Yangnyeom Sauce (Korean Sweet and Spicy Sauce)

Yangnyeom simply means seasoning in Korean, but on a menu it almost always points to the glossy red sauce tossed through Korean fried chicken. It is a careful balance of heat, sweetness and garlic: gochujang and gochugaru for chilli depth, rice syrup or honey for stickiness, soy sauce for salt, plenty of garlic, and a splash of vinegar to stop it cloying.

The sauce is cooked briefly in a wide pan until it thickens, then the fried chicken goes in and is tossed just before serving so the crust stays crisp. It is equally at home on cauliflower, tofu, prawns, wings and rice cakes, and a spoonful stirred through noodles makes a fast weeknight dinner.

Ingredients

Yangnyeom sauce is made from gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, rice syrup or honey, sugar, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. Some versions add tomato ketchup for colour and body.

Nutritional Facts

Per tablespoon, yangnyeom sauce contains approximately 45 calories, 1 gram of fat, 9 grams of carbohydrates (around 7 grams of which is sugar) and less than 1 gram of protein, with roughly 300 milligrams of sodium.

Make it yourself

Cooking the gochujang out for a few minutes is what turns it from harsh into rounded. See our yangnyeom sauce recipe.