Thirty-minute chicken wings are one of those dishes that I thought to be unfeasible without a pot of hot frying oil. Baked wings require up to an hour, and most of the tricks for crisp oven wings require overnight dry brines with secret ingredients.
The solution came when I started playing with my broiler settings. Instead of the relatively gentle heat from the oven, the direct heat from the broiler can accomplish baking and crisping in a fraction of the time.
Use the low heat setting on the broiler to avoid burning the skin of the chicken; it will still be hot enough to cook the wings in 20 minutes. To further crisp and lightly char the skin, finish the wings under high heat in the final minutes of cooking. This method won’t result in crispy skin on all sides as with fried wings, but the side nearest to the broiler will provide plenty of crunchy contrast to the wings’ moist interior; indeed with this quick-cooking method, you won’t run the risk of drying out the wings with an extended baking time.
While you can use this method to prepare any manner of wing flavors, I like to use it for buttery, lemon pepper wet wings with a homemade seasoning. I rub the wings with a potent mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder before baking. The lemon flavor comes in at the end, with lemon zest added to melted butter and juice spritzed on just prior to serving to preserve its bright flavor. Serve the wings with the butter sauce for dipping, or just give the wings a thorough coat and skip the dip.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
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