These chicken lollipops, served with a sticky, sweet and spicy dip make a fun and interesting appetizer or party food. They're a little bit fiddly to prepare, but they go down an absolute storm at any gathering.
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I love how cute these crispy little appetizers are.
They remind me of those tiktok videos you see of people putting a chicken wing in their mouth and pulling out the clean chicken bones. It amazes me every time!
Well, these chicken lollipops have most of the chicken-pulling hard work done for you. The chicken is pushed down the bone, right to the end, so we've got all of the chicken in one bite-sized piece.
The chicken is then coated in flavour-packed coating and fried to crispy perfection.
They're amazing as they are, but I do like a sauce, so I've included a simple little sticky-spicy sauce in this recipe for dunking your chicken lollipops into.
How to cut the chicken
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Take one of the chicken wings and cut it into three pieces – slicing at the joints. Discard the pointy tips of the wings.
- Take the smaller of the two remaining pieces and carefully cut the meat around the bone at the thickest end. You don’t want to cut any meat off, you just want to detach it from the bone at one end.
- Push the chicken flesh down the two bones, using your fingers until the meat is pushed down to the end. It takes a little bit of effort, and you may need to carefully use your knife a couple of times to detach any meat you can’t push down.
- Once the meat has been pushed down the two bones, the smaller bone can be removed. Simply pull and twist the smaller bone and it will come free.
- Take the larger piece of the chicken wing you cut earlier and cut the chicken away from the bone – this time at the thin end. Push the chicken flesh down using your fingers until the meat is pushed down to the end.
Once the chicken has been prepared, we coat the chicken and fry it up.
**See recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions**
👩🍳PRO TIP Try to stand the chicken lollipops up in the oil for the first minute or two, when you cook them. This firms up the flesh, to give a nice bulbous lollipop shape. After a minute or two, you can let them fall onto their sides so continue cooking all the way through.
🍽️ What to serve it with
Why not serve up as part of a Chinese-style buffet with:
Wrap the tips of the wings in a little foil for a cute finish. This also helps to prevent greasy fingers!
Just look at that sticky drippy sauce 😍
🍲 More fantastic finger foods
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Crispy Chicken Lollipops
Ingredients
Chicken Lollipops
- 10 whole chicken wings - about 900g/2lbs
- Oil for deep frying - approx. 500ml or a little over 2 cups
- 60 g (½ cup) cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 60 g (½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rice vinegar
- 120 ml (½ cup) cold water
Chilli Honey Sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sriracha chilli sauce
To serve
- 3 spring onions (scallions) finely sliced
INSTRUCTIONS
- Take one of the chicken wings and place on a secure cutting board. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the wing into three pieces – slicing at the joints. Discard the pointy tips of the wings.10 whole chicken wings
- Take the middle piece of the wing and carefully cut the meat around the bone at the thickest end. You don’t want to cut any meat off, you just want to detach it from the bone at one end.
- Push the chicken flesh down the two bones, using your fingers until the meat is pushed down to the end. It takes a little bit of effort, and you may need to carefully use your knife a couple of times to detach any meat you can’t push down.
- Once the meat has been pushed down the two bones, the smaller bone can be removed. Simply pull and twist the smaller bone and it will come free.
- Take the larger piece of the chicken wing you cut earlier and cut the chicken away from the bone – this time at the thin end. Push the chicken flesh down using your fingers until the meat is pushed down to the end.
- Repeat with the remaining wings. You should have chicken 20 lollipops altogether.
- Preheat the oven to its lowest setting – this is for keeping the wings warm, as you’ll need to cook in two batches)
- Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large, thick based pan that suitable for deep frying, until it reaches 175C/350°F. Alternatively, you can use a deep fat fryer.Oil for deep frying
- While the oil is heating, mix the cornflour, baking powder, garlic salt, pepper and paprika together in a large bowl.60 g (½ cup) cornflour (cornstarch in USA), ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, ½ teaspoon paprika
- Place the chicken wings in the bowl and toss to coat them evenly in the coating. Remove the wings from the bowl and place on a plate.
- Add the flour, rice vinegar and water to the remaining cornflour that’s left in the bowl and mix, using a balloon whisk until combined. This gives is the second coating for the chicken.60 g (½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour, 1 tablespoon Chinese rice vinegar, 120 ml (½ cup) cold water
- Dip a chicken wing in the wet batter and turn to coat. Allow any excess batter drip off and carefully add to the hot oil to deep fry.
- Repeat with the remaining wings. You should be able to cook up to 10 chicken wings at a time, if your pan is large enough.
- Cook for 6-8 minutes, moving the chicken around in the pan a couple of times to prevent it sticking together.
- Once cooked, remove the chicken from the oil and place on a baking tray and place in the oven to keep warm, while you cook the second batch.
- Repeat with the remaining wings.
- Whilst the chicken lollipops are cooking, make the sauce by adding all of the sauce ingredients, to a small saucepan.1 tablespoon minced ginger, 4 tablespoons honey, 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sriracha chilli sauce
- Stir together and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and allow to bubble gently for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.
- Place the chicken lollipops on a tray or plate. If you like, you can wrap the very ends of the bones in a little foil.
- Serve the chicken lollipops with the sauce and garnish with a sprinkling of chopped spring onions (scallions).3 spring onions (scallions) finely sliced
✎ Notes
If you want to air fry the lollipops, only coat in the dry coating (don't add the plain (all-purpose) flour, rice vinegar and water).
Once the lollipops are coated in the cornflour coating, spray them liberally with spray oil, then air fry them (stand them up if you can) at 200C/400F for 20-25 minutes, until completely cooked through. Be sure to move the wings around the air fryer basket a couple of times during cooking. Other sauces for dipping: Note on nutritional information: Nutritional information is approximate, per chicken lollipop - not including the sauce.
I've estimate that approx. 5ml (1 teaspoon) of oil is absorbed for each lollipop during the frying process. This is just an educated guess. The sauce works out to be approx 460-500 calories for the whole thing.
Nutrition
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John M (in the UK) says
Great recipe...thanks. Luv wings of all types and flavours. Korean, American, Chinese, you name it.
Cheers!