Kkanpunggi, Korean Spicy Garlic Fried Chicken Recipe!
This spicy garlic fried chicken is crispy, sticky, sweet, spicy & tangy… OH-SO-GOOD! 😋
Usually this style fried chicken is sold in Korean Chinese restaurant in Korea and it’s very different than Dakgangjeong (Korean candied fried chicken).
I do have a couple of variety Korean fried chicken recipe, so check down below links! 😘
Kkanpunggi, will be delicious with warm cooked rice, fried rice /noodles, steamed veggies or even by itself!
This is something all of your family will LOVE! So why not try this weekend? 😊 Let’s get started!
In a large mixing bowl, place sweet potato starch, level evenly. Slowly pour water along side of mixing bowl carefully, about 1” above. Let it sit while preparing other ingredients, just make sure not to move around. We are trying to soak the starch in water for the base of our batter. The starch will sink down and excess clear water will be on top.
Sweet potato starch is might not the most familiar starch but it is definitely much more crispy than corn starch. You can find sweet potato starch online or local Asian grocery stores. But if you can’t find it, potato starch will do the job too!
Chop 5 to 6 cloves garlic, 1 oz ginger (approximately 1/2 tsp) and 2 green onions. Dice 1/4 of small yellow onion. Also small dice 2 red chilis or 1/3 of red bell pepper and 1 jalapeño after remove the seeds.
These chunky veggies will add fun textures and tons of flavors in the sauce, you are going to love it!
Cut 1 lb of boneless skinless chicken thighs into bite sizes and place in a mixing bowl. Add in 1 tsp soy sauce, pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and let chicken marinate for 10 minutes.
Combine 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp starch and pinch of black pepper in a small mixing bowl, set aside.
When water and starch separated completely, water should be very clean and starch is sunk down on bottom of bowl. Very carefully, pour out only the clear water and keep soaked starch for batter.
Breakdown soaked starch with your hand or a spoon. Add marinated chicken and mix them well with your hand. Batter feels probably very strange than what we used to, but trust me, this is the texture we want!
Preheat frying oil to 350°F.
Carefully drop one piece of chicken at a time into preheated frying oil. Make sure chickens don’t stick to each other and not crowed pot. Do 2 to 3 batches as needed. Fry chicken until it’s fully cooked, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove chicken from oil and place on a baking pan lined with a cooling rack. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
Increase frying oil temperature to 375°F.
Add all of the fried chicken for the second fry. Fry them until golden brown and crispy, about 2 minutes.
Remove chicken from oil and place on a baking pan lined with a cooling rack.
Heat a large wok over high heat; add cooking oil, garlic, ginger, green onion, and onion. Stir fry until you can smell the aroma, about 30 seconds.
Now add red pepper and jalapeño, stir fry for 1 minute.
Stir the sauce mixture with a spoon before adding into the wok because starch has sunk down on the bottom of the bowl.
Pour the sauce mixture into the wok, stir, and boil for 1 minute.
Toss in fried chicken, then remove from heat and garnish with sesame seeds.
Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Kkanpunggi Korean Spicy Garlic Fried Chicken
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sweet potato starch or potato starch, plus 1 tsp for later
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sizes
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- Pinch of salt & pepper
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- Frying oil
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 5 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 oz ginger, chopped
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1/4 small size onion, small diced
- 2 red chili or 1/3 red bell pepper, seeded and small diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and small diced
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, place sweet potato starch, level evenly. Slowly pour water along side of mixing bowl carefully, about 1” above. Let it sit while preparing other ingredients, just make sure not to move around.
- Combine chicken, soy sauce, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Let chicken marinate for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine soy sauce, oyster sauce, mirin, sugar, vinegar, starch and black pepper in a small mixing bowl, set aside. - Preheat frying oil to 350°F.
When water and starch separated completely, water should be very clean and starch is sunk down on bottom of bowl. Very carefully, pour out only water and keep soaked starch for batter. - Breakdown soaked starch with your hand or a spoon. Add marinated chicken and mix them well with your hand. Batter feels probably very strange than what we used to, but trust me, this is the texture we want! Carefully drop one piece of chicken at a time into preheated frying oil. Make sure chicken don’t stick to each others and not crowed pot. Do 2 to 3 batches as needed. Fry chicken until it’s full cooked, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and place on a baking pan lined with cooling rack. Repeat with rest of chicken.
- Increase frying oil temperature to 375°F. Add all of fried chicken for second fry. Fry them until golden brown and crispy, about 2 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and place on a baking pan lined with cooling rack.
- Heat a large wok over high heat, add cooking oil, garlic, ginger, green onion and onion. Stir fry until you can smell aroma, about 30 seconds. Now add red pepper and jalapeño, stir fry for 1 minute. Stir sauce mixture with a spoon, before add into wok because starch sunk down on bottom of bowl. Pour sauce mixture into wok, stir and boil for 1 minute. Toss in fried chicken then remove from heat and garnish with sesame seeds. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
19 comments
If I don’t have potato starch, can I use cornstarch? Thanks! 🙂
Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I made the sauce for chicken wings and it was absolutely delicious 😍 ( also super easy to make!)
What are the measuring spoons you’re using in this video?
Can you use air fryer instead?
Of course you can! We tried it on our weekly live cooking show recently and they turned out amazing! I personally like them better in the air fryer actually 😀
Hey Seonkyoung! What temperature would you recommend putting this in an air fryer? Still 350? Would you also spray the chicken with oil? I’ve never used an air fryer before, but I just got one and wanted to try this recipe as the first thing I make in it! (:
Yes! 350 and spraying oil prior to cooking would be my recommendation!
how long would you do it for in the airfryer? thank you 🙂
This came out fantastic. I used corn starch since that is what I had on hand. It tastes restaurant quality for sure.
I tried your recipe for our dinner tonight with chicken wing. Wow, it was superb. My family loved it. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
OMGGG!!!! This recipe was SOOO good. Thank you Seonkyoung!!!!! My boyfriend usually doesn’t want fried food much but LOVED this recipe.
The sauce was amazing, I wish I made more bc I made too much chicken lol.
I’ve tried a few of your recipes now and I’m so glad I found your page! I am in love, honesly want to cook ASIAN AT HOME all the timee!!!
THISSS RECIPE IS YUUUMMMM
Thank you so much for the support! It means so much to me(:
Can you use Shrimp also for this recipe?
Ofc you can!
I attempted this recipe last night for dinner, the chicken pieces were beautiful crispy after the double frying. Then I added those crispy nuggets to the heated sauce. Brought the wok to the table and we were so disappointed to find there was zero crunch left to the chicken , it was as if I never fried those pieces to a delicious crunch. What went wrong?
Hm, I’m not sure what when wrong, but I would suggest not tossing the chicken in the sauce and instead dipping them in order to keep the chicken crispier.Hope this helped!
I don’t know why it gave you four stars previously because I gave you five. This was delicious! I’m making it again tonight. Thank you 😊
I would like to ask why my chicken will be completely white when frying with potato starch?
Great recipe, Seon!!! I made this tonight and it was fabulous!!! Five stars!!!!!!!