Colm O'Gorman's spicebag chicken wings are the perfect finger-food for party season
Colm O'Gorman's spicebag chicken wings
Party season is upon us, so I thought it might be helpful to share some recipes for party food.
Crowd pleasers that are fairly easy to prepare, but delicious; finger food and nibbles that are perfect served on platters.
The kind of dishes that you can part prepare in advance and then finish off just before serving them up.
This week’s recipe is for spice bag chicken wings. These wings are air-fried or oven-baked to crispy perfection, and then tossed in my own-recipe spice blend before being given a final flash of heat to seal in all that lovely spice bag flavour.
Chicken wings are the perfect finger food. I have previously shared recipes in this column for spicy buffalo wings, spicy Korean chicken wings and for crispy chicken wings with chilli, lemon and honey.
All of those are available on ieFood, so if you fancy a chicken wings feast for your party, I have you well covered!
The core technique in this recipe produces fantastically crispy wings without deep frying them.
The secret is to use baking powder which reacts with the fat in the skin, drying it out and, in combination with some potato starch or cornflour, guarantees you wonderfully crisp, golden chicken wings.
Spice Bag Chicken Wings
These are best cooked in an air fryer, but if you do not yet have one of those, you will also get a good result by baking them in an oven. I give the method for both air-fryer and oven below.
Servings
24Preparation Time
10 minsCooking Time
25 minsTotal Time
35 minsCourse
MainIngredients
1kg chicken wings
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp potato starch or cornflour
For the spice mix:
1 ½ tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 tsp flaky sea salt ½ tsp chilli powder 1 tsp white pepper 1 tsp onion salt
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp caster sugar
Method
Begin by portioning the chicken wings. Cut each wing into three pieces at the joints, discarding the tips. Use kitchen paper to remove any excess moisture. Do not skip this step, it is important as it helps the wings become super crispy. Put the wings into a large bowl and add the baking soda and potato starch or cornflour. Toss the wings to coat them thoroughly in the baking powder and starch, you will know they are well coated when there is little to no powder left dry in the bottom of the bowl.
If you are using an air-fryer and cooking the full kilo of wings, you will likely need to cook them in two batches, or if you have a two drawer air fryer, you can just use both drawers at the same time. The air fryer method is best, but you can do them in the oven as well. Place a layer of wings in the pan of your air-fryer, do not pile them on top of each other and leave a little space between each one. Cook at 190 Celsius for 20 minutes, tossing them once halfway through to make sure they cook evenly all over.
If you are cooking the wings in an oven, bake them at the same temperature. You will not need to batch cook them obviously. Just spread the wings out in a single layer on a baking tray, again, leaving a little room between each one. Cook them for 25 minutes turning halfway through.
While the chicken wings are cooking, prepare the spice blend. Simply pop all the ingredients into a clean bowl and stir to combine thoroughly. The quantities above will give you more than you need to cook one kilo of wings, but this spice blend will store well in your spice drawer for a few months if kept in an airtight jar. You can use it to make these wings again or make your own spice bag by adding chips and some stir fried onion and peppers to the chicken wings when cooked and tossing the lot in three or four teaspoons of the spice blend.
After twenty minutes, remove the wings from the air fryer and toss them in two teaspoons of the spice bag spice blend, making sure all the wings are nicely coated. Time now to get them back in the air fryer for a final cook. There is no need to cook them in batches at this stage, they can all go in together in one basket.
You can take the wings to this stage an hour or so in advance of serving them if you wish, before tossing them in the spice blend and finishing them off just before you need to feed your guests.
Turn the temperature up to 200 Celsius and pop the wings back in for another five to six minutes until they are dark, golden, and crispy. Do take care not to overcook the wings. You want them crisp and crunchy on the outside, but moist and tender inside with the meat just falling away from the bone.
While the wings are getting their final blast of heat, prepare some garnish to serve the finished dish. Finely chop some spring onion, and finely slice some fresh red chilli. I also garnish my platter with some very finely shredded carrot. I use a citrus zester to cut some very thin strips away from a whole carrot and serve my wings on a warm platter with a scattering of spring onion, shredded carrot and sliced red chilli on top.
