Thai BBQ Chicken Wings

I am always on the lookout for yummy chicken wing recipes, especially those involving sweet Thai chili sauce (one of my favorite sauces!). These came on my radar while perusing through the popular Asian recipe blog Rasa Malaysia. As we love the Thai BBQ chicken dinner at one of our go-to restaurants Thai BBQ, I was curious to see how this recipe would pan out in wing form. Because the sweet Thai chili sauce flavor is so pungent and overpowering (not that I'm complaining because I love this stuff), you don't really get too much flavor from the marinade. For this reason, you may want to marinate your wings overnight (I only did it for 1 hour due to time constraints). This preparation is reminiscent of the Steamy-Love ribs we made previously where we tossed slow-cooked ribs into the same sweet Thai chili sauce. 

The original Rasa recipe called for grilling the wings first over an open flame. We were too lazy so I opted to bake up the wings in the oven first, then toss with the sweet chili sauce before running the wings under the broiler for 4-5 minutes to mimic the char. I loved how these wings turned out and will definitely be making it again for the next party!

Thai BBQ Chicken Wings 
Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients 
3 tablespoon fish sauce 
1 tablespoon light brown sugar 
1 tablespoon minced cilantro stems 
1 stalk lemongrass, minced 
½ teaspoon ground white pepper 
1 tablespoon oil 
3 lbs chicken wings 
Thai sweet chili sauce 
2 tablespoon roughly chopped cilantro 

Directions
For those working with lemongrass for the first time, the skin is quite tough and will be difficult to mince with a knife. I recommend chopping the stalk up in medium sized pieces and throwing everything into the food processor. Then whisk together the fish sauce, sugar, cilantro, lemongrass, white pepper, and oil. Add wings, mix well, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, ideally overnight. 

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease or Pam a foil-covered baking pan and spread out the chicken on the pan. Bake for about 30-40 minutes, flipping the chicken midway to allow for even browning. Once the chicken wings are done and a clear liquid oozes out when cut, throw the wings into a large bowl and toss with the Thai sweet chili sauce and chopped parsley. At this point you can serve the chicken wings right away. However, I wanted a nice char on the wings so I threw everything back on the pan and into the broiler for another 4-5 minutes.