![\"Korean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Korean_chicken_loop--6bccd4b7-38ef-4783-8bee-b007eea108ec-2.0.0000000.jpg\")
Korean fried chicken is prepared for frying <\/p>\nInside a teaching kitchen south-east of Seoul, I coat a whole chicken \u2013 cut into eight parts \u2013 in batter and dip the pieces carefully into a bowl of powdered mix until covered in a light, fluffy layer.<\/p>\n
A chef watches intently. \u201cDon\u2019t rub it,\u201d he says. \u201cKeep it delicate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chicken, already brined in what I\u2019m told is a secret marinade, goes into a fryer filled with an olive oil blend, heated to 170C. I slowly lower the pieces a third of the way, then drop them in away from myself to avoid splashing. I set a timer for 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
Korean fried chicken is prepared for frying <\/p>\n
This is Chicken<\/a> University, a sprawling campus with a giant chicken statue at the entrance. It exists to train would-be owners of the BBQ Chicken franchise chain through a two-week residential programme. More than 50,000 people have passed through its classrooms.<\/p>\n This humble dish is relatively simple, and is not even traditional Korean cuisine, but it is part of a national obsession that has gone global, both physically and culturally as part of the K-food wave. The country has been only half-jokingly dubbed the Republic of Fried Chicken.<\/p>\n South Korea has around<\/a> 40,000 fried chicken restaurants \u2013 just a few thousand short of the number of McDonald\u2019s branches worldwide<\/a>. Most are small, family-run operations. But now, Korean chicken brands operate more than 1,800 stores in around 60 countries, nearly double<\/a> the number of stores a decade ago. From London to Los Angeles, Korean fried chicken appears on the menu.<\/p>\n About an hour south-east of Seoul, past fields and factories, sits Chicken University, a sprawling campus with a giant chicken statue at the entrance. Photograph: Raphael Rashid\/The Guardian<\/p>\n It is the most popular Korean food among international consumers, according to a South Korean government survey<\/a> of about 11,000 consumers across 22 cities, spanning Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia.<\/p>\n From post-war import to K-food export<\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s most successful culinary export is not traditionally Korean. Fried chicken arrived with American soldiers stationed in the country after the Korean war, but the technique that made it distinctly Korean emerged decades later.<\/p>\n About 1980, a chicken shop owner in the southern city of Daegu, Yoon Jong-gye, noticed customers abandoning their chicken once it grew cold, when the meat became dry. So he began experimenting with brining the chicken to keep it juicy and a glaze made from chilli powder. A neighbourhood grandmother suggested adding corn syrup.<\/p>\n The result was yangnyeom chicken \u2013 sweet, sticky and spicy \u2013 and still appealing at room temperature. Yoon never patented his recipe and died in December 2025<\/a> at 74, having watched his invention spread far beyond his tiny shop where it began.<\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s distinct take on fried chicken has evolved over decades, with a range of recipes tailored to recipes around the world. Photograph: Raphael Rashid\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Korean chicken brands had been expanding internationally since the early 2000s, but the cultural breakthrough came in 2014, when the Korean drama My Love from the Star became a sensation across China.<\/p>\n A line from its lead character \u2013 that \u201con the day of the first snow, you should have chicken and beer\u201d \u2013 reportedly triggered queues outside<\/a> Korean chicken restaurants, even during an avian flu outbreak.<\/p>\n Chimaek, the portmanteau meaning \u201cfried chicken and beer\u201d from the Korean words \u201cchikin\u201d and \u201cmaekju\u201d, has since become a cultural shorthand, even entering the Oxford English Dictionary<\/a>.<\/p>\n It describes as much an act of collective pleasure as a meal: friends gathered around a table, with a plate of chicken at the centre and draught beer within reach. Every July, Daegu hosts a chimaek festival<\/a> that draws more than a million visitors.<\/p>\n One defining feature of Korean fried chicken is how it is served. Kim Ki-deuk, who has run an independent chicken shop near Korea University in Seoul with his wife Baek Hye-kyeong for more than 20 years, puts it simply. \u201cIn fast food places, they may sell one or several pieces,\u201d he says. \u201cKorean chicken is one full bird.\u201d<\/p>\n Kim Ki-deuk and his wife Baek Hye-kyeong at their shop near Korea University in Seoul. Photograph: Raphael Rashid\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Technique is another factor, though methods vary.<\/p>\n At shops like Kim and Baek\u2019s, chicken is fried twice. \u201cWe fry it once first, then when the customer orders, we fry it again,\u201d he says. \u201cOtherwise it gets soggy. That\u2019s what makes it extra crispy.\u201d<\/p>\n The batter, typically made with potato or corn starch, holds up under the sauce \u2013 whether a sweet-spicy yangnyeom glaze or a soy-garlic coating \u2013 allowing it to stay crisp long after it has been boxed up for delivery.<\/p>\n Prof Joo Young-ha, a cultural anthropologist at the Academy of Korean Studies who specialises in food culture, argues that Korean chicken\u2019s global success stems from its simplicity.<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike pork, chicken crosses religious prohibition boundaries,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd unlike kimchi, which is treated like a side dish, or bibimbap, which isn\u2019t immediately obvious as a dish, fried chicken is immediately recognisable as a meal.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond its global appeal, fried chicken\u2019s rise in South Korea reflects something about modern life there. Prof Joo traces its rise to the 1980s and 1990s, when apartment living, dual-income households, and delivery culture were reshaping Korean life. Fried chicken, fast, convenient, and boxed for takeaway, fitted the moment.<\/p>\n The industry has long attracted<\/a> mid-career Koreans seeking a route back to income after leaving corporate jobs<\/a>, though the market is fiercely competitive and margins are thin.<\/p>\n Back at their fried chicken shop, Kim Ki-deuk slides another batch of chicken gizzards, another popular menu item, into the crackling oil. \u201cSame as usual,\u201d one customer says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great that Korean chicken is known worldwide,\u201d Kim says, wiping down the counter between orders. \u201cChicken is for everyone, young and old.<\/p>\n \u201cKorea is such a small place. One bird doing all this work, introducing our country, our culture. It\u2019s quite something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside a teaching kitchen south-east of Seoul, I coat a whole chicken \u2013 cut into eight parts \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-591851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}