Wednesday I made the Extra-Crispy Korean Fried Chicken recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook.

Kenji has detailed notes for a multi-step (but easy!) process for the chicken. He calls for a combination of drumsticks and whole chicken wings.

First, the chicken is tossed in a salt, cornstarch, and baking powder mixture and rested in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. I did this around lunchtime so got about 5 hours of resting time. Kenji says that this is a multi-pronged approach to get the batter to stick to the chicken.

The batter is cornstarch, flour, baking powder, salt, water, and vodka. Kenji says the vodka lets the batter be “thin paint” thin without forming as much gluten. My impression of the batter was like very thin pancake mix.

The chicken is dipped in the batter and fried until golden brown and crisp. It then rests for about 10 minutes and is fried again until “shatteringly crisp.”

Kenji says the chicken can be served plain, with his Sweet Soy-Ginger Glaze or Sweet and Spicy Korean Chile Sauce, or “your favorite wing sauce or seasoning.” I did both of his sauces and left one plain.

I thought the chicken was excellent. It was, as advertised, extra crispy, even with the sauces. Megan and my son both commented on the unusual nature of the very thin shell compared to our typical experiences of heavily batter fried chicken. They both preferred the sauced chicken over the plain.

I will definitely make these again. I don’t think I’ll bother with drumsticks or whole wings, though, and opt for wing separates instead.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.