Making chicken wings with nice crispy cajun flavored skin is the best football season treat or anytime when friends are together. In this basic food recipe tutorial, you will learn to fry homemade style chicken wings that will surely beat most chicken wing establishment! Fresh wings out the fryer, tossed in your favorite buffalo wing sauce, is the BOMB! Hope you enjoy this tutorial. This is a work in progress recipe, so if you have any suggestions, please drop a comment. Thank you.
The ingredients are…
1. Vegetable oil*
2. All Purpose Flour
3. Baking soda
4. Cajun Spice
5. Kosher Salt
6. Pepper
7. Cookie pans and some large bowls
8. Chicken Wings
9. Refrigerator space
10. Tongs or a spider to remove the wings
11. Non stick container or deep fryer
12. Thermometer
I purchase tyson 10lb bags of chicken wings from Sam’s club. You get around 100 wings for around 12 dollars. Thats enough fried chicken wings to feed a group of hungry dudes and dudettes.
To defrost the chicken wings, place them in a large container and fill the container with water. The chicken wing defrost process takes around 1 to 2 hours. If your really in a hurry, place the container of wings, without the water, in the microwave and use the slow defrost option.
After the chicken wings are fully thawed, remove the water, and pat down the wet wings with some paper towels to remove any additional water access.
When the wings look and feel dry, toss in the cajun spice.
Cover the container with a lid or aluminum foil and place the container of chicken wings back in the fridge. Let the wings marinate in the Cajun spice for a few hours. The longer the better.
After your chicken wings have been marinating for a few hours, it is time to add in the flour mixture. I don’t have exact measurements, but for every cup of regular all purpose flour, I use 1/2 tablespoon of baking powder. Baking powder is very important. It gives the chicken wings skin a nice puff of crispiness exterior.
After you tossed in the flour mixture and coated the wings, shake off the excess flour and lay out the wings on a cookie sheet. This is important because it will allow the bread coating to remain on the wings when each wing gets separated and placed into the fryer.
Important Step, this what separates the tasty crispy wing from the ordinary
Return the wings to the fridge and allow for additional hours of marination. This will allow the flour coating to stick to the wings. As you can tell by the pictures, the powdered wings, after a few hours, turn from powdered to wet and sticky. This is the same process to which hooters follow.
Now begins the frying process. At this step, you can season the chicken wings with pepper and some kosher salt.
Now fill up the deep fryer with vegetable oil and WAIT till the temperature hits 350-375. Once the oil temp is ready, place the wings in the fryer and set the timer for 10-12 minutes. I like my fried chicken wings extra crispy so I wait for the 12 minute mark. Once the time mark is reached, use the spider or tongs to remove the wings. Immediately place the wings on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil. Also, you can immediately place the wings in a bowl and toss in your favorite buffalo wing sauce.
If you don’t have a deep fryer, a deep non-stick pot can be used. Fill the pot with enough oil at about twice the height of a chicken wing. Depending on how much wings are to be fried at a given time, oil amount will vary.
If possible, purchase a infrared thermometer to track oil temperature changes. It is much easier to use a laser than a thermometer that is attached directly to the oily cooking pan.
Another Important Note
Do not fill the frying container with too many chicken wings. This will cause a major drop in oil temperature. A large drop in oil temperature will result in greasy wings. It is normal for the oil temp to drop from 350 to 300. The temperature will gradually return.
During the marinating of the cajun spice, you can add additional spices or use your own creation. Some people use garlic powder, cumin, cayenne, honey and other exotic spices.
Buy your frying oil at Sam’s club. You can save a good deal of money.
If using a electric deep fryer, be sure your electrical outlets are not overloaded.
If using an extension cable, be sure it can supply the recommended power to the fryer.
Be sure the fry area is free of clutter and that no kids are in the area. Hot oil is not a toy.
My favorite items that I like with my fried wings are blue cheese, the coop sauce (thecoopnj.com hope you return!) or your favorite buffalo wing sauce, and celery sticks. Some folks enjoy wings with white rice, some corn bread, and maybe some bbq ribs here and there. =)