Sweet and Hot Chicken Wings

These sweet and hot fried chicken wings are totally worth the extra effort that it takes to deep fry at home.

These wings, with their sweet, hot, and savory flavors, are fried until crispy yet light, and then tossed in a sauce with Thai flavors that includes Sriracha sauce along with Thai sweet chili sauce.

These sweet and hot wings are coated with a combination of tempura flour along with an extra coating of corn starch before frying. Once you've fried them, drain them on paper towels and then dip them in the simple sauce made with Sriracha and sweet chili sauce. 

The first wing I tasted pretty much had me jumping up and down with glee. So good! 

These wings are pretty easy to make as long as you are comfortable with deep frying. Deep frying has always intimidated me until I finally invested in a candy thermometer along with a splatter screen and learned to monitor the temperature of the oil. Both the thermometer and splatter screen are inexpensive and will give you a lot of confidence. 

I've also used a mini deep fryer that I found at a Williams Sonoma outlet center. I love it, but it's best used when you have smaller batches to fry, such as hushpuppies or candied pecans. 

I fried these wings in a 6-quart Dutch oven, but you could also fry them in a 14-inch flat bottomed wok. In fact, it's a great way to give your wok extra seasoning. 

I used a cast iron Dutch oven because it's great at retaining heat, but a 6-quart stainless steel pan would be fine too. 

Ingredients in these Sweet and Hot Fried Chicken Wings:

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce: Thai sweet chili sauce is a combination of chiles, vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, and cornstarch, and sometimes soy sauce or fish sauce. You can easily find it in any grocery store or even make it yourself. 

Sriracha: While the California-based Huey Fong Brand is best known, there are lots of brands from which to choose. In fact, Milk Street Magazine ranks U.S. made Roland as their top pick, right before two Thai brands, Shark and Flying Goose. 

Chicken Wings: You will need 12 whole wings, separated and tips removed. You can also buy 24 "party wings" that are already separated. 

Tempura Flour: You can purchase tempura flour as a batter mix, or make your own. Boxed tempura flour has a bit of baking powder, kind of like self-rising flour. I combined a cup of cake flour along with a tablespoon of cornstarch, a tablespoon of wheat starch, and a pinch of baking powder. You could also use cake flour with two tablespoons of cornstarch, skipping the wheat starch. Tapioca starch is also a great subsitute for the cornstarch and/or wheat starch.

Corn Starch: After coating the wings with the tempura flour and letting them sit, you will dip them again in cornstarch before frying. 

How to Make These Thai-Style Sweet and Hot Chicken Wings: 

First, wet the wings and sprinkle them with the tempura flour and rub it into the wings. 

Next, Heat the frying oil to 365 degrees F and then lightly mist the wings on both sides with water. Dip them in the cornstarch and shake off any excess. 

In the meantime, combine the Sweet Thai chili sauce and the Sriracha sauce and place it in a shallow bowl, ready for dipping. 

Fry the wings in three batches, and then dip them in the sweet Thai and Sriracha sauce. Serve while hot. 

If you have leftovers, reheat them in the oven or an air fryer. They won't be quite as crispy, but they will be just as tasty. alternatively, you could also fry the wings in advance, recrisp them later in an air fryer or convection oven, and toss them in the heated sauce before serving. 

These wings are seriously incredible. They're crispy, sweet, savory, and spicy, all at the same time. They're so irresistable. If left alone, I'd probably finish off way too many of these. 

I'll definitely be making these again. 

If you like a combination of sweet, hot, savory, and Asian flavors, give these wings a try. 

For More Chicken Wing Recipes:

Slow Cooker Asian Glazed Wings

Pepper Jelly Glazed Wings

Chipotle Lime Chicken Wings

One-Pot Sticky Chicken Wings

Hot Honey Chicken Wings

Korean Fried Chicken Wings (Another amazing fried chicken) 

This week, the Sunday Funday group is offering recipes for celebrating National Fried Day, which is July 6th! 

• Cánh Gà Chiên Nước Mắm (Vietnamese Fried Chicken Wings) by Culinary Cam
• Chicken Fries by Sneha's Recipe
• Crispy Baked Chicken Nuggets by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Japanese Fried Chicken by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sweet and Hot Chicken Wings by Karen's Kitchen Stories

Sweet and Hot Chicken Wings

Yield: 24 Wings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

These sweet and hot fried chicken wings are totally worth the extra effort that it takes to deep fry at home.

Ingredients

For the Sauce

• 1 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
• 1/4 cup Srirach sauce

For the Wings

• 12 chicken wings, tips removed and discarded and separated at the joint (to make 24 "party wings")
• 150 grams (1 cup) tempura flour (see note in post)
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 quarts vegetable, corn, or canola oil, for frying

Instructions

1. Combine the sauce ingredients in a shallow bowl and set aside.
2. Rinse the wings in cold water and then dip them in the tempura flour. Rub the flour into each piece and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet or plate.
3. Mist the wings with water with a spray bottle and then dip them in cornstarch. Shake off any excess and place them back onto the baking sheet.
4. In a 6-quart Dutch oven, heat the oil over high heat to 365 degrees F.
5. Fry the wings in three batches until golden, about 10 minutes per batch. Using a spider strainer, remove the wings from the oil and drain on paper towels. Coat the wings in the sauce and place on another plate.
6. Repeat with the rest of the wings. Serve hot.

Notes

See note in post regarding making your own tempura flour.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

116

Fat (grams)

4 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

1 g

Carbs (grams)

15 g

Fiber (grams)

0 g

Net carbs

15 g

Sugar (grams)

6 g

Protein (grams)

5 g

Cholesterol (grams)

19 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2024/06/sweet-and-hot-chicken-wings.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Chicken, wings, fried

appetizer, main dish

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @karenskitchenstories.com on instagram and hashtag it #karenskitchenstories

Recipe adapted from Jet Tila's 101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die.