Easy Chicken Wing Brine Recipe
If the world of food had a class system based on excellence, brined poultry would be an aristocrat. Nevertheless, however much pleasure this fare may give the consumer, the prospective cook often feels the same amount of fear. To the novice, it is an intimidating venture.
Not only do you have to know how to use a brine, but you first have to know how to make it. Where do you begin? What ingredients do you choose? How do you put them together? It's slightly more difficult than using a dry rub as there are so many variables that it can be discouraging to try to align them to produce a tasty result. But isn't it worth it, so you won't make your chicken dry?
Of course, you can follow a recipe, but following a recipe will not make you a master of the art of brining. You need to know the reasons for the directions and the guiding principles of the process. If you're tired of simple fried chicken, maybe it's time to follow a different recipe? Or make buffalo wings with a twist?
While a chicken recipe is very necessary for a beginner, I want to boost you out of the beginner level quickly by showing you what is behind the delicious and very easy chicken wing brine recipe I have to offer you. It is my hope that you can gain the confidence not only to follow the wing recipe, but also to create your own.
What You Will Need For This Chicken Wing Recipe
- Couple of pounds chicken wings
- Water or other liquid. A brine is a very easily altered solution. To adjust the flavor of your meat, use another liquid to replace part or all of the water. Fruit juice, vinegar, wine, and beer are options worth considering. The choice depends on the flavor you want. You may need to experiment to figure out just the right ingredients and proportions.
- Salt. You can use table or kosher salt, but whichever you choose, ascertain that it is free of additives in order to produce the purest brine possible. Since it does not contain iodine or anything to keep it from forming clumps, kosher salt is often the best choice.
- Refrigerator or other means of chilling
- Container for brining. It is unimportant what you use as long as it is made of a substance that will not corrode. If you use plastic, crockery, stainless steel, or a resealable bag, you should be safe.
- Weight, such as a plate, to keep meat under the surface of the brine
- Seasoning: sugar, black pepper, garlic powder, white pepper, red pepper flakes. You can easily switch out these ingredients for other herbs, spices, or even vegetables. As with the liquids, what you use depends on the flavor you want your meat to have. Brown sugar, peppercorns, and allspice are popular choices.
The Reasoning and the Recipe
Step 1: Determine the amount of liquid you need.
How much liquid you use depends on your meat. With your wings in a large bowl, cover them with water and then increase the depth by three inches. At this point, you are simply taking measurements, so after you have properly filled your bowl, pour the water into measuring cups, record the amount, and then dispose of the water.
Recipe: For 3 pounds of chicken wings, you need approximately 6 ¼ cups of liquid.
Step 2: Compute the necessary quantity of salt.
The basic ratio of salt to water is 1:16, but the kind of salt you choose will determine the exact amount. Table salt is of a different crystal size from kosher salt, so your calculations will be most accurate if they are based on weight rather than volume.
1 cup of table salt, the standard quantity per gallon of liquid, contains approximately double the weight of 1 cup of kosher salt. To ensure you are not under- or over-salting your brine, you can use the weight of the cup of table salt, approximately 10 ounces, to measure the proper amount of kosher salt. If you use 10 ounces of kosher salt per gallon, you can be certain your level of saltiness is correct.
Recipe: If your liquid measures 6 ¼ cups, you want ⅓ cup of table salt or ½ cup of kosher salt.
Step 3: Dissolve the salt.
Now that you know the amount of liquid you need to brine your meat, measure out enough to dissolve your salt. After bringing it to a boil, pour in the salt. If you are using sugar, add it as well, and stir the mixture until the solids are dissolved.
Recipe: When creating the brine for your chicken wings, dissolve your salt and ⅓ cup of white sugar.
Pro tip: To achieve nicely browned skin on your chicken when cooking, include sugar in your brine.
Step 4: Complete the chicken wing brine.
At this point, it is time to add any spices or herbs you wish to include in your brine mixture.
Recipe: Mix ¼ cup of red pepper flakes and ¼ cup of white vinegar. Pour this blend, 2 tablespoons of black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of white pepper into the salt and sugar solution.
Now add your remaining liquid. Since the aim is to prevent the brine from cooking the chicken, it must be cold before you add your meat. To accomplish this, you can chill the liquid before adding it, or you can complete the brine and then chill it in the refrigerator.
Recipe: Add sufficient cold water to equal 6 ¼ cups liquid total.
Once you have chilled your brine, stir in any other ingredients you wish, such as fruit and vegetables.
Pro tip: Follow a recipe for a rub to create a perfect seasoning blend for the brine.
Step 5: Brine the chicken wings.
Once the rub is cold, add your chicken wings. Be careful to allow no part of the chicken to rise above the surface of the brine. If necessary, use a plate to weigh the meat down.
Place your container with the brine and the meat in the refrigerator and leave it there until the brining process is complete. On average, brining takes one hour per pound, with this amount increasing or decreasing depending on the thickness of the meat. One factor to include in calculating the brining time is the acidity of your liquid. If you use anything acidic, shorten the time to avoid causing your meat to disintegrate.
Recipe: Brine your wings for two to four hours.
Step 6: Prepare the chicken wings for cooking.
When the brining is finished, separate your meat from the brine and give it a careful rinse. Using paper towels, dry it gently and cook it by any method that uses dry heat, such as grilling, roasting, or baking. You can further season the meat if you wish, either before or after cooking, add a bit of bbq sauce or hot sauce, or even soy sauce, but brined meat stands well on its own.
Pro tip: Place chicken wings in the refrigerator to dry overnight to help the skin become crisp when cooking. Another tip is to use a wing rack for your brined chicken wings, Cave Tools Chicken Wing & Leg Rack. That way you'll get even better results with your bbq chicken,, and all your friends will be pleasantly surprised.
Conclusion
Are you eager to grab the chicken, chicken legs or chicken breast, and the salt and start to work? The prep time and cook time aren't too long and now that you know the general principles of brining, you can enjoy the freedom of creativity and experimentation to produce a dish exactly to your taste, still with its natural flavors. You can make baked chicken wings or grilled chicken wings or use deep frying method with this brine chicken wings recipe.
While you may feel most comfortable starting with a chicken wing brine, your new understanding of the process will remove the chains of the written word and open the way to the innovations and alterations which make the product specially yours. Share your thoughts, ideas, and inspirations with us in the comments section below, and pass this article on to the budding chefs in your life.
Chicken Wing Brine Recipe
Ingredients
- Couple of pounds chicken wings
- Water or other liquid
- Salt
- Refrigerator or other means of chilling
- Container for brining
- Weight
- Seasoning: sugar, black pepper, garlic powder, white pepper, red pepper flakes
Instructions
- How much liquid you use depends on your meat.
- With your wings in a large bowl, cover them with water and then increase the depth by three inches.
- At this point, you are simply taking measurements, so after you have properly filled your bowl, pour the water into measuring cups, record the amount, and then dispose of the water.
- The basic ratio of salt to water is 1:16, but the kind of salt you choose will determine the exact amount.
- Table salt is of a different crystal size from kosher salt, so your calculations will be most accurate if they are based on weight rather than volume.
- 1 cup of table salt, the standard quantity per gallon of liquid, contains approximately double the weight of 1 cup of kosher salt.
- To ensure you are not under- or over-salting your brine, you can use the weight of the cup of table salt, approximately 10 ounces, to measure the proper amount of kosher salt.
- If you use 10 ounces of kosher salt per gallon, you can be certain your level of saltiness is correct.
- Now that you know the amount of liquid you need to brine your meat, measure out enough to dissolve your salt.
- After bringing it to a boil, pour in the salt.
- If you are using sugar, add it as well, and stir the mixture until the solids are dissolved.
- At this point, it is time to add any spices or herbs you wish to include in your brine mixture.
- Mix ¼ cup of red pepper flakes and ¼ cup of white vinegar.
- Pour this blend, 2 tablespoons of black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of white pepper into the salt and sugar solution.
- Add sufficient cold water to equal 6 ¼ cups liquid total.
- Once you have chilled your brine, stir in any other ingredients you wish, such as fruit and vegetables.
- Once the rub is cold, add your chicken wings.
- Be careful to allow no part of the chicken to rise above the surface of the brine.
- If necessary, use a plate to weigh the meat down.
- Place your container with the brine and the meat in the refrigerator and leave it there until the brining process is complete.
- On average, brining takes one hour per pound, with this amount increasing or decreasing depending on the thickness of the meat.
- One factor to include in calculating the brining time is the acidity of your liquid.
- If you use anything acidic, shorten the time to avoid causing your meat to disintegrate.
- When the brining is finished, separate your meat from the brine and give it a careful rinse.
- Using paper towels, dry it gently and cook it by any method that uses dry heat, such as grilling, roasting, or baking.
- You can further season the meat if you wish, either before or after cooking, add a bit of bbq sauce or hot sauce, or even soy sauce, but brined meat stands well on its own.
Nutrition
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