Cooking with Colm: sweet & spicy crispy chicken wings
Colm's Crispy Buffalo Wings in a sweet, spicy, sticky sauce
I try to avoid buying too many kitchen gadgets, though I do not always succeed as evidenced by the odds and sods that clutter up the back of a few of my kitchen cupboards. If anyone needs a few useless plastic pasta moulds or a milk frother that has never been used, let me know! I came across those recently, buried beneath the remains of an old food processor and its accessories. Someone dropped the bowl last year and it cracked.
I kept it going for a while, but when I found myself having to wrap the bowl in cling film to stop it leaking when I was making some soup, I finally gave in and bought a replacement machine. I hate throwing away appliances, so I have not had the heart to throw it out just yet. So, for now, there it rests, in the back of a cupboard, balefully reminding me of my occasional tendency to hoard whenever I open the door.
I did invest in an air fryer a few months ago though, and I use it often. It is great for everything from healthier homemade chips to quickly cooking some bacon. I love to roast corn on the cob in it or cubes of potatoes for patatas bravas.
For all of that though, where an air fryer really excels is in cooking chicken wings. If this were the only thing I ever cooked in mine, it would make its purchase more than worthwhile. If you do not have one though, do not despair. While I always make this recipe in my air fryer, it can also be made in an oven.
The core technique in this recipe produces fantastically crispy wings. The secret is the baking powder which reacts with the fat in the skin, drying it out and making it wonderfully crisp and crunchy. And of course, there is no deep frying involved, no extra oil at all, so you can indulge a little with the sauce.
The sauce for this recipe is wonderfully simple. It only takes minutes to put together but tastes fantastic. Do not be tempted to use treacle instead of molasses. Treacle is much sweeter and would not work so well here.
I love molasses, it has such a lovely deep flavour and is a wonderful ingredient. It adds a lovely depth to the sauce for these buffalo wings. If you do not have molasses in your cupboard it is readily available in local health food stores. I use it a lot, adding it to brown soda bread or scones or to make a lovely sticky glaze for roast meats.
You can serve these wings as a starter with a side of dip made from whipped feta cheese or a blue cheese dip and some celery sticks. Simply blitz the cheese with lots of thick Greek yoghurt and serve on the side. I also have them sometimes with a big bowl of salad for lunch or supper. A simple salad of baby spinach leaves, ripe avocado and cooked beetroot tossed in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, flaky sea salt and ground black pepper is really good with these wings.
- 1kg chicken wings
- 2 tsp baking powder
- Salt and Pepper
- 50g butter
- 2 tbsp runny honey
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 4 tbsp hot sauce
Portion the wings. Cut them into three at the joints, discarding the tips. Use a kitchen towel or clean kitchen cloth to dry them a little and remove any excess moisture.
Do not skip this step, it is important as it helps the wings become super crispy. Pop them into a bowl and toss them in the baking powder with just a little fine sea salt.
If you are using an air-fryer and cooking the full kilo of wings, you will need to cook them in two batches. The air fryer method is best, but you can do them in the oven as well.
Place a layer of wings in the pan of your air-fryer, do not pile them on top of each other and leave a little space between each one. Cook at 180c for 15 minutes, then turn them over and cook for another 8 minutes.
If you are making these in your oven, use the same temperature. You will not need to batch cook them obviously. Just spread them out on a baking tray, again, leaving a little room between each one. Cook them for 25 minutes turning halfway through.
While the wings are cooking, make your sauce. Melt the butter in a small pan, add the other ingredients and combine well. Taste and add more hot sauce if you wish. I use Franks, but any decent hot sauce works well.
When your wings have had the full 25 minutes, take them out and toss them in some salt and pepper. Put them back in the air-fryer or oven. They can all go in together this time rather than in batches. Cook at 200c for no more than 6 minutes until they are dark, golden, and really crispy.
Do not overcook them or they will be too dried out. You want them crisp and crunchy on the outside, but moist and tender inside with the meat just falling away from the bone.
When the wings are ready, toss them in your sauce and serve with your dips and salad, or your favourite sides.
Beautiful, sweet, spicy, crunchy chicken wings that fall off the bone as you eat them. It does not get much better than this.
