A kilo of chicken wings and a barbecue sauce built from scratch in the time it takes to marinate them. No bottle involved.
Keep some sauce back
This is the one thing worth getting right before you start. Divide the sauce in two as soon as it is made: one part for marinating the raw wings, one part for spooning over at the end.
Sauce that has had raw chicken sitting in it should not go over the cooked wings, and once both bowls are on the counter it is easy to forget which is which. Reserve first, marinate second.
What is in a barbecue sauce
Four things, and the recipe has all of them:
- Sweet: sugar, and the ketchup brings more.
- Sour: vinegar, which is what stops it being cloying.
- Savoury: Worcestershire sauce, which is where the depth comes from.
- Fat: butter, which gives it gloss and body and makes it cling to the wings.
Mustard sits between the sour and the savoury. Chilli powder is optional and Colombian versions usually leave it out.
It thickens as it cools
Take the sauce off the heat while it still looks slightly loose. Sugar-based sauces thicken considerably as they cool, and a sauce reduced until it looks right in the pan will be a paste by the time the wings are done.
When the wings are ready
The meat pulls back from the thin end of the bone and the joint moves freely. Fifteen minutes is right over a hot grill; in a pan it takes longer and they need turning.
If you are grilling, brush the reserved sauce on near the end rather than at the start. It has sugar in it and sugar burns.
More chicken
- Herbed grilled wings — the version without sauce.
- Barbecue sauce — the sauce on its own, in quantity.
- Honey mustard chicken — the other sweet glaze.
- Roast chicken — for the whole bird.
Barbecue Wings FAQ
Not the same batch. Divide the sauce in two before the chicken goes near it: one part to marinate, one part to serve. Sauce that has held raw chicken should not be spooned over cooked wings without boiling it first.
For gloss and body. Fat is what makes the sauce cling to the wings instead of sliding off, and it rounds out the vinegar. Sixty grams in this quantity is not detectable as butter.
The meat pulls back from the thin end of the bone and the joint moves freely. About fifteen minutes over a hot grill, longer in a pan with turning.
Near the end if you are grilling. The sauce contains sugar and sugar burns over direct heat, so brushing it on at the start gives you a black crust before the chicken is done.
About two weeks in the fridge in a sealed jar, as long as it is the reserved portion that never touched raw chicken. It thickens further as it sits.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1000 g chicken wings
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup water
- 60 g butter (goes into the sauce as it cooks; it is what gives it gloss and body)
- ¼ cup vinegar
- ½ cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- ¼ onion, finely chopped
- Pepper
- Chili powder, optional
Notas
Instructions
- Dissolve the salt and sugar in the water, then add the vinegar, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and pepper.
- In a pan over low heat, cook the finely chopped garlic and onion until soft.
- Pour in the sauce mixture and the butter. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until it thickens.
- Toss the wings in part of the sauce and leave them to marinate for 30 minutes.
- Grill or pan-fry the wings for about 15 minutes, until cooked through.
- Transfer them to a plate and spoon the rest of the sauce over the top.
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