BBQ Korean Chicken is a perfect combination of sweet, salty and slightly spicy.
We love the great flavours of fresh garlic and ginger, and the garnish of spring/green onions and red chilli at the end.
Even better, it’s quick to prepare and doesn’t take long to cook on skewers on the barbecue grills.
You can use this approach with beef, prawns, or make vegetable kebabs.
This will feed around 6-8 people depending on appetites and side dishes.
Ingredients For BBQ Korean Chicken
6 Chicken Breasts Cut Into Cubes
Freshly Ground Salt & Pepper
1 Teaspoon of Chinese 5 Spice
To Serve
3 Spring Onions Finely Chopped
1 Red Chilli Deseeded & Finely Chopped
Sesame Seeds (Optional — Toasted in a Dry Pan)
For the Korean BBQ Sauce
3cm Piece of Ginger Peeled & Finely Chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic Peeled & Finely Chopped
1 Tablespoon of Sriracha Sauce
1 Tablespoon of Cornflour Added to 2 Tablespoons of Water
2 Tablespoons of Sesame Oil
4 Tablespoons of Rice Vinegar
5 and a half Tablespoons or 1/3 Cup of Brown Sugar
6 and a half Tablespoons or 1/2 Cup of Soy Sauce
BBQ Korean Chicken Step 1 — Prepare Your Chicken
First of all cut your chicken into rough cubes of around 1 1/2 inches in size.
Thread these pieces onto metal skewers (or wooden ones soaked in water) and season with the Chinese 5 Spice and freshly ground salt & pepper.
Set aside while you make your Korean BBQ Sauce, and get your smoker or BBQ up to 120C or 250F.
BBQ Korean Chicken Step 2 — Make Your BBQ Sauce
Fry your ginger and garlic on a medium heat in a saucepan with a little sesame oil, for a minute or two.
Add the rest of your sauce ingredients (except the cornflour mixed with water), and then bring to the boil.
Add your cornflour and cold water mix to the boiling sauce to give a thicker, fuller consistency.
Remove from the heat.
Now divide your BBQ sauce into 2 different bowls, keeping one half our your sauce to serve with your BBQ Korean chicken later.
Using a brush, coat your chicken kebabs generously with the Korean BBQ sauce.
BBQ Korean Chicken Step 3 — Smoke Your Chicken
Put your BBQ Korean Chicken onto the grills of your barbecue or smoker and close the lid.
Make sure to use high quality charcoal and fruit wood chips such as apple or cherry.
Your chicken will take around 30–40minutes at this temperature. Use a meat thermometer to be sure your chicken is cooked.
The internal temperature should be 74C or 165F.
You’ll have to turn your kebabs a few times during the cook time. Every time you do can brush them with a little of your leftover BBQ sauce.
Obviously make sure not to use any sauce that was previously in contact with raw chicken.
BBQ Korean Chicken Step 4 Prepare Your Garnishes and Serve
If you want to toast some sesame seeds in a dry pan you can do so now.
Chop up your spring/green onions and chilli to garnish.
Serve your BBQ Korean Chicken with the garnish, and sesame seeds (toasted or otherwise).
Serve your Korean chicken with noodles or rice, or an Asian salad, and with lovely extra BBQ sauce.
Related Recipes
If you enjoyed this article please have a look at our ‘Smoked Shrimp in a Chinese Style Marinade:’
Or our ‘Chinese BBQ Pork – Char Siu Pork.’ For another good Korean BBQ recipe for Beef Short Ribs try below.
For another great article on BBQ Korean Chicken try here:
https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/korean-bbq-chicken/
Yum