Fried chicken wings have been one of the most popular meals for decades. They are easy to come by and you have hundreds or even thousands of options when it comes to flavoring them to the preferences of others.

It is possible to make one flavor of chicken wings for one person but then a completely different flavor for another using the same bag of chicken wings.

This is nearly impossible to do with any other protein item. Or if it is possible, it is very difficult to accomplish. Frozen chicken wings are extremely common and cheap, being sold in almost any store and usually being sold in bulk.

There are two ways to prepare frozen chicken wings. The first way is to bake them using an oven. This takes a very long time, up to an hour if you are making a lot of them. The second way to prepare frozen chicken wings is to deep fry them. This typically takes less than half the time than baking them does.

Deep frying frozen chicken wings the way restaurants do entails a completely different skill set than baking them does.

Just dumping your wings into a deep fryer for 20 minutes sight unseen is not a good idea. You will be left with tasteless wings with next to no texture.

There are certain things that you need to do to make sure that your wings come out perfectly after taking them outside of a deep fryer.

Before exploring this procedure, it is a good idea to explore the benefits that deep frying chicken wings have over baking them.

Why Deep Fry Chicken Wings?

There are a few reasons why deep frying chicken wings is so popular, especially among restaurants. The first of these is the most obvious: It saves a lot of time.

Baking even a small amount of chicken wings will take an incredibly long time, especially if the wings are frozen. Expect frozen wings to be finished within an hour at best after baking them. You also have a lot more options when deep frying chicken wings. You’ll be able to coat your wings with breading and sauce will stay on the wings as well.

Depending on what oil you are using in your fryer, you’ll be able to create breading for wings very easily when deep frying them. This is literally impossible to do when baking wings. Sauce will drip off of baked wings, especially if the wings are frozen. This is not the case when it comes to deep frying them. Deep frying wings also give wings a texture that you just do not get when baking them. The meat on the wings are more tender and flavorful as well.

While baking frozen chicken wings is an option, deep frying them is a better option.

Baking frozen chicken wings is easy: Wait for the wings to thaw somewhat, preheat the oven, then put the wings in the oven.

Deep frying them follows a completely different procedure.

Thawing Preparation

Leaving your frozen chicken wings in water for a while until they completely thaw is fine if you want to bake them. You’ll be able to season them however you like before they go in the oven, knowing that they are going to be in a stable environment where they will not move.

You’ll need to do something completely different if you want to deep fry them since wings will be moving constantly in a deep fryer.

Deep frying any kind of poultry will require you to season all the pieces at the same time together somehow before placing it in the deep fryer.

Remember, deep fryers use certain oils that boil at rapid rates. There is no way you will be able to season wings while they are in the deep fryer.

If you season them one at a time, the seasoning will not last in the deep fryer.

This is why you need to season your wings while you are thawing them.

To do this, place a generous amount of seasoning in the same area of water you are thawing your wings in and mix vigorously.

This will allow the seasoning to be absorbed into the wings, allowing the seasoning to withstand the intensity of the oil in the deep fryer.

When the wings are completely thawed and seasoned, they are ready to go into the deep fryer.

Setting up Your Deep Fryer

Before putting your wings into the deep fryer, you need to make sure that your deep fryer is ready for the wings.

Make sure that you have enough oil or grease in your deep fryer, whichever one the fryer uses. Because of the violent boil that a deep fryer produces, you’ll need to expect copious amounts of oil to spill from the deep fryer. You should also make sure that there are no other substances around your deep fryer.

Even something like water can cause the oil inside of the fryer to boil even more violently. Something that acts as a conductor for oil such as grease may even cause a fire. Speaking of fire, make sure you have fire prevention equipment on hand and have a good knowledge of fire prevention techniques before deep frying your wings. You will be dealing with very high temperatures as well as a substance that is flammable. Keep this in mind.

Also, make sure your fryer baskets are clean with handles free of oil or grease. You’ll be periodically taking them out during the frying process so you want to make sure you can get a good grip on the baskets.

The Deep Frying Process

Once your deep fryer is set up, don’t just think you can drop all of your wings into the fryer at once.

If you do this, the oil or grease in the deep fryer will splash everywhere and it is very likely that you will get burned.

Put your wings into the deep fryer a few at a time. If you are worried if this might make some of your wings come out undercooked, do not. A few seconds will not affect this at all.

It will usually take a little under 20 minutes for your wings to be done during deep frying. Take them out periodically to check on how done they are as well as to move the wings around a bit. Doing this will make sure all the wings are completely cooked.

After your wings are finished, let them rest in a bowl or on a plate for a few minutes. They will be extremely hot and the oil or grease that you used to cook them will still need to dry before eating.

If you want to put sauce on the wings, you should do it while they are resting. This will infuse the sauce into the wings.

Conclusion

Chicken wings are a favorite of many, and you can prepare them by grilling, baking, or deep frying. Grilling them requires you to have cracker jack timing. Take them off of the grill too early, and they will be raw. Leave them on the grill for too long and they will be burned.

Baking them takes far too long, especially when you are baking them from a frozen state.

However, deep frying them not only reduces this cook time, but will also make your wings much more flavorful. Deep frying frozen chicken wings is what practically every restaurant does. It is easy to replicate yourself and you should certainly look into it.