Hi everybody! Today I’m going to show you how to make dakgangjeong, a crispy and crunchy Korean fried chicken (aka “kfc”).
Many of you probably know that I posted it once already, years ago, but the version I’m showing you today is a little easier than the last one, and will be faster to make: I don’t mix a batter, I just coat the chicken in potato starch powder. I also skipped the ginger slices so we can cook the sauce faster. It has an incredible crunch!
In this recipe, both the peanuts and the chilis are optional.
Both versions are delicious in their own way, and both of them are authentically Korean, they’re just two ways of making the same dish, kind of like there are many ways to make pizza. Take this chicken to a party and everyone will give you compliment. “Whoo ah~ this crispy chicken is crunchy crunchy like candy!”
If you love fried chicken, I strongly advise you to try this recipe and my other Korean fried chicken recipes like dakgangjeong with ginger slices (including a vegetarian version), and my yangnyeom-tongdak recipe (aka yangnyeom chicken) which has also been incredibly popular on YouTube! You’ll love all of them. And all Korean fried chicken should be enjoyed with pickled radishes (aka chicken-mu)! If you drink alcohol, it also goes great with beer (“chi-maek” in Korean, which means “chicken and beer”).
Steps:
- Mix chicken with seasonings and cover in starch.
- Fry in hot oil for 7 to 8 minutes.
- Shake off, let sit, then fry for another 12 to 15 minutes.
- Coat in seasoning sauce.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds over top and serve immediately.
Ingredients
- 3½ pounds chicken wings (about 1.6 kg), washed and drained
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- ⅔ cup potato starch or corn starch
- ⅓ cup peanuts (optional)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 to 4 large dried red chili peppers, seeded, cut crosswise into ⅓ inch pieces (optional)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup rice syrup or corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon mustard (optional)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- Grapeseed oil (or vegetable oil, peanut oil)
Directions
Prepare the chicken
- Cut off the tip of each wing and chop the wing in half. After this is done you should have about 3 pounds of chicken, with 24 to 26 pieces.
- Put the chicken in a large bowl and mix with salt, ginger, and ground black pepper by hand.
- Put the potato starch in a bowl and dip each wing in the powder to coat it, one by one. Squeeze each wing to press the coating to it tightly.
Make the sweet, spicy, and sticky Korean fried chicken sauce:
- Heat a large non-stick skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons cooking oil, minced garlic, and the dried red chili pepper (if used).
- Stir with a wooden spoon until fragrant for about 30 seconds.
- Add soy sauce, rice syrup, vinegar, and mustard sauce (optional). Stir with a wooden spoon and let it bubble for a few minutes.
- Add the brown sugar and continue stirring the mixture. Remove from the heat. Set aside.
First fry:
- Put 4 cups of cooking oil in a frying pan or pot and heat it up for 7 to 8 minutes over high heat.
- See if the oil temperature is ready by dipping a test wing into it. If the oil bubbles, it’s hot enough to start frying. Slide the coated wings one by one into the hot oil and deep fry for about 12 to 13 minutes, turning over a few times with tongs.
- Take the wings out of the oil and shake them off in a strainer or let them drain on a wire rack. Turn off the heat, and let the wings sit for a few minutes.
Second fry:
- Reheat the oil and fry the wings again for another 12 to 15 minutes until they all look golden brown and feel super crunchy through the tongs. If your frying pan or pot is not large enough to fry all the chicken at once, divide it into batches like I do in the video. If you use a larger frying pot to deep fry them all at once, you’ll have to use more cooking oil.
- If using the peanuts, place them in a slotted spoon or a small mesh strainer, carefully dip them into the hot oil, and fry for 15 to 30 seconds, just until light golden brown. Transfer to a small bowl.
Coat the fried chicken with the sauce:
- When the chicken is done, reheat the sauce until it bubbles.
- Add the hot chicken and peanuts (if using) and mix well with a wooden spoon to coat.
- Remove from the heat and transfer the coated chicken to a large platter. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over top and serve immediately. This chicken won’t lose its crunchiness, even by the next day, and you can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. You don’t need any dipping sauce, but it goes well with white kimchi (baek-kimchi) and pickled radishes (chicken-mu) are the perfect garnish.
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
진짜 맛있어요! 우리 친구들이 닭강정을 너무 좋아했어요. Thanks for sharing this! :)
I tried to make this a couple of months ago for dinner and my family loved it! I couldn’t get enough of it that I cooked this again a few weeks later for a friend’s party and everyone loved it that it went really fast and they just kept going on and on about how delicious it was! Now we’re having a birthday party coming up and my friends asked me to make this for them again and I’m happy they did because I really loved cooking and eating this! Best fried chicken ever! I also use honey instead of the rice/corn syrup but it turns out perfect as well. Love all your recipes Maangchi! I’m actually making your bread rolls as I type. Haha!
wow, happy happy!
