Chicken Recipes Chinese Style

Chinese take-out fried chicken wings are just the same as regular old fried chicken, right?

Wrong. This fried chicken wings recipe is special.

I remember my father used to make a tray full of wings piled high each day at our restaurant and it was never written down but rest assured that this special deep fried chicken wings recipe was in his head and he could make them in his sleep if he had to. They were pre-fried in the morning and re-fried to order throughout the day, and those mountains would turn into molehills real fast during the lunch, dinner and late night rush hours. Once a week, at the end of the night, we would toss a few into the fryer and serve them with our dinner. No matter what we were having, they were always a favorite.

Serve these tasty fried chicken wings on a nice bed of roast pork fried rice or vegetable fried rice. For me, I actually prefer a bed of white rice with some hot sauce or spicy hot oil, like the one used in our Lanzhou Noodle Soup, but hey, that’s just me.

Sooo, the next time you have a hankering for fried anything and are about to fire up a pot of oil, try this take-out chicken wings recipe and let me know what you think!

Here’s what you need:

• 10 whole chicken wings, washed and pat dry
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons flour
• oil, for frying

Combine all the ingredients (except the frying oil, of course) in a large mixing bowl. Mix everything until the wings are well-coated. Let the wings marinate for 2 hours at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight for best results. (If you refrigerate the wings, be sure to let them come to room temperature again before cooking).

After marinating, if it looks like there is liquid in the wings, be sure to mix them thoroughly again. The wings should be well coated with a thin batter-like coating. If it still looks too watery, add a bit more corn starch and flour.

Fill a medium pot about 2/3 of the way up with oil, and heat it to 325 degrees F.

Check out our Chinese Cooking Tools page to see where to get this thermometer and also for a collection of tools we use in our kitchen!

Fry the wings in small batches for 5 minutes and remove to a sheet pan lined with paper towels. After all of the wings are fried, return them in batches to the oil and fry again for 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels or a cooling rack, and serve with hot sauce!

Total time

Ingredients

• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients (except the frying oil, of course) in a large mixing bowl. Mix everything until the wings are well-coated. Let the wings marinate for 2 hours at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight for best results. (If your refrigerate the wings, be sure to let them come to room temperature again before cooking).
2. Fill a medium pot about ⅔ of the way up with oil, and heat it to 325 degrees F. Fry the wings in small batches for 5 minutes and remove to a sheet pan lined with paper towels. After all of the wings are fried, return them in batches to the oil and fry again for 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels, and serve with hot sauce!