Korean Fried Chicken wings- crispiest chicken wings
DH and I spent part of our New Year’s day making these amazing crispy wings. Last year, I tried Kyochon’s Korean Fried Chicken (“KFC”) wings for the first time and fell in love. Their twice fried wings were the crispiest I had ever tasted.
Unlike a lot of other recipes where the crispiness comes from the batter and the skin of the wings still remains soft, Kyochon fry their wings in a way that renders the fat of the skin and leaves it translucent thin and crispy. It’s then brushed with different sauces depending on what flavor you choose.
I’d bookmarked a Kyochon chicken recipe published in Saveur quite a long time ago, but we didn’t get around to trying it until now. DH has really been into frying things ever since we got the turkey fryer. You can fry these on a stove too, but since he was willing, we did them in the fryer.
The frying is actually really simple. You make a slurry, dip the wings in, fry for about 8 minutes. Remove. Re-fry again. And they are done. You can then make whatever sauce to brush over them but we actually liked them plain too, with a little salt and pepper.
The wings came out super super crunchy. They weren’t quite as perfect as the Kyochon wings we’ve had. I wonder if they use special chicken wings because the wings they use are quite a bit smaller. The wings I used, there were still some fat left on the skin near the edges, but they were still really crispy and the crispiest wings I’ve ever made.
We tried out the sauce provided in the Saveur recipe but didn’t love it. Next time I’ll try some other sauces. I’m pretty thrilled with how these came out. Kyochon is quite a far drive and the last few times, we felt the wings were too salty. It’s great to know I can make my own at home. I plan on definitely making these for all the upcoming tv snacking events.
You can view Saveur’s recipe here. The recipe below is only for frying the wings and does not include the sauce.
If you like these chicken wings, you might like my Karaage recipe, too, which is Japanese fried chicken.
Kyochon Korean Fried Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2/3 cup water
- 20 chicken wings
Instructions
- Pour oil into a 6-qt. pot to a depth of 2". Heat over medium-high heat until a thermometer reads 350?.
- Whisk flour, cornstarch, and water in small bowl until no lumps remain. Coat chicken in mixture. Working in 3 batches, fry chicken until golden, about 8 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Return oil to 350°F. Fry chicken until crisp, about 8 minutes more. Drain again. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or brush wings with desired sauce. Serve immediately.
EXCELLENT wings. It is our new fave!
Thank you for a very easy “keeper”recipe .
So glad you liked it!
Sorry, I can’t understand about “Return oil to 350?”.
Can you explain to me what it’s means?
Thanks in advance 😀
Yes, what I mean is that after you have removed the chicken and are draining it, you might have turned your oil off, or if you are using a deep fryer, the oil likely cooled considerably when you lifted the lid. So you need to make sure the oil goes back to 350F before you put the chicken back for a second fry.
Wow I’m surprised this recipe produces a really crispy chicken (usually the corn starch to flour ratio is a bit higher than this particular recipe). Your chicken look really good though! 😀 Oh, by the way, have you tried Maangchi’s recipe for the sauce? I haven’t tried it yet but it looks promising.
Here’s the link just in case:
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/yangnyeom-tongdak
Thanks for the link! I will have to try out that sauce. I was really pleased with these wings, though I have a few other recipes I bookmarked which are supposed to be really good.
Wow, what a super simple batter. Kind of reminds me of how french fries are twice fried to get them really crunchy, same idea. I’ll have to try it out sometime!
Yeah, I was surprised at how easy this is. But it works and it’s good. No need for me to drive far for wings anymore.
Yum! Oh man I am still so afraid of deep-frying things at home 😛 Do you know of any good Korean fried chicken places in San Diego?
Unfortunately, no. I don’t really like any of the Korean fried chicken places in San Diego. Frying isn’t that hard! I used to be afraid too, but now I do it all the time. Just don’t have too much oil when you start out and make sure you don’t splash any loose water into the hot oil because that is usually what causes it to sputter out and potentially spray you.
Hi, I like to take a couple paper plates, double them up and put the battered wings on them- 2-5 at a time and put the plates close to the oil as not to splash them in. I make sure they are separated with tongs as they deep fry. You might also choose to use gloves. Happy and safe deep frying???
Thanks for those tips!