I’m a big fan of sticky finger food and is this my take on my local Thai restaurant’s Gai Pad Gratiem Prik Thai: sticky chicken wings in a garlicky, peppery sauce.
There are two recipes in this post: one for the garlic and pepper chicken and one for the crispy garlic (crispy garlic being one of my top ingredients in its own right!).
Chicken wings in a sticky garlicky and peppery glaze. This, for me, is proper happy food and the term “finger-licking” has never been so apt!
Basically the wings get cooked in the oven first before being finished off in a wok or pan with a simple sauce that becomes a gorgeous sticky glaze.
I love these piled on a bed of lettuce with crispy garlic and spring onions, but I sometimes serve them with a quick Thai-style carrot salad – this is simply grated carrot mixed with roughly equal amounts of lime juice, Thai fish sauce and sugar, along with a few toasted peanuts for added crunch and flavour.
It is worth adding that there is any chicken left, it is delicious eaten cold the next day.
Coating the chicken before cooking
Rather than deep-frying the chicken, I roast or air-fry them. It is easier and, of course, reduces the fat content. And while I think fried food can taste great (no oven-baked doughnut can compete with a deep-fried doughnut, for instance!), with the fabulous glaze here you really don’t miss the frying!
I give the chicken a generous dusting of cornflour, white pepper and garlic powder before they go in the oven. This gives a fabulous crispy crust with bags of flavour, with the cornflour absorbing some of the lovely chicken fat and juices as it roasts.
Cutting the wings into smaller pieces
You can use the whole chicken wings but I often like to cut them into two – as in the photo in the recipe. You get smaller bites, each a flavour explosion, but they go further.
Cooking the chicken on the bone not only gives a better flavour, it helps keep them moist while they cook: even if you cook them longer they are not prone to drying out.
This recipe also works well with small chicken thighs (bone left in), in which case I would serve 2 small thighs per person as a starter.
Either way, use a sharp knive to cut the chicken in several places, going right down to the bone: this opens up the flesh to allow some of the sauce to get trapped in there.
The wonderful glaze
The flavour-packed sauce reduces around the chicken to give a terrific sticky glaze. I have made this dish several ways to get it to be what I think is just right.
I don’t always add oyster sauce (it adds a lovely richness, but the dish is still lovely without it) but I now add water to the sauce as well as a little cornflour:
- I find the water and cornflour allows the sauce to simmer a little longer without it reducing too quickly and potentially burning/sugar over-caramelising. As the sauce simmers, some of it is absorbed into the crispy coating on the chicken skin to give lovely gooey bits.
- while the little bit of cornflour in the sauce thickens it very slightly – in conjunction with the natural thickening as the liquid reduces – its slight viscocity enhances the overall stickyness.
Recipe 1: Thai garlic & pepper chicken wings – serves 2-3 as a starter
- 8-9 chicken wings, either left whole or cut (see above), with skin left on
Dry coating:
- 3 tablespoons cornflour
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon ground white pepper
Sauce:
- 100ml water
- 2 teaspoons cornflour
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar (any type)
- 2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, optional
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
To serve:
- crispy garlic: the recipe for this is at the bottom of the page
- spring onions or chives, finely sliced
- lettuce leaves, optional
You will need to preheat the oven to 190°C(fan)
(1) Make cuts into the chicken, going down to the bone. Mix the chicken with the oil.
(2) Mix the dry coating ingredients together and sprinkle over the chicken. Toss well to coat – the oil helps the coating stick.
(3) Place the coated chicken on a baking tray lined with parchment, keeping them a little apart.
NB: you can do these in advance and leave them in the fridge until you are ready.
Dusted chicken wings ready for roasting
(4) Roast for 25-30 minutes or until you get lovely golden-brown and crispy skin: you should be able to see some of the skin bubbling up through the coating. Remove from oven.
NB: I sometimes do this in the air fryer set to 180°C for about 20 minutes – a shorter time and a slightly lower temperature, as befits the air-fryer.
(5) While the chicken is roasting, prepare the sauce. Mix the cornflour with a little of the water to give a smooth liquid. Add to a wok or pan, along with the remaining sauce ingredients and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce just comes to a simmer.
NB: I normally taste this sauce at this stage to check it is not too salty. If it is, I add a little more sugar.
(6) Increase the heat in the wok so that the sauce simmers gently, keeping the heat no higher than medium.
NB: if you have made crispy garlic (see separate recipe below) you can add some of that to the sauce at this stage if you wish or save it for scattering over: it adds a lovely toasted garlic flavour and works well with the chopped garlic already in there.
(7) Add the roasted chicken pieces, shaking the pan gently and turning the chicken over from time to time until the sauce has reduced, thickened up and has coated the chicken: this only takes 2-3 minutes. Just don’t rush it by whacking the heat up too high.
(8) Scatter over any of the crispy garlic, spring onions or chives and dive in!
Recipe 2: crispy garlic
This is one of my favourite ways to eat garlic and I like to scatter it over all manner of vegetables at the table: it is amazing scattered over cooked cabbage, for instance.
While I like to scatter it over the chicken in this dish, you could add this crispy garlic to the sauce in the recipe above. It will soften up a little but it adds a lovely toasted garlic flavour.
Ingredients:
- 3-4 large cloves of garlic, peeled and either sliced thinly or finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
(1) Heat the vegetable oil in a small pan over a medium heat. Add the sliced or finely chopped garlic.
(2) Cook gently for about half a minute or so, stirring occasionally, until the garlic starts to turn golden-brown, gently stirring occasionally.
NB: don’t take the garlic much darker as it turns bitter and is horrid.
(3) Spoon the garlic from the oil to kitchen towel to drain: the garlic will crisp up as it cools.
Don’t throw away the oil: it now has a delicious garlic flavour and is ideal for dressings or stir-fries.
