Asian Sticky Wings: Deep Flavors and Doneness Temps

With a certain football game on its way, our thoughts turn to chicken wings. Wings at a party—whether for watching a game or otherwise—are always welcome, and we can’t get enough of them. We’ve written about grilled wings, classic Buffalo-style wings, and even drumsticks cooked like wings. Surely we’ve exhausted the topic, yes? No, for we have not yet written about Asian sticky wings! Nor have we written about a novel way of cooking them that imbues them with deeper, richer flavor and allows you to sling them fresh and fast at a party with practically no waiting. And, of course, we coat them in an amazing sauce—the recipe for which comes from Hey Grill Hey—that we love to put on everything. Let’s take a look!

Serving wings at a party: the difficulties and solutions

The trouble with serving wings at a party is that wings take a long time to cook. You can only fit so many in a pot or fryer, and by the time one batch comes out hot and ready to sauce, the previous batch has long been reduced to a pile of cold, stripped bones. So the party goes on in fits and starts of wing-devouring and fryer-waiting.

By cooking the wings to a food-safe temperature before frying, we can speed the fry-time dramatically. You can steam or bake the wings in advance, then drop them into the fryer to crisp the skin and reheat the meat. When you do that, the cooking takes only about a minute! Take the time to prep pre-party, and you can sling wings at seemingly superhuman speeds.

Braising wings for speed and flavor

To pre-cook the wings, we decided to braise them. Since we were planning on saucing these in a sticky-sweet-savory Asian-inflected sauce, it made sense to braise them first in a savory bath of soy sauce, ginger, scallions, etc. This not only matches our flavor profile but is, in a way, more “authentic.” No, this isn’t a traditional recipe, but in several East Asian food cultures, braising tougher meats in a dark and rich broth is part of many classic dishes.

Piling the wings in a pot with the savory broth and cooking them until the meat is done packs the wings with umami tastiness and guarantees the meat is tender and food-safe. Cook the wings to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F (74°C)—though they will be good all the way up to 203°F (95°C). Use your Thermapen ONE to check the temperature of several wings in the braise before removing them to dry off and cool somewhat.

(The higher the temperature you cook them to before removing them from the braise, the more necessary a cooling step becomes. If you go all the way up to 203°F (95°C), you’ll need to put them in the refrigerator until they are cooled through. Only taking them to 175°F (79°C)? A quick stint in the fridge just to cool the exterior should be fine. This is because the hotter-cooked wings will be so tender that they may fall apart in the frying without a cooling step!)

Out of the braising pan and into the fryer: a step for safety’s sake

Of course, we can’t just go from a pot of braising liquid directly into a deep fryer—unless we want a fireball and several third-degree burns in our kitchen. No, the wings need to dry out before they go into the fryer. Place them all on a rack, wet, into a baking sheet and place them in the fridge to dry out before you fry them. If you’re prepping well in advance of your party, this is where you’d want to stop. You can get to this step the day before the fry if you want. If you’re cooking straight through, this is the time to make the sauce. Strain the braising liquid, add some jelly and vinegar, and reduce it in a wide pan until it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. You should end up with 1 1/2–2 cups of sauce.

Wing frying temperature

Once the wings are braised and dried, we can finally fry them. We’re going for maximum skin-crisping here, and that means high heat. We don’t need to worry about overcooking the outside of the wings before the insides finish cooking, because we’ve already cooked the insides, so we’re going to fry them at 375°F (191°C). Use your ChefAlarm (we also used the optional straight probe as it’s a little easier to set up on the side of a pot) to set a high-temp alarm at 375°F (191°C) and a low-temp alarm at 350°F (177°C) then adjust your the heat of your pot up and down to try to keep the temperature within that window while you fry.

Because you’ve already cooked the skin and meat, the wings take only about a minute to cook to a beautiful brown with a nice crisp on the skin. If you chilled your wings longer, they will take another minute or so to warm through, but you can take their temps with your Thermapen ONE again, just to see if they’re warm enough to enjoy.

Party goals accomplished

If you want to be a party-time MVP, you should try this method out. Braise up several pounds of wings and pre-prepare your sauce, then start frying and serving a half-dozen wings at a time faster than your friends can eat them. They’ll be impressed by your skills and amazed at how tasty these Asian sticky wings are. With the right temperature tools and some thermal thinking, it’s super easy. Happy cooking!

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