Unforgettable Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Unforgettable Teriyaki Chicken Wings | Chicken Wings Blog

Learn what makes these unforgettable teriyaki chicken wings so incredibly addictive!

Type: Appetizer

Cuisine: Japanese-American

Keywords: Teriyaki Chicken Wings, Teriyaki Sauce

Recipe Yield: 3.5 Servings

Calories: 889

Preparation Time: PT0H50M

Cooking Time: PT1H08M

Total Time: PT1H58M

Recipe Ingredients:

• 3 Lbs. Chicken Wings
• 3 Quarts Frying Oil
• 1/2 Gallon Buttermilk
• 4 Tbsp Ginger Root (Divided)
• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt (Divided)
• 2 Tbsp Black Pepper (Divided)
• 2 Large Eggs
• 9 Tbsp Corn Starch (1/2 Cup + 1 Tbsp) (Divided)
• 2 Cups Ice Water
• 2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tbsp Chinese 5 Spice
• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Hoisin Sauce
• 1/2 Cup Honey
• 1/4 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1/2 Cup Sriracha (Optional)
• 1 Cup Pineapple Juice
• 1 Tsp Fish Sauce
• 2 Tsp Sesame Oil
• 1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
• 1/2 Cup Beef Stock
• Green Onions (Garnish)
• Parsley Flakes (Garnish)
• Toasted Sesame Seeds (Garnish)

Recipe Instructions:

Teriyaki Chicken Wings Brine:

• In a large mixing bowl, place your chicken, buttermilk, 1/2 of your soy sauce, your rosemary, 1/2 of your peeled garlic, 1/2 of your peeled ginger root, and your sugar. Allow the chicken to sit at least an hour, but overnight is preferred for a better flavor outcome.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings Breading:

• In a medium sized mixing bowl, add in 1/2 of your kosher salt, 1/2 of your black pepper, your 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup of your corn starch, your ice water, your baking powder, your Chinese 5 spice, and your all purpose flour. Mix together until homogenous.
• Remove your chicken brining in the fridge and remove them one by one, padding them dry of the brine mixture. Place them in the breading mixture and coat thoroughly.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings Frying:

• Heat your oil to 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit. Take your chicken out of the breading mixture, allowing all excess to drip off back into the bowl, and place in your oil in your desired batch quantities for 4-6 minutes, or until lightly browned. Place your chicken on a cooling rack to rest. Repeat for all chicken.
• For your second fry, turn your heat up to 400-425 degrees Fahrenheit and place your chicken win for another 4-6 minutes, or until a deep golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack to rest, repeating for all chicken.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings Sauce:

• While frying your chicken, in a saucepan over medium/high heat add in the rest of your soy sauce, your remaining garlic and ginger root (minced), kosher salt, black pepper, and corn starch. Also add in your hoisin sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, sriracha (optional but recommended), pineapple juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, chicken stock, and beef stock. Allow to meld together over heat, stirring occasionally, for at least 30 minutes. You can cook it for as long as you like. The longer you allow it to cook, the better it will taste and the thicker it will be. I recommend cooking it down for an hour!
• Once done, toss your wings in a bowl with the sauce and plate as desired. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, green onions, and parsley flakes. Enjoy!

Editor's Rating:
5

Aloha hoa! Or, hello friend!

Welcome to my blog, and one of my favorite all time recipes: teriyaki chicken wings.

Teriyaki sauce is probably my favorite sauce of all time, and holds so many incredible memories.

I’m excited to share it with you, and all of its tasty intricacies.

If you’re just here for the recipe, I respect that and I hope you enjoy your meal.

If you want to read further, I’m going to discuss a little bit about why this recipe is shaped the way it is and about the ingredient choices.

If at any time you have anything to add, or have a question, type it below in the comments and I’ll resound quickly!

Tools

I recommend a basic set of tools when you deep fry chicken at home, check the list out here.

I have to say that I wouldn’t have been able to deep fry my teriyaki chicken wings recipe at home without may of these tools.

There are some substitutes you can make, like replacing a deep fryer for a cast-iron Dutch oven, but generally you’ll want each of these tools.

Brine

The inspiration for my brine comes from Alvin Zhou’s 24-Hour Honey Butter Fried Chicken recipe on youtube.

He says that he takes his inspiration from a local, unnamed Michelin star restaurant that brine’s their fried chicken the way he does it.

However, I chose to do mine differently. First, I substituted water for buttermilk.

The reason I chose buttermilk instead of water is that buttermilk helps break down the collagen in the meat, tenderizing it.

