This "Secret Sauce" Makes Extra Crispy Chicken Wings (That Will Steal the Super Bowl Show)
From Buffalo to barbecue, sweet chili to lemon pepper — as well as baked, smoked and fried preparations — there are a million ways to make mouthwatering chicken wings. Making them extra crispy, however, requires an extra special ingredient.
Enter Chef Chris Arturo, who doesn't play about with his recipe for Five Alarm Wings with Fermented Hot Sauce.
In fact, he has a unique trick up his sleeve: potato starch.
Potato starch is exactly what it sounds like: starch that has been extracted from high-starch tubers then washed and turned into a fine powder.
“The wonders of a modified starch, such as potato starch, cornstarch, rice flour, arrowroot and the like, is that they immediately bind to any moisture on the wing,” Chef Chris says.
“Once the starch hits the hot oil, it begins to bind immediately, forming a crust around the entire wing. This encapsulation leads to steaming the wing in its own little cocoon.”
In other words, this recipe doesn’t involve batter. The chicken is simply dredged in potato starch and placed directly into the fryer.
“Frying is a dry-heat cooking method, even though it’s submerged,” adds Chef Chris. “When you just fry a wing as is, you’re basically dehydrating it in oil.”
Can’t find potato starch in your local grocery store? Cornstarch, rice flour or arrowroot makes a fine substitution. Chef Chris’s favorite is rice flour: “Combine rice, corn and potato, and see the wonderfully crispy possibilities!”
Once fried, Chef Chris tosses the crispy wings in a bespoke fermented hot sauce that he makes with garlic, pineapple and three types of peppers. The sauce’s fermentation adds complexity and tang, making its flavor profile more than just spice.
“I don’t just use hot sauce to make things spicy,” he says. “I think of hot sauce as any other acidic ingredient — I use it to brighten flavors.”
And if fermenting your own sauce isn’t in the game plan, don’t worry. When not making his own sauce, Chef Chris turns to Tabasco (but you can use whatever hot sauce you like).
Whether you’re a Super Bowl fanatic or just watching for the half-time show, these wings deliver crunch that makes everyone reach for more. Get the recipe below and happy sports watching!
More recipes for the big game:
Ingredients
Fermented Hot Sauce
- 500 grams serrano peppers, stems removed & cut in half
- 500 grams jalapeño peppers, stems removed & cut in half
- 500 grams habanero peppers, stems removed & cut in half
- 200 grams fresh pineapple, cubed
- 10 garlic cloves, root removed
- 1 liter of 2.5% brine (1 liter water with 25 grams salt dissolved)
Five-Alarm Wings
- 500 milliliters fermented hot sauce
- 100 grams sugar
- 400 grams butter, cubed & cold
- xanthan gum (as needed)
- 200 grams potato starch
- pinch of salt
- 2 pounds chicken wings
Directions
Fermented Hot Sauce
- Place solids in a fermentation jar and cover completely with brine.
- Use a fermentation weight to keep all solids under the liquid. Attach air-lock lid and ferment at room temperature 2 weeks.
- Transfer solids to blender and blend until smooth.
Five Alarm Wings
- Bring hot sauce and sugar to a boil, making sure sugar dissolves completely.
- Pour mixture into a blender. With blender on low, slowly add butter. Adjust viscosity with xanthan gum. Set aside.
- Set fryer to 325°F. In a large bowl, add potato starch and salt.
- Dredge wings in potato starch mix, tapping each wing on side of bowl to remove excess.
- Working in batches to avoid overcrowding the pot, fry wings 6 minutes and drain on a wire rack.
- Add wings and sauce to a bowl and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
