Fried Chicken Birthplace · Sweet-Spicy Glaze
Yangnyeom Chicken
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It was reportedly invented to fix a texture complaint, not a flavor one — a Daegu restaurant owner in the early 1980s coated his fried chicken in sauce because customers said the bare fried crust was too sharp on their gums.
Bite-sized fried chicken pieces are tossed in a glossy, sweet-spicy sauce built from gochujang, garlic, and ketchup until every piece is lacquered red. It's sold from fried chicken stalls and delivery-first shops across a city that considers itself the birthplace of the style.
Why it's made this way: Restaurateur Yoon Jong-gye is widely credited with creating the sauced style at his Daegu restaurant 'Mexicana' in the early 1980s, after which former employee Yang Hee-kwon commercialized it nationwide through the Pelicana Chicken chain — an origin story Daegu still claims as its own.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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