Crispy, juicy, golden. These Fried Chicken Wings featured in Netflix® “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories” are a fantastic appetizer or snack to go with Japanese beer. Learn the simple tips to cook them right, and indulge in pure joy!
The Japanese have a deep-seated love for fried chicken. Whether it’s bento lunch or late-night bar snack, we devour them practically in almost every meal. That’s why you can find more than a handful of fried chicken recipes on the blog – which includes the most popular karaage, Nagoya-style fried chicken, chicken tempura, and chicken katsu. Today I am going to add to the delicious collection with this Fried Chicken Wings (手羽先の唐揚げ) recipe.
You can find these ultra crunchy fried chicken wings featured on the popular Netflix® show – Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (Season 2, Episode 4). They are seriously good, and I know you’d be in love.
The Master in the show teaches us a few hot tips in cooking the perfect fried chicken, which I’ll cover in the recipe. So read on. The wings make the best companion to go with Japanese beer (read Mr. JOC’s Japanese Beer Guide) or sake. Ready to make some crispiest, juiciest Japanese fried chicken wings? Let’s get started!
Why You Should Make These Fried Chicken Wings
- The outside is coated with a layer of super-light, extra-crispy starch, while the inside is tenderly juicy. Impossible not to take another bite!
- A perfect snack, party appetizer, or main dish to go any time of the day.
- Happiness induced and satisfaction guaranteed.
How to Make Fried Chicken Wings
Despite the deep frying, this recipe is one of the easiest recipes on the blog. It involves 3 simple steps:
- Prepare the wings by making 2 slits and season the wings.
- Coat with potato starch.
- Deep fry till crispy and cooked through.
3 Important Tricks and Tips
1. Make 2 Slits
A small cooking tip does matter. And in this case, I’m referring to these 2 slits you make in the mid-joint – one above the bone and one below the bone. These two slits not only help to flavor the chicken but also ensure it is cooked through as the meat near bones takes time to cook.
2. Marinate for 15-30 Minutes
If you have been cooking a lot of Japanese recipes, you may notice that we do not over marinate food. Even with these chicken wings, we’ll only marinade for 15-30 minutes. The key is to use good ingredients and enjoy the true flavor. Seasonings are for enhancement.
3. Check Your Oil Temperature
The most important part about deep frying is the temperature. No matter how well you prepared your chicken wings, if you do not know how to deep fry them, your chicken wings will not turn out well.
The easy solution is to get a kitchen thermometer. Especially if you are not familiar or confident with deep frying.
Consider getting a thermometer if you wish to venture into deep frying and don’t own one yet. I have the following thermometers at home (different price points) and they are my favorite (affiliate links):
The oil for deep frying these wings is 340 ºF (170 ºC) and the internal chicken temperature should be 165 ºF (74 ºC) to consume safely.
About Deep Frying…
Many people prefer to avoid deep frying and I understand. You could end up with a greasy, messy, and smelly kitchen, and you have to figure out how to dispose of the oil. And deep frying can be scary for a beginner cook.
But once you taste the really good deep-fried chicken, you know how almost impossibly hard it is to replicate that in other cooking methods.
These wings are the winner’s prize! The winner as in the person who deep-fries, of course. Just don’t over-indulge yourself – a moderate amount once in a while to truly enjoy this special treat.
Can You Air Fry?
I’m sure I’ll get asked this question, so I’ll mention here first. I am certain that you can. The only issue is I don’t own an air-fryer so I can’t share any tips or cooking time for that matter. I have several foodie friends who own air fryers and they all tell me I shouldn’t bother buying one because deep-frying always tastes better. And I’m the kind of person who doesn’t mind deep frying for the perfect results. That’s just me. All in for good food!
Can You Use an Oven?
I’ve tried a few times to see if I can make it work, but I’m afraid I haven’t figured that out. You can “shallow-fry” in a deep pot, so the sides of the pot will minimize the oil splatter.
I hope I’ve convinced you to give the recipe a go! Imagine the pride, the contentment, and pure enjoyment at the table. A giant plate of homemade delicious fried chicken wings, it’s worth the effort and love!
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Crispy, juicy, golden. These Fried Chicken Wings featured in Netflix® "Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories" are a fantastic appetizer or snack to go with Japanese beer. Learn the simple tips to cook them right, and indulge in pure joy!
- 10 chicken wings
- ¼ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- ⅛ white pepper powder
- 4 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp sake
- ¼ cup potato starch/cornstarch (I recommend using potato starch for the best texture)
- 3 cups neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (for deep frying (720 ml))
- 1 lemon (for squeezing and garnish)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Place the chicken wings, skin side down. Make 2 slits on the mid-joint of the chicken wings, avoiding the bone. Sprinkle salt and white pepper.
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Evenly spread the salt and pepper on both sides of the wings.
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Add the soy sauce and sake in a medium bowl and add the chicken wings to the marinade.
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Coat the wings with the marinade really well and set aside for 15-30 minutes.
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Prepare a tray with potato starch. Coat each wing with the starch and dust off excess starch.
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Heat the oil to 340 ºF(170 ºC) in a deep pot over medium-high heat (later on, change to medium heat and keep it at the optimal temperature). Mix the oil and check the temperature using a cooking thermometer or cooking chopsticks.
