Korean Air Fried Chicken

Everyone loves fried chicken! But nobody feels great about how unhealthy it can be. Earlier this year we were generously gifted an air fryer and we absolutely love it! This is a recipe for Korean air fried chicken with a sweet and spicy gochujang glaze. We love making this recipe because it makes delicious crispy chicken without all the mess and unhealthy grease.

This chicken tastes really good in a sandwich (which is how we recommend it), but you can also enjoy it with a side of rice. The recipe you’ll find below includes instructions on how to construct a yummy and balanced sandwich with this Korean air fried chicken. If you want an even fancier sandwich, you can try adding some pickled daikon and carrot.

Here in Toronto, Korean fried chicken has become a big trend. Almost every neighbourhood has at least one Korean fried chicken joint. We’ve been to many of the various restaurants serving this newly trendy grub and can confidently say that our homemade (and no-fry) version stands up to even the best of them! Another benefit of making this chicken yourself is that it’s so much cheaper.

Two underrated benefits of using an air fryer instead of conventional deep frying are the ease of clean up and not having to waste litres of oil. Deep frying isn’t only dangerous, but splattering oil can be very messy. Disposing of the oil after cooking is always a pain and also seems very wasteful. Air frying foods solves both of these problems!

Print Recipe

Korean Air Fried Chicken

Cooking Method: air-fry Cuisine: East Asian, Fusion/Misc, korean

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 25 mins Cook Time 32 mins Total Time 57 mins

Servings: 4

Best Season: Fall

Ingredients

Servings

Marinade

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 clove minced garlic
• 2 tsp fresh minced ginger
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Glaze

• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp gochujang paste
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 2 tbsp honey

Chicken

• 600 g boneless skinlesschicken thighs
• ¹⁄₃ cup potato starch (or corn starch)

Sandwich (Recommended)

• 4 crusty buns (ciabatta works well)
• 20 thin circular cucumber slices
• 3 tbsp mayonnainse
• 2 tbsp black sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp thinly sliced green onion

Instructions

1. Mix together the ingredients for the glaze in a large bowl and mix together the ingredients for the marinade in another large bowl.

2. Cut each chicken thigh into 4 evenly sized pieces. You don't have to be very precise.

3. Mix the chicken pieces with the marinade in the large bowl. Let sit for 5 min or longer.

4. Toss potato starch into marinade bowl containing the chicken. Mix well.

5. Put half of the chicken in the air fryer. Cook at 400F for 16 min. Shake chicken every 4 minutes, using tongs to separate pieces if required.

6. Repeat previous step for the second half of the chicken.

7. Toss chicken in the glaze.

8. Optional: Slice in half and toast a crusty bun.

9. Layer thinly sliced cucumber on bottom half of bun. Add mayonnaise, then add chicken, then add black sesame seeds and sliced green onions. Complete sandwich by adding top half of the toasted bun. 

Keywords: korean, chicken, air fryer, sandwich, fried, gochujang