Recently, we went to Boka and tried BonChon Chicken. After I left, I kept thinking about how the chicken was really nice and crispy, but isn’t that how all the ghetto Chinese places do it? I wouldn’t eat anything else at one of those places, often called Happy Wok, King Wok, or Best Wok, but they have awesome fried chicken wings! It definitely tops the list for best bang-for-your-buck kinda thing.
Then, I started thinking some more. Can’t I just make a cheaper version of BonChon Chicken by getting some wings and then brushing a sauce on? Their “Soy Garlic” sauce seemed like such a standard Asian sauce anyway. It couldn’t be hard to make…and it’s not.
I found a local joint to order from, Young Chow Restaurant Corp 145 Fourth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, and placed the order, then whipped up the sauce. When it arrived, I just brushed it on. Easy BonChon Chicken!
It it going to be exactly the same? No. It will differ depending on the quality of your local ghetto Chinesery. It’s close though or at least very tasty and equally addictive. Plus, with only a few locations in NY/NJ, this may be the only way you’re getting anything close to BonChon Chicken.
If you do live near one, consider the cost-savings: I got 8 pieces of drumette and wing attached (so 8 wings and 8 drumettes) for $5.80. The BonChon at Boka costs $18.95 for the large plate, which is only 5 drumetttes and 10 wings. If Lon was writing this post, he’d graph this cost savings for you against weight gain so that you could decide for yourself but unfortunately, he’s very busy these days.
Ghetto BonChon Chicken
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- chicken wings from your local ghetto Chinese restaurant
Instructions –
Stir together soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, sugar, and garlic in small bowl.
Brush sauce onto chicken wings. Done!
What a clever idea!
What a lovely snack!!! Yummie too!
Of course if a dish has the word ‘ghetto’ in it, we’re going to be curious. Nice!
hooray! you did it!
this means that even in colorado i might be able to pull off some KFC…
I’ve never had bonchon chicken but I love the idea. Looks and sounds so good!
Hah! This is one of those dishes that we hate ourselves for eating, but simply cannot stop ourselves from devouring. Hey, you only live once. Might as well indulge now and again. 😉
Chinese fried chicken (from carryouts) needs some mambo sauce. Now… if you haven’t tried OR heard of it for that matter, I hope somewhere along the way you get a chance at it. But maybe its just a DC Metro area thing…
I thought bonchon was Korean! They look absolutely irresistible though!
chinesery? i’m so adopting that term. i think your chicken looks quite appealing, ghetto or not.
Tommy, I’ve never had Mambo Sauce. Got a recipe?
Sophia, BonChon is Korean.
Don’t tell anyone, but the secret to the spicy bonchon is actually Shin Ramyun powder. 😉
I wish I had a recipe. It’s a weird mixture of like ketchup and other things. After growing up and eating it at a certain carryout, I found out 15 years later that a friend I made in high school, her parents were the owners of the carryout I loved. But, she hasn’t gotten the slightest clue how to make it. It might just be something that we love in d.c. metro area that some people might find totally weird, but its like a sweet and sour type thing.
chili garlic sauce – can you recommend one?
fe, I use the one by Huy Fong Foods. It’s a plastic jar with a green cap and the logo is a rooster.
Must you use the word “ghetto” repeatability?