The Story Behind the Sauce: Yangnyum Korean Chicken Wings Near Me

The history of Korean cuisine is as long and storied as the geography and culture itself. And as you’ve likely noticed from our other blogs, we absolutely love Korean food. From its intense spices and crunchy street foods to its savory sauces and unparalleled meats, there’s nothing not to love about it. It offers everything you could ever want from a sufficient diet and even more if you’re a lover of big, bold flavors. And one of our personal favorites is yangnyum Korean chicken wings near me!

Yangnyum is a mouthwatering sweet and spicy sauce that pairs perfectly with fried chicken of any kind. It is prepared using a mix of spices such as garlic and gochujang. Moreover, yangnyum chicken is customarily eaten alongside a couple of alcoholic beverages—so you’re guaranteed to have a good meal, a full stomach, and a fun night whenever yangnyum is involved. Yangnyum is also our signature sauce here at Han’s Chimaek for both our fried chicken and our Korean chicken wings near me!

Han’s Chimaek has been proudly serving the greater Boise, ID, area with some of the best Korean chicken wings near me. Our menu is simple, but our flavors are anything but that! Whether you’re ready to experience the journey of flavor that is our yangnyum-covered fried chicken and wings, or you just want to stick with what you know with our buffalo, soy, or creamy onion sauces, you’re going to enjoy every meal you have with us. Plus, making your meal a combo with a serving of rice and a drink is the perfect way to make this snack a proper meal!

But where did this fantastic super-sauce called yangnyum come from? And when did it become so popular in South Korea and abroad? Well, we’d like to use this blog to answer both of those questions and more. So let’s dig right into it!

The Birth of Yangnyum

Yangnyum Korean chicken wings near me first began as a solution to a problem noticed by a young chef and restaurateur in South Korea. After owning his restaurant for some time, he began to see that the food left over after his patrons had finished their meals was predominantly the skin of the fried chicken and even sometimes entire wings or pieces of meat! He had a hunch, but after asking around and talking with his customers, he confirmed that for a lot of people, the crust of fried chicken was too crunchy. 

Though we ourselves and a whole lot of other people enjoy the crunch of a good fried chicken, the crust can certainly scratch and hurt those with softer and more sensitive palates—which can ruin a dining experience just like burning your mouth on a slice of pizza that’s too hot. So, to solve this problem, the chef concocted a sauce that would help to soften the crust and also be wildly delicious.

So, What Is Yangnyum?

At its core, yangyum is comprised of three main ingredients: garlic, sugar, and gochujang.

Gochujang

For the uninitiated, gochujang is a variation of red chili paste that is very popular in Korean cooking. The paste is a wonderful combination of spicy and sweet, which makes it the perfect sauce base for any Korean chicken wings near me.

Garlic

Garlic is a major ingredient in countless Korean dishes, and you’d be hard-pressed to find one without it. So, it’s only natural that South Korea’s most famous wing sauce would have it!

Sugar

Though it may not be something you’d assume would be in a wing sauce, sugar helps to give an extra boost to the already appetizing flavor of the yangnyum sauce.

Other Spices

There are also plenty of other spices and ingredients that can be added to the sauce at a chef’s discretion. These additions can be anything from soy sauce and ginger to rice wine vinegar and black pepper.

And when all these ingredients are mixed together, it creates the yangyum sauce that we all know and love today!

A Tough Start and Then a Big Win

Though it’s a frequently-enjoyed sauce today, it took some significant legwork and luck to become as popular as it is. It literally took giving away free yangnyum chicken wings as a marketing tactic since no one was ordering them of their own accord. But once people tried it, they always came back for more! And it just so happened that this sauce hit the Korean food scene just as Korean chicken wings near me and fried chicken began to really become a mainstream delicacy.

The Rise of Korean Fried Chicken

The concept of “fried chicken” goes back as far as the 15th century. However, the modern fried chicken and Korean chicken wings we eat today—which are cooked using cooking oil to achieve the perfect crispy crust—only first became widely enjoyed in Korea in the 1970s. Likewise, yangnyum sauce was only introduced to the public in the early 1980s. But by the time the 90s rolled around, it had cemented itself as a staple snack in Korean cuisine.

The Ultimate Party Food

Another factor that undoubtedly helped yangnyum Korean chicken wings near me become the mainstay of Korean food that it is today is the fact that it is the perfect party food! As we mentioned earlier in the blog, yangnyum wings are most frequently paired with an ice-cold beer in a combination called chimaek. Chimaek—our namesake here at Han’s Chimaek—is a shortening and combination of the words chikin and maekju, which are the words for chicken and beer in Korean. And if you don’t believe how well the two pair together, then grabbing a meal here at Han’s Chimaek is non-negotiable.

Han’s Chimaek—Yangnyum Korean Chicken Wings Near Me

So, if you’re feeling a bit hungry after reading this blog, then do yourself a favor and check out our menu here at Han’s Chimaek and discover why we’re considered the best Korean chicken wings near me! Whether you want to place an order online or dine in at our convenient location between South Boise Village and Downtown Boise, your new favorite food is just around the corner.