Sweet, sticky honey-black pepper sauce with crispy chicken wings can be a lovely main course for your dinner. We will shallow-fry the chicken wings, then coat them in a honey-based black pepper sauce.

All of my family members are chicken wing lovers! So I made lots of Chinese-style chicken wing recipes, including red-braised, salted-egg chicken wings, and Coca-Cola chicken wings, as well as super-easy pan-fried, crispy wings.

This one is not a traditional recipe, but I love the combination of honey and black pepper. You will taste a sweetness first, followed by a comforting, lingering heat from the black pepper. Such a contrast. It melts in your mouth with the crispy shell and tender chicken meat. That’s definitely my comforting dish.

Cook’s Note

Be quick when mixing with the sauce so you will not lose the crispy shell.
Use the shallow frying method instead of deep frying to save oil.
Use freshly ground black pepper for the best taste.
When deep-frying the chicken wings, start with a low heat to ensure the wings cook evenly, then turn up the heat to make the shell even crisper and harder.

Step by Step

Let’s marinate the chicken wings first to give them a base of flavor. Combine fresh-ground black pepper, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and Shaoxing cooking wine. Massage the sauce so it coats evenly, then let it sit for 30 minutes.

Mix cornstarch with flour or sticky rice flour at a 2:1 ratio, then coat each chicken wing with the mixture. If you don’t have sticky rice flour in your pantry, replace it with regular flour.

Let it rest for around 10 minutes so the flour can attach well to the chicken wings.

Prepare a pan and add oil to shallow-fry the chicken wings over a slow fire until golden brown and crispy. It may take around 12 minutes. Slightly turn up the fire at the last min to harden the crispy shell.

Get another pan, then add freshly ground black pepper and honey. Heat until the honey becomes slightly bubbly. Mix well. Return the chicken wings, then coat them well and quickly.