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 Korean fried chicken (Yangnyeom chikin) in Seoul

1 editor pick for Korean fried chicken (Yangnyeom chikin) in Seoul, ranked by editorial score. All Seoul signature dishes · Korean fried chicken (Yangnyeom chikin) across every city.

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Make it at home

Serves 41 hr 30 minIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 1.5kg chicken wings, separated into drumettes and flats (or boneless thigh pieces)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 thumb fresh ginger grated
  • 2L neutral oil for deep-frying
  • For the batter: 200g potato starch (or cornflour)
  • 50g plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 250ml ice-cold water
  • 1 large egg
  • For the yangnyeom sauce: 4 tbsp gochujang
  • 4 tbsp ketchup
  • 3 tbsp rice syrup (jocheong) or honey
  • 2 tbsp light brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 4 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp gochugaru
  • 6 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • To finish: 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, 4 spring onions sliced, pickled daikon cubes (chicken mu)

Method

  1. Toss chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and grated ginger. Rest 30 minutes.
  2. Whisk batter ingredients to a slack pancake-batter consistency. Keep ice-cold.
  3. Heat oil to 170C in a heavy pot.
  4. Dip each chicken piece in batter, let excess drip. Fry in batches of 8 for 7 minutes (the first fry; sets the crust). Drain on rack.
  5. Rest 10 minutes; the chicken cools, the residual moisture inside the crust evaporates outward.
  6. Heat the oil to 190C.
  7. Fry the chicken a second time, 4 minutes per batch, until very deep golden and audibly crisp. Drain on rack.
  8. Make the sauce: heat sesame oil in a wide pan. Add garlic, sizzle 30 seconds. Add gochujang, ketchup, rice syrup, sugar, soy and gochugaru. Whisk; simmer 2 minutes until glossy. Off the heat, stir in rice vinegar.
  9. Toss the still-hot fried chicken in the sauce, just enough to lacquer (do not drown).
  10. Plate. Scatter sesame seeds and spring onion. Serve with pickled radish and cold lager.

Editor tip. Potato starch beats cornflour for the batter; it stays crisper longer because it has less protein and shatters more cleanly when bitten.

Common allergens: Gluten, Soy, Sesame.