Serious Heat: Sriracha Hot Wings
Note: On Wednesdays, Andrea Lynn, senior editor of Chile Pepper magazine, drops by with Serious Heat.
[Photograph: Andrea Lynn]
Who doesn't love classic Buffalo-style chicken wings? Especially when football season beckons. During my days doing restaurant work, when the dinner service was finished, I was responsible for cooking up hot wings—it was the midnight snack of choice. All you need is a fryer, chicken wings, Frank’s Hot Sauce, and butter.
But what if you don’t have a fryer (or grill, for that matter)? Can’t my oven and broiler churn out hot wings nearly as good? I make no qualms about my love for Sriracha, so I decided to skip the Frank’s and go all-Sriracha for my wing sauce. A little sprinkle of Sichuan peppercorns and soy sauce added to the Asian flair of the dish, which turned out to be exactly what I was craving. The oven cooked the chicken, while the broiler helped infuse the sauce into the wings and crisp them up. What are your favorite ways to spice up hot wings?
Sriracha Hot Wings
- makes about 1 dozen chicken wings -
Zest Factor: Medium to Medium-Hot
Author's note: Although I do love the flavor and spice Sichuan peppercorns add to the chicken wings, feel free to substitute any other type of freshly ground peppercorn in its place, like tellicherry or pink peppercorns. Also, feel free to increase the amount of Sriracha desired. If you need to cut the chicken wings yourself, check out this great pic from Cooking for Engineers.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns, crushed and chopped finely
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 pounds chicken wings, split into drummettes and wingettes
2 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove, grated or finely minced
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Sriracha
Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 425º.
2. In a small container, combine Sichuan peppercorns and salt. Sprinkle over both sides of the chicken wings.
3. On a foil-lined, greased baking sheet, add chicken wings. Place in the oven until almost cooked-through, about 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a saucepot over medium heat, melt butter. Take off heat, adding minced garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar and Sriracha. Whisk well to combine.
5. When the chicken wings are removed from the oven, preheat the broiler.
6. Transfer chicken wings and Sriracha-butter mixture into a bowl. Using tongs, mix together until wings are liberally covered with sauce.
7. Return coated wings to the foil-lined baking sheet. Place in the broiler until the wings are nicely browned, about 3 to 4 minutes, checking occasionally.
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16 Comments:
One of my favorite summer eats is grilled wings (oven roasted in winter if weather not good for grilling) with a Sriracha based sauce that Michael Symon had in a Food & Wine article. Michael Ruhlmann wrote that the sauce was the best recipe in that edition. I'll go with that.
I have made this many times. You can toss the wings in it or, as I do, dip and dunk them as you eat. My way keeps the skin crisp until you eat the wing. Tossed wings that sit a bit can go soft.
The simple and awesome sauce recipe is:
3/4 cup Sriracha chile sauce
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Finely grated zest and juice of 3 limes
Whisk together in a bowl. (I usually scale it down and go lighter on the butter)
Here is a link to the whole recipe: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/spicy-sriracha-chicken-wings
Remander at 9:22AM on 09/23/09
I had a interesting run-in with Sriracha sauce recently while raiding my buddies fridge stoned and drunk. I took some thinly sliced fresh ciabatta, added a thin layer of whitefish salad, a few slices of prosciutto di parma, and Sriracha sauce. the resulting sandwich was out of this world! Can't wait to try it sober to see if its as good.
henryfan at 9:24AM on 09/23/09
I always do my wings in the oven, going about 30 minutes on a RACK in a foil covered sheet at 450 makes 'em crisp and golden all the way around. And since I'm from WNY, birth-region of the wing, I most often go with the classic Red Hot, butter and garlic. But I have been known to swirl in a bit of peanut butter and soy or coconut milk to go Rim-style. I am gonna try the Sriracha next go, though--that Symon recipes looks nummy-nom-noms.
BobbieAnne at 9:39AM on 09/23/09
Sriracha (called "Rooster Sauce" in my kitchen) has always been a favorite for chicken. I use equal parts sauce and fried chicken seasoning in a cup of buttermilk, marinate the chicken pieces for a few hours (or overnight), then bbq, deep fry them breaded in flour, or bake them in ghee on a Pam-sprayed baking sheet.
dksbook at 10:39AM on 09/23/09
A bit of the old Brother Bru Bru's hot sauce in the mix will heat up nicely and add a bit more depth. For a basket of wings, 15-20 squirts will do.
Montana Eats at 10:43AM on 09/23/09
So I just made some of the best wings I've ever had this past Sunday. The way I see it, there are two important parts to making the wings - the breading and the sauce. Oh, and they have got to be fried. Sorry to all you people that enjoy baking the wings, but they just can't hold their own to a good fried wing. So, without further ado, here's my recipe for damn good pomegranate buffalo wings (sorry about the lack of portions and sizes, but that's something I never keep track of when cooking).
Breading
Flour
Garlic Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Black Pepper
Chicken Seasoning
Baking Powder
Mix everything together in a Ziploc bag. Set aside.
