Spicy garlic fried chicken (Kkanpunggi) is a popular Korean Chinese fusion dish. Double deep fried chicken is super crispy and it is coated with addictively spicy and sweet garlic sauce!
Today, I’m sharing a hard to resist spicy garlic fried chicken recipe.
Spicy garlic fried chicken is known as Kkanpunggi (깐풍기) in Korea. It’s a popular Korean Chinese fusion dish.
The chicken is double deep fried then stir fried in spicy garlic sauce. Though, it has a subtle sweet and sour note to it as well.
As you can imagine, the whole thing is quite addictive and moreish! So every time I go to a Korean Chinese restaurant, I normally face two dilemmas.
First one is, whether to order sweet and sour pork (tangsuyuk) or this spicy garlic fried chicken (kkanpunggi) as a main / shared meal. Once that’s resolved, my next dilemma is whether to order black bean noodles (jajangmyeon) or spicy seafood noodle soup (jjampong)
I try to alter between these two sets of food, but it is a hard decision to make!
Another thing I want to point out is while kkanpunggi is a spicy and garlicky dish, I don’t spice up mine much, so that my little daughter can eat it too.
So the below recipe is more focused on a salty savory sweet and sour taste. Though, I left all the hints below to help you make it spicier to your heart’s content. 😉
Anyway, hope you try this soon! It’s a crowd pleaser!
P.S. My other Korean chicken recipes, you might like to try! Popcorn Chicken and Baked Korean Chicken Wings
Ingredients for Spicy Garlic Fried Chicken, serves 4 as a main shared meal
Meat and Others
- 500 g / 1.1 pounds chicken thigh or breast fillets, cut into bite size pieces (you can use pork or beef)
- 2 dried red chilies (I used thai chili. Add more if you want it spicier)
- 30 g / 1 ounce leek, thin sliced into rings
- 50 g / 1.7 ounces red bell pepper / capsicum, cut into small cubes (use 1 or 2 hot cayenne pepper to make it spicier)
- 50 g / 1.7 ounces green bell pepper / capsicum, cut into small cubes (use 1 or 2 hot cayenne pepper to make it spicier)
- 80 g / 2.8 ounces onion, cut into small cubes
- 1/4 lemon (optional, garnish), thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil) or chili oil (to make it spicier)
- Some vegetable oil for deep frying
Garlic Chicken Marinade (Mix these together in a bowl)
- 1 Tbsp rice wine
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp Korean curry powder (optional)
- A few sprinkles of ground black pepper
- A few sprinkles of fine sea salt
Garlic Sauce (Mix these together in a bowl)
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp rice wine
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Chicken Batter
- 1 cup potato starch (or corn starch)
- 1 egg white
* 1 Tbsp = 15 ml, 1 Cup = 250 ml
** I listed 3 different ways to adjust the spice level above using dried red chilies, hot cayenne peppers, and chili oil. Use these with moderation so that it doesn’t turn out to be overly spicy!
How to Make Spicy Garlic Fried Chicken
1. Combine the chicken pieces with the marinade sauce then leave it in the fridge covered while you prepare the other ingredients (about 15 minutes).
2. When all the ingredients are ready, take out the chicken from the fridge, then combine it with the batter ingredients. Mix it well.
3. Pour a generous amount of vegetable oil into a deep wok and when it reaches about 175 C / 347 F, add one battered chicken piece. When it floats, add more chicken and deep fry all the chicken pieces. As you fry them, take out the fried chicken onto some kitchen paper to soak some oil off. Deep fry all the chicken pieces once more for a crispy texture. Take them out and set aside.
4. In a heated skillet / wok, add the vegetable oil (2 Tbsp), leek and dried chilies. Stir fry them quickly over medium high heat until fragrant, then take the leek and chilies out. You can discard these or add back onto the final dish later. (I discarded.)
5. Add the bell peppers / capsicum and onion into the skillet, stir fry it. Add the garlic sauce and stir quickly. Then heat the sauce until it slightly thickens.
6. Add the fried chicken into the skillet and gently mix them around so that it gets lightly coated with the garlic sauce. Serve the chicken onto a plate and garnish with some lemon slices (optional). Eat while hot. (It can be reheated later, though it is less crispy as time goes.)
Spicy Garlic Fried Chicken
Ingredients
MEAT AND OTHERS
- 500 g chicken thigh or breast fillets (1.1 pounds), cut into bite size pieces (you can use pork or beef)
- 2 dried red chilies (I used thai chili. Add more if you want it spicier)
- 30 g leek (1 ounce), thin sliced into rings
- 50 g red bell pepper / capsicum (1.7 ounces), cut into small cubes (use 1 or 2 hot cayenne pepper to make it spicier)
- 50 g green bell pepper / capsicum (1.7 ounces), cut into small cubes (use 1 or 2 hot cayenne pepper to make it spicier)
- 80 g onion (2.8 ounces), cut into small cubes
- 1/4 lemon (optional, garnish), thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil) or chili oil (to make it spicier)
- Some vegetable oil for deep frying
GARLIC CHICKEN MARINADE (MIX THESE TOGETHER IN A BOWL)
- 1 Tbsp rice wine
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp Korean curry powder (optional)
- A few sprinkles ground black pepper
- A few sprinkles fine sea salt
GARLIC SAUCE (MIX THESE TOGETHER IN A BOWL)
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp rice wine
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp lemon juice
CHICKEN BATTER
- 1 cup potato starch (or corn starch)
- 1 egg white
Instructions
- Combine the chicken pieces with the marinade sauce then leave it in the fridge covered while you prepare the other ingredients (about 15 minutes).
