Korean fried chicken (Yangnyeom chikin) is a signature dish of South Korea; we have verified places to eat it in Seoul. Chicken double-fried to glassy thin crackle, tossed in a sweet-spicy red sauce of gochujang, garlic, sugar and rice syrup. Start with where to eat Korean fried chicken (Yangnyeom chikin) in Seoul.
Korean fried chicken (Yangnyeom chikin) · Seoul
Chicken double-fried to glassy thin crackle, tossed in a sweet-spicy red sauce of gochujang, garlic, sugar and rice syrup. Eaten with cold pickled radish and Hite or Cass beer; the chimaek of Korean nightlife.
Korean fried chicken descends from American military fried chicken introduced to Korea after 1945. The yangnyeom (seasoned) version with the sweet-spicy red glaze was invented in 1982 by Yun Jonggye at a fried-chicken shop in Daegu. Seoul mass-adopted the dish in the 1990s through chain outlets like Pelicana and BBQ Chicken. The portmanteau chimaek (chicken plus maekju, beer) describes the now-essential pairing; the 2014 K-drama My Love from the Star pushed chimaek into Asian pop-culture canon. The defining technique is the double-fry, which removes moisture from the skin and gives the see-through crackle.
Where to eat in Seoul:
- Hongdae Street Food Strip
Where to eat Korean fried chicken (Yangnyeom chikin) in Seoul: the editor picks