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Korean Fried Chicken

Ingredients

For the chicken:

  • 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 cup Argo® Corn Starch
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 tsp garlic powder
  • 4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 bottle Mazola® Corn Oil 40 oz.

For the brine:

  • 4 cups room temperature water
  • 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp salt

For the sauce:

  • 2 tsp corn oil
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1/3 cup ketchup
  • 1/3 rice syrup or corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup red pepper paste gochujang
  • 3 tsp rice wine vingegar or apple cider vinegar
  • roasted sesame seeds opt.
  • green onions chopped (opt.)

Instructions

Directions:

  1. For the Brine:
  2. Prep you chicken by cutting off extra fat and cutting into pieces about 3" long. In a large bowl, dissolve 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp salt in 4 cups room temp. water and place the chicken in it. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours.

For the Chicken:

  1. Remove from the brine and pat dry. Bring to room temperature. Place the buttermilk in a shallow dish and bring that to room temperature as well. In another shallow dish, combine the flour, Argo® Corn Starch, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Set aside.

  2. Fill a large pot with about 2 inches of corn oil and bring to 320F. You'll want to keep your temperature at 320 the entire time as best you can. Prep a pan for once the chicken is fried: place paper towels over a large cookie sheet and then put a cooling rack over top of that. That way excess oil can freely drip off of your chicken.
  3. Start coating your chicken pieces in the corn starch mixture, then the buttermilk, and then again in the corn starch.
  4. Once your oil is ready, drop your chicken in, giving each piece a couple inches of space so as not to overcrowd. Fry for 8-10 minutes or until the chicken reaches a golden brown. Place on your cooling pan.
  5. Once all chicken is fried, repeat steps for a second fry, this time frying for 3-4 minutes until the chicken in a deep brown.

For the sauce:

  1. Place a pan over med-low heat and add 2 tsp corn oil. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and cook, stirring, for a minute until fragrant. Add the ketchup, syrup, red pepper paste and vinegar and stir. Continue stirring for about 7 minutes until the sauce has thickened a bit, being careful not to burn the sauce.
  2. Now, find the biggest bowl you own and place the chicken inside. Pour the sauce over top of the chicken and mix until coated. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions and enjoy.

Recipe Notes

Fried chicken recipe adapted from Thomas Keller. Sauce adapted from Maangchi.