Hi Maangchi! my name is ” Eya ” i’m from Tunisia and i really like korean food and i wish try some recipes at home . i love spicy chicken but unfortunately i don’t eat it even once! i wish make it at home plz add another recipes ! i like your recipes very much !
hi maangchi, if we use the pressure cooker, how long will it take for the chicken to fully cook?
Maangchiiiiii!!!!
This is first time I tried one of your recipes. It turned out really DELICIOUS…HAHAHA.I received a lot of compliments! They asked me how did I made it and I told them….Maangchi taught me! I was so happy because I love fried chicken and I have tried to make it several times but failed, probably because I was using flour. Awesome recipe!!!
Delicious recipe: Thank you, again.
Hi Maangchi🙋, today i’m success in making dakgangjeong🐓… I am super excited ..
Thank you so much for your good recipe.
Sad my rice cake failed again .. This time i use normal rice flour n its failed. I couldnot found any shortgrain rice flour..😒😓
Hi Maangchi can i use gochujang instead? And which ingredients should i substitute with gochujang? Thankyou :)
I tried Dakkangjung today. I used bornless skinless chicken thights.
It was fantastic.
My friends was very happy to eat this food.
This recipe is the best in your homepage.
Great! Thank you!
Hi Maangchi!
Thank you so much for this recipe. Everybody loves it!! The wings remained crispy and crunchy after a few hours which I have never been able to do before :)) I’m so glad I found your channel and will definitely try out more Korean recipes!
Nice meeting you through my website! Good luck with your Korean cooking!
Hi Maangchi!
I made the chicken today and it was so amazingggg!!! Chicken was really crunchycrunchy! Thanks for the very yummy recipe! Cheers!
crunchy crunchy! I can almost hear the sound! : )
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lundberg-Family-Farms-Sweet-Dreams-Brown-Rice-Syrup-21-oz-Pack-of-12/17770578 would this be okay to use as an alterniative?
yes, it will work well.
hey maangchi !!
I just made this.. it tasted awesome and the chicken was crispy, but after adding to the sauce, it was way too sticky tht the skin became hard and stuck to my teeth. :( is it because i heated the sauce for too long thus absorbing the liquid ?? i used half yr sauce recipe since i only had 12 pcs. i wanna succeed perfectly again when i do this. the sauce shld be in a more liquid form right ?
how shld i rectify it if it turns up too sticky again whn making the sauce??? i used yoridang thou. shld i add more soy sauce? more vinegar ? or jus simply reduce the syrup n add more sugar?
hear from you soon. cheerios.
oh, next time you make this again, cook the sauce less before it gets too sticky.
Are peanuts from the original korean recipe or your touch? I need a really traditional korean main dish and I was thinking about this one for a really important college presentation.
:) btw, love your recipes! It helped me cook korean food when I’m not that good at cooking :D
Can i use 요리당? Will the taste be different?
yes, you can use it.
This right-up my alley! Can’t wait to try this delicious looking recipe. I’m hoping it tastes as good as it look.
Hi,
Can I use maple syrup instead of corn syrup? Thanks.
yes, you can, but make sure it doesn’t dominate the flavor.
Hi Maangchi!
Yesterday I made your chickenwings and they are not good – they are DELICIOUS! I had to find a substitute for the rice- or cornsyrup. There’s absolutely no store here in germany where you can get it. We looked for it in every grocery store and the shops for asian food. Nothing. So I used agave syrup (there seems to be no word for this stuff in english). It worked just fine. I had a little less oil than I needed, but after turning the bits over and over they came out great. My husband liked them very much and my mother didn’t even want to share her batch. :) I also liked them – tastes like candied chicken, very yummy! So thank you very much for this fantastic recipe and keep them coming. Love your videos!
Greetings from germany!
I’m so happy to hear that you made delicious chicken and thank you for the tip about agave syrup! Happy cooking!
Hi schlumbl,
” I had to find a substitute for the rice- or cornsyrup. There’s absolutely no store here in germany where you can get it. We looked for it in every grocery store and the shops for asian food. Nothing.”
Ask for mul-yeot, the bottles often say “Malzsirup” or “Maissirup” (the latter is the correct translation).
I get it here in Munich at Asia, Mozartstr. – if anything else fails, try online-ordering like at e. g. shinhan-mall.de/de/ (the site is in German, too; not only Hangul!)
Good luck!
Bye, sanne.
Hi schlumbl!
When we lived in Germany, we noticed that some of the larger grocery stores had an American aisle. If your store does, they might have a product called Karo Syrup. It usually comes in a clear bottle and it is corn syrup. Hope this helps! :)
Jenna
Hi Maangchi! Today i made your Dakgangjeong for myself and my mother, by the way i am a 14 year old boy. Im in love with everything korean, Korean Music, Korean food, Korean Culture and i have followed your channel for a while now but today i plucked up the courage to make a korean dish and i picked this one and me and my mother adore it. We love it so much and the chicken is so crunchycrunchy and the sauce is very sweet and sticky. Love you Maangchi!
Great! I can almost hear the crunchycrunchy sound! : )
Love your videos and love this recipe. Have cooked this twice and everyone loves it. Thank you so much. Have introduced friends to check out your videos and they love you too!
Thank you! Good luck with your Korean cooking1
I’ve always double fried my fried chicken too. But I didn’t really know that it was an Asian thing! When I was double frying some chicken (for family meal when it was my turn to cook for staff), one of the French chefs asked me why I am double frying…I was like, “to make it crispier (duh)!” And then I later realized that many people didn’t use or know about that trick. Your video has me craving some fried chicken!
yes, double frying method also helps cook the chicken thoroughly. Cheers! : )
I’ve always fried my chicken wings just like you. Last night I decided to add a twist and coated it with the spicy sauce. Omg, It was fantastic! My younger girl who don’t usually like wings, polished off 4! Received a thumbs up from everyone. Thanks Maangchi !
“My younger girl who don’t usually like wings, polished off 4!” I’m happy to hear that!
I made this tonight…OMG!!! So yummy!!! Like chicken candy!!! :)
Great!!
안녕 하세요 ㅋㅋㅋ!Well for Ms. Maangchi Kim,honestly I started watching your videos.since yesterday and I’m so glad that i found this site..so fanatic!
Well everybody usually thinks that when you say “KOREAN CUISINE” it sounds pretty hard to prepare and cook for it but through your amazing videos,you mde it very quite simple..
And that’s the best way I can earn more confidence about cooking korean food without complicated process..A big thanks to you…
Been in Korea and.I do really love Korean foods…very awesome…I’ll keep on watching!thanks♥♥♥감사합니다
“…that’s the best way I can earn more confidence about cooking korean food without complicated process..” Thank you so much for your nice words! Good luck with your Korean cooking!
We love your videos. We just made this. However, instead of the dried peppers we substituted gochujang. Korean food is great. There are so many possible variations to Korean recipes, the variety is endless. Thanks for this video!
I used the sauce on baked chicken wings and people demanded the recipe. I had some sauce left over which I put on some salmon. YUM!
ow ow, Congratulations! : )
This is one of my favorite Korean food. I have been trying to find this recipe and luckily just found it here.
I would love to try it soon.
Hi Maangchi!
I’m here to thank you for this great recipe. I made this for dinner and it was still very crispy and crunchy after it was cooled. A definite keeper! <3 thank you very much!
I removed all the seeds from the dried chillies and after taste testing I realize there wasn't enough heat. So I added hot pepper flakes to the sauce. Gave the dish a even redder colour too.
Hi Maangchi,
I made 10lbs. of these wings tonight for my super bowl party tonight and they were “so delicious.” Everyone said that they were the best wings that they had ever had in their life! They were so crunchy, I guess it was the double frying. Thanks!
Chris
Chris!
I’m so happy that I’m almost crying! I’m glad everybody liked them!
I made this tonight for the game tonight. My husband doesn’t like chicken wings, but he ate SOO many tonight! Thank you so much for a great website and great recipe.
Maangchi , may I know 양념통닭 and 닭강정 have any different ? I saw the ingredients and cooking process almost same.
This looks great! When I buy 닭강정 from a restaurant sometimes it comes with rice cakes. How would I cook/add rice cakes to the recipe (to make it crunchy but chewy in the middle)?
Fry some rice cake after the chicken is fried for about 1 or 2 minutes until its outside turns a little crunchy but soft inside.
I will definitely be making this soon. But I need to ask, where did you get your tongs?
I found some at Daiso. Its a Japanese dollar store all over the West Coast, maybe on the East Coast too?
Hi Maangchi, I tried the recipe but I used a lot of substitute like Honey and Dried chili. But still it tastes awesome! Hope to get more recipes from you!
Look yummy! Better than 4fingers in Singapore. I would try it with my mum after Chinese New Year!
Great! Let me know the result when you make it later.