Making the perfect batch of chicken wings is an art. And we're here to teach you how to do it. Welcome to our cheat's guide to chicken wings.
What am I looking for out of a really great chicken wing? I’m looking for crispy skin, tender meat that is still juicy and not fried to hell, and a killer sauce. Wings have to be coated in the sauce, no dunking please. Invariably, these dream wings are brined, deep-fried and served in a basket at your local dive bar. It can be a real pain to achieve results that come close to those you can get out and about at wing joints worldwide. You’ll be grappling with deep frying, filling your kitchen with greasy steam, and amping up the stress levels. Is making wings at home worth it? Probably not.
Well, until now… thanks to a very clever fella called Kenji Lopez-Alt. Kenji figured out that dusting the wings with baking powder and baking them in a hot oven gives you a blistered, bubbly, crispy skin, just like a fried wing. It’s genius. I had a play with the technique and tried to speed things up a bit. Kenji recommends you let these wings sit overnight in the fridge, but this is the cheat’s guide. I’m going to show you how to get them done much, much faster. I also add a dash of sugar to the dry mix, this helps to give a lovely caramelisation to the skin and a more flavourful wing.
My favourite thing about this recipe is that you get roast chicken flavour on your baked wing, something you don’t get out of a fried one. More flavour? Yes please.
Anyway, enough talking, let’s borrow some great tips from our friend Kenji and cheat our way to the best wings you’ve ever made and three super easy sauces to toss them in.
You Will Need:
- 1kg Chicken Wings
- 10g Salt
- 10g Baking Powder
- 5g Sugar
- Vegetable Oil
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
2. Break your wings down into flat and drummette by cutting through the joint between each section. Find the cartilage and your knife should glide straight through.
3. Whisk together the salt, baking powder and sugar. Thoroughly coat the wings with the dry mix.
4. Lightly coat a roasting rack with veg oil. Lay out the wings on the rack and set over a baking tray lined with foil.
5. If you have one, grab a desk fan and set it on high speed. Point it at the wings and leave for 5-6 mins. This will dry the skin out very quickly.
6. Pop the wings into the oven for 35-40 minutes, turning halfway through until they are golden brown and very, very crispy.
7. While they roast, whip up a sauce of your choice.
8. Add the crispy oven baked wings to a bowl and toss with the sauce.
9. Get stuck in.
Now, For The Sauces:
To make Burnt Butter Buffalo Sauce, set a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add 75g of unsalted butter and cook until nut brown. Whisk in 100g of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce until smooth. You can use any hot sauce you like really, but Frank’s is the only one for me.
To make Miso Honey Mustard Sauce, combine 1 tsp each of white miso, english mustard, wholegrain mustard and apple cider vinegar with 3 tsp French’s mustard and 2 tsp of runny honey. Have a taste and add more vinegar or honey if you need more sour or sweet, and a dash more english mustard if you want more heat.
To make the Tajin BBQ Glaze, combine 6 tbsp of your favourite BBQ Sauce with 1 tbsp of Tajin Seasoning, or any other chilli salt you like. I love Tajin as it’s packed with citric acid and is super tangy.