Fry

Korean Style Crispy Rice Chicken Wings

by:
April  6, 2013
5
2 Ratings
Korean Style Crispy Rice Chicken Wings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Makes 20 pieces
Author Notes

"Korean" plus "fried" plus "chicken" sets my expectations for greatness. Especially lately, when my hot sauce of the moment is Gochujang. I can clearly see an evolution in my palette having first embraced Sriracha, then sambal, and now this richer, spicier version that is deepened with a funky fermented bean paste.

I came home with chicken wings the other day despite my historical eye rolling when my dad did the same, yelling "Maru! I picked up dinner!" The difference here is that these would be an appetizer, and at least one vegetable, and likely several, would also grace the plate.

I wanted something super crisp that would be glazed with a punch of flavor and enough heat to make you keep eating, but not so much that your lips felt like Blinky the Clown. So I settled on a mixture of corn starch and pulverized rice crispies. The sauce would be Gochujang blended with something sweet, sesame and maybe even citrus. And there would be fresh green in the form of cilantro and green onion.

I think I succeeded. The first batch came out a tad dark, even though they still tasted great. But the cooler oil in the second batch allowed for nice browning, and the coating had a serious crunch -- even several hours later when I snuck a couple more, cold, from the fridge. —savorthis

Test Kitchen Notes

I knew when reading through the ingredients and instructions that this was going to be good. Gochujang is really sticky on its own, but the ingredients in the glaze loosen it up. Next time, I might add some gochugaru (hot Korean powder) into the coating to amp up the Korean flavor and substitute chicken drumsticks for the chicken wings, just for a little more meat. —pierino

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Wings
  • 10 chicken wings, cut in half, wing tips reserved for stock
  • 4 tablespoons dry sherry
  • 2 tablespoons mirin
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/4 cup peanut or other neutral oil
  • 1/4 cup corn starch
  • 1 1/4 cups puffed rice cereal like Rice Krispies
  • Oil for frying
  • Glaze
  • 1/4 cup Gochujang
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon sherry
  • 2 tablespoons soy
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • Cilantro, for garnish
  • Green onion, for garnish
Directions
  1. Mix all chicken ingredients (through oil) together and marinate up to an hour. Pulse 1 cup rice cereal in a spice grinder or crush in a plastic bag until you have a mix of fine powder and some larger pieces. Mix with corn starch. Drain chicken, reserving marinade.
  2. Mix all glaze ingredients and set aside.
  3. Pour oil into a tall pot so you have enough to fry several wings, but without going beyond the halfway mark of the pot. Heat to just shy of 350°. Toss wings with starch and cereal mixture, adding back a little bit of marinade to help the mixture stick. Fry several at a time for 6 to 8 minutes each. Drain on paper towels. Brown remaining 1/4 cup rice cereal in a teaspoon of oil.
  4. Toss wings with glaze, garnish with cilantro, green onions, and rice cereal, and eat right away.
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  • Carmas
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savorthis
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28 Reviews

soher
soher June 23, 2018
Can these be baked instead of fried? Thanks in advance!
 
amy L.
amy L. February 1, 2017
Has anyone tried baking these with the delish sauce and omitting the rice flour and frying? #tryingtobegood
 
Virginia M.
Virginia M. March 22, 2015
I've been obsessed with spicy chicken wings from a new place near my house, so I was inspired to try making them myself instead of ordering out once again. WOW these turned out so delicious. My only deviation from the recipe was that my wings only took around 4-5 minutes each to brown and cook through. Highly recommended!
 
savorthis
savorthis March 22, 2015
Happy to hear. Thank you!
 
Joseph H.
Joseph H. January 7, 2014
Just incredible...I was stationed in Korea for quite a while and this flavor profile is both familiar and new. Thanks for a great recipe.
 
savorthis
savorthis March 22, 2015
Just saw this- so glad you liked it!
 
Hilarybee
Hilarybee May 24, 2013
I finally found it!! 2kg of it, to be exact. This recipe is fantastic; my friends loved the wings. I went with a recommendation from the Asian market owner- to use barley malt syrup instead of honey for the glaze. It was really great.
 
savorthis
savorthis May 24, 2013
I'm so glad you found some! And barley malt syrup sounds great. I have been using a lot of brown rice syrup lately and have enjoyed the different flavor. I bet the malt syrup is a good substitute for honey which can sometimes be too, well, honey-ish. Thanks Hillarybee! I'm so glad you enjoyed them and gave me that feedback.
 
