Whenever making any type of fried chicken you most likely will use a buttermilk marinade. I use this for my chicken tenders and fried chicken legs. These crispy fried wings are no different and are so simple! I tossed them in a store-bought sauce but they are great on their own. Wings are a classic finger food that never goes out of style. You can eat them dry or toss them in multitudes of sauces. I tossed mine in a basic peri-peri sauce, added roasted sweet potatoes and served it all up with barbecue sauce and sour cream. This would be awesome with some macaroni and cheese too!
Fried wings take a much shorter to cook than bigger chicken parts like the thighs or legs. So they are quite low-maintenance. I like using the split wings which come in a pack of 12-14 pieces. So you have equal amount of drumsticks and the flats. If you can’t find this at the grocery store, you can use the unsplit wings, read more on how to divide them here. I don’t have any particular preference for any part; I’m just happy that I’ll be making fried chicken.
Tips for awesome fried chicken
- Add cornstarch to your coating mixture. Cornstarch absorbs moisture really well and helps prevents gluten development, which results in crisper chicken (source).
- Use a cast-iron skillet. I don’t know why but these fry chicken so good! They cook the chicken evenly and the oil is hot all the way through. Can’t recommend this enough!
- Leave the chicken to cool on a wire rack rather than paper towels. The towels will trap steam beneath the chicken and make the coating moist which results in soggy chicken.
Ingredients
0.7 kg/1.5 lbs split chicken wings
3 cups cooking oil (I use canola oil)
Marinade
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, whisked
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Coating
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1&1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Whisk the marinade ingredients in a large bowl.
- Place the split chicken wings into the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or even better, overnight. This makes the wings tastier.
- Whisk the coating ingredients in a separate large bowl.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet or frying pan. I like using a 10-inch cast-iron skillet for fried chicken.
- Using tongs, dip a few marinated wings at a time into the coating bowl, and toss them until they are well coated.
- Place the coated wings in the hot oil and fry for 4-5 minutes on each side, until deep golden brown on both sides.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack.