Air fryer Korean fried chicken is my new obsession. Just like the original deep-fried chicken recipe, this Korean fried chicken recipe delivers morsels of chicken that are crunchy, crispy, spicy, and sweet. It starts with a gingery marinade and ends with crispy pieces of air-fried chicken tossed in a spicy-sweet gochujang sauce.
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Can you really make delicious KFC in an air fryer?
Yes, with one caveat. The air fryer gets you a crunchy coating that holds up under the gochujang glaze, though it’s a shade less shatter-crisp than the double-fried original. I love classic deep-fried Korean fried chicken, but I don’t want to eat deep-fried food often, and I don’t want my stovetop coated in oil. If I could keep only one air fryer recipe, it would be this one.
To get the classic golden-brown, crispy, crunchy crust, I dip my chicken first in egg and then in cornstarch. Frying it in the air fryer is quick and easy.
Check out my post on How to Make Air Fryer Fried Chicken to learn my tips and tricks for success, and everything else you need to know.
Ingredient Notes
I use boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-size pieces. Korean restaurants in my neighborhood usually use bone-in pieces, but bite-size boneless thigh gives you more of the crunchy, sauce-drenched coating in every bite and nothing to eat around.
Cornstarch or potato starch is the preferred starch to use for coating the chicken pieces. Where American recipes usually use all-purpose flour, cornstarch or potato starch give a lighter, more crisp crust.
Gochujang is the ingredient that totally makes this dish. Gochujang is a fermented chili paste condiment made from hot chiles, rice, soybeans, and salt. It’s thick, dark red, and spicy, but also full of intense umami and a hint of sweetness.
I buy my gochujang in tubs at a local Korean market (East Bay locals, head to Koreana Plaza on Telegraph and 27th in Oakland. It’s worth the trip.) It is also available in larger Asian markets or you can buy gochujang online. Like miso paste or soy sauce, gochujang lasts a long time in the refrigerator, so go ahead and buy a good-sized tub of it. You can also use it to make my Gochujang Chicken, Korean Ramen, Korean Gochujang Noodles, or crispy Gochujang Tofu.
How to Make Air Fryer Korean Fried Chicken
Double frying is the classic technique that makes Korean fried chicken so shatter-crisp. You can get a similar effect in the air fryer without doing a true second fry. Flipping the chicken pieces halfway through cooking and misting them with a bit more oil helps the coating crisp evenly on both sides, giving you much of that same crunch. You get a crispy, spicy, sticky result that comes very close to the deep-fried version, with a lot less mess.
The marinade is simple: rice vinegar, soy sauce, fresh ginger, salt, and pepper, which season the chicken all the way through rather than just the coating. An egg dip followed by cornstarch builds the crust, and cornstarch is what keeps it light and crackly instead of bready. The chicken goes into the basket in a single layer with a light coat of oil, gets flipped halfway, and gets a second spritz of oil so both sides brown. The sauce is a quick stir of gochujang, ketchup, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic, and it goes on at the very end so the coating stays crunchy.
Can You Bake This in a Regular Oven?
Yes. If you don’t have an air fryer, a regular oven works, too. Set a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet so air can move under the chicken the way it does in an air fryer basket. Arrange the coated chicken pieces on the rack in a single layer with space between them, and then spray, mist, or brush them with oil.
Bake at 425°F for about 12 minutes, then flip the pieces, spritz with a little more oil, and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes, until the coating is deep golden brown and the chicken reaches 165°F in the center. Toss with the sauce the same way you would with the air-fried version.
The texture is slightly less shatter-crisp than the air fryer version since the chicken isn’t surrounded by moving hot air on all sides, but the coating still crisps up nicely, and it’s the better option if you’re cooking a big batch and don’t want to work in rounds.
Can You Make This by Deep Frying the Chicken on the Stovetop?
Yes. Korean fried chicken is traditionally double fried on the stovetop, which gives you an even, extra crispy coating. I have a full Korean Fried Chicken post with the complete deep-fried method if you want to make it that way.
The short version: skip the egg and dredge the marinated chicken directly in the starch. Heat 2 to 3 inches of vegetable or peanut oil to 375°F in a Dutch oven or wok and fry the chicken until light golden brown. Drain it on a rack lined with paper towels and let it cool while the oil comes back up to 375°F. Then fry it a second time until deep golden brown and very crisp. Toss with the sauce, garnish, and serve.