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Put the chicken wings (My pot can take 4 max without overcrowding) and deep fry until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes, and the chicken's internal temperature is 165 ºF (74 ºC).
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When the chicken is crispy on the outside and cooked through, drain the oil on wire rack or a paper towel.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Omg, you can’t beat fried chicken wings and beer! Thank you Nami sensei!
Thank you Ralph! I hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
I really want to try this recipe, it looks good! Just my unpaid advertising, but I have owned a fryer similar to the T-Fal FR8000 deep fryer for a few years (mine has Emeril’s name on it from T-Fal). It maintains temperature automatically and it is very easy on cleanup if you do a lot of frying.
P.S., Not sure in other cities, but in Los Angeles they take used cooking oil at recycling centers.
Hi Roy! I just checked it on Amazon. It looks good! I think it’s similar or the same as my friend’s deep fryer too. Thanks so much for sharing the helpful tip with our readers!
Nami, Nami, não tenho palavras, isso ficou uma obra de arte, maravilhoso parabéns ficou lindo e gostoso de se ver.
Uma pergunta????
Você saberia me dizer qual é a marca da cerveja que eles tomam na serie?
Eu tentei achar por aqui pelo rotulo mas não encontrei. Eu não morro de amores por cerveja principalmente as daqui, mas a cara que eles fazem quando tomam essa cerveja, dá uma vontade de tomar.
Você saberia me dizer?
E muito obrigado por mais uma da suas obra prima.
Hi Syd! Eu acho que eles não mostram a marca da cerveja porque não é patrocinada por nenhuma empresa. Geralmente eles escondem propositalmente a marca ou cobrem o nome da marca. Espero que meu tradutor do Google funcione!
Question: It looks like you only use the 2 outer ends of the wings. What do you do what the “drummies”?
Can’t wait to try this – LOVE wings.
Hi Martha! OH!!! If you watch the show, that’s how they served too. We call this part (without drummet) “Tebasaki”. In order to make the same dish as the drama, I asked the butcher to chop off the drummet (I kept for other cooking) and I made this recipe. You can definitely use them if it’s attached. 🙂
You can also cut off easily if you have a thick butcher knife. 🙂
Another winner! Soooo easy to make and delicious!
Hi Elizabeth! Yaaaay! I’m so happy to hear that you liked this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Hi Nami,
If I don’t have potato or corn starch, can I use cake flour instead (that’s the only thing I have at home right now)?
I was so happy to see your recipe as I really wanted to eat the wings when I watched this episode of Tokyo Diner! 😉
Thanks,
Cecile
Hi Cecile! I’m so sorry for my late response. You “can” use flour but the texture of the batter/skin is a bit different. One day you give it a try with potato/cornstarch! 🙂
I think the problem was the soy sauce marinade. Not a good taste for fried chicken. And I think it was the reason the potato starch got too dark too quickly. I tried another recipe for the Midnight Diner wings that used lime juice and shochu for marinade and tapioca flour. They came out perfect, and were about as good of fried wings as I ever had. This combo just didn’t work. Some of the tips were helpful, though, so I’m glad I read the recipe and at least tried it.
Hi Rod! First of all, I’m trying to create my Midnight Diner recipes on this site as close as the original recipes. In the Midnight Diner show, you can tell how the Master made in the drama as he or someone explains it during the show.
In Japan, there are a lot of resources on how Midnight Diner recipes are made – and the food director for this show also shares the actual recipes too. Anyway, back to my point. This is how it’s made in the show. No lime or shochu are used in the show, and in Japan, we do not use Tapioca flour for coating the “Japanese” fried chicken. Tapioca flour is not very common in Japan and you can’t really find it at a regular grocery store. Also, for fried chicken or fried foods, we use either potato starch and/or flour.
At the end, it’s up to your preference when it comes to taste and how you enjoy it. Oh one last thing, the soy sauce and sake for marinating like this is very common in Japanese cooking and you will see in many recipes. However, be careful that most of time we do not marinate for more than 30 minutes because the ingredient taste (in this case chicken) should not be overwhelmed by the marinate, so 15-30 minutes for marinating is standard. Therefore, the chicken won’t become dark when you coat with the potato starch. 🙂
こんにちわ
I follow many of your recipes easy to go through.
This one was a clear hit and I took the sauce from the Nagoya recipe SUPER おいし
The reason I follow your site/recipe is I’m married to a Japanese woman.
And she misses from time to time Japanese food so the side is a clear welcoming by us.
Anyways ower son really really likes this recipe.
Now a question how long can the sauce stay in the refrigerator?
B/regards
Lars
こんにちは Lars-san! Thank you so much for trying my recipes and I’m really happy to hear that you, your son, and your wife enjoy them. The sauce can last for a long time (like a month) as it doesn’t contain water but I recommend adding garlic and ginger whenever you use it since it can go bad.
This are some seriously A+++++++++++++ fried chicken wings!! I had wings with tip and drum attached and had 16 total, but increased the salt + pepper + marinade accordingly. My husband devoured the wings. Thank you again 🙂
Hi Jean! Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
Thank you for this great recipe! I airfried the wings and they became super crispy and juicy.
Hi Linh! That is AWESOME! Thanks for letting me know air frying worked great for this recipe! 🙂