This Crunchy Korean Fried Chicken Wings recipe is a total winner. Affectionately known as KFC, they are fried until crispy, then slathered in a thick, sweet and spicy sauce.

Name: Korean Fried Chicken Wings
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 42 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 10 chicken wings (split at joint, tips discarded); Vegetable oil (enough to fill a large sauce pan to 5cm depth); 1/2 cup cornflour; 1/4 cup plain flour; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoon peanut oil ((note 1)); 2 tablespoons coarsley grated onion ((note 1)); 3 cloves minced garlic; 3 teaspoon finely grated ginger; 2 tablespoon soy sauce ((note 1)); 4 tablespoons mirin ((note 1)); 3 tablespoons tomato sauce ((note 1)); 2-3 tablespoons gochujang, Korean red chili pepper paste (do this to your own taste) ((note 1 & note 2)); 2 tablespoons honey ((note 1)); 1 tablespoon brown sugar ((note 1)); 2 teaspoon sesame oil

I love visiting Melbourne. We’ve been lucky enough to go there once a year, I think, for the last few years and I just have so much fun there. We only ever spend 4-5 days and I think it just gives me an appetite for more. Which brings me to my favourite part of Melbourne. Food! Big duh! I think there must be a restaurant on each and every corner and every time we go, more have popped up.

We went to Melbourne for the Australian Open with my Mum & Dad. We had a great time. Good tennis, good food, great company, the zoo – what more can you ask for? I had to mention the zoo ‘cause I love animals as much as I love food. They even have a cat café there. Yep, you can go and sip your latte with cats for company. I didn’t go in but maybe one day …… hehehe. Hubby loves the crazy cat lady line and I’m only too happy to play into it.

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Subtle hints just don’t work

Anyway, you’re here for food. I was craving two things while in Melbourne (‘cause they were everywhere!) and not one of them did I have while we were there. So, of course, I’ll just have to make ‘em.

The first was a good jam doughnut (Doughnut or donut? Hmm. Depends how you roll I guess).

The second was those crunchy Korean Fried Chicken Wings. I must have dropped a million hints (yes, family, you hear me) and no one took the bait. No one cared that all those photos in the windows were calling my name every single time we strolled past. Ugh! It’s the first thing I researched on the bus trip to the airport to fly home. I then went on to make this that very night when we got home and it was awesome. So here we have it – my very own Crunchy Korean Fried Chicken Wings recipe.

I made the doughnuts too and you can find that recipe here 🙂

How to make Korean Fried Chicken wings

So Korean Fried Chicken Wings are pretty easy to make. I made a quick vegetable pickle and cooked some plain white rice to serve with it. Not for the faint of heart, these things are sticky. Really sticky. You will get it everywhere. Or maybe that was just me, haha – any hoo… Just a spicy, syrupy sauce and twice fry the wings and you’re there.

The first step is to dry the chicken wings out in the refrigerator, uncovered for up to 24 hours. I’m telling you this, because it makes a huuuge difference to the crispiness of the end result. I’m not often that patient though and on this occasion I wanted my wings now, Dammit! I dried them for 2 hours and they worked fine but as a general rule, planning ahead is best and the longer the better. The fridge has this amazing ability to dehydrate things which, for crispy skin, is a great thing! Whenever I’m going to cook chicken wings, I’ll normally lay them out on a baking tray uncovered in the fridge in the morning for dinner that night. I do this before I’m going to roast a whole chicken as well and even when I’m going to roast a piece of pork.

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Go forth and FRY up some Crunchy Korean Fried Chicken Wings today.

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Korean Fried Chicken Wings

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

12 mins

Total Time

42 mins

Affectionately known as KFC, Korean Fried Chicken Wings are chicken wings, fried to crispy perfection then slathered in a sweet and spicy sauce

Course: appetiser, Appetizer, Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, tapas

Cuisine: Korean

Servings: 2

Author: Marie

Ingredients

For the wings

10 chicken wings (split at joint, tips discarded)
Vegetable oil (enough to fill a large sauce pan to 5cm depth)
1/2 cup cornflour
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper
1 teaspoon salt

For the sauce

2 tablespoon peanut oil (note 1)
2 tablespoons coarsley grated onion (note 1)
3 cloves minced garlic
3 teaspoon finely grated ginger
2 tablespoon soy sauce (note 1)
4 tablespoons mirin (note 1)
3 tablespoons tomato sauce (note 1)
2-3 tablespoons gochujang, Korean red chili pepper paste (do this to your own taste) (note 1 & note 2)
2 tablespoons honey (note 1)
1 tablespoon brown sugar (note 1)
2 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

Serves 2 really hungry people (dependent on how big the wings are)
Lay the wing pieces out on a large tray so they are all separated. Sprinkle with a little salt. Place in the fridge for 24 hours (this step is to dry them out). You can do it a shorter time and still get great results but the longer they dry out the crispier the end result will be.
Heat the peanut oil in small saucepan then add garlic, onion and ginger. Stirfry until fragrant (a minute or two) . Add the remaining sauce ingredients and simmer 7 - 10 mins until thick & syrupy. (note 2)
While the sauce is simmering, heat the vegetable oil in a deep saucepan to 160C. Mix together the flour, cornflour, baking soda, pepper and salt to taste. Roll the wing pieces in the flour mixture to coat well right before they go into the hot oil. Gently place around 7 of the pieces at a time (3 batches) into the hot oil and deep fry for 5 minutes until just starting to get golden. Remove from the oil and drain on rack over paper towel. Do two more batches, keeping them warm in oven between batches.
Raise the heat of the oil to 200C
Recoat pieces in the flour mix and fry for another 5 minutes until golden. Add to the warm sauce and stir to coat thoroughly. Serve immediately.
Serve with steamed rice & pickled vegetables

Recipe Notes

I use an Australian standard 20ml tablespoon
If you can’t get gochujang you can make a very simple version by mixing 2 tablespoons chilli paste, honey & white miso together (yeah, ‘cause everyone has miso in the fridge!). Well I did. Umm, if you’re in the right shop for miso, you’re probably in the right shop for gochujang.