Korean Fried Chicken

Korean fried chicken is chicken double-fried until the crust turns glass-crisp, then tossed in a sticky, sweet-spicy glaze. It is fried chicken reinvented for a sauce that has to survive the drive home, developed in Korea from the 1970s onward into something distinct from the fried chicken it was originally modelled on.

What it really is

Chicken pieces are coated in a thin batter, usually built on potato starch rather than flour, and fried twice — once to cook through, then again after a short rest to drive out extra moisture and build a shell thin and hard enough to stay crisp under a heavy sauce. Tossed while still hot in a glaze built on gochujang, sugar, garlic and soy, the coating holds its crunch far longer than a single-fried, wet-battered piece ever could.

The double fry is what lets the crust survive the sauce. A single-fried batter turns soggy within minutes once glazed; frying twice drives out enough moisture to build a genuinely hard shell, which is the whole reason Korean fried chicken can be sauced heavily and still crunch on the way to the table.

How it is served

• Tossed in sauce or served with it on the side, sometimes half-and-half with a plain fried version.
• With pickled radish cubes on the side, a standard pairing.
• As a shared plate, often ordered alongside beer.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the wheat if used in the batter and the soy in the glaze.
• Say which sauce is used, since sweet-spicy gochujang glaze, soy-garlic, and plain versions are all common and genuinely different.
• Note if a plain, unsauced option is available for guests who want the crisp coating without the heat.