Easy Korean Spicy Chicken

This easy Korean spicy chicken is my current weeknight favourite quick dinner. Crispy and tender pieces of chicken tossed in a sticky, sweet and spicy chilli sauce and served with a fruity winter salsa.

Before we go any further with this recipe I just need to make this disclaimer*** I am in no way claiming that this is a truly authentic Korean chicken. Don’t get me wrong. I did my research, because what I know about Korean cooking could fit on a postage stamp. IE. I don’t know much at all!!!

But, I did my research and found so many recipes for Korean fried chicken. Every recipe was just ever so slightly different from the next. So, I essentially pooled my collective knowledge from about 2 hours of research and just created something that fit some of the requirements that I had for this recipe. So let’s list out the top requirements.

Top 3 Reasons you need to make this Easy Korean Spicy Chicken

• This recipe is easy and quick to make. (20 minutes quick!)
• The chicken isn’t deep fried.
• We use lean chicken breast rather than fattier chicken wings or thighs.

I chose to use chicken breast in this recipe because I wanted plump juicy bits of chicken to contrast with the crispy outside of the chicken bits. I find chicken thigh gets a bit tough when it’s cooked crispy.

A few things to note about this recipe… for the sweetness element I use maple syrup, just for an added depth of flavour, rather than using sugar or honey. I don’t think honey stands up to the bold flavours of the sauce as well as maple. But if you want to use honey, you most certainly can, and it will be awesome. But if you’ve got maple syrup try it. Trust me.

I also found that in most recipe marinating in a mix of milk, cornflour, vinegar and all manner of tenderisers was a big deal. But this recipe doesn’t need to do that because we’re using chicken breast. Already super tender. But this recipe still needed a crispy factor. So, all you need to do is coat the chicken in seasoned cornflour. Once they’re well coated they go into the pan in a bit of sesame oil.

Again, if you want to deep fry, you can. I personally, just find deep frying can be a bit more time consuming on a weeknight. I don’t have a fryer, so I heat up a pan of oil on the stove and then have to wait for it to cool completely before I can store the oil. Just not practical for a weeknight. So a bit of sesame oil in a pan and we’re ready to go.

Lastly, I forgot to buy peanuts for the garnish when I was at the store, so I opted to serve this topped with a fresh fruit winter salsa. It’s just persimmons and pomegranate with some cilantro and parsley. But if you remember to buy peanuts then by all means… get ’em on there!

Easy Korean Spicy Chicken

This easy Korean spicy chicken is my current weeknight favourite quick dinner. Crispy and tender pieces of chicken tossed in a sticky, sweet and spicy chilli sauce and served with a fruity winter salsa. 

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Course Dinner

Cuisine Asian

Servings 2 Servings

Calories 591 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 small shallot diced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 thumb size piece of ginger minced
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 Tablespoons gochujang Korean chilli sauce
• 2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoons cider vinegar optional
• 4 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil

For the fruit salsa:

• 1 persimmon diced into 1cm cubes
• pomegranate arils
• 4 Tablespoons parsley

To Serve:

• Steamed tender stem broccoli
• wholewheat noodles

Instructions

 

Instructions

• Dice the chicken into chunks. And toss in the cornstarch
• To make the sauce heat a heavy bottomed saucepan on a medium heat. Add a tablespoon of sesame oil to the pan and gently cook the shallot, clove and ginger until they have softened and are fragrant.
• Add the soy sauce, maple syrup, gochujang sauce and the vinegars. Bring to the boil for 1 minute until the sauce thickens.
• In a medium size skillet add the sesame oil and heat over medium high. Add the chicken and cook until the outside is crispy and golden and the inside is cooked through.
• Use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove the chicken from the pan.
• Toss the chicken in the sauce and serve over noodles or rice.
• Serves 2