Crispy and succulent ginger miso chicken wings and kale yogurt dip

Twice baked for light, juicy, and crispy finish

We love chicken wings, any time of the year. Still I don’t care for overly greasy taste for some of them. After reviewing numerous recipes (including this from Café Delites) and multiple experiments, these days I settled on the method of light dry rub, bake on a rack (so that extra fat drips down), coat with a sauce, and bake briefly. I tried several different flavor options (both dry rub and sauce), and this works with many difference combinations, including everyone’s favorite Frank’s RedHot sauce.

First bake with light dry rub and finish with a quick bake in ginger yuzu miso (or your favorite) sauce

This version starts with baking wings with garlic/ginger/paprika rub and finishing with ginger yuzu miso sauce. The sauce is similar to the miso glazed kalbi marinade, but to make sure the sauce coat baked wings, it has more soy/sake and less miso. Yuzu is entirely optional, and the addition of touch of yuzu softens miso’s pungent flavor and adds a beautiful citrus note.

It can certainly an appetizer, and we often have them as a main dish with a variety of raw vegetables and kale yogurt dip as pictured above.

Tips for making your wings crispy, juicy, and flavorful

1. If you can, choose wings that are not too fatty, preferably organic/free range.
2. Key to crispiness is thoroughly drying wings before seasoning/baking. After separating wings to drumettes and flats (I usually use heavy-duty kitchen scissors), dry and wrap them in a paper towel in a single layer, and refrigerate several hours. I often do this the night before and keep them overnight.
3. Coat wings lightly with your favorite dry rub. I often uses a stash I make ahead with paprika, turmeric, garlic/ginger powder, and brown sugar, which I included in this “Goodness Basics” post. Or, it could be just salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
4. Right before you start baking, lightly coat the wings with olive oil.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes on a rack in an oven at about 400F, flipping in the middle. This will allow excess fat to drip.
6. Drizzle over and lightly cradle with your favorite sauce and put back in the oven for another 7-8 minutes.

Some of the dipping sauce options (usually previously made for something else per “Goodness Basics” post and reused) are:

• Turmeric paste + barbecue sauce
• Barbecue sauce with soy/sake/maple sugar reduction
• Ginger/garlic/scallion with soy/sake/maple sugar reduction

For me, this method pretty much guarantees crispy yet sticky (I know, a bit of oxymoron), succulent, and flavorful wings.

Try it, and let me know what you think!

Crispy and succulent twice baked chicken wings

Chicken wings baked in the oven over a rack and finished with a brief bake in ginger yuzu miso sauce. This method makes the wings crispy & flavorful without heaviness/greasiness.

Can be served as an appetizer of a main dish with a variety of vegetables and kale dip.

NOTE: the actual fat content is significantly lower then the nutritional calculation because the wings are baked on an oven rack which allows some fat to drips down.

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Resting time before 1st bake 4 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Calories 763 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3.5 lbs chicken wings about 2 packages or 16 whole wings

Light dry-rub for 1st bake

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp ginger powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp maple sugar can use brown sugar as well
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Ginger (yuzu) miso sauce

• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1-1/2 tbsp miso
• 3 tbsp sake
• 2 tbsp maple sugar can use brown sugar as well
• 3 stalks scallion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp grated ginger from about 1/2-inch piece
• 1 tsp yuzu juice optional
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Kale dip

• 3 oz crème fraîche can use sour cream or crema
• 3 oz whole milk yogurt
• 1 cup dino kale
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme can use oregano, other herb, or mixed herb
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper can use paprika or other peppers
• 1 piece boiled egg

Side vegetables (whatever you like)

• 2/3 head cauliflower
• 1 head broccoli
• 1 piece orange bell pepper
• 2 pieces golden beets
• 2 cups dino kale

Instructions

 

Prep chicken

• Pat dry chicken wings and wrap in paper towels in a single layer, and let them rest in a fridge for several hours or overnight
• Heat the oven to 400F
• Mix the dry-rub spices and lightly coat the wings evenly, and let it rest for 15 min.
• Right before baking, coat the wings with 1 tbsp of oilve oil, and arrange them on an over rack in a single layer.
  

1st bake

• Bake the wings in the middle rack first for 20 min. and then flip and bake for another 20 min. If they are not yet golden brown, and bake for another few minutes.
  

Mix ginger yuzu miso sauce (while the wings are baking)

• Mix soy sauce, sake, and maple sugar in a small sauce pan and put on a low heat for a few minutes until the sugar dissolves. Add miso and continue to stir over the stop top for another few minutes, until the sauce slightly thickens.
• Grate ginger, press or finely chop garlic cloves, and thinly slice only white/light green parts of scallions.
• Mix ginger/garlic/scallion and sesame seeds into the sauce. If you have a yuzu juice, add at the end.
  

Prepare side vegetables (you can use whatever/however you like)

• Golden beets – peel the skin, cut in half, and slice them into thin pieces. To eliminate its bitter taste, wash them and let rest in a lightly salted water for about 10 minutes, towel dry thoroughly.
• Lacinato/dino kale – wash about 6 large kale leaves, and split them in about 3-inch pieces. Set aside about 1/3 for kale dip.
• The rest – slice bell peppers, break apart cauliflower and broccoli, etc. In spring/summer, sugar snap peas will take great.

Prepare kale dip (you can use food processor if you’d like)

• Finely chop the kale leaves you’ve set aside.
• In a medium bowl, mix crème fraîche, yogurt, and lemon juice, and add salt, herb(s) and spices.
• Mix in chopped kale.
• (optional – if you have one handy) finely chop a peeled boiled egg and mix into the dip.

Finish the wings with ginger (yuzu) miso sauce

• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
• After the first bake of wings is done, transfer them over in a single layer to the baking sheet.
• While they are still hot, drizzle the sauce over and thoroughly coat the wings.
• Bake for about 7-8 minutes in the 400F oven. If there is a time lapse between the two bakes, add a few more minutes to finish up.
  

Nutrition

Calories: 763kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 52gFat: 48gSaturated Fat: 14gPolyunsaturated Fat: 10gMonounsaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 225mgSodium: 1558mgPotassium: 1492mgFiber: 8gSugar: 15gVitamin A: 4526IUVitamin C: 253mgCalcium: 434mgIron: 6mg

Keyword chicken wings, crispy, garlic, ginger, juicy, miso, oven-baked, soy, yuzu

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