Spicy Asian Chicken Wings

Spicy Asian Chicken Wings are crispy and tossed with a buttery chili sauce.

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Spicy chicken wings with Asian flavors

Chicken wings may not be the first thing that pops into your head when you think about food from Asia, but there are plenty of fabulous Asian chicken sauce recipes out there.

Most of these sauces are easily adaptable to make Asian-inspired chicken wings. The Asian wings recipe below may be a bit more complicated than the typical buffalo sauce you usually make, but change is good, and these wings are so worth it.

This chicken wings recipe brings the heat but expertly tempers it with the sweetness of brown sugar and the oyster sauce’s unique flavor profile. Whether you serve these wings like usual or as part of an Asian-style meal, you are going to love them.

Know your ingredients

A lot goes into this Asian wing recipe, but only two ingredients, oyster sauce and chili sauce, may be unfamiliar to you if you don’t do much Asian cooking.

First off, the oyster sauce does contain oyster juice, but it doesn’t have a very fishy taste at all. In fact, it is more sweet and salty than anything else. It adds a burst of umami flavor to the chicken sauce that is hard to beat.

A good substitute is a half and half mixture of soy and hoisin sauces if you don’t happen to have oyster sauce on hand. Fish sauce is not a good substitute because it is way too fishy for this dish.

The other ingredient that may need a bit of an explanation is the chili sauce. Choose the type of chili sauce you use to reflect how spicy you like your wings.

For mild wings, use a chili sauce that has ketchup and sugar added like Heinz’s. But if you want something a little wilder, there are lots of choices out there.

A good medium-heat Asian-style chili sauce widely available in the US is Huy Fong brand Chili Garlic Sauce.

For something a little hotter, try the Sambal Oelek Chili Paste from the same company.

Cut Your Wings to Save Money

When you buy your chicken wings, you can buy them precut or buy them whole. You can usually save a little money by cutting up the chicken wings yourself. It is not too difficult to do, and as a bonus, you can save the wingtips to make chicken stock.

A chicken wing has three parts: The wingtip, which you can keep for making stock or throw away; the middle section is the winglet or the flapper; and the lower part that looks like a mini drumstick and is called a drumette.

Feel where each of these parts of the wing connects and use a sharp knife to separate them.

Ingredients

Here’s a list of what you need for the spicy wings and sauce:

• Chicken wings 
• Cornstarch 
• Chili powder 
• Spanish paprika 
• Salt 
• Vegetable oil 
• Butter 
• Chili sauce 
• Brown sugar 
• Oyster sauce 
• Garlic powder 
• Sesame seeds

How to Make Spicy Chicken Wings

1. Separate the drum and flat by cutting through the chicken wing joint. 
2. In a large bowl, mix together cornstarch, chili powder, Spanish paprika, and salt.
3. Toss the chicken wings into the flour mixture.
4. Heat vegetable oil in a large deep pan.
5. Fry the chicken wings at 340 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden. 
6. Place the fried chicken on a plate lined with a paper towel.
7. Melt the butter in a large frying pan.
8. Add chili sauce, brown sugar, oyster sauce, salt, garlic powder, and stir to combine.
9. Add fried wings and toss to coat the wings with the sauce.
10. Sprinkle sesame seeds on the wings.
11. Serve and enjoy!

Tips for making and serving Asian chicken wings

Coat the cooked wings in the pan over high heat. Mixing the cooked wings with the sauce in the pan intensifies the sauce’s taste and eliminates any gummy texture from the cornstarch.

Make rice discs. Do you want to eat chicken wings like they do in Asia? Use slightly damp hands to form the rice into hockey puck-sized rice discs. Wrap each rice disc in wax paper and serve. Guests can have a few wings and then take a bite of the rice to cook their mouths.

Love chicken wings? Try these recipes!

• Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings
• Grilled Hot Wings
• Habanero Wings
• Hooters Wings
• Hooters Wing Sauce
• Pluckers Wings
• Wingstop Lemon Pepper Wings

Favorite Spicy Game Day Recipes

• Fried Jalapeno Poppers
• Jalapeno Cream Cheese Wontons
• Jalapeno Ranch Dip
• Rotel Dip with Ground Beef
• Sausage Cream Cheese Rotel Dip
• White Mexican Cheese Dip

Be sure to check out more of my easy chicken wing recipes and the best game day food here on CopyKat.com!