon of oil and add the chopped garlic. Stir for few seconds with medium heat till the nice smell come out.
- Pour all the ingredients from the sauce mix in it. Mix well and let it simmer for few seconds.
- Lower the heat, add the fried chicken pieces, mix well to combine the sauce and chicken pieces together for few seconds.
- Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds in the final step.
- Transfer to serving plate. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, korean chilli flakes and spring onions slices.
- Delicious Korean Fried Chicken is ready! Serve immediately.
Notes
- You can find Gochujang (Korean Chilli Paste) at Korean, Chinese or Oriental Asian groceries.
Mike says
made this last night. had it with steamed rice. delicious!
I will try it with prawns instead of chicken next time. any tips?
thanks
Steven Montgomery says
great instructions to follow and was lovely. only thing is double the amount of sauce measurements. sauce was amazing. thanks for the advice.
Khin says
Happy that you enjoyed it, Steven. Thanks for leaving comment.
Edward G K Williamson says
this is so good!!
Dave Stewart says
Hi Khin, well I said we’d try another dish and we did. This one was very well received too. I have to admit we cut back on the amount of Gochujang as not many of us can handle the spice but that didn’t detract from the overall delicious taste of the dish. Served with egg fried rice it was so ‘moreish’. Thanks, Dave.
Lora says
I'm currently working my way through all your recipes .... this one was a hit in this house even the kids loved it ! Thank you for sharing !!
Khin says
So glad to hear it, Lora! I am so glad that you and your family enjoy our recipes.
LynnKennedy says
Excellent recipes videos help greatly I love everything I've tried thankyou so much
Khin says
Thank you so much for sharing feedback Lynn! I am so glad that you enjoyed our recipes and videos.
Nancy says
I made this last week and it was a hit! Just enough of a kick and the chicken was perfect, not greasy or soggy! My husband requested for me to make it again this week! Thank you!
Khin says
Very glad that you enjoyed it Nancy! Thank you so much for trying out our recipes and sharing feedback.
Martin says
Hiya have you any clue what the calories are for this dish
Thankyou
Joan Richter says
Food looks amazing