Give Chicken And Waffles 10x The Flavor By Adding These 2 Asian Sauces

As far as meals go, chicken and waffles is a pretty ambitious concept. Between the salty, crispy fried chicken and the fluffy waffles with a generous pour of maple syrup, adding more flavors may seem unnecessary. But that's exactly what Chowhound's own buttermilk chicken and waffles recipe does to make the familiar sweet-and-savory dish even more interesting. The recipe features Kewpie mayonnaise and sriracha, bringing a richer, sharper flavor to this Southern classic.

To incorporate the spicy sriracha flavor into your chicken, we recommend you whisk it into the buttermilk brine. That way, it seasons the chicken before it's fried, infusing it with spice alongside the herbaceous flavors of fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme. And since sriracha also contains garlic, sugar, and salt, it brings a lot more to the table than heat alone. 

Meanwhile, mayonnaise lends a tangy, creamy element that enhances the salty crunch of the chicken. Many cooks prefer Kewpie mayo because, unlike most commercial American mayo, it's made with egg yolks rather than whole eggs, giving it a richer flavor. You can also drizzle Kewpie and sriracha over the top of your chicken and waffles right before serving to get an even more pronounced flavor. And there are other ways to bring more Asian-inspired flavors to this dish with some carefully chosen ingredients.

The best part of adding these distinctive ingredients to a recipe as iconic as chicken and waffles is that they can elevate the recipe without completely changing its identity. Hot sauce is a familiar ingredient in Southern fried chicken brines, particularly Louisiana-style hot sauces, so using sriracha here isn't an entirely unusual choice. The difference is in the flavor: Sriracha is thick and sweet, while Louisiana-style hot sauces tend to be thinner with stronger notes of vinegar. 

If you're looking for a sriracha swap, gochujang sauce could be a very natural addition to this dish. There are many differences between American and Korean fried chicken, and the presence of gochujang is one of them. This fermented Korean chile paste isn't necessarily hotter than sriracha, instead bringing a similar sweetness but more umami than sriracha. Sambal oelek is another option, although it can be considerably spicier. Our recipe also adds sriracha to a spicy honey-mustard sauce made with whole-grain mustard, honey, lemon juice, and Kewpie mayo. You could swap in gochujang or sambal oelek here as you please.

There are other clever details in the recipe, too. The chives in the waffle batter, for example, bring a savory onion flavor to what is otherwise a very rich dish, and connect the waffles to the herb-seasoned chicken. You can then scatter more chives or scallions on top of the final dish for a little color.