Yangnyeom chicken

Name: Yangnyeom chicken
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 3 trays
Cuisine: korean
Ingredients: 900 g Chicken, wings or small thigh pieces; 120 g Potato or corn starch, potato starch preferred; 1 tsp Salt; 0.5 tsp Black pepper; 4 clove Garlic, minced; 1 tsp Ginger, grated; 3 tbsp Gochujang; 1 tsp Gochugaru; 2 tbsp Soy sauce; 2 tbsp Honey; 1 tbsp Sugar; 1 tbsp Korean rice wine; 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil; 1 tsp Sesame seeds; 1 l Neutral oil, for frying

양념치킨

Twice-fried Korean chicken in a sticky sweet-chilli glaze — the reason 'chimaek' became a word.

Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 양념치킨.

0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.

Start cooking

Prep: 25 min
Cook: 35 min
Total: 1 hr
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: Medium heat
Cost: Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price

Know it before you cook it

Source photograph of Yangnyeom chicken. Not official I Want Some Food pixel artwork. — Photo: adiosmary via Openverse. cc0 1.0. Source

About

Yangnyeom chicken is fried twice so the crust stays shatter-crisp under a glossy gochujang glaze. The meat should stay juicy. The sauce should be sticky, not soup. This is restaurant food you can do in a home pot if you respect oil temperature and you do not crowd the pan.

Ingredients

Servings

Ingredients

Chicken, wings or small thigh pieces900 g
Potato or corn starch, potato starch preferred120 g
Salt4.9 ml
Black pepper2½ ml
Sesame seeds4.9 ml
Neutral oil, for frying1 l

Sauce

Garlic, minced4 clove
Ginger, grated4.9 ml
Gochujang44 ml
Gochugaru4.9 ml
Soy sauce30 ml
Honey30 ml
Sugar15 ml
Korean rice wine (optional)15 ml
Toasted sesame oil4.9 ml

Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.

Steps

Step 1
Pat chicken very dry. Toss with salt, pepper and half the starch. Rest 10 minutes, then dust with the remaining starch so every piece is matte-white.
12 min
Step 2
Heat oil to 160°C. Fry in batches 6–8 minutes until cooked through but still pale. Drain on a rack.
16 min
Watch: Do not crowd. Wet steam is the enemy of crust.
Step 3
Raise oil to 180°C. Fry again 2–3 minutes until deep gold and loud-crisp. Drain.
8 min
Step 4
In a small pan, warm garlic, ginger, gochujang, gochugaru, soy, honey, sugar and rice wine until bubbling and glossy, 2 minutes. Stir in sesame oil.
3 min
Step 5
Toss chicken in the sauce just to coat — do not drown it. Sesame seeds. Eat immediately.

Adapt this recipe

The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.

Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 24 August.

Substitutions

Potato starch → Cornflour
Slightly less shatter, still crisp.
Honey → Rice syrup
Closer to many shop glazes.

Tips

A wire rack beats paper towels. Paper steams the crust.
If you only fry once, the glaze will soften the coating in minutes.

History & culture

Korean fried chicken is a post-war, post-American-flour story that became its own craft. Yangnyeom is the sauced half of the menu; hunyaseu (plain salted) is the other. Beer on the side is cultural, not mandatory in a recipe.

The double-fry and thin starch crust distinguish it from many American fried chickens. Chains exported the idea; home cooks can still make a tray that tastes like a place.

Modern adaptation — Potato starch beats wheat flour for the brittle crust. Wings or chopped whole chicken both work.

Provenance: Editorial adaptation. Original editorial adaptation for I Want Some Food. Not copied from another recipe site. Official recipe photography is pending. Photograph: adiosmary via Openverse (cc0 1.0). https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65070208