These Soy Garlic Chicken Wings are the perfect alternative if you don’t want spicy Korean Fried Chicken. It’s savory and umami-filled perfect for appetizers, game day munchies, or if you like Bonchon-style fried chicken for your lunch or dinner!
Chicken Wings Brine
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For this recipe, you can actually use any chicken parts you like, what’s essential is to season it properly. I always say that when you make any of my chicken recipes, they should be tasty on their own and the sauces are just a bonus.
Since we are making a savory sauce, I made the marinade very simple – garlic, salt, pepper, and mirin. Mirin is a sweet cooking wine that will complement the saltiness of the soy sauce. Marinade the wings for at least a day for best results, if not, then 30 minutes is okay too!
Easy Crispy Chicken Wings Batter
I already shared different ways to make fried chicken in my previous blog posts.
- Air Fried: Check out this Sriracha Chicken Wings recipe
- Using Potato Starch: Check out this Honey Garlic Chicken Wings recipe
- Using Flour and Cornstarch: Check out this Classic Fried Chicken Wings recipe
For this one, we will be using egg whites and potato starch for the batter. The main reason is that the egg whites expand as you cook. With this, you get more chicken skin that will be coated with soy garlic sauce. If you like that idea, then you can follow the method in the recipe card. But feel free to follow other methods I shared above too!
Upon combining the egg and the starch, make sure that it is not too thick and not too watery. The consistency should be creamy enough to coat the chicken. Also, let the excess batter drip off before frying.
Korean Soy Garlic Sauce Recipe
The soy garlic sauce can be done in two ways: the broke boyz way and the extra way.
The basic recipe comprises soy sauce, corn syrup, sugar, and water. These are very strong flavors of umami and sweetness. You can use this as is, just add the garlic and starch slurry to finish.
To kick it up a notch, infuse the soy sauce base with these ingredients:
- Scallions, Ginger, Onion, and Peppercorn – This will cut through all the savor
- Slice of apple – This will add natural sweetness
- Dashima and Bay Leaf – This will deepen all the flavors
Once the sauce base is infused, strain it then add the minced garlic. I like adding garlic that has been pulsed till it looks like a puree so there aren’t big chunks of it in the sauce.
Add potato starch slurry to help thicken it so it coats the fried chicken properly. There will be excess sauce with the measurements I made so you can double up on the chicken pieces or keep it in a clean jar and store it in the fridge. Feel free to use it whenever you crave some Bonchon chicken!
Serving Korean Soy Garlic Chicken Wings
Do not dip or pour the sauce. Brush it on the chicken to keep its crispiness and also so you can control the amount you put in it. The base of the coating is soy sauce, so it might be too flavorful when you put too much!
Serve the chicken immediately with rice or other munchies like Kimchi Fries or Sweet Potato Pancake!
Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!
Korean Soy Garlic Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 8 pcs Chicken Wings
- 1 tsp Minced Garlic
- 1/2 tsp Mirin
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/8 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 pc Egg White
- 1/2 cup Potato Starch
- 1/4 cup Water
- Oil For frying
Korean Soy Garlic Sauce
- 1/2 cup Soy Sauce
- 1/2 cup Corn Syrup
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1/4 cup Water
- 10 grams Scallions
- 1 gram Ginger
- 40 grams Onion
- 40 grams Apple
- 4 pcs Peppercorn
- 1 small piece Dashima
- 1 small piece Bayleaf
- 20 grams Minced Garlic
- 1/2 tbsp Potato Starch
- 1 tbsp Water
Instructions
- Season the chicken with garlic, mirin, salt, and pepper. Brine it for at least 30 minutes to 24 hours.
- After brining, add egg whites, potato starch, and water. Mix and make sure that the batter consistency is not too thick or not too loose.
- Heat up the oil until 350F to fry.
- Let the excess batter drip before placing it in the heated oil to fry. Be careful and put the chicken motioning away from you to keep the oil from splattering.
- Fry chicken for 8-10 minutes, then place it in a strainer to rest for 5 minutes.
- Tap or shake the chicken to create air holes then do a second fry at 375F for 2 minutes. This will make the chicken extra crispy.
- Strain excess oil then brush with soy garlic sauce.
- Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Korean Soy Garlic Sauce (Make while brining the chicken)
- In a pot, combine soy sauce, corn syrup, sugar, and water. Bring the sauce to a boil.
- Once it starts boiling, add scallions, ginger, onion, apple, peppercorn, dashima, and bay leaf. Infuse for a couple of minutes.
- Strain the sauce and adjust. If you think it’s salty, add water. If you think it’s bland, add soy sauce.
- Put the sauce back into the pan and add minced garlic.
- Combine potato starch and a tablespoon of water to create a starch slurry, then add to the sauce. Mix until thickened.
- Take the sauce off the heat and brush it on the chicken.
- For the excess sauce, store it in a clean jar and refrigerate it to use in other dishes.
David Braemer says
My wife and I love your recipes! Keep it up and keep yhem coming.
Chef Chris Cho says
Ayyyy so glad you guys are enjoying the recipes!!! Stay tuned for more~~
Guamchick says
Is there something else I can use besides corn syrup?
Chef Chris Cho says
You can replace it with sugar~
rani says
If I can’t find dashima can I leave it out or are their any substitutions?
Chef Chris Cho says
You can leave it out 🙂
Nat says
What if I dont use potato starch? Can I use something else?
Chef Chris Cho says
You can also use cornstarch!