- When all the ingredients are ready, take out the chicken from the fridge, then combine it with the batter ingredients. Mix it well.
- Pour a generous amount of vegetable oil into a deep wok and when it reaches about 175 C / 347 F, add one battered chicken piece. When it floats, add more chicken and deep fry all the chicken pieces. As you fry them, take out the fried chicken onto some kitchen paper to soak some oil off. Deep fry all the chicken pieces once more for a crispy texture. Take them out and set aside.
- In a heated skillet / wok, add the vegetable oil (2 Tbsp), leek and dried chilies. Stir fry them quickly over medium high heat until fragrant, then take the leek and chilies out. You can discard these or add back onto the final dish later. (I discarded.)
- Add the bell peppers / capsicum and onion into the skillet, stir fry it. Add the garlic sauce and stir quickly. Then heat the sauce until it slightly thickens.
- Add the fried chicken into the skillet and gently mix them around so that it gets lightly coated with the garlic sauce. Serve the chicken onto a plate and garnish with some lemon slices (optional). Eat while hot. (It can be reheated later, though it is less crispy as time goes.)
Notes
Nutrition Info (per serving)
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Hi! I really enjoyed this recipe! Do you just dump the egg white and starch on top of the chicken and marinade mixture and then mix? That’s what I did, but I wonder if it would be better if I mix the egg in first and add the starch after.
– Hannele
Great to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Honestly, I can’t remember, but I would go with eggs first and starch after.
HI Sue,
I tried Kkanpunggi twice using another recipe (youtube – I won’t mention names) and it wasn’t to my taste and I realised there is something missing.
Your recipe has more ingredients (more work) but as a result will have the final taste I am looking for.
Thanks for this recipe as it’s very detailed. I feel I can use prawns for this as well? what do you think? I will come back to comment on this.
Prawn might work well. I haven’t tried it myself, but I love experimenting different combinations. Hope you enjoy it!
It tasted delicious, thank you so much for this recipe.
My wife and kids loved it as well and the little ones asked when we’ll have it again.
Greetings from Austria.
I’m very pleased to hear that! Thanks for your feedback! 🙂
Such a delicious recipe! I’ve been trying to prepare more homecooked meals and this one was a little challenge for me. I never prepared anything like this before, but I must say the effort was totally worth it. Thank you for posting it!!
Thanks, Isadora! Great to hear you enjoyed it! 🙂
i can’t wait to try it
Hope you like it! 🙂
Hi
I have followed your popcorn chicken previously, and realised a slight difference in your batter. The earlier, you only coat the marinated chicken with cornflour only. While for this one, you add egg whites to the corn flour. May I know whether with the egg white, would the chicken be crispier or for the chicken to be more juicier?
Such an insightful question! I’m not sure whether you tried my original (from 2006) spicy garlic fried chicken recipe in the past or not, that batter was prepared more like my tangsuyuk recipe. (& This one take a bit longer to prepare, so I decided to go halfway – follow the popcorn chicken style and add the egg white, to save some time. 🙂
I couldn’t tell whether egg white made any difference in crispiness, but I think the chicken was slightly more moist. (But not a huge difference.) Though according to my quick research today, “the eggs’ proteins help the flour form a better moisture seal, keeping your food moister, and they also reduce the batter’s ability to absorb oil.” (source)
Thanks for the info, appreciate it.
Sue, made this tonight, a little time consuming, but soooooo worth it. I have a fussy eater (child), so I left out the chilli and we made her the plain without the sauce. Made her try one with sauce and that was the end of the plain ones… 🙂 I want the sauce.
One question, I found that there wasn’t much sauce, do I need to make more, or did I maybe thicken it too much. I ended up adding double the sauces to make it a bit more saucy that seemed to work.
I am with Kelli, Dinner at Sues house, I am only about 4 hours north of Brissie :). I love Korean food, and now thanks to you I can enjoy them as well…
Hi Andrew, That’s awesome! So glad to hear your daughter loved it too. 🙂 About the sauce, I don’t think you need to double it unless the meat quantity is doubled. Perhaps you thickened the sauce too much? Though, the sauce shouldn’t be too runny as it can make the fried chicken go soggy. Just watch out for that. Then it should be OK.
Thanks Sue
Hi sue!! Thanks for ur recipes i will try it during the week end . Loves it….
Hope you like it! 🙂
Can I come to your house for dinner? 😉
Hehe ????