Crispy chicken wings! I don’t know about you, but for me, there are days when I just crave for crispy chicken wings – as in I’d rather not eat if it’s not crispy chicken wings (I know, pathetic! ). It does not happen often, but for days like those, I rush to the supermarket to buy some wings and do this recipe. I don’t stock up on chicken wings at home because I prefer to use and cook an entire chicken, EXCEPT the bony parts – those I keep for making chicken stock.
This recipe is on the same vein as my Salt and Pepper Pork Belly, you only need a couple of items for seasoning. Hang on – technically, one of them contains five spices, but I just buy the ‘mixed’ one, so, I end up with five spices in one bottle. 🙂 The five-spice powder is one of the most common Chinese spice mixture; it contains star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds and Sichuan pepper. Some argue that it’s better to just make your own mix – that is great if you have the time AND if you have everything on hand. That is also ideal if you want one of the spice to have a more dominant flavor. Personally, I think that the five-spice mixed powder that one can buy is more than enough for this crunchy baked chicken wings.
So now, I will finally address your question – how can it be crunchy when it’s baked, not fried? 🙂 The trick is to make sure you dry your chicken after rinsing them (I wrapped mine in a kitchen towel for a few minutes), season them, leave them in the refrigerator for some time and then bake them in a very HOT oven. Leaving them in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes helps in drying the chicken wings, and the last bit for glossing with vegetable oil – that adds to the crunch even more.
I normally serve this dish with coriander, lime and sour cream dip, but honestly, even the regular sweet and spicy sauce (or catsup) would be great with it.
- 1 kg chicken wings, separate the drumettes from the wingettes
- 1 tbsp five-spice powder
- 3/4 tbsp salt
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
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Rinse and dry the chicken completely. Season with salt and five-spice. Mix by hand and make sure each piece is properly coated with the seasonings.
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Arrange in a baking sheet, and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
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Preheat the oven to 245-degree C.
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Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and rub with the vegetable oil. It should only be like a gloss to the chicken, NOT dripping with vegetable oil.
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Place a rack on top of the baking sheet and arrange the chicken pieces on the rack. Make sure that each piece is properly laid out, no overlapping.
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Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the chicken to brown the other side and put back in the oven for 25 more minutes.
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Take the chicken wings out of the oven and place them in plate. Serve right away.
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