Sticky, fragrant and with a great chilli punch, these easy air-fried chicken bites are so delicious.
This is such a winning dish that can be prepared quickly and it is great served simply with boiled rice. The sticky pieces of chicken are also fabulous popped inside steamed buns (recipe).
Gochujang – fermented red chilli paste – is truly gorgeous and adds such a depth of flavour and a wonderful aroma then just crushed chillies or your standard chilli sauce. It does carry quite a punch, though!
Oh, and the sauce itself: it not only makes a fabulous glaze for the chicken, it is also sublime as a dipping sauce in its own right: either as it is or simmered gently to dissolve the sugar.
However, you can go even simpler with the sauce and just mix the gochujang with honey (roughly 1 part gochujang to 3 parts honey).
The Korean dipping sauce
Soaking the chicken – an optional bonus!
Soaking the chicken in buttermilk is not essential, especially if you just want to eat the dish in about 15 minutes from scratch. However, it does give you the most tender, melt-in-the-mouth chicken! If you don’t want to soak them, simply jump to step 2 of the recipe.
If soaking the chicken, I prefer buttermilk – but even milk will do – and soak for few hours or, ideally, overnight. You can add a teaspoon or so of gochujang paste to the milk so the flavours start to penetrate the chicken, but the sauce itself is so full of flavour that the chicken doesn’t really need any help!
Korean chicken
Deep-frying versus air-frying or roasting
The chicken can, of course, be deep-fried but to be honest the roasting or air-frying of the chicken gives a good enough texture on the exterior and allows the gorgeous sauce to stick to each piece.
A delicious cauliflower alternative
I love making a cauliflower version of this (Teriyaki cauliflower popcorn), with a different but equally delicious sauce. However, you can use the sauce in the recipe below.
Recipe: Korean chicken – serves 2
Korean chicken
Chicken:
- 2 chicken thighs, boneless and skinned, cut into small pieces
- 100ml whole milk or buttermilk to tenderise, optional (see above)
- 3 tablespoons cornflour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon gochujang paste
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon runny honey
- 1 tablespoon sugar (any type)
- 2 teaspoons cider or wine vinegar
- 1 fat clove garlic, peeled and finely grated
- 1” piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
To finish and serve:
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 spring onion, sliced, for garnish
- chilli flakes or a little red chilli, finely chopped – optional
- boiled rice to accompany
(1) Mix the chopped chicken with the milk and chill for several hours or overnight: but no longer than about 24 hours. Place in a sieve to drain: there is no need to pat dry.
(2) Mix the cornflour and baking powder together in a medium bowl and add the drained chicken pieces. Toss well so each chicken piece is lightly coated.
(3) Place a little apart in the air-fryer (you can line the trays with parchment if you wish) and cook at 180°C for about 10-12 minutes, turning over after about 5 minutes. You can bake them in the oven in a similar way: just make sure the oven is preheated and given them longer to cook (about 15 minutes). Either way, they won’t look very pretty at this stage but once glazed they will look magnificent!
(4) Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
(5) At this point you gave two great options for using the glaze. Either:
Add the sauce to a pan or wok and bring to the simmering point over a medium heat. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until a little reduced and stickier. Add the chicken pieces and stir gently to coat fully.
OR
Dip the chicken pieces in the sauce and pop back into the air-fryer, ideally on parchment to prevent any sticking. Cook at 170°C for 3-4 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling away on the surface of the chicken.
(6) Scatter over the sesame seeds and serve with a sprinkling of spring onion slices, chilli and freshly cooked rice.
Korean chicken
