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Serves a Crowd

Ideas in Food's Korean-Style Chicken Wings

by:
January 28, 2014
4.3
3 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

A genius marinade for oven-crisped chicken wings that might be even better than fried (plus a magic dipping sauce you're going to use on lots more than wings). Recipe adapted slightly from Maximum Flavor (Clarkson Potter, 2013). —Genius Recipes

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Ingredients
  • Neutral high smoke point oil (like vegetable, canola, or grapeseed) or spray for racks
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking soda
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons (10.5 grams) fine sea salt
  • 4 pounds (1.8 kg) whole chicken wings (smaller wing sections like drumettes and flats or wingettes will also work)
  • 1/4 cup (65 grams) tamari soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons (42 grams) apple juice
  • 1 tablespoon (16 grams) honey
  • 1 tablespoon (14 grams) rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon (14 grams) toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon (2 grams) Korean red chile flakes (available at Korean markets, or substitute crushed chile flakes if unavailable)
  • 1 tablespoon (3.75 grams) toasted sesame seeds, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) grated fresh ginger
  • 1 scallion, finely sliced
Directions
  1. Oil 2 wire racks and set them each over rimmed baking sheets. Put the egg whites, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and stir to dissolve the salt and baking soda. Add the chicken wings and stir to coat evenly. Remove the wings from the bowl, draining off excess marinade, and lay them out on racks set over baking sheets. Refrigerate the wings uncovered overnight for them to dry out.
  2. Preheat the oven to 450° F (235° C).
  3. Put the wings, still on the racks on the baking sheets, into the oven and cook for 15 minutes. Flip the wings over and bake for 10 minutes. Flip the wings over again and bake until a deep golden brown with a crackling skin, about 10 more minutes. Take the pans out of the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, apple juice, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, chile flakes, sesame seeds, garlic, ginger, and scallion.
  5. Pile the wings on a serving platter and serve the sauce alongside.
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Recipe by: Genius Recipes

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57 Reviews

Write a Review
Bjensen February 2, 2022
Ugh. Oil the racks, then refrigerate wings on them. C’mon. WhoTH has the fridge space for this? There must be a better way.
LULULAND February 2, 2022
I don't care for wings, but this recipe I would try on cubed boneless thighs, why not!
C January 30, 2019
Want to print this recipe which looks good but I don't want to waste paper having to also print what Food 52 is selling that is in the middle of the recipe. Looked for "print recipe" on this page but didn't see it. Food 52, please stop putting your "for sale" things in between the recipes.
Kristen M. January 31, 2019
Hi C—there's a print button at the top of the recipe (it's the printer icon, below the recipe title and to the right of the save button, on my laptop, at least). Our for sale things are one very important way that we're able to support our company and create and share recipes and articles for free. Our team puts a lot of time into finding (and often designing) special kitchen and home goods that we love to use in our own homes and we think our readers will also love.

pat March 6, 2019
Amen!
Tommy C. April 10, 2019
Reviews are meant to be used to "grade" how a recipe went. If you want to complain, contact the website directly and not use Reviews to voice your displeasure with the way a website is run.
Gioia M. December 7, 2018
This recipe is very tasty. I did not have the real estate in my fridge to dry out the wings, So baked them at 475 degrees about 30 minutes before flipping them and another 20 minutes. Then I sprayed them with canola oil and did another 20 minutes on each side. They were very golden and crispy!
KBG September 1, 2016
I've made these wings several times now. They are always a hit. Great recipe. Highly recommended for entertaining!
Nellie January 31, 2016
I made these yesterday. The chicken was great really nice and crispy. Genius! I did tweak the sauce a little; some lime zest and juice, a little more heat and honey. Think I will try a different coating something slightly thicker.
Virginia M. April 9, 2015
I was really excited to try he overnight drying method and it did not disappoint. The wings turned out super crispy in a way I haven't experienced before without frying. I'll definitely be making wings with his method again. The sauce was excellent as well, but I think III personally prefer something that you can toss the wings in before eating (though to hate to endanger that super crispy skin!).
kedivine January 20, 2015
Would the recipe only work with an overnight uncovered drying session in the fridge? With a shared fridge and limited room, I am not sure I can monopolize it with large plates of raw chicken for 24+ hours. I could probably handle an hour or so though.
GourMel May 27, 2014
I was really excited to try this over the weekend but my wings never crisped but rather the skin was so tough I couldn't even eat them. Any ideas what happened?
Alexandra S. May 5, 2014
Made these tonight, and they were spectacular! Sauce and all. I've never eaten so many wings in one sitting in my life. Not sure if I should feel proud or sick, but the wings and sauce were a huge hit here.

