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Home » 1,000 Foods To Eat Project

Korean Fried Chicken (Yangnyeom Dak)- 1,000 Foods to Eat Project

May 27, 2019Last Modified: October 31, 2021

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Korean Fried Chicken

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Korean Fried Chicken is also known as KFC. I love that! I also love this CRISPY, sweet, spicy, and garlicky fried chicken (Yangnyeom Dak). It's definitely yummy. 🙂

The typical way it is served in Korea is with cold beer (essential!) and pickled radishes, such as daikon.

A Korean Obsession

Fried chicken in Korea became popular in the early 90's, and they are absolutely obsessed with it. I read that there are about 50,000 fried chicken restaurants throughout Korea. Many of these are small chain restaurants that will deliver to you via motorbike.

The explosion of fried chicken restaurants in Korea followed a terrible financial crisis in Asia, where many men lost their jobs. A lot of these men opened fried chicken restaurants, due to the low initial investment and low overhead.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx8mtStnAAE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Fried Chicken - The Korean Way

Korean fried chicken is super duper crunchy. Koreans fry their chicken twice. The chicken is seasoned and then coated with potato starch. It is then fried at a lower temperature, removed to rest, and then refried at a higher temperature. The result? Super crispy and thin coating that is less greasy than our American fried chicken..and absolutely delicious.

Korean Fried Chicken
Chicken after first frying

Korean fried chicken is arguably the best fried chicken in the world. I'm on the verge of agreeing with that!

Gochujang, rice vinegar, honey, garlic, sesame seeds
Ingredients for the Yangnyeom Dak

The chicken is fried, and then coated with a spicy, sweet, and garlicky sauce. The finishing touch includes sesame seeds and green onions as a garnish.

There are various seasonings for Korean fried chicken, and I have chosen the Yangnyeom Dak, which is the gochujang based sauce for this recipe. Gochujang is Korean red hot pepper paste.

Sauce for Korean Fried Chicken
Yangnyeom Dak Sauce

The Yangnyeom Dak sauce is simply gochujang, rice vinegar, garlic, honey, and soy sauce. Delicious on the KFC, I'm also thinking about pouring it on everything else. 🙂

Korean Fried Chicken

Yangnyeom Dak - One of the 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die

Yangnyeom Dak is one of the foods listed in the book 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die, by Mimi Sheraton. It became #16 in my quest to try each and every one of the foods in the book.

Please follow along with me on this quest to try the 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die, from the book by Mimi Sheraton! Join me in this journey and discover new foods, experiences, and cuisines which I hope will add inspiration, fun, and joy to your life! For a list of the foods tried so far visit the 1,000 Foods to Eat Project page.

I hope you'll try frying chicken the Korean way! It's definitely worth trying and you may be convinced, as many others are, that this is the best fried chicken in the world. 🙂

You may also enjoy these recipes for other Korean foods: jajangmyeon, Korean perilla leaves, bok choy kimchi, Korean zucchini side dish, and pa kimchi.

식사 맛있게하세요 ("enjoy your meal" in Korean)  
Korean Fried Chicken

Korean Fried Chicken - Yangnyeom Dak

Grace
This CRISPY, sweet, spicy, and garlicky fried chicken (Yangnyeom Dak) is definitely yummy!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 17 mins
Resting Time 10 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Korean
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • Deep Fat Fryer

Ingredients
  

  • vegetable oil enough to fill up your deep fat fryer
  • 3 lbs chicken drumsticks skin on
  • salt to season the chicken
  • pepper to season the chicken
  • 6 tablespoon potato starch
  • 6 tablespoon gochujang
  • 2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce I used Kikkoman
  • 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds for garnish
  • 2 green onions sliced, for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Let your chicken rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Coat with potato starch.
    Korean Fried Chicken

Prepare the Sauce

  • Combine the gochujang, rice vinegar, garlic, honey, and soy together.
    Sauce for Korean Fried Chicken

Frying the Chicken

  • Heat your deep fat fryer to 320 degrees. Once ready, deep fry your chicken for 10 minutes.
    Korean Fried Chicken
  • Remove from the fryer, and drain on paper towels. Increase the temperature to 360. All the chicken to rest for 10 minutes.
  • Once the temperatures reaches 360, return the chicken for its second frying, and fry for approximately 7 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels.
  • Coat the chicken with the yangnyeom dak sauce. I found the easiest way to do this is to pour it over the chicken sitr, and then finish off coating all sides with a baster.

Notes

Enjoy this amazing fried chicken, cooked the Korean way!  Eat as the Koreans do, with cold Korean beer and an assortment of pickles, such as daikon.  Great as a main meal or a snack.  You'll be licking your fingers and wishing you made more! 
Keyword Chicken
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About Me

Hi I’m Grace! I'm married and a mom to my fur baby, Toby, and food and travel are two of my greatest passions! Since our bank account does not allow us to travel or eat out as much as we'd like, I decided I would cook delicious meals that could give us a taste of all the places we'd like to go. My goal is to get you in the kitchen, and inspire you to cook and taste delightful meals that will transport you too. Let’s throw some actual travel in from time to time, all with an emphasis on keeping your wallet full and happy as well. Let’s get cooking and let’s start exploring!! I'm excited to be on this journey with you!!

By the way most of these recipes are Toby taste tested and Toby approved!!

Chief Taste Tester Toby

Toby Chief Taste Tester

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