Tips for making Air Fryer Korean Fried Chicken
- I like to line my air fryer basket with the rounds of parchment paper that have holes cut in it. This isn’t 100 percent necessary, but it makes the process a whole lot easier and less messy.
- You can marinate the chicken overnight if you like. It will only get more flavorful.
- Don’t toss the chicken with the sauce until just before serving. This way the coating on the chicken will stay nice and crunchy.
How to Make a Big Batch
Air fryer baskets hold one batch comfortably, which usually means cooking bite-sized chicken thigh pieces in two or three rounds if you’re making a full recipe. Here are a couple of ways to speed that up when you need more:
- Use an air fryer rack accessory if your model supports one, so you can cook two layers at once. Swap the top and bottom racks halfway through cooking so both layers brown evenly.
- If you’re cooking for a crowd, the oven method above scales much more easily than the air fryer does. You can fit an entire batch on one or two sheet pans and bake it all at once instead of working through multiple air fryer rounds.
What to Serve With Air Fryer Korean Fried Chicken
I usually serve this dish as a main dish with steamed rice and various side dishes like Cucumber Kimchi or Pickled Daikon, or just a simple, refreshing Cucumber Salad. Add some stir-fried veggies, like Chinese Dry Fried Green Beans or Stir-Fried Lotus Root to round out a meal. You could also use this chicken as a topping for Korean Ramen. Follow it up with the sweet, filled Korean Pancakes Hotteok for dessert.
More Crunchy Fried Chicken Recipes
If you’re into crispy fried chicken that brings more than just crunch, I’ve got plenty of recipes for you to try. Chicken Pakora is all about bold spices and golden edges, while Chicken 65 brings that unmistakable South Indian heat. Mochiko Chicken is light and crisp thanks to the sweet rice flour in the coating. Japanese Chicken Karaage gets its light, crisp crust from potato starch.
If you’d rather stick to the air fryer, Air Fryer Buttermilk Fried Chicken gets a crunchy buttermilk crust with far less mess. Air Fryer Salt and Pepper Chicken is all about spicy Sichuan flavor. And when you want irresistible, Air Fryer Sesame Chicken and Air Fryer Orange Chicken nail it with flavorful marinades and savory-sweet sauces.
Air Fryer Korean Fried Chicken
Robin Donovan
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1 cup cornstarch
- Avocado oil for spritzing or brushing (any neutral-flavored, high-smoke-point oil, such as vegetable, canola, or peanut oil, will do)
For the sauce
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 3 tablespoons gochujang
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 4 scallions thinly sliced
- Toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Line the air fryer basket with parchment paper (see note).
- In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, salt, and pepper and toss to coat the chicken. Let marinate for 15 to 20 minutes. If you want to marinate the chicken for longer, cover and refrigerate it for as long as overnight.
- Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl.
- Put the cornstarch in a separate shallow bowl.
- Dunk the chicken pieces first in the egg and then in the cornstarch to coat. Arrange the coated chicken pieces on the parchment paper in the air fryer.
- Once all of the chicken is coated and arranged in the air fryer, spritz or brush it with a bit of oil. A standard air fryer basket holds about half of the chicken in a single layer, so you will likely need to cook it in 2 batches. If your air fryer is large enough to hold it all in one layer, with a bit of space in between, the total cook time drops to 15 minutes.
- Air fry the chicken at 400ºF for 8 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over, spritz or brush with a bit more oil, and then cook for another 7 minutes at 400ºF.
- While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce. In a small bowl, stir together the ketchup, gochujang, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic until well combined.
- When the chicken is finished air frying, transfer it to a medium bowl and toss with the sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds and scallions, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
It worked! I haven’t cooked Korean chicken ever. I’m still learning about my air fryer. So. All good. Looked authentic and next time I’ll tweak it to my taste. But the recipe works. Yum.
Delicious recipe tastes like it was prepared at a Korean restaurant! Flavor has depth but not overpowering. Subtle but delicious and it’s so easy in the air fryer. I need to scale back on the time as my fryer got the chicken up to 190 degrees with 7 minutes on each side.
Great