Delicious Korean Fried Chicken Bites
This Korean fried chicken recipe checks all the boxes for chicken lovers. It is extra crispy, deep fried, boneless chicken pieces that have been tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce and topped with sesame seeds.
To make this recipe, marinate the chicken, cut into bite sized pieces, batter, and deep fry for about 3 – 5 minutes before mixing with a thickened, soy sauce-honey glaze. It is so, so good!
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Ingredients for Korean fried chicken bites
I’ll break this ingredients list into three sections.
Chicken marinade
- boneless chicken: I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this recipe. But, if you prefer you can use chicken thighs or any meaty part of the chicken.
- flour: all purpose flour helps to remove the slime and fresh smell from the meat.
- Caribbean green seasoning: this isn’t the typical seasoning for Korean fried chicken. But, I’m in T&T and we season our meat (and most things) with Caribbean green seasoning made with chadon beni (culantro), garlic, ginger, pepper, and other fresh herbs (get it on Amazon here). Feel free to substitute with your favorite meat seasonings like onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, soy sauce and more.
- salt
Batter and frying
- flour: all purpose flour is usually what I use in the batter.
- corn starch: starches become crispy when deep fried, and you will want the chicken to have a crispy coating before adding the sweet, spicy sauce. The sauce will soften the coating but it will remain intact. Potato starch can also be used here.
- eggs: needed for the wet batter to ensure the coating adheres to the chicken. You can use water as a substitute.
- chili powder: I like seasoning the flour mixture with a little chili powder. It adds a nice flavor and a little color to the fried batter. Feel free to add in seasonings like onion powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, thyme, cayenne or black pepper.
- oil: use a mild vegetable oil with a high smoke point for frying like avocado, grapeseed or canola oil.
Sauce
- soy sauce: High-quality, low-sodium soy sauce like Kikkoman is great for this recipe.
- rice wine vinegar: this adds a wonderful tangy flavor to the sauce.
- sugar: I used brown sugar here to balance the tanginess of the vinegar and saltiness of the soy sauce.
- honey: like the sugar, it adds subtle, sweet flavors to the sauce.
- chili flakes: add the spicy element to the sauce. You can also use gochujang here.
- water
- sesame seeds: is a great topping for the chicken. Feel free to sprinkle some chopped chives as well. For this particular recipe, I used both black and white sesame seeds (which you can find on Amazon here).
How to make these Korean fried chicken bites
Prepare the chicken
Step 1: I’m assuming here that you are starting out with boneless, skinless chicken breast. Remove any fat off the meat. Rub the flour onto the meat and scrape any slime off with a small paring knife. Rinse the chicken thoroughly to remove the flour.
Step 2: Add the salt and seasoning to the chicken and mix to coat. Cover, refrigerate and allow the chicken to marinate. This can take anywhere from 1 hour to a day. The marinating time is based on your preferences. I usually leave mine to marinate for 4 hours.
Step 3: Remove from the fridge and cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces or roughly 2-inch pieces.
Batter and fry
Step 4: Place a skillet on medium heat. Allow to heat up for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetable oil for frying and leave for another 5 minutes.
Step 5: In a small bowl, crack the eggs and add about 2 tablespoons of corn starch. Whisk together until smooth.
Step 6: Pour the egg mixture over the chicken and mix thoroughly. This will act as your wet batter and help the seasoned flour adhere to the meat.
Step 7: Add the flour, remaining corn starch and chili powder to a plate, bowl or even zip loc bag. Mix well.
Step 8: Toss the chicken pieces in the dry batter ensuring they are coated evenly. Gently shake to dust off any excess flour and set aside.
Step 9: When the oil is hot enough, add the battered chicken to the pot. Leave for 1 and a half minutes.
Step 10: Flip the chicken bites over and cook for another 1 and a half to 2 minutes or until they are golden brown with an internal temperature of 165°F.
Step 11: Remove from the oil and place on thick paper towels. Allow to cool down.
Make the sauce
Step 12: To a small bowl, add the soy sauce, water, rice wine vinegar, sugar, honey, and chili flakes. You can add the gochujang at this point as well. Whisk together until fully incorporated.
Step 13: Place a small saucepan on medium heat. Add the soy sauce-honey mixture.
Step 14: Stir often until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a simmer and turn the heat to low.
Step 15: Cook until the sauce becomes frothy, which usually takes about 5 minutes.
Step 16: Turn off the heat. Add the fried chicken pieces to the sauce and gently toss to coat.
Step 17: Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the chicken and serve warm. Extra sauce makes a wonderful dip sauce for later.
Korean fried chicken recipe
Korean fried chicken bites
Ingredients
Chicken
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp Caribbean green seasoning
- 1½ tsp salt
Batter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup corn starch (incl. 2 tbsp for wet batter)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp chilli powder
- ½ cup vegetable oil for frying (use more if needed)
Sauce
- 6 tbsp soy sauce
- 6 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp chili flakes (increase for more heat)
- 1 tbsp gochujang (optional)
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds for topping (optional)
Instructions
Season chicken
- Clean chicken breasts, remove fat.
- Add 2 tbsp flour and massage into the meat.
- Scrape any slime off the chicken.
- Rinse off the chicken.
- Add the salt and Caribbean green seasoning to the chicken breasts.
- Mix to incorporate.
- Cover and refrigerate.
- Leave to marinate for about 4 hours (can be as little as 1 hr and as much as 24 hrs).
- Remove chicken from fridge.
- Cut into bite sized (2-inch) pieces.
Batter and fry
- Place a skillet on the stove on medium heat. Leave to heat up (5 mins).
- Add the vegetable oil. Heat for another 5 minutes.
- Crack the eggs.
- Add 2 tbsp corn starch to the eggs.
- Whisk together until smooth.
- Pour over the chicken. Mix thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl, add the flour, remaining corn starch and chili powder. Combine fully.
- Roll the chicken pieces in the dry flour batter. Shake gently to dust off excess flour.
- Add to the hot oil.
- Leave to cook for 1½ to 2 minutes on one side.
- Flip the chicken.
- Cook for another 1½ to 2 minutes (or until golden brown and 165°F inside).
- Remove from oil.
- Place on paper towels to cool.
Korean sauce
- Add soy sauce, water, rice wine vinegar and chili flakes to a small bowl.
- Mix in honey, brown sugar and gochujang if using it. Stir to combine.
- Add a small saucepan to the stove on medium heat.
- Pour in the soy sauce mixture.
- Stir often.
- Allow to come to a simmer.
- Turn the heat to low.
- Cook until the sauce becomes frothy (5 minutes).
- Turn off the heat.
- Add the fried chicken to the sauce.
- Toss to combine.
- Top with sesame seeds and serve warm.