Congrats on the book! Can't wait to have so many genius recipes consolidated in one place. I continue to love this column.
Kristen M. May 7, 2014
Thanks Alexandra! I'm so happy you liked the wings.
Molly F. February 26, 2014
Divine!!! Ours didn't brown quite enough, but they were great. I think next time we will just grill them as we always have done, and use the sauce, which is AWESOME!!! Thank you! Served it with sesame rice and Korean coleslaw...nary a morsel left!
JK February 17, 2014
Use potato starch if you can, more authentic and doesnt leave the off taste
CGollay February 17, 2014
I haven't tried these yet, but that sounds like an awful large amount of baking soda. I think that when I do try them, I'll substitute baking powder for the soda, and perhaps add 1/4 tsp baking soda to aid in browning.
Lizziemac69 February 12, 2014
Love the technique and the way these turned out...making them again today for the second time. Drying out the chicken in the fridge is something relatively new to me, but it does the trick for offering snapping crunchy skin. The baking soda must work as a tenderizer on some level. We tossed our wings in Buffalo sauce before baking last time (and will again). They were fall-off-the-bone tender + that snappy skin. Awesome! We enjoyed with blue cheese and celery. Very, very good! (The sauce was also excellent, however, we used that for the Chicken Dumplings also found on this site! FANTASTIC! Better than any Asian restaurant we've ever had!)
Lizziemac69 February 12, 2014
Sorry - the recipe we used the sauce with is "Chicken Potstickers" also found on this site.
Michael M. February 10, 2014
So I'm making the wings but using liquid egg whites, and the marinade seems very thin. I'm hoping they still turn out okay.
JK February 5, 2014
welp..basted them, returned to the oven, flipped and repeated..another 10 minutes or so just build the outer crispiness back and allow the sauce to adhere, and lingering flavor that makes me want to tweak that 'marinade', because something tastes off. Too bad really, looked like a terrific technique. As for the color? Don't be afraid to vary the cooking times, not all recipes are exact,and all ovens are different. As for the smoke..well, clean your oven before heading into 450 land. That sounds like the issue, not the recipe. This method wold be for high heat oven baking not grilling..the method with the whites/baking soda is to crust am air dried skin, grilling would just burn that off. It's a whole different animal, just grill them like you normally would and make the sauce.
JK February 5, 2014
Tasted a little off..I'm not sure if it's the baking soda or the eggwhite, or just both..something off-putting, so basting and going back in for a few minutes
Tyaprey February 5, 2014
What are the ingredients for the sauce? ;-)
Kristen M. February 7, 2014
They're listed above!
Ingrid P. February 5, 2014
Is there any way to get the sodium content on this recipe? My husband has to be on a low sodium diet. Maybe these can only be for company! :-)
Kristen M. February 7, 2014
Hi Ingrid, I'm sorry that I don't know the sodium content for this recipe, although there may be good services for that online. I can tell you that some of the salt, egg white, and baking soda get left behind in the bowl, so this isn't a very salty recipe.
Amy February 3, 2014
Made these for that BLOW OUT super bowl yesterday. Like a previous post, I basted the wings in the sauce for the final turn in the oven. Definitely made them wonderful. Also, I used pineapple juice instead of apple and added a 1/2 t of cayenne for extra heat.