Carmas
Carmas April 30, 2013
Not exaggerating, but this is the best wings recipe I've tasted. Made the dish, and served it with a Yogurt, Honey, Sriracha dipping sauce. Many thanks!
 
savorthis
savorthis May 5, 2013
I'm thrilled to hear that! The dipping sauce sounds good too...
 
walkie74
walkie74 April 30, 2013
I went big with my version of this recipe. Chicken wings? HA! I used the whole chicken, and quadrupled the sauce ingredients. I had extra, but hey, that's what a dipping sauce is as far as I'm concerned!
 
savorthis
savorthis April 30, 2013
I'm glad you tried it! If you came up with any other ideas for the extra sauce let me know.
 
QueenSashy
QueenSashy April 25, 2013
I am positively swooning over this dish! Congrats!
 
savorthis
savorthis April 25, 2013
Ooh! That photo looks so much better than mine. Thank you for making/adding it!
 
savorthis
savorthis April 17, 2013
It was pointed out to me that I mentioned rice flour in the headnotes, but used corn starch in recipe. Indeed I had used rice flour in the past for chicken wings, but didn't have any this go around and used corn starch instead.
 
savorthis
savorthis April 13, 2013
Thanks. Please let me know if you try them!
 
fiveandspice
fiveandspice April 13, 2013
Wow. These sound incredibly addictive.
 
gingerroot
gingerroot April 11, 2013
These sound fantastic! I can't wait to try them.
 
foxeslovelemons
foxeslovelemons April 9, 2013
Very cool! I have a tub of gochujang in my fridge, and I'm on a quest to use it up. Thanks for sharing!
 
aargersi
aargersi April 9, 2013
Crunchy sweet and spicy, what could be better?
 
savorthis
savorthis April 9, 2013
Yeah, right? I ended up eating the rest of these cold out of the fridge one by one. Silly to think there would be any left for when the fella came home. Sigh.
 
Hilarybee
Hilarybee April 9, 2013
This looks great! Can you give a description of gochujang and where I might find it? A substitute if I cannot?
 
savorthis
savorthis April 9, 2013
I found mine at H Mart which is a large korean grocery chain. If you don't have one nearby I would assume most asian grocery stores would have it. The fermented beans (miso) in it give it a really interesting flavor (tang?) that is so hard to describe. I could not begin to advise on the brand- the gochujang isle (YES, ISLE) was like trying to pick out one toothpaste at Target. And obviously it was all in korean so I just grabbed a small tub. I have since used the leftover glaze on so many things: roasted brussels and broccoli, this mirin/dashi omelette thing I make with chicken and zucchini, eggs...) I hope you can find it and give it a go. My prediction is that it is the next condiment trend and I've already been seeing recipes all over...one blended with dates that sounded particularly wonderful.
 
pierino
pierino April 12, 2013
Thanks to chefs like David Chang and Roy Choi, I see Korean as la nouvelle vauge in American cooking. And pardon my execrable French.
 
Hilarybee
Hilarybee April 28, 2013
I searched the Asian market in my town and couldn't find it. There definitely wasn't an aisle of it--most of the food in the Asian market in my town is Vietnamese. I have a hard time finding ingredients like Miso. Might have to order it off the internet!
 
walkie74
walkie74 April 30, 2013
I live near a Ranch 99, and had to hunt for gochujang. I finally found it--after I showed someone the picture. :p http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Kimchi_and_Gochujang_by_johl.jpg/220px-Kimchi_and_Gochujang_by_johl.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gochujang&h=293&w=220&sz=25&tbnid=cWEiJ44_pH14BM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=83&zoom=1&usg=__NoRIMCNNGt4PYB0KpipV0uxwF6Q=&docid=XgluItdu5KoC7M&sa=X&ei=t2N_UYO2K-WsiQLFpYHYDw&ved=0CDUQ9QEwAA&dur=56
 
walkie74
walkie74 April 30, 2013
Hey Hilary, have you tried the refrigerated section? That's where I found my miso...
 
Hilarybee
Hilarybee May 3, 2013
Yeah, I can find miso, but not white miso for whatever reason. I put in a request with the family owned grocery chain where I live, and they said they would order it for me.