Jamie Oliver Gochujang Chicken Burgers

Jamie Oliver’s gochujang chicken burgers flatten chicken thighs, dip them in gochujang-spiked egg, coat them in breadcrumbs blitzed with olive oil, and air-fry them crisp at 200°C for 16 minutes. They’re piled into toasted buns with a crunchy vinegar slaw, gochujang yoghurt and sliced green chilli. It serves two at 665 kcal.

The recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s Easy Air Fryer (2024), and it also featured on Channel 4’s £1 Wonders. The gochujang appears twice, which is the clever bit: one tablespoon goes into the egg wash that the chicken is dipped in before crumbing, and the rest is stirred into the Greek yoghurt that’s spread on the buns. So the Korean heat is baked into the crust and spooned over the top, hitting you from both directions.

The air fryer is what gives this the crunch of deep-fried chicken without the oil. The breadcrumbs are blitzed with a tablespoon of olive oil before coating, which compensates for the dry heat of the air fryer and ensures they crisp up golden rather than staying pale and dusty. Without that oil in the crumbs, air-fried breaded chicken can taste like a dry biscuit.

Jamie Oliver Gochujang Chicken Burgers

Recipe by Pinch Perfect

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Dinner, LunchCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

21

minutes

Calories

665

kcal

Total time

31

minutes

Jamie Oliver’s air-fried chicken burgers from Easy Air Fryer: flattened thighs in gochujang-spiked egg and oiled breadcrumbs, crisped at 200°C, in a bun with gochujang yoghurt and vinegar slaw. Korean fried chicken without the deep fryer. Serves two.

Ingredients

• 2 large skinless boneless chicken thighs

• 2 tbsp plain flour

• 1 free-range egg

• 2 tbsp gochujang paste

• 75g stale white bread

• olive oil

• 2 burger buns

• 320g crunchy veg, such as red cabbage, carrots, onions, radishes

• 1 fresh green chilli

• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

• red wine vinegar

• extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt

Directions

• Flatten and flour:Bash each chicken thigh between two sheets of greaseproof paper to 1cm thick, then dust all over with the flour.
• Prep the coating:Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of gochujang in a shallow bowl and season. Blitz the bread with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a food processor into fine crumbs and spread across a plate.
• Coat the chicken:Preheat the air fryer to 200°C for 2 minutes. Dip the floured chicken into the egg mixture, letting excess drip off, then coat thoroughly in the breadcrumbs, spending time really patting them on.
• Air-fry:Space the chicken evenly in the drawer and cook for 16 minutes until golden and cooked through, turning halfway and adding the buns cut-side up for the last 2 minutes.
• Make the slaw:Finely shred or grate the veg with a speed peeler. Finely slice and add the chilli, sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Mix and season.
• Build the burgers:Mix the remaining gochujang into the yoghurt and divide between the buns. Halve the chicken, pile up with the slaw, close the buns and squash. Serve extra slaw on the side.

FAQs

What is gochujang?

A Korean fermented red chilli paste made from chilli powder, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans and salt. It’s sweet, spicy, deeply savoury and slightly funky, with a thick, sticky consistency. It’s nothing like a hot sauce or a chilli flake: the fermentation gives it a complex, umami depth that builds rather than just burns.

You’ll find it in the world-food aisle or online, usually in a red tub or pouch. Once opened, it keeps in the fridge for months. Oliver uses it in two components here (egg wash and yoghurt sauce), so it pulls its weight. If you enjoy this burger, gochujang goes into stir-fries, marinades, soups and dressings the same way.

Why blitz the breadcrumbs with olive oil?

Because an air fryer is essentially a small convection oven, not a fryer: it circulates hot air rather than submerging food in oil. Dry breadcrumbs in an air fryer stay pale and dusty instead of crisping golden, since there’s no fat to conduct the heat and trigger browning.

Adding a tablespoon of olive oil to the crumbs before coating gives every piece enough fat to crisp up properly, simulating the effect of a shallow fry. Oliver specifies stale bread, which is drier and crumbs more evenly than fresh. It’s a small detail that makes the difference between “air-fried” tasting like a compromise and tasting genuinely good.

Can I deep-fry or pan-fry instead of using an air fryer?

Yes. Shallow-fry in 1cm of vegetable oil over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes each side, until golden and cooked through. The coating and flavour are identical; you just get a slightly richer, oilier crust. Deep-frying at 180°C for 5-6 minutes also works.

The air fryer is Oliver’s chosen method for this book because it uses less oil and makes less mess, but the recipe isn’t structurally dependent on it. His hazelnut Parmesan-crusted chicken from James Martin takes the same flatten-coat-fry approach in a pan of foaming butter, if you want to compare the two methods.

What veg should I use for the slaw?

Oliver suggests red cabbage, carrots, onions and radishes, and a speed peeler is his tool for getting them super-fine. The crunchier the better, since the slaw’s job is to cut through the crispy, spicy chicken with sharpness and texture. The red wine vinegar dressing keeps it bright and acidic.

Any combination of firm, raw veg works: white cabbage, fennel, kohlrabi, spring onions, mooli. Avoid anything soft or watery like tomato or cucumber, which would make the slaw soggy rather than crunchy. The toasted sesame seeds and green chilli give it a proper Korean accent.

Is 665 kcal a lot for a chicken burger?

It’s moderate for a complete burger meal with bun, slaw and sauce, and significantly less than a deep-fried equivalent. The air fryer cuts the oil substantially, and the chicken thighs are lean once flattened and crumbed. The bun and breadcrumbs are the main carb contributors.

For context, Oliver’s own sticky orange chicken comes in at 572 kcal with sweet potato mash, and these burgers include everything in the bun. If you want to lighten it, wrap the chicken in lettuce instead of a bun, which drops the figure by roughly 150 kcal.

What else from Oliver’s books pairs with this?

These burgers are a standalone meal for two, but if you’re cooking for more, his sriracha corn from the BBQ book is the ideal side: both use an Asian chilli element, both take under 20 minutes, and the sweet, charred corn balances the spicy, crispy chicken. His tomato and feta lentils would work as a lighter vegetarian option alongside if you’re feeding a mixed table.