Soy Sauce Chicken Wings are a classic Cantonese comfort food and a staple of many Cantonese childhoods – mine included!

Consisting of juicy chicken wings braised in a sweet soy sauce, this simple yet addictive dish is perfect served with rice, or even on its own as a little appetizer.

… And guess what? It’s actually a super simple treat to prepare at home.

The best part about making your own soy sauce chicken wings is the magical braising sauce you’re left with. It’s amazing, and perfect for a variety of uses. You can use it to create ultra-delicious hard boiled eggs, toss it in a stir fry, or use it as a flavour boost in sauces and soups.

Convinced? Keep scrolling for our foolproof Soy Sauce Chicken Wings recipe. We think you’ll find the results truly amaz-wing.

Tips for Nailing Soy Sauce Chicken Wings

This recipe for soy sauce chicken wings is simple, and fairly foolproof. You could easily just toss all the ingredients in a pot and have it come out great… but here are some additional tips to keep in mind if you want to make sure your wings are perfect:

Remember to briefly fry your aromatics

As written in the recipe, we recommend that you stir fry your aromatics (e.g. ginger, onion, spices) in oil first before adding in your liquid. This helps them unlock their full flavour potential, and makes a big difference in the final product.

Consider using caramelized rock sugar

One of the greatest things about this recipe for soy sauce chicken wings is how foolproof it is. Honestly, you could sub/skip a lot of the ingredients, and it’ll still taste pretty good.

One area where you could compromise quite a bit is sugar. Even regular granulated sugar would work in this recipe, but to get that deep, delicious sweetness that makes the wings perfect, Papa G melts and caramelizes rock sugar in a separate pan before adding it to his sauce.

Yes, this is an additional step that takes more time (and another pan), but if you want to go the extra mile, then it’s worth considering.

Add some honey at the end for additional sweetness

I personally prefer these wings as-is and think the sugar in the sauce already makes them sweet enough, but if you’re into sweet wings like Papa G is, then you might consider tossing your wings in honey shortly before serving.

This gives them a sticky and glossy finish, although be warned that the end result is fairly sweet, so you might want to cut down on the amount of sugar in your braising sauce if you plan to add honey.

SAVE THAT SAUCE

Lastly, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you don’t waste this gloriously delicious braising sauce. You can mix it with some cornstarch to create a thicker drizzling/dipping sauce, you can add it into other sauces and stir fries, or even freeze it for later use.

Throwing it away would be a huge shame, so be sure to conserve that gloriousness for the future. Papa G likes to add some hard boiled eggs into the sauce near the end of the cooking process to create soy sauce eggs. The longer you leave them to marinate, the yummier they get:

Ingredients for Our Soy Sauce Chicken Wings Recipe

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 20g (1.5 tbsp) sliced ginger
• 20g (1.5 tbsp) green onion (in 3” slices)
• 5g (1 tsp) clove
• 5g (1 tsp) star anise
• OPTIONAL: 3 bay leaves
• OPTIONAL: 1 cinnamon stick
• 120g (4oz) rock sugar or brown sugar
• 250mL soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 600mL water
• 50mL cooking wine
• 500g (1 pound) chicken wings
• OPTIONAL: 8 hard boiled eggs

Step by Step Instructions for Our Soy Sauce Chicken Wings Recipe

This tasty appetizer couldn’t be easier to prepare at home. Here are the step by step instructions!

To prepare your wings, wash and then pat dry. If using frozen wings, soak them in cold water for 2 hours, then squeeze out any water and pat dry to help get rid of any unwanted “freezer” flavour.

In a large pot over medium heat, add one teaspoon oil, along with your sliced ginger. Stir fry for 30 seconds, and then add your green onion. Stir fry for another 30 seconds, until fragrant.

Add in your cloves, star anise, and bay leaves/cinnamon stick (if using), and stir fry for a minute.

Add your sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, water, and cooking wine, and bring it to a rolling simmer.

Add in your wings, and bring your sauce mixture to a boil. Once boiling, turn it down to low and let it simmer for 30 or so minutes, until the wings are cooked through. Feel free to add your hard boiled eggs at this point so that they can soak up that delicious sauce too.

Once cooked through, scoop up the wings and enjoy!

We Hope You Enjoy Our Soy Sauce Chicken Wings Recipe!

Let us know in the comments if you have any questions, or be sure to let us know if you’ve tested the recipe out. We’re always looking to improve our recipes and make sure they taste great for everyone.