This sugar braised chicken wing recipe is one of my favorites. And as the very first recipe post on Spice the Plate, I couldn’t think of a better dish to share with you guys.
Instead of granulated sugar, I used crystal sugar for this dish. It is a very common type of sugar widely used for Chinese cooking, some people like to call it Chinese rock sugar. (Crystal sugar can be easily found in most Asian grocery stores.)
The difference between crystal sugar and granulated sugar is that crystal sugar is slightly less sweet in taste. So feel free to substitute it with granulated sugar.
Below is a recap of how I made this dish.
I hope you enjoy making this tasty sugar braised chicken wings at home. If you like this recipe, please give a rating and share it with your friends!
- 1 pound chicken wings
- ¾ bunch green onions, cut into 1-inch long pieces
- ¼ bunch green onions, chopped
- 5 slices ginger
- 4 star anises
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ⅛ cup dark soy sauce
- ⅛ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup crystal sugar
- Fill a large pot with 4 cups of cold water, add the chicken wings and bring to boil over high heat , keep boiling for about 2 minutes until the chicken wings have changed color.
- Keep the boiled water for later use, fish out and rinse the chicken wings under cold water, drain well and set aside.
- Put the chicken wings into a skillet pan, add vegetable oil, ginger, green onion and pan fry the chicken wings for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stir occasionally.
- Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce and stir fry for about 1- 2 minutes.
- Pour in the boiled water from step 2 into the pan and add star anises, turn the heat up to high, when the water starts to boil again, turn the heat back to medium.
- Add the crystal sugar and stir slowly to help the sugar melt faster.
- Simmering over median heat with lid off until the sauce has thickened and almost vanished as shown in the the second-last picture of the image demonstration above.
- Top with chopped green onions and serve.
2.The use of boiled water in step 5 could help keep the chicken wings tender compared to using cold water.
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6 comments
All that sticky sauce over the chicken wings is seriously making my mouth water.. this is definitely a great dish I need to make for myself!
Hi, Thalia
I am very glad that you like this dish, it’s one of my favorites as well. Let me know if you have any questions about how to make this dish, I am happy to help!
Unfortunately your recipe does not work. Step 5 requires you to “add the water from step 2” which is 4 cups of water… I added 4 cups of water at stage 5 and the dish was ruined… Swampy chicken wings. Please correct your instructions.
Hi Heather, I am sorry to hear that. But if you followed the instruction I gave exactly, the dish should turn out like mine. Have you seen step 7 by any change? I mentioned in this step to simmer over median heat with lid off until the sauce has thickened and almost vanished. If you turn off the heat just a little after you added the water at stage 5, I woundn’t be surprised the dish will turn out swampy.
Let me know if you have other questions and have a nice day!
I absolutely agree with this. 4 cups is a ridiculous amount of water even if you let it simmer, it would take forever to thicken.
These were so good! They came out beautifully and the water cooked down to a delicious glaze.