DAKGANGJEONG FRIED CHICKEN

Dinner | December 4, 2017 | By Hyeon Jeong

Korean Fried Chicken Part 3: Dakgangjeong Fried Chicken (Crispy Sweet and Spicy Fried Chicken) 닭강정

Crispy double fried sweet and spicy boneless Korean Dakgangjeong Fried Chicken. Your new go to fried chicken recipe. Just delicious.

Watch my Easy Dakgangjeong Fried Chicken Recipe Video (m s)

Dakgangjeong consists of Korean two words, Dak and Gangjeong. Dak means chicken and Gangjeong means sweet brittle like peanut brittle. Dakgangjeong should be crispy, crunchy, sweet and spicy.

You can buy chicken with bones or boneless chicken for Dakgangjeong, but, boneless chicken Dakgangjeong is much more common. It is a popular Korean street food. You can buy it in a small paper bowl with disposable forks. These days it is so popular there are even Dakgangjeong franchise takeaways.

What is the difference between Yangnyeom chicken and Dakgangjeong? The difference is that Dakgangjeong is much sweeter as there is more rice syrup (or corn syrup) and it is much crispier than Yangnyeom chicken. The crispiness lasts a few hours unlike Yangnyeom chicken.

YANGNYEOM FRIED CHICKEN

I love Dakgangjeong. A Korean friend of mine is from Incheon near Seoul. She misses a Dakgangjeong restaurant in Inchoen a lot since she has lived in the UK. She said, “The queue was so bad that I had to wait for 1 hour but it was worth it!”

Dakgangjeong used to be more popular near Seoul. I saw a TV show about the famous Dakgangjeong restaurants in Incheon that my friend was talking about. The queue looks like at least a 2 hour wait. It reminds me of the crazy long queue in Tokyo town centre for Krispy Kreme Donuts. That queue was the longest I have ever seen in my life!

When I was a kid, Dakgangjeong was like a kid’s snack and a street food. There was a shop in front of my school selling Dakgangjeong. That was amazingly good after school with friends!

GANJANGMANEUL FRIED CHICKEN

If you get Dakgangjeong from a restaurant or takeaway, they keep using the same oil. So, it is much better to cook at home. If you use boneless chicken like me, it is not much effort as it cooks much quicker than chicken with bones.

In my recipe, I used potato flour for the chicken coating instead of making batter like my other fried chicken. You can use the batter I use in Yangnyeom chicken and Ganjang chicken if you prefer. A friend of mine is a fully trained chef and he told me that he uses just potato flour in his restaurant. You can replace potato flour with corn flour if you can’t find it in your supermarket. Chillies are optional. You know I like spicy food! Haha. I am super excited to show you my Dakgangjeong recipe! I would love to see how you get on with my recipe. If you make this, please let me know. Enjoy!

If you like this recipe then have a look at my other Korean fried chicken recipes. Yangnyeom Fried Chicken and Ganjangmaneul Fried Chicken.

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DAKGANGJEONG FRIED CHICKEN

Author: Hyeon Jeong

Recipe type: Dinner

Cuisine: Korean

Prep time: 1 hour 5 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour 35 mins

Serves: 4

Crispy double fried sweet and spicy boneless Korean Dakgangjeong Fried Chicken. Your new go to fried chicken recipe. Just delicious.

What You'll Need

Chicken Marinade
500g Boneless Chicken Thigh
½ tbsp Sea Salt
½ tsp Ginger Powder
1 tbsp Rice Wine
Sauce
2 tbsp Sesame Oil
3 tbsp Gochugaru (Korean Chili Powder)
3 tbsp. Gochujang (Korean Chili Paste)
3 tbsp Soy Sauce
3 tbsp Ketchup
1 ½ tbsp Brown Sugar
5 Garlic Cloves, Mashed
1 tbsp Hot Sauce
3 tbsp Mirin
6 tbsp Rice Syrup (or corn syrup)
½ Cup Water
1 Spring Onion, Chopped
1 Red Chili Pepper, Chopped (optional)
1 Green Chili Pepper, Chopped (optional)
A Pinch of Black Pepper
150g Rice Cakes (optional)
1 ⅓ cup Potato Flour
Vegetable Oil for frying
2 tbsp Peanuts, Mashed

How to Make It

Put the chicken in a bowl and add the sea salt, ginger powder and rice wine. Mix them together and set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour to marinate.
While the chicken is marinating, we can make the sauce. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, add the sesame oil, gochugaru (Korean Red Pepper Powder), gochujang (Korean Chilli Paste), soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, mashed garlic, hot sauce, mirin, rice syrup and water. Keep stirring the ingredients until the sauce starts to boil. After the sauce starts boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped spring onions, red chillies, green chillies and black pepper and mix them till the sauce thickens. It takes another minute or so.
Pour vegetable oil into a deep pan for frying. Heat the pan over a high heat until the oil reaches 170°C-190°C/338°F-374°F.
Dry the rice cakes with kitchen towel or a tea towel. If they contain water, they will pop in the hot oil and you might get burnt. Be careful! Coat the rice cake with ⅓ cup of potato flour and set aside.
Coat the marinated chicken with 1 cup of potato flour.
Fry the rice cake first. It only takes 3-5 minutes.
Fry the chicken in 2 or 3 batches. Each batch takes around 4-5 minutes. Keep turning over each chicken so as not to get burnt on one side.
Fry the rice cakes again for 30 seconds. Fry the cooked chicken for another 3-4 minutes until it is completely cooked. The cooking time differs depending on the size of the chicken.
Warm the sauce up and add the fried rice cakes and the chicken over a low heat. Do not turn the stove off. Mix them with the sauce well. This step makes this chicken stay like brittle. Now you can enjoy this delicious Dakgangjeong with cold beer or cola!