The point of a brine is to tenderize the meat so that it comes out juicy and delicious.

Buttermilk simply helps that process along, while adding a flavorful undertones to our meat.

Second, I substituted salt for Kikkoman soy sauce. The decision behind this is twofold.

1. Soy sauce is incredibly salty and works the same as salt (breaking down and flavoring our meat).
2. Soy sauce will help add a characteristic umami and an Asiatic layer of flavor to our chicken.

Next, I’ll discuss the batter for our teriyaki chicken wings.

Batter

I took inspiration for this batter from Maangchi’s Korean Honey Butter Fried Chicken Recipe (she’s a treasure).

It is designed to create this absolutely tight and crispy crust that is an ASMR artist’s wet dream.

While Maangchi uses potato starch, I figured the corn starch I had in my kitchen would work out just fint (it totally did).

Baking powder, flour, and corn starch all serve to crispify the chicken as you dunk it into the oil for its first oil bath.

I don’t know the technical aspect of why this works, but essentially we are trying to create a crust that tightens and firms up for a satisfying crust.

In my earlier attempts at frying chicken, my crust would break off in big chunks, and had nowhere the same level of crispiness as this crust.

One important aspect of fried chicken, is a crust that is both crispy and sticks to the skin on the chicken as you bite into it.

There’s nothing worse that having your fried chicken skin falling off after one bite.

This crust does not do that, yielding an appetizing plethora of fried chicken enjoyment!

Lastly, Alvin Zhou recommends mixing your batter with ice cold water to ensure that no lumps form when mixing it.

I think this is an excellent tip, and you should use it to your advantage.

Frying

The primary way I prefer to fry chicken now is the double-frying method.

If you haven’t figured it out by the name, the double-frying method, or twice-fried chicken, requires you to fry chicken twice at two different temperatures.

The first time, you’ll fry it at a much lower temperature for a longer amount of time.

This does the equivalent of “par baking” (or par frying in this case) the exterior crust while breaking down the connective tissues in the chicken for more tender meat.

Once rested, you’ll then fry the chicken a second time at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time. This will intensify the crispiness of the chicken breading and make it an incredible, deep golden brown color.

The key to getting this step right is to make sure your fry oil is at the right temperature. You can do to things to ensure it its.

1. Use a fryer with a built in temperature gauge.
2. Use a candy thermometer/oil safe thermometer.

Lastly, keep in mind that chicken wings and chicken breasts require different times frying in the oil.

The best practice is to baby the chicken and take it out of the oil from the first fry when it is starting to turn golden brown.

Then, take it out of the second fry when it is a nice, deep golden brown.

Be sure to use your meat thermometer to check the temperature. Chicken is safe to eat at a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and you can take it out at 160 degrees since it will come up to temperature while cooling.

Keep in mind the sauce for our teriyaki chicken wings works best on crunchy, well fried chicken!

Sauce

The sauce in this recipe is unforgettable and bit nostalgic for me.

My favorite recipe as a kid was Teriyaki Chicken/Beef Donburi (translates to “rice bowl”).

This sauce is an accurate representation of the sauce my favorite restaurant made as a kid.

Sugary, a little bit spicy (not hot), and umami to hell and back.

Once you give it a try, you’ll see what I mean.

In order to make this recipe authentic, I use pineapple juice to add some acidity and flavor, and some sriracha for even more character.

Just watch out when you’re mixing this sauce over heat, as the amount of sugar in this recipe can cause it to congeal and burn if left over high heat unsupervised.

No one wants to scrape burnt sugar off of a pan.

Spicy

If you’re like me and you want your food to burn a little bit, then I recommend you add in the following replacements in my recipe.

1. Use the Optional sriracha listed in the ingredients.
2. Use hot sesame oil instead of plain sesame oil.

These two substitutions make an incredible spicy teriyaki sauce that isn’t overwhelmed with heat.

I emphatically recommend you buy and use Sky Valley Sriracha, you can buy it here if you don’t have it at your local grocery store.

It is the best tasting sriracha I’ve ever had.

However, back to the sauce, if you’ve ever wanted spicy and sweet teriyaki chicken wings, then make these substitutions.

You can even add more sriracha for extra heat if you like.

But I would advise against adding more hot sesame oil since it has such a potent flavor.

Conclusion

I love these teriyaki chicken wings, and you will too. It’s sugary, umami, and just plain incredible!

If you have any comments or criticisms, i’d love to hear them. Let me know in the comments below and I’ll respond quickly.

Also, if you loved this recipe and want more like it, then be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for updates straight to your inbox.

Last of all, have a great day!

Best,

C.J.