Make the Best Korean Chicken at Home

The best Korean chicken: Crispy buttermilk fried chicken in a spicy, sticky Gochujang sauce. Crunchy, spicy, and insanely good!

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1 50

Servings: 1

Course: Appetizer, Dinner, Party Food

Cuisine: Asian, Korean

Calories: 814

Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

Chicken and marinade:

4 chicken breasts (approx 700g or 1.5lb) sliced into long thick strips
240 ml (1 cup) buttermilk
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp white pepper
¼ tsp garlic salt

Crispy Coating:

180 g (1 1/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp garlic salt
½ tsp celery salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp chilli flakes
oil for deep frying (at least 1 litre/four cups) I use avocado oil, but other neutral oils such as sunflower or canola work too.

Sauce:

2 tbsp gochujang paste
2 tbsp honey
4 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tbsp oil I use avocado oil, but other neutral oils such as sunflower or canola work too.
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 spring onions sliced into thin strips
1 tsp sesame seeds
½ tsp chilli flakes (red pepper flakes)

Method

Place the chicken in a bowl and add the buttermilk, salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Mix well, cover, and refrigerate to marinate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to a low setting to keep the chicken warm. Heat at least 1 liter (4 cups) of vegetable oil in a large pan or deep fryer until hot; test by ensuring a bread cube rises and bubbles immediately upon contact.
Combine the crispy coating ingredients in a small bowl.
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Lift each piece from the buttermilk, let the excess drip off, and dredge in the coating mixture until fully covered. Place on a tray and repeat for all pieces.
Add 5 or 6 chicken tenders to the hot oil, adjusting the quantity based on pan size to avoid overcrowding.
Fry for 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Verify doneness by checking that the center is no longer pink.
Transfer the cooked chicken to a tray in the oven to keep warm while frying the remaining batches.
Prepare the sauce by stirring together the gochujang, honey, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, vegetable oil, and sesame oil in a saucepan.
Bring the sauce to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes until thickened.
Pour the sauce over the crispy chicken and toss gently to coat. Garnish with spring onions, chili flakes, and sesame seeds before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 814kcalCarbohydrates: 66gProtein: 58gFat: 36gSaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 151mgSodium: 2952mgFiber: 2gSugar: 25g

Notes

Can I scale up or scale down the recipe?

Yes you can halve or double the recipe using the same ingredient ratios.

If doubling the recipe, please note it will take longer to fry the chicken as you’ll have more batches to fry.

How do you reheat Korean fried chicken?

I prefer this Korean fried chicken served right away, as that’s when the chicken will be at it’s crispiest. However, you can cool, cover and refrigerate the Korean fried chicken (for up to a day), then reheat in the oven (covered) for 10-15 minutes at 190C/380F, until piping hot throughout.

If you want to keep the chicken crispy, then fully cook both the crispy chicken and sauce, then cool and cover (keep the sauce separate from the chicken) and refrigerate for up to a day. Then reheat the chicken in the oven, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes at 190C/380F, until piping hot throughout. Reheat the sauce in a pan until piping hot.

Nutritional Information is per serving.

This info is approximate, as all of the flour may not be used up in coating the chicken (I’ve counted all of the flour as part of the nutritional info though). Also, I’ve included 1 1/2 tbsp of oil per serving to account for the oil that is absorbed during deep frying (this is an *approximate* amount, the chicken may absorb more or less).