Sweet Chili Chicken Wings
Crispy chicken wings glazed in sticky Thai sweet chili sauce — two food stories in one: the humble Buffalo wing's 1964 reinvention in upstate New York, and Thailand's centuries-old tradition of balancing chili heat with sugar and vinegar.
- 3 lbschicken wings(separated into flats and drums)
- 1 tbspbaking powder
- 1 tspsalt
- 0.5 tspblack pepper
- 1 cupsweet chili sauce(Thai style)
- 2 tbspsoy sauce
- 2 tbsphoney
- 1 tbspfresh lime juice
- 1 tspsesame oil
- 2 clovesgarlic(minced)
- 2 tbspsesame seeds(for garnish)
- 2green onions(sliced, for garnish)
Wings can be baked ahead and recrisped at 400°F for 10 minutes. Sauce can be made 1 week ahead. Toss together just before serving.
- 1Pat wings completely dry with paper towels
- 2Toss with baking powder, salt, and pepper
- 3Arrange on wire rack over baking sheet
- 4Bake at 425°F for 45-50 minutes, flipping halfway, until very crispy
- 5Meanwhile, whisk sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, honey, lime juice, sesame oil, and garlic
- 6Warm sauce gently in saucepan
- 7Toss crispy wings in sauce
- 8Arrange on platter and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions
- 9Serve hot
The baking powder is the secret to crispy baked wings - it raises the pH and helps browning. Dry wings thoroughly for maximum crispiness. The sauce clings better to hot, just-baked wings. For extra crunch, serve sauce on the side for dipping.
The story of the chicken wing as a party food begins with Teressa Bellissimo at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York. In 1964, chicken wings were an inexpensive cut typically reserved for stock and soup; according to Wikipedia, they were "normally thrown away or reserved for stock or soup." Teressa deep-fried them and tossed them in a cayenne hot sauce mixed with butter — the preparation that defined the Buffalo wing. The city of Buffalo issued an official proclamation on July 29, 1977 declaring it Chicken Wing Day, formally recognising the dish's local origins. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the Buffalo wing spread as a bar food and appetiser across the United States, and as Wikipedia records, as the market expanded "restaurants began to create and use a variety of sauces in addition to buffalo sauce" — giving rise to the teriyaki, honey garlic, and sweet chili variations that now share menus with the original. The sweet chili glaze on this recipe has a completely separate lineage. Chili peppers, native to the Americas, reached Southeast Asia via Portuguese traders in the 16th century as part of the Columbian Exchange and were absorbed rapidly into Thai cuisine, where cooks had long balanced bold heat with sweetness and acidity. Thai sweet chili sauce — made from chili peppers, rice vinegar, garlic, and sugar — is a product of this tradition, its characteristic sticky glaze and gentle heat profile quite unlike the sharp, buttery punch of a Buffalo sauce. The fusion of the American deep-fried wing format with a Thai-inspired sweet chili sauce reflects the way that a simple 1964 accident in upstate New York became a global platform for the world's chili traditions.