I’m very excited to release this recipe today! My previous Korean fried chicken recipes have been loved by my readers and their friends and families for years. Now I’m sure many people will love this recipe, too.
Last year I visited Korea and found so many of my fellow Koreans were crazy about honey butter flavored potato chips. I tasted them I liked them, even though I’m usually not a fan of butter. They were addicting! The company that makes honey butter chips is building a new factory to meet Koreans’ demand, and in the meantime there’s a shortage. It’s became a craze in Korea to give almost any kind of snack a honey butter flavor.
When I got back home to New York, I thought I could make something crunchy and sweet with a honey butter flavor, and I started experimenting with fried chicken. It took a lot of experiments until I was satisfied with the result.
It’s small pieces of crunchy sweet chicken with garlic, honey, butter flavor. So yummy! No wonder so many Koreans love this taste! It’s hard to stop eating them once you start! And this recipe is non-spicy, so everyone can enjoy it. Like my other Korean fried chicken recipes, we need to double fry the chicken to make it extra crispy, flavorful, and light.
Enjoy the recipe!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of chicken wings (or chunks of chicken)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup potato starch
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
- 4 cups cooking oil (corn or vegetable oil)
For honey butter sauce:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup white or brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons honey
Directions
Prepare the chicken
- Put the chicken in a bowl and mix with salt and ground black pepper.
- Crack the eggs into the bowl and add starch, flour, and baking powder.
- Mix well by hand.
Double fry!
- Heat up a 12 inch skillet with the cooking oil over high heat for 5 to 7 minutes until it reaches 350° F. You can dip a tip of chicken into the hot oil to see if it is right temperature or not. If several bubbles come up, it’s time to fry.
- Put all the chicken pieces into the hot oil one by one. Let cook for about 5 minutes until the bottoms of the chicken turn a little crunchy. Then flip them over with tongs, splitting up any pieces that have fused together.
- Let cook another 5 minutes and then turn them all over.
- Keep frying and occasionally turning over for another 10 minutes until all sides are nice and crunchy.
- Transfer the crunchy chicken one by one into a strainer over a stainless steel bowl.
- Let the oil heat up for 1 minute and then put all the chicken back in. Cook for 7 to 8 minutes until all sides are crunchy and look golden brown.
- Strain the chicken and turn off the heat.
Make honey butter fried chicken
- Heat up a large skillet for a couple of minutes. Add butter and garlic and stir it up until the garlic turns fragrant and a little crispy. Add soy sauce, sugar and stir until well melted. Add honey and stir.
- Keep stirring until it bubbles vigorously.
- Add the chicken and the pumpkin seeds (if used). Mix and stir well to coat evenly.
- Serve right away or let cool to serve later.
Hi Maangchi,
My wife and I made these the other night and they were delicious! Really love the recipe. Will be making these again.
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Hi Maangchi, I can’t wait to try this recipe. Potato starch is really hard to find here. Can I use corn starch or tapioca starch instead of potato starch?
I love you and your recipe so much.
Cornstarch will work well, too.
I made this last night and oh my was it delishious thank you for all the great recipes Ive loved them all
Made this last night! Was so good and I had a lot of fun making it. Definitely want to try it with the pumpkin seeds next time. Love your recipes Maangchi!
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Alycia, you had fun making this! : ) It looks sweet and crunchy! Cheers!
망치 안녕하세요!! i made this for dinner tonight (finally) and it’s absolutely crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and super delicious. maangchi’s double-fry technique is truly daebak! thank you for your recipe, we truly enjoyed it!
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yes, it looks daebak (huge success)! : ) Congratulations!
Hi Maangchi!
I checked out your other Fried Chicken recipe they only use potato starch to coat the chicken. For this recipe you add all purpose flour and also egg, is it because you looking for different crispy texture?
Can’t wait to try the recipe~ :)
yes, I wanted to make this chicken batter a little fluffy without losing crunchiness. I hope you like this chicken, too. : )
Hi Maangchi! Finally made the chicken for dinner, I forgot to take the picture because me and my wife are already so hungry.
I don’t have all purpose flour so I use combination of potato starch & premix frying flour, the chicken came out fluffy and crispy :) but the highlight of the chicken is the honey butter sauce! It’s taste so goooood, especially with steamed rice. Thank you Maangchi! :D
Made this tonight…was really good! Think that time should be adjusted for chunks of chicken, though, as it was a bit dry after the frying time was done per the recipe.
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Hi Maangchi! Is there much difference using this batter (egg, flour, potato starch) instead of just potato starch like your other chicken recipe?
I make something similar but add gochujang to the sauce. I love sweet and spicy wings.
I’ve just cooked it, It is just wonderful and crunchie!!! I’m a big fun of you and your recipes. It is not so easy to find Korean products in my town but I manege.
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I made this for dinner last night using chunks of boneless chicken breasts. My boyfriend gobbled it up! It was so delicious! Served it with white rice and some kimchi on the side. The crunchiness made my mouth so happy :)
Congratulations! As long as you knew how to make your chicken crunchy crunchy, the result will be awesome!
Hi Maangchi, I tried this recipe today. Wow debbak….I love the taste of the chicken even before I put the sauce on. But for the sauce I put more soya sauce as it too sweet. Thanks for the recipe, you’re the best.
Thank you for this recipe. I look forward to trying it soon. I need to purchase a cleaver first to “chop-chop” the chicken like you do. ;) We like spicy … what can we add for the spicy? Love your recipes!
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Hey Mamma’Maangchi I wan’t to make “Butter Honey Chicken” Can I use cornstarch instead of potato starch?
-Thank you so much for sharing all of this good stuff with us! :)
Yes, you can use cornstarch instead of potato starch. good luck!
Hi maangchi, I am a huge fan of your korean recipes.
I was thinking of what to have for dinner, and as soon as I saw the recipe for honey butter fried chicken, I just had to try it.
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It looks amazing!