Costco Korean Fried Chicken (Amazing) + Pro Air Fryer Tips
Bibigo Korean Style Crunchy Chicken at Costco
chicken patties, chicken strips, and the chicken wings.
The box of Korean Crunchy Chicken contains 2 family kits and includes a Korean style sweet and spicy sauce.
What is Korean Fried Chicken?
Korean Fried Chicken is a style of frying chicken that involves a thin outer layer and frying the chicken pieces two times.
When fried twice, the chicken gets an extra crispy golden brown crunchy crust that doesn’t get soggy when covered or flavored in sauce.
If fried chicken is good, double fried chicken is amazing.
Who is Bibigo?
Bibigo is a company focused on Korean and Asian style foods. They sell a variety of frozen food items at Costco including steamed dumplings, wontons, and beef bulgogi mandus.
I haven’t been the biggest fan of some of their other products, but I do have high hopes for Bibigo’s Korean Fried Chicken.
Bibigo Korean Extra Crunchy Fried Chicken
Bibigo’s Crunchy Chicken is made with chicken that is raised without antibiotics and will have an extra crunchy crust due to its unique signature batter that is light and airy.
The Korean style sauce will be a mix of sweet and sticky savory heat that really packs in the bold Korean flavor. It looks like this sauce is going to be Bibigo’s version of a gochujang sauce which is a sweet, spicy, savory sauce that is heavily used in Korean cooking.
Bibigo does also sell a Soy Garlic version of this Korean fried chicken that is not available at Costco but can be purchased at other retailers.
Costco Cost Comparison
How Much Does Bibigo Korean Fried Crispy Crunchy Fried Chicken Cost at Costco?
Costco sells the 56 ounce box of Bibigo Korean Crunchy Chicken for $14.49. Each box from Costco includes two family size kits each weighing 28 ounces or 1.75 pounds and will cost $7.25 each.
The per pound price breaks down to $4.14 which is a fairly solid price for the fried chicken pieces and the included sweet and spicy sauce.
For reference it is slightly more expensive than Crazy Cuisine’s Orange Chicken from Costco that comes in at $3.62 a pound.
Costco vs The Competition
Bibigo also sells their 18 ounce pack of their Crunchy Chicken at Target for $7.49. This is a per pound price of $6.65.
Walmart sells the same 18 ounce pack of the Korean Fried Chicken for $7.44 or $6.61 a pound.
Both options are going to be more than 50% more expensive than Costco’s amazing price of $4.14 per pound.
The Costco family size kits of the sweet and spicy Korean fried chicken is going to be the all around best deal.
Korean Fried Chicken Taste Test
Great In The Air Fryer
I opted to use the air fryer cooking method for this Korean fried chicken and I have to say the chicken pieces truly lived up to the crunchy crispy name.
The breading was super crispy, crackly, and looked amazing.
I would recommend cutting the cook time in the air fryer down to 10-11 minutes or until golden brown. I go further in depth on the reasoning in the cooking instructions section.
Visually, the chicken looked amazing. I really couldn’t ask for a better looking piece of breaded chicken that didn’t require oil frying.
The chicken chunks had a nice golden brown appearance and they made sharp crisp sounds when tapped with a fork. Passed both the visual and audio crispiness test.
Korean Style Gochujang Sauce
The chicken was extremely easy to coat with the gochujang style sauce. There was just the right amount of sauce to sufficiently coat the chicken without feeling like Bibigo was padding the package weight and lowering the price per pound with the included sauce.
The sauce did have a somewhat sweet, savory, and even just a little spicy flavor. All 3 flavors blended together really well and gave the chicken a very nice flavor.
The sauce wasn’t excessively spicy, but was noticeable and enjoyable.
My one complaint about the sauce is that it can be on the salty side.
This is a drawback of many frozen foods, but this Korean Fried Chicken will need to be eaten with a side dish of rice, salad, or noodles to help mitigate some of the saltiness.
Quality Chicken
This chicken is so good that it can even be eaten without the sauce, I, personally, find it near impossible to transfer the chicken chunk pieces from the air fryer to the saucing bowl without snacking on one or two of the smaller pieces.
All put together, the Korean fried chicken is an excellent product, albeit salty. The flavors are great and the chicken is delicious and has immense flavor.
How to Cook Bibigo Korean Crunchy Chicken
Bibigo offers 2 cooking methods for their crispy crunchy Korean fried chicken. You can bake the fried chicken in the oven or you can air fry the chicken.
I always prefer the air fry option as it is quicker and the food usually comes out quite a bit more crispy.
Conventional Oven (For 1 Bag Only)
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Remove the frozen sauce pouch and warm up in a bowl of hot water.
- Place chicken in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet.
- Cook chicken in a preheated oven for 10 minutes, flip and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Remove chicken and let it stand for 1 minute. Place chicken into a bowl and pour thawed sauce over top and toss until lightly coated.
The Costco Korean fried chicken can also be made in the toaster oven. Use the conventional oven instructions from above but cook only half a bag at a time.
Cut the Air Fry Time!
The air fryer instructions do call for half the bag for 16 minutes. I think this is a little bit of an overkill. I think anywhere between 9-11 minutes for half a big will produce better results.
The chicken will be equally crispy, but not dried out like they could be with a longer cook time.
Air Fryer Cooking Instructions (For 1/2 Bag Only)
- Set the air fryer to 390°F.
- Remove the frozen sauce pouch and warm up in a bowl of hot water.
- Place chicken inside the air fryer basket in a single layer.
- Cook chicken in an air fryer for 16 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Remove chicken and let it stand for 1 minute. Place chicken into a bowl and pour thawed sauce over top and toss until lightly coated.
Costco Korean Fried Chicken Nutritional Information and Calories
How Many Calories in Bibigo Crunchy Crispy Chicken
One serving of Costco korean fried chicken with sauce is going to be 1 cup or 5.47 ounces. Each family kit will include approximately 5 servings of chicken.
Each serving contains 360 calories coming from 16 grams of fat, 36 grams of carbs, and 18 grams of protein. This isn’t going to be healthy food as this is fried chicken, so the subpar nutritional label is expected.
Extreme Sodium Warning!
The bigger issue than the macronutrients is going to be the extremely high amount of sodium in each serving.
The 5.47 ounce serving of korean fried chicken will have a whopping 990 mg of sodium. This is 43% of the recommended daily value.
This is an extremely high amount of sodium and realistically speaking it is easy to eat more than 1 serving of this delicious fried crunchy chicken. I would have no problem eating 10 ounces of chicken and taking in 2000 mg of sodium.
Without double checking, I do believe this is the highest amount of sodium that I have seen on a nutritional label from a frozen food from Costco.
Costco Korean Fried Chicken Review
Product Name: Bibigo Korean Style Crispy Crunchy Chicken
Product Description:
Price: $14.49
Quantity: 3.5 Pounds
Location Within Costco: Frozen Food Aisles
Price Per Pound: $4.14
Summary
The Costco Korean Fried Chicken is a winner! It is fairly priced and super tasty. The sauce is on the salty side, but the chicken is still delicious.
I will definitely be buying this again!
Overall
-
Value - 8/10
8/10
-
Convenience - 8/10
8/10
-
Taste - 8/10
8/10
-
Nutrition - 5/10
5/10
-
CFDB Score - 9/10
9/10
Pros
- Great flavors
- Crispy Crunchy Chicken
Cons
- A little salty
- Sodium!!
- Review Methodology
