Sous Vide Chicken Wings
Sous vide chicken wings are the best way to deliver a perfectly cooked chicken wing. This recipe cooks the chicken in a water bath before cooling and then finishing as desired to avoid overcooked, dry wings!
Ingredients
- 24 chicken wings
- salt + pepper to taste
- sauces as desired
Instructions
Sous vide chicken wings:
- Preheat sous vide water bath to desired temperature. 145f will give chicken wings with more bite and chewiness, 165f will give tender, nearly fall off the bone wings.
- Once the water bath reaches temperature, vacuum seal the 24 chicken wings into a bag, and place the bag in the water bath for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Longer cook time will increase tenderness. If cooking from frozen: add an extra 45 minutes of water bath time.
- When done, remove the chicken from the water bath and plunge into an ice bath. This step is not strictly necessary but gives more leniency when finishing the wings without overcooking.
- Once cooled, remove the chicken wings from the sealed bag, place them on a baking sheet with a baking rack on top, and pat dry with paper towels and season with salt + pepper to taste.
Finish the chicken wings:
- Broil: Preheat oven to the highest broil setting. Toss the wings in a small amount of oil or desired sauces. Broil the chicken wings for 3 minutes, flip and broil again.
- Grill: Heat up your grill till it's around 550f, then toss the wings on the grates for 1-2 minutes, then rotate for another couple minutes until cooked to desired crispness.
- Pan Fry: Add 2-3 inches of oil to a deep cast iron pot. Heat it until it reaches 375f, carefully add the wings to the oil, and fry on each side until golden brown.
- Air Fry: Preheat your air fryer to 400f. Toss the wings in a small amount of oil, then add to air fryer and cook for 5 minutes, shake the basket, then cook for another 5 minutes.
- Deep Fry: If you've got a dedicated deep fryer, this is a great method. Preheat the oil to 375 - 400f, then fry the wings in batches for 3-5 minutes per batch.
Notes
make-ahead information
Once sous vide, the chilled wings can be kept in their sealed bag in the fridge for up to 4 days before being finished as desired. They can also be frozen directly from the ice bath, then thawed and finished whenever you're ready for wings. They can also be blotted dry, then placed on a rack and tossed in the fridge overnight to dry, even more, giving an even crispier skin.Batch:
A batch of these chicken wings for us is about 24. That said, you can cook as many as you have room for or as few as you like!Storage:
After sous vide, the wings can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days before finishing. If the wings have been sous vide and finished, they can also be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days total. After sous vide, the wings can also be frozen for up to 6 months for a quick and easy to prepare appetizer whenever you need it. I would not recommend freezing wings that have been finished, they'll get soggy and weird. To use frozen wings, remove them from the freezer the night before and thaw in the fridge overnight, or thaw in a sink of cold water for 1 hour. Then finish as desired.