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Buldak-Style Barbecue Chicken Drumsticks

Grilled buldak chicken drumsticks on a platter being served with scallion salad.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Susan Kim
  • Active Time

    45 minutes

  • Total Time

    2 hours

Buldak, which translates to “fire chicken” in Korean, is a chargrilled dish identified by its bright red sauce—sweet, savory, and spicy thanks to the one-two punch of gochugaru and gochujang. You’ll often find buldak featuring boneless chicken pieces; here the buldak-inspired mixture is used as a marinade and glaze for chicken drumsticks, which are cooked low and slow on a grill until sticky and just lightly blistered in spots. If you’d rather sub in a different chicken part (like chicken thighs or breasts) or use a broken-down whole chicken instead, feel free; you’ll be licking the sauce off your fingers no matter what. Get the full menu and tips for our Korean Barbecue Disco Party here.

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What you’ll need

Ingredients

4 servings

⅔ cup gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
½ cup soy sauce
⅓ cup brown rice vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar
⅓ cup sugar
¼ cup fish sauce
¼ cup gochugaru (coarse Korean red pepper powder)
¼ cup grapeseed or vegetable oil, plus more for grill
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 Tbsp. plus ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt
2 Tbsp. ground coriander
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
12 large chicken drumsticks (about 3 lb.)
Steamed white rice (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Whisk ⅔ cup gochujang, ½ cup soy sauce, ⅓ cup brown rice vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar, ⅓ cup sugar, ¼ cup fish sauce, ¼ cup gochugaru, ¼ cup grapeseed or vegetable oil, ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce, 3 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil, 2 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 Tbsp. plus ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, 2 Tbsp. ground coriander, and 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl to combine. Reserve and refrigerate ½ cup buldak sauce for basting.

    Step 2

    Place 12 large chicken drumsticks (about 3 lb.) in a large resealable plastic bag and pour in remaining buldak sauce. Seal bag and chill at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.

    Step 3

    Prepare a grill for high indirect heat (for a gas grill, leave 1 or 2 burners off; for a charcoal grill, bank coals on one side); oil grate. Remove drumsticks from sauce, letting excess drip back into bag, and arrange over indirect heat; transfer sauce to a clean small bowl. Cover grill and grill drumsticks (this is a low-and-slow heat situation), brushing with reserved sauce and turning every 5 minutes or so, until sticky, well-coated, and cooked through (an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken and avoiding bone should register 165°), 30–40 minutes.

    Step 4

    Transfer drumsticks to a platter and serve with copious amounts of steamed white rice.

    Do ahead: Buldak sauce can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

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  • I'm in the process of making this right now and will come back and give a review after we've eaten it. But I'm just curious if we do anything with the marinade that the chicken was in after the chicken is barbecued. It says to put the sauce in a small bowl but nothing else. I don't know why they would tell us to put the sauce in the small bowl instead of just throwing it out inside the Ziploc if we weren't supposed to do something with it. If anyone can shed any light on this let me know!

    • Bridget from MN

    • Wayzata, MN

    • 8/22/2023

  • Hot, sticky and delicious. Made using bone-in thighs. Wonderful.

    • Nancy

    • Boston,Ma

    • 7/7/2023

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