Korean Spicy Chicken BBQ is a spicy and savory level-up to your regular chicken. It’s perfect as a main dish or another side item you can add to your homemade Korean BBQ!
Why You Need to Try This
- This will level up your chicken! When I’m on a diet, I eat a lot of chicken. However, it can get boring very quickly! That’s why aside from making spicy cucumber salad or spicy radish salad, I created this marinade which made the chicken super tasty!
- This is a great alternative for Jeyuk Bokkeum! Shout out to all my followers who can’t eat pork but would love to try a spicy marinade for their meats. This is definitely a dish to try!
Marinate Ingredients for Korean BBQ Chicken
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The marinate is very much like gochujang. However, I opted not to use pepper paste and instead make something from scratch.
- Korean Pepper Powder or Gochugaru (Fine) – While it’s more common and easier to find pepper flakes, I wanted to use the fine grind so that it would mix well and create a cohesive sauce. This is also spicier than the coarse grind.
- Soy Sauce – We won’t be using any salt, so this is going to be the salty, umami element in the marinade. For a gluten-free option, use coco aminos.
- Garlic – This is for freshness that will cut through all the strong flavors we will be putting in the sauce.
- Mirin – This is sweet cooking wine. It will add acidity and help with tenderizing the meat.
- Sugar – This will bring balance to the spice and savor of the other elements in the marinade. If you want it to be healthy, you can use sugar substitutes like monk fruit or erythritol which will also work great for this recipe.
We’ll also be adding small portions of ginger for freshness and zing, oyster sauce for additional umami, curry powder for extra flavor, and corn syrup so it can beautifully glaze the chicken when cooked.
The combination of these ingredients will create something similar to tteokbokki sauce base with its sweet, savory, and spicy taste.
Marinating & Storage
For this dish, I like using boneless and skinless chicken thighs because it’s the right size and thickness. Perfect for grilling! However, you can also use chicken breasts if you prefer.
When the sauce has been combined, use about 3-4 tablespoons of it and massage it into the chicken. Use as much sauce according to your spice tolerance. Marinade the chicken for a minimum of 3 to 12 hours. The longer it sits, the better it tastes.
TIP: The marinated chicken can be a great meal prep that you can freeze and cook anytime. There will also be leftover sauce so you can simply store it in a jar or zipper bag and use it for another time.
Different Ways to Cook Korean BBQ Chicken at Home
The classic way of doing this is charcoal grilling the chicken. Honestly, nothing beats the taste of meat that’s freshly grilled.
If you don’t have a grill, you can also pan-fry these. In an oiled pan, fry your chicken on high heat for 1-2 minutes on both sides. Cover it after flipping. Afterward, fry the chicken on low heat for 1-2 minutes on both sides and cover after flipping.
TIP: Keep an eye on your chicken! There is a lot of pepper powder and sweeteners in this dish so it can easily burn. Always flip as needed.
Last thing, this can also be air-fried or oven-baked.
What to Serve with Korean BBQ Chicken
If you’re on a diet, you can definitely serve this with Korean Multigrain Rice and other vegetable side dishes.
If you’re adding this to your DIY Korean BBQ, you can serve it with lettuce, ssamjang, and napa cabbage kimchi or radish kimchi!
Other easy dishes you may like:
- Chicken Teriyaki
- Soybean Paste Pork Belly
- Korean Beef Bulgogi
- Soy Garlic Enoki Mushrooms
- Spicy Enoki Mushrooms
Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!
Korean Spicy Chicken BBQ
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb Boneless Chicken Thighs
- 6 tbsp Red Pepper Powder
- 6 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 6 tbsp Garlic
- 6 tbsp Mirin
- 5 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Ginger
- 1/2 tbsp Curry Powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp Corn Syrup
- 1/2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
- Black Pepper To taste
- Vegetable or Canola Oil For pan frying
Instructions
- Clean the chicken by removing chicken fat. Set aside.
- Combine pepper powder, soy sauce, garlic, mirin, and sugar, and mix thoroughly.
- Add ginger, curry powder, corn syrup, oyster sauce, and black pepper. Mix thoroughly.
- Use around 3-4 tablespoons of the sauce and massage it into the chicken.
- Marinate for a minimum of 3 to 12 hours.
- Grill, pan-fry, or bake depending on what’s available to you.
- Pan Fry: Splash oil, pan fry the chicken for 1-2 minutes on high heat for each side. Cover it after flipping. Cook the chicken for another 1-2 minutes on low heat for each side. Cover after flipping. Keep an eye on your chicken to keep it from burning.
- Serve with rice and Korean side dishes, and enjoy!
Soukai Yun says
Thank you for sharing your delicious recipe!! You’re my Go-To when I need to cook Korean food for my Yeobul. My mother-in-law is in a different state. Now you’re my top 3 Chef I followed. You’re Amazing Chef 👍🏼👍🏼
Chef Chris Cho says
Thank you for the kind words Soukai!!! I’m so happy you’re enjoying the recipes!!!
Konrad says
I just made this today and its an amazing recipe, the spice is perfect and there is loads of flavour. You definitely have to take care of it so it doesnt burn though.
Chef Chris Cho says
I’m so happy you liked it! Definitely important to keep an eye on this because of the spice and the sugar~
4: Little Sisters 🏵️🌺💮🏵️ says
We are making in celebration of Chuseok. 행복한 추석🫶💮🌸🏵️🌺🫰
Chef Chris Cho says
Belated Happy Chuseok!!!
Ez says
Bro this recipe is gas!!
Chef Chris Cho says
Yeobosayo!!!