Everybody loves it but I feel people are really sleeping on the more subtle iterations of Korean fried chicken. While yes, the spicy gochujang-laden version is banging. I remember having my first honey butter Korean fried chicken and dreaming about it ever since. It’s so subtle and delicious, intensily buttery and sweet yet crispy. Just divine. Zero notes.
It took me a while to get around to making my own. I don’t know why I thought it was going to be so complex but I’ve never been great at subtly, so that’s probably why I expected more steps. The shocker is, it’s dead-simple. So when I was thinking of how I could promote Trouble&Spice‘s award winning chili crisps, and my favorite Yum Phrik in particular, I landed on this honey butter and chili crisp fried chicken. It comes together in no time, and I go light on the chili crisp to keep that subtlety intact.
Trouble&Spice chili crisps
Nic who runs Trouble&Spice approached me a while ago, asking if I wanted to try some of her chili crisps, and I am Dutch so I do love my freebees so she sent me some to try. Reader, I was amazed! The Yum Phrik especially blew my head away and if I ever get a new jar in I pretty much finish it in one week, I could probably drink a jar of the stuff in one go. So this is what I made the honey butter chili crisp chicken with.
My other favorite is Nic’s collab with White Whale hot sauces, Trouble&Whale. Which is Turkish-inspired and just magical, especially on some hummus and roast cauliflower.
Ciao Bella is great to embellish any Italian food you’re having, as Curry Bomb is for Indian food. Be sure to get her Funky Vegan sambal as well, it’s the best non-trassi containing sambal trassi I’ve ever had (and it’s won awards so I’m not the only one who feels this way).
Together with Nic I am offering 10% off in her webshop, just use the discount code DorothyPorker when you check out. I should note Nic only ships within the EU as shipping costs outside of it are just too high now.
Honey butter and chili crisp all the things!
So while you can make the fried chicken from scratch, you can probably also dunk any other crispy fried thing in the sauce. Like my oven-baked tofu puffs or store-bought fried ‘chicken’. Just prepare as you normally would and toss in the sauce at the end. In most cases the crisp should hold up against the sauce.
While I haven’t tried this yet, for example, I think it would also be amazing with any (faux) fish crispy thing. All the individual ingredients work with fish so I don’t see why this combo wouldn’t. Let me know in the comments when you try this.
I’ve also tested this recipe with the classic Lao Gan Ma chili crisp and that also works a treat, so if you can get Trouble&Spice where you are, you’ll still be fine. If you want to experience regular honey butter chicken just leave out the chili crisp.
Make it vegan
If you want to make this vegan I’d suggest using seitan and breading and frying that. Or using a store-bought faux chicken (or fish, see above). While in the Netherlands I could find very good faux chicken nuggets and goujons, rural France is a bit behind on this front which is how I landed on using actual chicken myself. I am begging someone to enter this market and make my life easier.
You will of course also need to supplement the honey with maple syrup and use a (hard) vegan butter (not soft margarine) instead of real butter. The notes will change a little but nothing’s ever suffered from the addition of maple syrup so I’m sure you’ll be just fine. Do check the ingredients of whichever chili crisp you’re using to make sure that’s vegan too.
Honey butter and chili crisp 'chicken'
Equipment
- 1 small saucepan
Ingredients
- 40 gr butter or vegan 'butter' (the more solid kind, not soft margarine)
- 1 1/2 T honey or maple syrup
- 1 1/2 T sugar
- 1 1/2 T soy sauce
- 1 T chili crisp of choice
- 1 pinch garlic powder
- 1 pinch MSG only use this if your chili crisp doesn't already have MSG in it
Instructions
- Prep your crispy protein as you normally would or as is instructed on the packaging.
- A few minutes before your crispy protein is done, place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a furious boil. Leave to boil for at least 1 minute, if not 2. Turn off the heat and toss in your crispy protein. Shake until your crispy protein is evenly coated and dig in.
Notes
- This is great with some rice and a smashed cucumber salad, The Wok's of Life has my favorite recipe.
- I tested this recipe both with Trouble&Spice's Yum Phrik chili crisp as well as a more classic Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, both work extremely well so use whatever chili crisp you have at hand.
- If you want to have classic honey butter sauce just leave out the chili crisp.
