Spicy Korean Style Chicken Wings

Have I mentioned how much I love wings yet? Oh, I have? Like a hundred times? Oh? Well, whatever, I'm saying it again. Wings are delicious and I love them.

I shared a Korean-style wings post back in November 2011, which is old, drab, and not so attractive. I boiled my wings in that post; what was I thinking? Everyone knows that you need to dust your wings in potato starch and fry them to get a good and crispy wing! Honestly though, if you're watching your weight or you're not keen on frying things, boiling isn't a bad option and neither is baking. You could also boil and then broil to get a bit of crispness. It's really up to you.

That sauce recipe in that old entry is yummy and simple, which is great and if you're not a fan of pulling every bottle out of the pantry, then it's probably a good one for you. Today's sauce recipe is just as simple to assemble, but it's got quite a few more ingredients. I think that this sauce has a slightly deeper, more complex, and better flavor. Or, you can just use my recipe and ingredients as a guideline and just wing it. HA! Buck, buck, let's get into it.

Ingredients:
1 dozen chicken wings
½ cup potato starch
frying oil
2 tablespoons finely diced carrot (about 3 baby carrots)
2 tablespoons finely diced onion (about 1/8 onion)
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic (about 3 to 4 cloves)
1 serrano pepper, split in half
½ teaspoon sesame oil
¼ cup apple juice or apple cider
1 teaspoon soy sauce
3 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 tablespoon hot pepper paste (gochujang)
1 tablespoon corn syrup or sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
+ chopped scallions and sesame seeds for garnish

Start by coating the wings in potato starch and putting them in hot oil to shallow fry. You can check out my crispy hot wings post for a more extensive photo diary but basically, you want the oil at around 350F and then you can gently place the wings in the pan. The chicken will take about 10 to 12 minutes to cook through and for the skin to get crisp and golden. Flip the wings occasionally to make sure they cook evenly and get a nice golden color all over. Once the wings are cooked through, place them on a paper towel to wick away the excess grease.

While the wings are frying you can work on the sauce. Prepare all of your veggies and add them to a saucepan.

Add sesame oil to the saucepan too and cook over a medium heat until the onions are translucent and softened. Add in the juice, soy sauce, ketchup, Sriracha, hot pepper paste, corn syrup, Worcestershire, and rice wine vinegar. Stir all of the ingredients together and bring to a boil. Once the sauce is boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and let the sauce cook and reduce for about 10 minutes until it's lush and thickened. The longer you let the sauce cook, the more it will reduce, and the thicker it will get. I like my sauce to be thick enough to coat the wings (without just dripping off immediately), but thin enough to sort of soak into the crispy breading; you know what I'm saying, bro?

The last step is to dress the wings and garnish them. If you like, you can also serve them separately and let everyone sauce their wings themselves, which will ensure the wings stay crispy through the whole meal. Another option is to sauce the wings and broil them for a minute or two which will give the wings a little more color.

I dressed and garnished a portion of wings, which my sister promptly dug into.

These wings are spicy, sweet, savory, and delicious. The skin is lovely and crispy while the inside is succulent and tender. I don't know what else to say; they're good. Serve these to your hungry dinner party and in just a few minutes all you'll see are smiles and a pile of chicken bones. Enjoy.

Here's the recipe page: