It is FOOTBALL season!
Which everyone knows means wings, wings, wings…am I right? That’s probably one of the only reasons I watch football honestly unless I am rooting for the Seahawks. I do live in Seattle after all, I feel like it’s an obligatory duty. We just won the first few games of the season so hopefully we can continue this winning streak. If not…I’ll just sit, enjoy my time with friends and munch on a pile of these spicy mango chutney wings. Pretty much a win, win for me!
I really didn’t want to waste a bunch of time trying to fry these wings because it is messy and so much added work but I was afraid of baking them in the oven because it seems you just never get enough crunchy texture. Josh and I both like our wings to have a really crunchy element so I did a little bit of research and discovered a magical ingredient to help solve all your “baking adds no crunch” dilemma.
BAKING POWDER!!
It really works! You have to first make sure that you get your wings completely defrosted and dry before you toss them in the baking powder. You do not want any extra moisture. The baking powder adds an extra boost in helping draw out the moisture of the wings while they bake and which really fries the wings on the outside.
Just look at that crispy golden skin!
We started doing a meat delivery box, every month they give you a selection of humanely raised, no hormone, and quality meat. It’s important to me that my meat comes from good places and that the animals were treated humanely. We signed up for a box that gives us free wings every month in our box!
Free wings for life! That’s an offer I wasn’t going to turn down!
We are actually moving to a house soon and I am hoping that we will be able to have ducks and chickens so I can start getting my own eggs!
Not for meat though! I know it sounds super hypocritical but I don’t have it in me to kill any animal. I have to wait for an ant to crawl out of my sink before I can run my water. That’s how bad I am.
Anyway, I feel I am getting a little off-topic here…
I am a huge fan of Indian food and chutney is just about one of my favorite condiments. I literally can’t get enough of it. And that’s just my problem! I don’t find enough reasons to use chutney in my culinary day-to-day.
Just FYI, I am a huge fan of condiments. I will literally make meals or eat carbs just for the dipping sauce or side sauce. Am I the only one here that would have a whole fridge of just condiments if I could? It’s on my bucket list…
I wanted to try and be a little unique and veer away from the typical hot wing or bbq sauce and then I had this great idea to make a homemade chutney sauce to toss my wings in!
Results? Amazing! (Actually, better than I thought they were going to be if I am being blunt, which I usually am.)
And…..it’s super easy to make chutney! Why, oh why have I not been making my own chutney all along? Especially since that stuff is like freaking expensive at the store.
With essential oils, it is easy to make sure you get that robust Indian flavor into your chutney and you have a lot of freedom to play around with your flavors. I ended up using cumin, ginger, coriander, cardamom, and turmeric essential oil. Thai and Indian cooking is one of my favorite cuisines to use these oils. It just makes my life and cooking so much easier.
I had some lal mirch powder on me so I added that for the spice level. Lal mirch is a pepper from India but if you do not have this spice on hand you can easily replace it with cayenne or chili powder.
I used mangoes and pineapple as the base just because mango is a very popular ingredient in curries and they add a nice sweet element (and they were in season this summer so it just seemed ideal.) If you don’t like mangoes though you could definitely add in another base fruit or vegetable. Apple chutney, tomato chutney, onion chutney, cilantro chutney…the possibilities are endless.
It’s really my goal here to try and encourage you to experiment and have fun! Don’t worry about following any recipe “exactly to a T” because it’s fun to make it your own.
And if you do change the recipe let me know how it turned out. I would love to hear about it!
But most importantly…Go Hawks!!!
Spicy Mango Chutney Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken wings
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Spicy Mango Chutney
- 2 mangoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon lal merch (recipe notes)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 drops doTERRA cumin essential oil*
- 2 drops doTERRA ginger essential oil*
- 2 drops doTERRA coriander essential oil*
- 1 drop doTERRA cardamom essential oil*
- 1 drop doTERRA turmeric essential oil*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
- Pat the wings dry with a paper towel. Line a baking sheet with foil and then place a wire rack on top of the baking sheet. Place dry wings into a large mixing bowl. Combine the baking powder, cumin, salt, pepper and onion and garlic powder in a small bowl. Place wings in a large mixing bowl or plastic bag and toss to coat evenly.
- Rearrange the wings on the baking tray in a single layer with the skin side up. They will shrink when they cook because the fat renders out so don't worry if they seem too close together. Place on the middle oven rack for about 30 minutes. Raise heat to 450 degrees F and place in a higher level of the oven for another 30 minutes.
- Take the baking sheet from the oven for and let the wings rest for about 5 minutes. Turn the oven to broil on high. Toss the wings in about 2 cups of the spicy mango curry sauce (recipe below) in a large bowl until evenly coated. Rearrange wings back on the wire rack and let broil for 10 minutes. Take the wings out of the oven and let sit another 5 minutes. Serve with a little extra of the chutney sauce on the side for dipping. Enjoy!
Spicy Mango Chutney
- Heat the olive oil on medium-low in a medium stock pot. Sweat the onions and garlic for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the lal mirch, curry powder, cinnamon and let it sweat for another minute. Add the mangoes, pineapple, sugar, vinegar, salt and stir to combine. Raise the temperature to medium-high and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil reduce to heat to low and let simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the sauce is to your desired thickness. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Transfer chutney to blender and blend until smooth. Store additional chutney sauce in the fridge.
Notes
- If you do not have lal mirch you can replace it with 1 tablespoon of cayenne or chili powder.
- If you do not have the essential oils then use these measured amounts of spices: 4 teaspoons of cumin, powdered or fresh ginger, coriander, and 2 teaspoons of cardamom and turmeric.
