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These fish sauce wings have 3 ingredients...yet they are some of the most addictive, munchy wings ever! This is a classic Thai appetizer, popular especially when people have a cold beer in their hands! Salty, crispy, and so satisfying. Typically they are deep fried, but I have found that shallow-frying works just as well. Give the first side (the side with thicker skin) lots of time to brown and crisp up, and cook the other side just until the chicken is done, and you'll have chicken with crispy skin and still juicy on the inside!
WANT MORE FRIED CHICKEN? Check out my Hot Thai Chicken recipe
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Thai Fish Sauce Wings
- Yield: 12-14 wings
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken wing flats (also known as wingettes)
- 1 ½ Tbsp fish sauce
- ½ tsp ground white pepper (optional)
- ¼ - ⅓ cup rice flour
Instructions
TIP: I recommend using a splatter guard if you are shallow frying the chicken (the mesh thing I place over my pan) to keep most of the oil splatters in the pan. I find that shallow frying wings creates more aggressive splattering than deep frying...so it's a price to pay for using less oil!
In a dish just large enough to hold all the chicken wings in one layer, or in a zip-top bag, toss the chicken wings with the fish sauce well. Let the wings marinade for 30 minutes, flipping them half way through.
Remove the wings from the marinade and pat them dry with paper towel. If using, sprinkle ground pepper all over the wings and press it onto the skin.
Lay the wings in one layer on a plate and sift rice flour evenly over them, then flip the wings and sift the flour over the other side. Transfer the wings into the sieve and shake off any excess flour; you want the wings to be entirely coated with a thin layer of flour.
At this point you can deep fry the wings, or shallow fry them as I did in the video. Note: When you shallow fry wings the oil will "jump" a lot more than when you deep fry, so if choosing to shallow fry, make sure you have a mesh screen to prevent oil from jumping on to you!
To deep fry, heat the oil to 375°F and fry for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. To shallow fry, fill a 12-inch skillet with just a thin layer of oil, no more than ¼ inch deep. Once the oil is hot, place the wings, thick skin side down, and fly without moving them for about 4 minutes over medium heat until the skin has a deep golden brown colour.
Once the skin has developed a deep brown colour, flip and fry the other side just until the chicken in cooked, 2-3 more minutes. Don't worry about trying to get this side crispy, you don't want to fry for too long and overcook the chicken. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel.
If you pull the chicken out and realize the skin on the top side is still soft and moist, you can put them back into the pan and refry them until the skin comes out dry and crisp.
Serve while still hot with a cold beverage!
David (nc_kimchi)
I was looking for a good Thai chicken wing recipe, so thank you! I experimented a little and used flats and drumettes, sprinkled Japanese Shichimi Togarashi pepper on the finished wings, and dipped in Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. All were good options, but the wings with just the flavor of Squid brand fish sauce and white pepper are delicious, just as Pai said! My wife and teenage daughter even liked them ;-). I plan to make them again and test in the air fryer, along with a Thai fish sauce/lime/chili dip.
Dennis
That looks so yummy!!! Do you think there would be a way to “fry” then in an airfryer? Received one for the holidays and am dying to try it. Thanks. Love the videos!!!
Stephen Chan
This wing recipe is perfect for days when you're lazy, or when you run out of ingredients, but don't want to sacrifice quality. Simple yet delicious!
★★★★★
Carolyn
I am a wing fanatic. I’ve tried just about every wing from nearly every nation. So I do not give this review lightly.
On an ‘effort to outcome ratio’, and to be frank in 97% of straight out crunchy salty delicious wing options, this wing is KING.
It’s so simple it should be dull or bland but instead it’s crisp, delicious, perfect with beer, very More-ish and sooooooo easy to make. I also experimented with cooking them in the oven (instead of a pan), on a half sheet baking pan. Once again delicious and requires less attention than even the original recipe. You can pair it with anything or with nothing. My favourite is plain or with my thai Mayo..... where you powder up kefir lime leaves and mix through mayonnaise with a bit of lime juice and chilli of your choice. It’s toooooo good.
★★★★★
Thea
Can you please share what oven temperature you used and for how long?
David (nc_kimchi)
Since the oil temperature varies during cooking, and flats and drumettes require different times, I used a probe thermometer to quickly check each wing as it came out of the oil to be sure it was at least 165 F.