Sweet and spicy soy glazed chicken wings

Sweet and spicy soy glazed chicken wings

With such big NFL playoff games and the Super Bowl coming up, maybe you are hosting or attending a football party, or just want an excuse to eat all those foods that seem to be standards for football watching gatherings :)  What's better than whipping up a bunch of chicken wings?

And yes, you can get them really crispy without frying them first!  Chicken wings are easy to make in the oven and get really crispy under your broiler without the mess or calories of frying them.  They do, however, spatter a bit and will probably cause a little bit of smoke in your kitchen, so be prepared and disable your smoke detector for a little while!

I've been making simple roasted chicken based on Thomas Keller's method in Bouchon for a while now - high heat, dry chicken simply seasoned with salt and pepper and that's it to get a beautiful crispy skin and moist chicken.  So the same thing applies here for these simple chicken wings that are browned and crisped under the broiler - pat them dry, sprinkle some salt and pepper over them, and let them crisp up in the oven until cooked through the skin is nice and crispy.

The sweet and spicy soy glaze is made up of a bit of rice vinegar, chile flakes, honey and kecap manis, or Indonesian sweet soy sauce.  If you can't find it, go ahead and use some regular soy sauce and add some brown sugar to your desired level of sweetness.

Crisp up the wings first under your broiler, then toss in the glaze right before serving.  They are sweet, spicy, sticky and delicious!

This recipe is easily doubled or tripled depending on how many people you are serving.  One pound of chicken wings is about 3 - 4 whole wings - I split them at the joints and serve as wingettes and drummettes, using the wing tip part for making chicken stock.  But you can leave them whole if you prefer.

• 2 lbs. chicken wings, separated at the joints, wing tips reserved for another use or discarded
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup kecap manis or soy sauce plus 2 to 3 Tbsp. brown sugar to taste

Preheat your broiler.  Set a rack just a few inches under the broiler.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy cleanup later.

Separate your wings at the joints into three pieces - discard or reserve the wing tips for another use (like making chicken stock).  Or, leave them whole if you prefer.  Pat them dry and sprinkle kosher salt and freshly ground pepper all over them.  Put them on your foil-lined baking sheet and put them under the broiler until browned and crispy, about 8 minutes.  Take them out and flip them over and put them back under the broiler for another 7-8 minutes or so until they are nice and crispy all over.  If you like, you can turn them back over and crisp up the other side again for another couple of minutes.  

While they are cooking, heat up your rice vinegar in a small sauce pan and add your red pepper flakes and simmer for a minute or so.  Whisk in your kecap manis, or soy sauce and brown sugar, and honey. Grind a bit of black pepper in, taste and adjust seasoning, adding more brown sugar or honey if you want more sweetness, or more soy if you want more saltiness.  Simmer for another minute or so and remove from heat. 

When your chicken wings are done, pour your soy glaze into a bowl and toss your wings in the sauce and put on a platter or serving dish topped with some sliced scallions or chopped chives to serve.