• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Umami Days

Umami Days

Meaty with a dash of veggies

  • Recipes
    • By meal
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / dinner
      • Snacks
    • By main ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By carb
      • Rice
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Kitchen
    • Kitchen how-tos
    • Cooking ingredients
    • Kitchen tools
  • Food Tales
    • Edible Garden
    • Dining
  • Newsletter
  • Recipes
    • By meal
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / dinner
      • Snacks
    • By main ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By carb
      • Rice
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Kitchen
    • Kitchen how-tos
    • Cooking ingredients
    • Kitchen tools
  • Food Tales
    • Edible Garden
    • Dining
  • Newsletter

Korean popcorn chicken (dakgangjeong)

11.19.2020 (Updated: 03.03.2025) in Lunch / Dinner, Main Courses, Snacks

A popular street food adapted for home cooking, pair Korean popcorn chicken with hot rice for a delicious meal, or serve by itself as a snack.

Korean popcorn chicken (dakgangjeong)

If there’s any truth to the saying that we eat with our eyes before we put the food in our mouth, then, the color and texture of Korean popcorn chicken should be irresistible.

Is all that redness derived from chilies? Oh, no. There’s ketchup in the sauce. Korean food is often too spicy for people who didn’t grow up with spicy food. The chili paste in the sauce here is only a tablespoon. If your tolerance for hot food is higher than ours, use more chili paste.

But it isn’t just the sauce that gives the chicken its flavor. That’s just surface flavor. The chicken fillets are marinated in ginger powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper for at least half an hour prior to frying.

Deep-frying floured chicken fillets

The marinated chicken fillets are tossed in a mixture of flour and starch, and deep fried twice. Over medium heat to cook the chicken, then over high heat to make the surface super crisp.

Boiling Korean spicy sauce and tossing in fried chicken fillets

The double fried chicken fillets rest on a rack while the sauce is boiled and reduced. The chicken is dumped into the sauce and tossed thoroughly to coat every inch of the surface.

Garnishing Korean popcorn chicken with toasted sesame seeds

The Korean popcorn chicken is already delicious at this point but we like to add toasted sesame seeds for added texture and for a lovely nutty fragrance.

Korean popcorn chicken (dakgangjeong)
Korean popcorn chicken (dakgangjeong)
Connie Veneracion
Spicy, sticky and crispy, there are two secrets to good Korean popcorn chicken: coat the chicken very lightly with starch then fry twice. The second frying adds that lovely crackle with every bite.
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Marinating time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr
Course Main Course, Snack
Cuisine Korean
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams chicken thigh fillets
  • 1 teaspoon ginger powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon rock salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • cooking oil for deep frying
  • ¼ cup corn starch whisked with ¼ cup all-purpose flour

For the sauce

  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine
  • 1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chili paste) available in Asian groceries
  • ¼ cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Instructions
 

Marinate the chicken

  • Wipe the chicken fillets with paper towels then cut into bite-size pieces.
  • Place the cut chicken fillets in a bowl, add the ginger powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and mix well.
  • Cover the bowl and let the chicken marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Toast the sesame seeds

  • In an oil free pan, spread the sesame seeds and cook, tossing often, until browned and glistening with their natural oil.
  • Move the sesame seeds to a plate and set aside.

Double fry the chicken

  • In the same pan, heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of at least three inches.
  • Toss the marinated chicken in the flour-starch mixture and shake off excess.
  • Working in batches, deep fry the chicken over medium heat (about 300F) for three to four minutes. Scoop out and spread on a rack (they will appear pale at this point but that's fine).
  • Turn the heat up to high until the temperature of the oil reaches 350F.
  • Dump all the chicken in the hot oil and fry for two to three minutes until nicely browned and crisp.
  • Scoop out the chicken and spread on the rack once more.

Glaze the chicken

  • Pour off the oil from the pan and pour in all the ingredients for the sauce.
  • Boil the sauce, uncovered, until thick and sticky, and the sugar has fully dissolved.
  • Dump the chicken into the sauce and toss to coat each piece evenly.
  • Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the chicken and toss a few more times to distribute.
  • Serve the Korean popcorn chicken as a snack or with rice as a main course.
Pin Send Print

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, the blog owner earns commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

In the spotlight

Stir fried pork, chayote, ginger and chilies

Stir fried pork, chayote, ginger and chilies

Filipino beef kaldereta in white shallow bowl

Spicy beef kaldereta

Smoked Salmon and Furikake Onigiri

Smoked salmon and furikake onigiri

Spicy tempura-style crispy green beans with Sriracha mayo dipping sauce

Tempura-style crispy green beans

Shrimp spring rolls

Hungry for more?

Subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest posts in your inbox.

No spam. Read the privacy policy.

More Chicken, Poultry

Chicken and vegetable soup

Chicken and vegetable soup

Pineapple orange duck

Pineapple orange duck in white wine sauce

Chicken tikka

A la chicken tikka

Chili Honey Fried Chicken

How to cook the best fried chicken

Sidebar

Connie Veneracion, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Home cook and writer by passion, photographer by necessity, and good food, coffee and wine lover forever. I write recipes, cooking tips and food stories. No AI is used in creating content for this blog.

More about me and Umami Days.

  • About
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • No AI
  • Contact

Created by a human for humans · Copyright © 2025 Connie Veneracion · All Rights Reserved