Garlic Soy Chicken Wings with Herbs & Peanuts

These sticky wings are marinated in a sweet and savory mixture of soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar and honey and garnished with crunchy roasted peanuts, green onions and cilantro leaves. Rather than frying the wings, they are cooked in a hot cast iron pan. As the wings cook and the sauce reduces, the brown sugar and honey in the marinade create a sticky glaze.

Garlic Soy Chicken Wings with Herbs & Peanuts

Key Ingredients in This Recipe

• Chicken wings – You can serve a lot of people cheaply with chicken wings. They are such an inexpensive cut of meat. While there isn’t much meat on chicken wings, the flavor of the skin more than makes up for the small amount of meat! I recommend planning about 4 wings per person as an appetizer.
• Garlic – I always use fresh cloves of garlic, the pre-minced jars of garlic don’t taste the same. It loses a lot of the powerful garlic flavor when it’s jarred. This is because it has been soaked in water for a long period of time. Peeling garlic only takes a bit. As the garlic is sautéed the flavor mellows so it’s not very pungent but adds a base flavor.
• Soy sauce – I use reduced sodium soy sauce so that I can control the amount of salt in the recipe, adding more if needed.
• Peanuts – Chopped roasted, salted peanuts add a satisfying crunch that contrasts with the sweet and sticky wings.

How to Make Garlic Soy Chicken Wings with Herbs & Peanuts

1. Make the marinade. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the soy sauce, lime juice, oil, brown sugar, rice vinegar, red pepper, garlic and honey until completely combined.
2. Marinate the wings. Toss the chicken wings in the marinade then cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
3. Let the wings come to room temperature. Remove the chicken wings 30 minutes before cooking.
4. Cook the wings. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, add the vegetable oil and heat through. Working in batches add the wings, cooking until the wings caramelize on both sides and are cooked through, turning frequently so they don’t burn, about 10 minutes total.
5. Reduce any remaining sauce. After all the wings are cooked through add any remaining marinade to the pan until it reduces into a sticky glaze on the wings, about an additional 2 minutes.
6. Garnish and serve. Remove to a large platter and top with peanuts, green onions and cilantro. Serve immediately.

Tips and Tricks for This Recipe

To separate the wings

Everyone will be sure to eat every last bit off each one. I love the aesthetic of serving chicken wings whole with the drumettes and wing tips still attached. If you want to serve them cut, they can easily be separated with a quick cut in between the joint with a sharp knife, discarding the wing tips.

How to Bake the Wings

Rather than cooking these chicken wings in a cast iron skillet, they can also be made in the oven. Because of the sticky sauce I don’t recommend making these in an air fryer. You won’t get the same char on the outside but the sauce will still caramelize and this method is great if you’re making a large batch or multiple batches.

Heat oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Arrange the wings in an even single layer on a baking sheet. Bake the wings until cooked through and the sauce starts to caramelize, about 35 minutes, flipping them half way through cooking.

Other Recipes to Try

If you enjoy this recipe, I recommend checking out some of these:

• Baked Lemon Black Pepper Wings
• Baked Fiery Sichuan Peppercorn Chicken Wings with Avocado Ranch
• Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Wings
• Thai Chicken Wings

Garlic Soy Chicken Wings with Herbs & Peanuts

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Serves 4 as an appetizer; 2 as an entrée.

US Customary – Metric

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 pounds whole chicken wings

For serving:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ¼ roughly chopped roasted salted peanuts
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Handful cilantro leaves

Instructions:

For the marinade:

• In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the soy sauce, lime juice, oil, brown sugar, rice vinegar, red pepper, garlic and honey until completely combined.
• Toss the chicken wings in the marinade then cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

For serving:

• Remove the chicken wings 30 minutes before cooking.
• Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, add the vegetable oil and heat through. Working in batches add the wings, cooking until the wings caramelize on both sides and are cooked through, turning frequently so they don’t burn, about 10 minutes total.
• After all the wings are cooked through add any remaining marinade to the pan until it reduces into a sticky glaze on the wings, about an additional 2 minutes.
• Remove to a large platter and top with peanuts, green onions and cilantro. Serve immediately.

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