Spicy Ginger-Orange Chicken Wings 

Chicken wings are a favorite because there's a high ratio of chicken skin to flesh. They're a fatty fun nosh. Most chicken wings require deep-frying (or sometimes grilling and baking) the drummettes and flats to a crisp and then tossing them in sauce. With those methods, if you're not careful, you can overcook the wings to a leathery texture. I've written up Asian-style chicken wing recipes before and gathered a bunch of them here. Recently, there's an easier and faster path to chicken wing heaven: Simply simmer the wings. Making finger licking good chicken wings does not require messy deep frying or fanciful cooking.

With a smart formulation of seasonings (I'm choosing ginger, warm spices, and orange here) plus a little technique, you'll have a pile of slightly sticky, addictively good Chinese-style wings coated with wonderful layered flavors. The cooking takes about 30 minutes. I went many rounds to develop this recipe and my neighbors were my primary taste testers. They ate up every batch and asked for more. There are few tricky dance moves with this recipe but you can make them ahead for a party, if you like.

The cooking process boils down to layering on flavors. First, tumble the wings in rice wine vapors to set a perfumy foundation. Then cook the wings in a vigorous simmer with lots of ginger, citrus peel, and star anise. Finally, bathe the wings in a bubbly bath of slightly sweet soy sauce. In total, this cooking process allows the wings to become tender rich and coated in a mahogany sauce reduction. Ginger provides a sweet undercurrent of heat; while eating the wings, I like to nibble on the ginger to cut their richness.  

Ginger and orange prep insights: You can chop the ginger and orange peel but my easy prep method leaves those seasonings in big pieces that you can pull out. If cut to a fine chop, they'll appear like a bunch of bits cluttering up the lovely wings. Keep those ingredients as largish pieces. Slice the ginger about ¼ inch (6mm) thick before smashing. No orange peel around? Use a different citrus, like tangerine, lemon, or lime. To peel or not to peel the ginger? Unpeeled ginger is hotter than peeled ginger so it's your call. For a ginger primer, look to this post.

Why the soy sauce combo? The light soy sauce offers salinity and a mahogany color. It's a standard condiment in Chinese cooking. Adding a bit of it to the dish with regular soy sauce creates a savory flavor with a lovely reddish-brown color. We partially eat with our eyes! If you don't have it, use regular soy sauce but the color will not as handsome. A primer on Asian soy sauce in this mega post.

Smart pan selection: Cooking this dish gets the pan coated with messy good, sticky bits. With repeated rounds of testing the wings, I found that a nonstick pan works great for clean up. I used a Joyce Chen Excalibur nonstick coated wok for most of the recipe testing. It was super easy to clean between batches. I reviewed the wok a while ago and till today, the nonstick coating has held up and not disappointed. It's great for these wings and more.

If you wonder . . .

Spice tweaks: Instead of star anise, try a short cinnamon stick for sweet earthiness. You don't like chile heat? Skip the Thai chiles.

Cooking chicken wings for a party? These wings darken a bit as they sit. The wings may be cooked hours ahead and reheated in the microwave oven.

Print Recipe

Spicy Ginger-Orange Chicken Wings 

Be sure to serve these wings with lots of napkins. Beer would be a perfect match.

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Asian

Ingredients

• 900 g | 2 pounds chicken drummettes and flats
• 60 ml | ¼ cup Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry (see Notes)
• 480 ml | 2 cups just-boiled water
• 6 to 8 strips orange peel, each about the length and width of your index finger (see Note)
• 45 g | 1 ½ oz peeled or unpeeled ginger, thickly sliced and gently crushed
• 2 fresh Thai chilies, lightly smashed, plus more for garnish
• 1 star anise, 8 robust points total
• 3 tablespoon regular, light Chinese soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon dark Chinese soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon molasses, such as Mother's unsulfured brand
• 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 60ml | ¼ cup chopped green onions, green and white parts

Instructions

• Perfume the wings with wine: Because this first move is fast, set the chicken, wine, and hot water near the stove. Put the orange peel, ginger, chile, and star anise in a small bowl.
• Heat a large (13-inch) wok or similarly-shaped pan over high heat. (See my tip above for pan selection so your clean up will be easy.) When hot -- flick a bit of wine into the pan and it evaporates within seconds -- pour the wine into the pan then dump in the wings. Immediately stir to coat the chicken in the evaporating wine.
• Simmer with the base seasonings: When most of the wine is gone, add the hot water, orange peel, ginger, chile, and star anise. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium. Let vigorously simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the salt-sweet seasonings: Stir in the light and dark soy sauces, molasses, brown sugar, and salt. Recover and continue cooking for 15 to 18 minutes, stirring now and then, until only about a third liquid remains. To test progress, insert a paring knife tip into a wing flat and it should meet very slight resistance.
• Cook to glaze: Uncover, and if you like, use tongs to remove the orange peel and star anise. Turn up the heat to high to boil and cook down the sauce. Stir constantly for 5 to 7 minutes to coat the chicken with sticky goodness and prevent scorching. When the chicken is mahogany and glossy and no liquid remains (some of the sugary sauce will darken and stick to the wok walls), turn off the heat. Let sit a minute to settle flavors. Taste and if the heat is not enough, smash 1 or 2 more Thai chiles and stir them in.
• Garnish and serve: Add the green onions, stir to distribute and slightly wilt them, then transfer to a serving plate. njoy warm with lots of napkins. Chew on the ginger for a contrasting bite. Tell diners to enjoy or avoid the chiles.

Notes

Use a vegetable peeler to obtain the orange peel strips. If you like citrus, use more.

For an assist, check out the mega soy sauce buying guide or the Shaoxing rice wine buying guide.