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?
Absolutely. I love classic deep-fried, cripsy Korean Fried Chicken, but I don’t like to eat deep-fried foods too often, and I really don’t like to mess up my kitchen deep frying foods at home.
This air fryer KFC is the perfect solution. It’s as delicious as the original with way less fat, mess, and effort. You can have it on the table in 30 minutes, easy. For these reasons, this is my all-time favorite air fryer recipe.
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. And my stovetop doesn’t end up coated with splatters of oil.
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.
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.
Ingredient Notes
You’ll be surprised how few ingredients are needed for this flavorful air fryer chicken. Most are easy to find in any supermarket. Here are a few things to note.
Korean restaurants in my neighborhood usually use bone-in chicken pieces. You can use chicken wings or chicken drumsticks. I like to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs and cut them into bite-sized pieces. That way you get more of the crunchy, sauce-drenched coating and don’t have to bother eating around the bones.
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 amazing!) 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 gochujang to make one of my other favorite Korean chicken recipes, Gochujang Chicken. Or make a spicy, savory 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 the same crispy, spicy, sticky result as the deep-fried version, but with a lot less mess. Here’s how it comes together:
- Marinate the chicken with soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, salt, and pepper.
- Coat the chicken pieces in egg and then dredge them in cornstarch.
- Arrange the chicken in the air fryer basket and brush or spray with oil.
- Air fry the chicken, flipping once and adding more oil as needed.
- While it cooks, stir together the gochujang sauce.
- Toss the crispy chicken in the sauce and finish with scallions and sesame seeds.
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, then fry it in about 2 to 3 inches of hot vegetable or peanut oil in a Dutch oven or wok until golden brown on all sides. Let the pieces rest briefly, then fry them 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 has 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.
MORE CRUNCHY FRIED CHICKEN RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
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 a light crispy coating by using potato starch as the coating.
If you’d rather stick to air frying chicken Air Fryer Buttermilk Fried Chicken hits that crispy-satisfying mark with way less mess. Air Fryer Salt and Pepper Chicken is bursting with 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
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 (you will likely have to do this in 2 batches), spritz or brush the chicken with a bit of cooking oil.
- 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 paste, 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