Recipes

Five Spice BBQ Chicken Wings

Serves 4-6

| Prep Time: 5 mins

| Cook Time: 20 mins

| Total Time: 55 mins

You may need: Chinese Five Spice

Discover The Recipe

We can never have too many recipes that deliver flavor-packed meals in minutes. This recipe for Chinese-style Five Spice BBQ Chicken Wings won't disappoint. Five spice powder is an essential seasoning in Chinese cooking and If you’ve had Chinese take out, you’ve probably tasted five spice without even realizing. Culinary historians believe that five spice was developed to stimulate all of the five tastes in the mouth: sweet, savory, bitter, salty, and sour flavors. Five spice also plays off the Chinese philosophy of balancing yin (cool) and yang (warm), both cool and warm flavors provided by the spices. A little goes a long way to delivering this balanced profile of flavors and enliven even the blandest foods, so use sparingly.

Commonly used with braised meats like pork and steak and to season roasted poultry like fatty cuts of duck, goose, pork and chicken, five spice also pairs well with tofu. Try five spice in your favorite recipes for a unique twist: baked goods & desserts, soups, BBQ steak, nuts, or even a pinch in your coffee/tea! If you're not ready to fire up the BBQ, try oven-baking the wings instead

Ingredients

2 lbs chicken wings
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce (optional)
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1.5 tsp of Piquant Post Chinese Five Spice
2 tsp dry cooking sherry or rice wine (optional)
1 tsp sugar (optional)
Salt & pepper, to taste (optional)
1 scallion, diagonally chopped
toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Notes

Using your grill to make easy weeknight meals like these Five Spice BBQ Chicken Wings is standard procedure for many folks on our team. However, if you don't have a grill (or it's currently frozen in the dead of winter), use your over broiler.

The oven broiler might be the most overlooked tool in the kitchen. Nearly everyone with an oven has a built in broiler. Broilers are a chef's go-to when flame grills aren't available. The key is to set the rack about 6 inches below the top broiler and to watch your dish carefully as it cooks. Set a timer on your phone or oven (especially if you get might distracted by kids or other food prep)

Rice wine is an essential ingredient in Chinese cooking and distinct from rice wine vinegar. If you don't have access to a market that sells Asian foods like rice wine, you can order rice wine on Amazon. A nice substitute is dry cooking sherry, available in nearly every supermarket.

Marinating the wings overnight achieves max flavor. However, we often marinate in the fridge in as few as 30 minutes if pressed for time.

Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don't sweat it if you don't have them.

Instructions

First, make the marinade. In a small bowl, combine garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, five spice, sherry / rice wine, and sugar. Briefly whisk to mix. Season the chicken wings with salt & pepper.

Add the wings to a large zipper bag or a non-reactive bowl. Then, add the marinade mixture, seal the bag, and toss to coat. For best results, marinate the chicken for at least 30 mins up to overnight in the fridge

If using the BBQ: heat the grill. Cook the wings for 7-10 mins then flip. Cook another 7-10 mins or until chicken reaches 165 deg internal temp. Garnish with chopped scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

If using the oven: Preheat oven to 400. Place chicken on a wire rack over a drip pan (or, if you don't have rack, a parchment-lined sheet pan). Bake for 40 mins, flipping halfway (at 20 mins). For extra crispy wings, cook the cooked wings under the oven broiler on High for ~8 mins, watching carefully. Garnish with sesame seeds and chopped scallions..

Alternatives & Substitutions

If you don't feel like making these Five Spice BBQ Chicken Wings, you can use the recipe to marinate just about any other cut of chicken. We love marinating bone-in chicken thighs and either grilling or baking them. Boneless breasts work great as well.
Chinese Five Spice especially enhances the flavors of dark meat or other fatty poultry like duck. It’s also commonly used on pork or beef. In fact, our Five Spice Beef Stir Fry is fantastic!
If you prefer a vegetarian dish, Chinese Five spice lends itself well to roasted veggies like sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, roasted nuts, soups/stews, and vegan buddha bowls. Or try our fantastic Five Spice Tofu Bao.
In the mood for a delicious sandwich? Try our Chinese five spice powder to make an authentic Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich.
Or, Try this tofu banh mi recipe for another delicious vegetarian alternative.
Be sure to leave comments and feedback on your meals and experiments in the comments for others to read.
Post pictures of your masterpiece meal on social media and tag us. We repost!