Pomegranate Buffalo Sauce
Seeds from 1 pomegranate
Frank’s Hot Sauce
Butter
Pomegranate Juice
Cranberry Juice
Honey
First, start by sautéing your pomegranate seeds with the butter for about 5 minutes in a medium sized sauce pan. Add the hot sauce, a splash of pomegranate juice, and a splash of cranberry juice. Drizzle some honey on top, and stir it all up. Let this simmer until it reduces into a semi-thick glaze (about 15 minutes). You probably want to cover it up so it doesn’t make a complete mess. Now, you can either leave the seeds in the sauce or strain them out. I opted to keep them in because it added some nice texture to the wings.
Frying the Wings
What you need:
Canola Oil
Medium Frying Pan
Fill the frying pan about 1/3-1/2 way up with the Canola oil. You can use vegetable oil. Let this get up to about 350 degrees before you put the wings in here. The way I test the oil? Toss a little of the flour in the oil and see if it bubbles. If it does, you’re good to go.
While the sauce is simmering, you can start chopping your wings into the drums and wing portions. Toss the chicken into your Ziploc bag with the flour mixture and toss around until fully coated. Toss the wings directly into the oil. Now, I like my wings extra crispy and fall of the bone juicy (which is where the baking powder comes in handy), so I let them cook in the oil for about 10 minutes per side. You’ll notice when the wings are about done because they’ll start floating in the oil.
Once the wings are done, take those bad boys out and place them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Let them cool for a little. Then, spoon a little of the buffalo sauce into a large bowl. Toss a couple of wings in there. Since this is more of a glaze by now, I like to move the wings around the bowl with a spoon. It allows for more control and ensures that you get the sauce everywhere on the wings. Continue to do this until all your wings are nicely covered with the pomegranate buffalo sauce. Serve with some celery and bleu cheese.
jonathanp at 11:03AM on 09/23/09
@jonathanp: Yeah, I'm feelin' ya on the fried thing, but not all of us have deep fryers and shallow fry does NOT do it for wings, where the fast, hot oven really crisps them up while leaving them juicy inside. What I cannot abide, though, is your sacrilege of BREADING a wing: Buffalo wings are NOT breaded...fried naked as the hour they were plucked, then tossed in the buttery hot sauce, then slid out onto the platter for singed-finger and lip and tongue and sinus enjoyment. Your sauce sounds good; I'm thinking my guys would really like it, as they occasionally order wings out with a sweetened sauce...
BobbieAnne at 11:18AM on 09/23/09
I used to work at a pub that did hot wings. They were left to marinate overnight in tomato, molasses, chili powder, garlic and balsamic vinegar. When they were ordered, they were chucked on a hot griddle and basted with more sauce, and cooked until almost blackened. They were great. Messy, but great.
NotAmerican at 11:36AM on 09/23/09
Our FAVORITE method now is the Korean Fried Chicken Wings with spicy soy ginger glaze ala kyochan/bon chan and numerous other joints. The secret is the double fry with a very light batter rendering the crispiest and tastiest wing!! Not messy or soggy and no marination necessary!
ravenouscouple at 12:52PM on 09/23/09
I've grilled them a few times, tossing in oil salt and pepper first then doing the Frank's toss after. I've found they get crispier that way than in the oven, but I'm going to try some of the suggestions above.
lexophile at 4:54PM on 09/23/09
Sriracha is my new passion. I love this stuff on EVERYTHING. Sometimes, when I'm sad I'll twist open the cap and squeeze it so I can smell the sauce, and instantly I perk up. I've been replacing Tabasco sauce with it for wings for quite some time now and the wings are awesome!
Martini Me at 5:16PM on 09/23/09
I'll have to give this version a shot on my grill/smoker. I LOVE LOVE LOVE wings done on my Big Green Egg and just tried the Sriracha sauce on them earlier this year. They were great.
The link to the trimming of wings didn't work for me. I did a quick video in this wing post I did on my blog: http://www.nibblemethis.com/2009/06/30-20-10-smoked-hot-wings.html
Nice job!
swibirun at 10:16PM on 09/23/09
I make a honey hot sauce with 1/2 cup liquid honey, 1/4 cup Loisiana Wing Sauce, a bit of butter, and a minced garlic clove. Heat to boiling in a saucepan. Pour over cooked wings and toss to coat. Sometimes, I sub the honey for thick teriyaki sauce. Both are delish!
I either bake my salt and pepper seasoned wings on a rack on a cookie sheet, or deep fry them.
mandylynn902 at 10:16PM on 09/23/09
This thread has all the clues I need to possibly break the secret of the local tavern's sirachi wings where I used to live. THANK YOU!!! I've been in withdrawal.
mlcottingham at 11:29PM on 09/28/09
In our house wings are always unbreaded. My hubby hates breading. I just roast them naked, just a bit of salt and pepper, maybe a drizzle of oil, and then coat them well in a sauce when they get out of the oven. I've done garlic oil, I've done ketchup and a miriade (sp?) of sauces. I've also done the classic butter and Frank's or butter and some other hot sauce. I have never tried Sriracha on them. Got to try this. Thanks for the inspiration.
RisaG at 6:35PM on 10/07/09
Sriracha sauce is simply genius.
FreshAmericanBison.com at 9:11PM on 10/15/09