If there's a food that was most definitely sent down from the heavens, it's fried chicken. It's comfort food at its very best, a staple on menus the world over from fast food vendors to fine dining establishments. Whilst I take immense enjoyment in all fried chicken, if there's one form that's a cut above the rest, it's Korean fried chicken. The superior KFC, crispy tender morsels coated in a sticky, sweet and spicy glaze, this Korean fried chicken recipe is complex in flavour but still a decadently naughty treat - but any guilt you may feel is more than compensated for with the smugness at making the most delicious fried chicken from scratch!
I was actually inspired to make my own Korean fried chicken after an episode of Masterchef where a fine dining take had the critics drooling. However when looking through existing recipes I wasn't taken by any of them. Some seemed too complicated, others lacked a depth of flavour. I'd made fried chicken before so had a hold on the basics, so I decided to figure it out myself. When my first bowl was devoured in mere seconds by my flatmates, I knew I was on to something good.
You might assume that fried chicken is time consuming or complicated to make, or that you'll need lots of specialist equipment. If you happen to have a fat fryer, great, but this Korean fried chicken recipe works just as well with a standard frying pan.
Altogether it's surprisingly simple, and bar the marinade time, fairly quick. The ingredients are all available at your standard supermarket (I got the Gochujang paste at Sainsburys) and take very little prep.
Korean Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 640 grams chicken thighs boneless, chopped into 1 inch wide strips
- vegetable oil
- 300 grams plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 spring onion thinly sliced
- 1 red chilli thinly sliced
For the Marinade
- 300 ml buttermilk
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp pepper
- 1 tsp onion granules
- 1 tsp garlic powder
For the Korean Gochujang Sauce
- 4 tbsp gochujang
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp honey
- 2 heaped tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp garlic minced
- 2 tsp ginger grated
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl or container, blend together the buttermilk, soy sauce, salt, pepper, onion granules and garlic powder for the marinade.
- Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and mix thoroughly. Put in the fridge to tenderise for minimum one hour.
- Mix together the Korean Gochujang sauce ingredients. Set aside.
- When the chicken is ready, add vegetable oil to a large frying pan on high heat. You want about an inch of oil, enough to predominantly cover the chicken.
- Mix together the flour, 1 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of pepper. Remove the chicken from the buttermilk one by one, allowing the excess to drip off, and dredge through the flour. You want a nice even coating, and to shake off any excess.
- When the oil is very hot, add the chicken to the pan and cook for 7-10 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Turn chicken halfway through frying. I'd recommend cooking in batches so as not to crowd the pan, and to change the oil halfway if it becomes discoloured.
- While the chicken is frying, heat the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan until blended. Add the sesame seeds to another saucepan on medium heat for a minute or two to toast, take off the heat when they start to brown.
- As pieces of chicken are cooked, remove from the pan and set aside on a kitchen town lined plate or bowl to soak up the excess oil. Once all the chicken is cooked, move it to a large bowl and cover in the Gochujang sauce. Mix until evenly coated.
- Served topped with sesame seeds, sliced green onion and red chillis.
