My love affair with Thai food is still at an all time high. After making my own delicious Pad Thai, I knew I wanted to create something with the same flavours but a bit different. Thus how these Thai chicken wings were born! They're crispy from baking them in the oven and then slathered with a spicy, and sticky Thai sauce. Basically, they're perfection!

All About the Sauce

What's a chicken wing without a sauce? It would be a very boring chicken wing. Because, lets face it, it's all about the sauce. For this one, I wanted to keep the flavours bold, spicy and balanced. I absolutely love the flavour of lemongrass so I knew I had to get some fresh lemongrass to mince it and add it in. If you haven't used fresh lemongrass before, it's actually pretty easy to use. You can find it at any Asian grocery store or larger markets, and I've even seen it at a local grocery store here in Toronto too.

How to Cut Lemongrass?

First, you need to remove some of the tough, outer layer. So you can just take that right off. Then you'll want to remove some of the bottom bulb as it is too fibrous. Then, I just slice it down the middle and remove that inner piece that's too tough to use. And then, just go ahead and mince away and take some time to smell that delicious lemongrass aroma. Your welcome!

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

A big part of these Thai chicken wings is the sweet chili sauce. It's a main ingredient in the sauce. You can use store bought sauce of course, or you can whip up some of your own, like I did. I find most brands have A LOT of sugar and even the ones you make yourself at home also contain a lot of sugar too. So, for my own version, I reduced the amount of sugar drastically and used coconut sugar instead.

The main things you need to make your own Thai Sweet Chili Sauce are:

• Rice vinegar
• Coconut sugar or honey or another sweetener will do
• Garlic
• Sambal Olek
• Arrowroot Powder
• Tamari

Once you have those ingredients, whipping it up is SO EASY!

Other Ingredients You'll Need

The other remaining sauce ingredients you'll need to make these Thai chicken wings are:

• Fish sauce: I recommend getting a high quality one, such as this one from Red Boat. It's a great brand, made with only anchovies and salt and doesn't have any added sugar.
• Lemongrass: this adds such a nice flavour, you can mince it fairly well on your own and add it to a blender  along with the other sauce ingredients to make sure it's super smooth.
• Coconut sugar: to help balance the sour and spicy, you need some coconut sugar.
• Lime Juice: to help add a bit more acidity and tang.
• Thai basil: This is a garnish, but again, I think it adds a lot of flavour to the finished product. You could use green onion or Chinese chives instead.

How to Serve Thai Chicken Wings

I find baking them with a bit of baking powder in the oven the best method. You can see my other recipe for honey garlic chicken wings here, I use the same method to bake them. These wings are best enjoyed hot and fresh from the oven, but you can of course save leftovers and reheat them the next day too. I like serving mine with some veggies, like crispy celery or carrots, or even some crispy oven baked potatoes too.

If you have leftover sauce, you can dip the wings in that too.

And if you're a chicken wing enthusiast like me, please let me know if you try these Thai chicken wings recipe by tagging me on Instagram or leave a comment/rating or review below.  

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