With only 3 ingredients, these Japanese Salted Chicken Wings (Teba Shio) are oven-broiled till juicy and crisp golden perfection. So good and unbelievably easy to make, they will be the wings on repeat for all your parties, game days or lazy Sunday dinners.
What are some of your tried and tested favorite foods to serve at a party? My go-to dish is these Japanese Salted Chicken Wings, or in Japanese, we call them Teba Shio (手羽塩). Popular finger food you can find at Izakaya (Japanese tapas restaurants), these oven-broiled wings taste just like they are grilled outside!
With seriously crispy skin and umami, teba shio are the best thing I regularly pull out for gatherings. They are insanely easy that I even make these wings when I get stuck in the cooking rut. Wings to the rescue and family approved! If you’re reading this, you have to give it a try.
Watch How to Make Teba Shio (Salted Chicken Wings)
How to Make Perfectly Juicy and Crispy Chicken Wings in the Oven
Here’s how you achieve juicy and crispy wings in 3 simple steps:
- Use good quality chicken wings! I like to source for organic, free-range chicken if possible. It makes a difference.
- Soak the chicken wings in sake for 15 minutes. You don’t have to use expensive sake, but you do need 1 and 1/2 cup sake to make sure all the wings are covered. No substitute, please. Sake helps remove the gamey taste from the chicken. This is extremely important when the chicken is only seasoned with salt and pepper.
- Pat dry each wing thoroughly with a paper towel before baking. Extra liquid from the sake is a no-no for crispy skin.
Yes, that’s it! Simple details rule when comes to a simple recipe with minimal ingredients.
After broiling the chicken, the skin gets so crispy and they are addicting and simply amazing! To give the wings extra punches, serve with a lemon wedge and a sprinkling of Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven spice).
The first time I served Teba Shio for a party of 20 and these wings were the first to go. I secretly think that people can’t get enough of the wings because they are so good without any sauce, which means less mess. Who could resist that at a party? Everyone asked for the recipe, and boy, was I glad that I could explain it in 30 seconds.
I hope you give Teba Shio a try for your next gathering and make sure you have enough wine, sparkling water, and sake to pass around!
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Teba Shio (Salted Chicken Wings)
Ingredients
- 2 lb chicken wings (flats/drumettes) (16 pieces; I use mid joints/flats)
- 1½ cups sake
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (optional)
- lemon (optional)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Line the bottom of a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for easy cleaning) and place a wire rack on top.
- Soak 2 lb chicken wings (flats/drumettes) in 1½ cups sake for 10 minutes, turning the wings once.
- Remove and pat dry each wing with paper towels and place the wings, skin side up, on the wire rack.
- Sprinkle a GENEROUS amount of Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, and flip the wings to sprinkle the other side. Keep them skin side down.
- Set the oven broiler to High (550ºF/288ºC) for 3 minutes before cooking. Place the baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven, about 8 inches (20 cm) away from the heating element. Cook for 9–10 minutes, until nicely brown and crispy, and then flip the chicken to cook the other side (skin side) for another 9–10 minutes. Watch the chicken carefully so it does not to burn; if your oven is small/strong, try broiling at Medium (500ºF/260ºC) or lower the rack.
- If you don‘t have a broiler, bake at 425–450ºF (200–230ºC) for 45 minutes. Monitor the cooking time—the chicken is cooked through when internal temperature is 165ºF (74ºC).
To Serve
- Serve with shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) and lemon wedges on the side.
To Store
- Keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and in the freezer for a month.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in February 2011. The photos have been updated and the video is added in February 2016.
I’ve made this multiple times and it’s always so quick and so easy and so quickly demolished 😂 when Nami says a GENEROUS amount of salt, she means it! I have to always remember to put a few more shakes of salt than what I think is generous! Yum!!!
Hello, Jean! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your thoughts!
Yes! The generous amount makes this dish tasty. 😁 We are happy that you enjoyed it as much as we do. Happy Cooking!
Just want to say that I had friends over the other day and I served the teba shio salted wings and they were all impressed and it was gone in mins. I omitted the peppers though.
Hi Sheena! Hahaha. 😁 We are so happy to hear everyone loved Teba Shio!
Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Fantastic!
Hi Anne! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Nami’s recipe!
Thank you so much for trying her recipe and sharing your Teba Shio photo. Happy Cooking! 🤗
Hi there,
Thank you for your recipe, I’ve tried it today. My husband love it, but somehow I still feel a little gamey smell from the chicken. It cooked, crispy and delicious, just the slight gamey taste made me feel incomplete. I don’t know what the problem is. Maybe I didn’t soak it in sake long enough? Or should I wash the chicken more carefully before marinade them in sake??
Hello, Shippo. Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
A salt solution is typically effective in removing the gamey odor or taste.
(1 tablespoon salt per quart of cold water) Marinate the meat for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
You might also try soaking in the sake for a longer period of time the next time.
We hope this helps!
Hi there,
Stoked to try out another recipe of yours. Wondering if this would work with split wings (ie drumette, wing, and tip all still attached together)? Not sure if the drumette would cook evenly with the wing and the tip might burn 🙁
Hi Jean! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
If the wing and tip are flat and away from the top heating element, this recipe will work for split wings too.
We hope this helps!
This was dinner last night; now, the plan is to buy wings whenever they’re cheap, keep them in the freezer, and make this whenever I realize the night before that I don’t know what tomorrow’s dinner will be (so the wings can defrost overnight in the ’fridge). Easy, quick, delicious, healthy, cheap … what’s not to love?
(Last night’s dinner included rice, shredded cabbage, and some pickles from Mitsuwa. Next time, if I have enough forethought, I’ll add miso soup to the mix.)
I was able to use a lot less sake by putting the wings and sake in a ziploc bag and squeezing out all the air.
And … next time … I’ll probably give it a try with bourbon instead of sake, because that’s the sort of thing I’ve been known to do …
The basic technique should be pretty flexible for anybody wanting to experiment: marinate in booze, dry thoroughly, sprinkle heat-tolerant seasonings, broil for 9-10 minutes per side.
(For those who don’t consume alcohol: there won’t be any alcohol in the final dish. I know that there are those who won’t even allow alcohol in the house, in which case Nami’s got the best suggestions. But if the objection is to consuming alcohol, you won’t be getting even a drop from these wings.)
I notice some people had trouble figuring out how much salt, with some both over- and under-seasoning. The key here, I think, is to realize that, whatever you put on the wings, that’s what’s going on the plate. So imagine you’ve baked the wings without any seasoning; how much would you sprinkle at the table? That’s how much you should sprinkle before putting them in the oven.
This particular recipe does lend itself well to generous seasoning — but keep in mind that you’re seasoning both sides; that alone will likely give you all the generosity you want.
b&
Hi Ben! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and for sharing your cooking experience with us.
Happy Cooking! 🧑🍳
Nami, what is the best way to reheat this dish after refrigeration or freezing?
Hi Amanda! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
If you like the crispy texture, you can microwave it first and then put them in the oven or toaster for a few minutes.
We hope this helps!