Keto(ish!) Korean air fried chicken!🤤😋

I had to share this recipe; it was incredibly tasty and ready in about 15 minutes using the air fryer. I spotted the Schwartz ‘Air-Fry Spicy Korean BBQ Seasoning’ in my local Tesco, and since Korean fried chicken is something I’ve really missed, I had to give it a go.

It’s worth noting that the packet doesn’t look particularly diabetic-friendly as it contains a high proportion of carbs. However, when you calculate how much you actually use per serving, the impact is negligible. I coated the chicken liberally and used only about a tenth of the pack—around 12g—per serving. Even at 40% carbohydrate, that’s only about 5g of carbs for the whole meal.

The Method:

1. Prepare the chicken: Cut chicken breast fillets into bite-sized chunks. Ensure you only prep as much as will comfortably fit in your air fryer tray in a single layer.
2. Coat: In a large bowl, toss the chicken in sesame or olive oil, then cover liberally with the seasoning.
3. Air Fry: Place the chicken in the tray and air fry for 12 minutes at 200°C, shaking the tray halfway through.
4. The Glaze: While that’s cooking, prepare a paste of tomato purée, soy sauce, and 2–3 drops of a sucralose-based sweetener (I use MyProtein Chocolate FlavDrops). Mix thoroughly.
5. The ‘Crunch’ (Optional but recommended): Use a pestle and mortar to crush some pork crackling into a fine dust.
6. Finish: Toss the cooked chicken in the glaze, sprinkle with the pork crackling dust, and mix well. Return it to the air fryer for a final 2 minutes.

Voila! A keto-friendly, super tasty Korean ‘fried’ chicken dish. It’s fantastic as a snack or served as a main with veggies sautéed in sesame oil and soy sauce.

Just a ccouple of notes – I do highly recommend these MyProtein drops – they come in around 20 flavours from fruity to chocolatey and beyond. I use them to replace sugar/sweetener in anything and everything. I use them in my coffee as a replacement for syrups, and in my greek yogurt based smoothies and desserts, but as you can see they are often ideal for “lifting” a recipe that needs sugar.

Also a reminder – with the soy sauce, watch out for salt content; there are plenty of low salt versions out there.

The killer ingredient, for me, is the pork crackling. Ready-made pork crackling is a must for my keto diet, and I buy in bulk – just watch out again for the salt content and flavourings. Get the unflavoured versions wherever possible, as the flavoured ones often have all kinds of nasties in there. I usually transfer them to a large ziplock bag and sprinkle with chilli powder, paprika or similar then shake to spread the flavour around.