Sticky Sichuan Chilli Chicken Wings (including Instant Pot Pressure Cooker method)

Whether on the BBQ, or under the grill, you can't beat spicy, sticky chicken wings!

With only four ingredients, and no chopping, these wings couldn't be simpler, and they have a unique umami kick from the Sichuan chilli bean paste.

          

There's no need to marinate (although you're welcome to if you'd like to!), and you can pop them in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes before barbecuing or grilling to ensure your wings are perfectly moist and tender inside with crispy sticky skin on the outside.

Serves: 1kg chicken wings will serve four to six people as a starter, or as a main with another dish of similar proportions (e.g. with one quantity of my Sweet and Sour spare ribs).

Regarding calories: "A typical serving of 3 oven roasted chicken wings (225g) contains 326 calories" (Tesco). I've included the calories for the other ingredients, but wings vary in size and weight, so it will depend on how many you get to the kilo. It would be approximately 337 calories for a quarter of the whole quantity, and 225 calories for a sixth.

Ingredients

• 1kg chicken wings (whole wings are good to retain moisture)
• 50g Sichuan chilli bean paste (generally contains wheat/gluten)* [44]
• 100g honey [326]
• 50g light soy sauce [26]
• 50g rice vinegar [8]
• (90g water if using pressure cooker)

*Not sure which chilli bean paste to buy? There's a nice little summary of them here, and if you'd like a decent one, which is authentically made and recommended and doesn't contain artificial ingredients, you can get it here (and it's used in plenty of Chinese dishes - N.B. Unfortunately out of stock at the time of writing this). If you can't get hold of Sichuan chilli bean paste, you could use chilli bean sauce instead which is more widely available.

Method 

If you wish to marinate the wings in the sauce first, you may do so by all means if you have time, but it isn't compulsory.

 

To oven roast: 

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7 / 220C / Fan 200C and mix all of the sauce ingredients together, then toss with the wings in a roasting tray or dish (you can line it if it's metal and you want to avoid the sugars caramelizing on it).

Bake for approximately 40 minutes, turning occasionally, until the 'sauce' has reduced to a sticky glaze on the wings and they are cooked through.

To pressure cook and BBQ / grill / broil: 

Put the chicken wings into the pressure cooker, mix together all the rest of the ingredients including the 90g water and pour over the top. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes, (Instant pot: use the 'Manual' setting and reduce time down to 10 minutes), leave to stand for 5 minutes, then release the remaining pressure carefully.

Remove the wings from the juices, set aside, then reduce the juices right down to a fairly thick syrupy consistency (Instant pot: use the 'Saute' function, and adjust to 'more' - it will take around 16-18 minutes - watch carefully near the end, you will end up with around 1cm left in the bottom). 

Brush the chicken wings all over with the glaze, and BBQ (or put under a hot grill) for a few minutes on each side until the skin is starting to caramelise and crisp up, then give a final coat with the remaining glaze just before serving.

Want a garnish? Why not sprinkle with sliced spring onions, or lightly toasted sesame seeds to serve.