Crispy Coconut Chicken Wings Recipe

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I'm a little picky about my chicken wings. Instead of slick, hot sauce-smothered wings, I like my wings crispy and dry-rubbed, sort of like a miniature version of my favorite fried chicken. Though there are pros and cons to both baking and frying wings, I find that the best way to achieve that perfectly crispy-crunchy exterior is by deep frying. The hot oil turns the exteriors perfectly golden brown while keeping the insides impossibly moist, resulting in what, to me, is the perfect wing, ready to dip, dunk, and drench in whatever sauce your heart desires.

This crispy coconut chicken wings recipe showcases deep-fried wings in all their glory, but with a unique coconutty, Thai-inspired flair. Marinated in coconut cream, red curry, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and a squeeze of lime, these wings combine the spicy flavor of creamy red curry with crispy coconut-fried chicken. That initial coconut curry marinade later becomes a sauce, adding another layer of dimension in one delicious, ultra-crispy appetizer or entree. 

The first ingredient you'll want to grab is a pack of chicken wings. You can make this recipe with up to 2 pounds of chicken wings, or about 24 split wings. When buying chicken wings, you can buy them already split into wingettes and drummettes, which are typically referred to in-restaurant as drums and flats. You can also buy chicken wings and cut them yourself, which saves some money and takes very little extra time.

With the chicken wings bought, you'll also need coconut cream, soy sauce, red curry paste (often labelled as Thai), garlic, ginger, and lime juice, which will be used for the marinade and the sauce. For the breading, you'll need flour, salt, eggs, panko, and coconut shreds, which can often be found in the baking aisle near the coconut flakes. Lastly, you'll need quite a bit of oil for deep frying, so buy enough to fill about half of your pot or Dutch oven.

Pat the chicken wings completely dry.

Transfer the wings to a large plastic bag or bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut cream, soy sauce, red curry paste, garlic, ginger, and lime juice.

Add the marinade to the bag or bowl with the chicken, submerging the chicken, and marinate for 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator.

When ready to fry the chicken, first prepare a dredging station. Add the flour and salt to one bowl, the beaten eggs to another, and the panko and coconut shreds to a third.

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven over medium high heat.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and drain any excess using a mesh strainer, reserving the marinade.

Dredge the chicken first in flour, then coat in egg. Press into the panko-coconut mixture until coated.

Add the breaded chicken to the hot oil in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pot.

Fry the chicken until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165 F, about 8-12 minutes.

Drain chicken wings on paper towels, then repeat the frying process with any remaining batches.

In the meantime, make the sauce. Add the reserved marinade to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Boil for 5 to 7 minutes, until hot and thickened to a sauce.

Stir in ¼ cup water to thin the sauce, then remove from the heat.

Drizzle (or toss) the fried chicken wings with the red curry coconut sauce, then serve.

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The marinade that is leftover after soaking the chicken will be thick, creamy, and fragrant, so you may wonder why you need to bother cooking it at all. There are two reasons for cooking the marinade into a sauce, and one is vitally important: The sauce has to be brought to the same temperature as cooked chicken in order to kill any bacteria leftover from the raw wings. This means the sauce has to reach 165 F, which requires boiling for about 5 minutes. This also causes the sauce to thicken and reduce, but adding water thins it to a hot-sauce consistency that you can then safely drizzle over the wings.

If you are wary of using the marinade for a sauce and want to start from scratch, I'd still recommend cooking the combined ingredients before serving to enhance the flavors. Without simmering, the raw garlic, ginger, and curry paste will be strong and almost bitter tasting. By cooking the sauce, you not only thicken the creamy coconut, but you also deepen the flavors and ensure a richer sauce. By doing it this way, you can skip the boil and simply simmer for a few minutes to deepen the flavors, then pull the sauce from the stove and serve when the wings are ready.

Coconut milk, coconut cream, and cream of coconut are all different products, and it's important to know which ones can be substituted for which. The difference between cream of coconut and coconut cream is in the sweetness, so you don't want to mix them up when using them each for recipes. Cream of coconut is lightly sweet and often used for cocktails, desserts, and coffees, whereas coconut cream is thick, unsweetened coconut milk that replicates the consistency of heavy whipping cream. Often, the cans look very different, which makes them easier to tell apart.

Coconut milk, on the other hand, can be substituted more freely for coconut cream. A thinner consistency, coconut milk is less thick but ultimately just as creamy as coconut cream if given the time. Make the marinade as written, then boil and simmer the sauce until thickened, which may take up to 10 minutes instead of five. The sauce will also be slightly less rich, in the same way a sauce made with milk instead of heavy whipping cream would be.

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