A no oil “oven-fry” method and an irresistible sauce create these crispy Sticky Baked Asian Chicken Wings.
Later today I’ll be on my way out of town again. Yeah, the kids are back at school so I thought I’d go lay on a beach somewhere and work on my tan. Oh, wait, I think that was just a crazy dream I had last night.
I’m actually heading to Portland, Oregon to attend the 2012 International Food Bloggers Conference with a bunch of other food blogging obsessed folks like me. I’m thrilled for the opportunity to join in on the super informative sessions, eat lots of delicious food, meet lots of great people from the food blogging community, and… I heard there was wine.
I’m traveling alone, which is a first for me since I typically travel with a large pack of boys following behind, or at the very least with my husband who is also known as “the baggage handler”, “the navigator”, and “the provider of coffee at all hours of the night and day”. I honestly can’t imagine what it will be like to be on my own. I’ll be tweeting and posting to my Facebook page through the weekend to let you know how it all works out and to share some of my IFBC adventures.
May the force be with me.
Now, on to the delectable goodness pictured above. This recipe comes with a story.
A long, long time ago, in a land (not so) far away called Palo Alto, I worked at a law firm in a great, big tall building surrounded by other great big tall buildings. We were also surrounded by a lot of great restaurants, one of which was a very well known Chinese restaurant that shall remain nameless. One day, one of our very resourceful legal secretaries had lunch at said Chinese restaurant and came back with a little slip of paper with a sauce recipe that she assured me would change my life. I tucked this little piece of paper in a book with all my other recipes and forgot about it for years. I recently came across it and decided to give it a whirl. I seasoned up some wings, used my no-oil method for baking them and then poured this mystical sauce over the top.
She was right. Life changing. Leave it to a legal secretary to get the job done – that’s what I say.
The grocery list – party wings or chicken drummettes, garlic pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, lite soy sauce, dry sherry, ketchup, brown sugar, fresh ginger root, garlic, sesame seeds, and green onions. Oops, forgot the hoisin sauce.
And…hoisin sauce.
Place the wings in a large bowl and blot them dry with paper towels. The seasoning will stick better if they are dry.
Mix the garlic pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper together in a small bowl.
Pour the dry seasoning mix over the wings and using your hands, toss them around till they are well coated. Now, give your hands a good wash with hot, soapy water.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty foil and coat it generously with non-stick cooking spray. Transfer the seasoned wings to the prepared baking sheet. Pop them in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or till nicely browned.
While the wings are cooking, let’s put together the legendary sauce. Mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, dry sherry, minced garlic and minced fresh ginger root. Mix it to combine it well and set it in the refrigerator for now.
You’ll need a fresh, foil lined, rimmed baking sheet for the next step. Spray it generously with non-stick cooking spray.
When the wings come out of the oven, after about 40 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Transfer the wings to the clean prepared baking sheet and toss the greasy used foil. No muss, no fuss. You’re also eliminating all that grease from being in the finished product. Pour about half the sauce over the top of the cooked wings.
Use tongs to toss them around so they are all coated and spread them out evenly.
Sprinkle the sauce coated wings with sesame seeds. Bake at 375 degrees for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, just until sauce begins to caramelize. Watch closely and remove them from the oven before the sauce on the foil begins to burn.
Place the remaining sauce in a saucepan and simmer over low heat while the wings are in the oven.
Transfer the cooked wings to a serving platter and serve with additional warmed sauce for dipping.
Try these pronto! They are a little sweet, a little sticky, with a great balance of flavors from the seasoning and sauce. I guarantee they will be devoured at your next gathering.
Asian Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons garlic pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 pounds party wings or chicken drummettes, (2 packages)
- ½ cup hoisin sauce
- ½ cup less sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Sesame seeds
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and coat the foil generously with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl mix together the garlic pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper. Place chicken wings in a large bowl and sprinkle seasoning mix over the top. Mix the wings well by hand till well coated with seasoning. Pour the wings out on to the foil lined baking sheet and spread them out evenly. Place them in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or till golden brown. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F.
- While the wings are baking, combine hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, dry sherry, ginger root, and garlic in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until wings come out of the oven.
- Line a second rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and spray it generously with non-stick cooking spray. Transfer the partially cooked wings to the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle about half of the sauce over the top of the wings. Mix well with a spoon or tongs until all of the wings are coated with sauce. Sprinkle wings with sesame seeds and toss lightly. Place back in the oven and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until they appear to be crisped and cooked through. Watch closely and make sure to pull them out of the oven before the sauce begins to burn.
- While wings are cooking, transfer remaining sauce to a small saucepan and place over low heat. Simmer on low until wings are ready.
- Transfer wings to serving platter and sprinkle with green onion. Serve with additional warmed sauce on the side.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
Hi Valerie!
I can’t really do wings, the skin and fat, as much as I love them, they don’t “love” me. I was thinking of somehow using boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into pieces/strips. What would you think the best idea to do this would be? Bake in the sauce from the start? Coat the bscb with oil and bake, then add sauce as per recipe?
This is definitely a go-to recipe for me. The last time I made wings I used another great recipe that was good, but not as good as this one. I came back to this one and am here to stay. We are ordering Chinese tonight, but the wings will come from my oven since they are even better than the take out ones. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad you love them, Arlene!
Hi, Do you think this sauce would be good for riblets? I’d like your opinion. Thank you.
Hi Bo. I LOVE this sauce and I think it would be delicious on ribs of any kind. If you try it, let me know how it works out for you. Enjoy 🙂
Riblets turned out fantastic. Making these wings tomorrow for a Daytona race party. Thank you.
Apparently I neglected to come back and comment on these after my wife made a batch. They were KILLER! I think the secret to the tasty factor in these is the rub, just really infuses the meat with flavor, and seems to make the sauce really dig in. My wife always made some pretty tasty wings before, but now we’re thinking about applying some kind of rub (modified to suit the style) to other kinds of wings. I’m thinking something along the lines of cayenne, garlic powder, maybe some smoked paprika for Buffalo wings.
These look so good. I love asian food so this right up my alley.
Hope you had an amazing trip! I look forward to hearing all about it!