Sweet and Spicy Sesame Glazed Chicken Wings

Eating wings is an 8-finger affair. My pinky fingers are usually pointed up to stay clean and maybe stay a little classy too. 😛

Any wing connoisseur will tell you that each of the 3 parts of the wings is incredibly different. The drumstick end is meaty, easy to eat, but can be a little dry if you over cook them. The flat part is the most tender, especially the sliver of meat between the bones, but is a little fussy to eat.

Then there is the small flapper part, which gets discarded and ignored most of the time, is a little crispy treat that, some people think, has the most flavors of all. I tend to ignore it and throw it away, mostly because I like to chew on meat and not crispy bones.

It’s no secret that we love our chicken wings, especially baked chicken wings. Fried are good, too, but I don’t usually like to fry them up at home.
However, these baked chicken wings do not sacrifice on the flavor or crispiness of the wings. The sweet, sticky and spicy sauce coats the wings and the sesame seeds and sliced green onions add texture and freshness.

Warning, these wings are so tasty, that you might even eat the bones.

Everyone knows it’s football season, so you need a variety of easy but delicious recipes up your sleeves for any impromptu parties you may have. You can make everything ahead for this recipe and just refrigerate until your guests arrive, then just toss the wings in the sauce and pop them in the oven.

These easy baked chicken wings are perfect to serve a crowd, just double, triple or quadruple the recipe below.

Recipe

Yields: 4 servings

Preheat oven 425 °F

Ingredients:

Chicken marinade

3 pounds chicken wings, cut and tips discarded
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Sweet and Spicy Sesame Glaze

½ cup honey
½ cup soy sauce (not low sodium)
¼ cup chili sweet sauce
1 tablespoon sriracha sauce, or red pepper flakes
½ cup sake
¼ cup pure sesame oil
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional)
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ onion, diced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced or ½ teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
Chopped green onions and sesame seeds for garnish

In a saucepan, sauté the garlic and onions. Once the onions and garlic have been heated, add the sake and slightly boil the alcohol off. Then combine all the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer on medium-low heat for about ten minutes. Do not let the sauce boil for more than 2 minutes or else it will burn.

While the sauce is being heated, in a bowl, toss the chicken in ¼ cup soy sauce, olive oil, lemon, and minced garlic. Heat a sauté pan and sear the chicken wings for about 1 minute on each side or until you get a light golden crispy texture like the photo above. Do not overcrowd the pan while sautéing, the chicken will not get the golden crisp you want. Instead they will become watery and dry during the baking process. Once the wings have been sautéed, lay the wings in an even layer in a deep baking dish. Pour the sauce over the wings, but do not cover the wings with the sauce. You want to cover 2/3 of the chicken with the sauce. Place the wings in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until you see a crispy texture.

Garnish with sesame seeds and chopped green onions.

** This sauce will not be fully thick when boiling over the stove, but will thicken up quite a bit when baking in the oven with the wings. If you want to fry the wings or use the sauce for something else (i.e. fried shrimp etc.), I suggest adding more cornstarch to get the desired consistency of the sauce.