The crispiest, juiciest, most flavorful chicken wings you'll ever try - Butter Chicken Wings! They're marinated in spices, deep fried, and then tossed in a lusciously creamy makhani sauce. These wings are perfect for a game day appetizer.
In a large mixing bowl, add the dahi, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste, green chilis, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, kashmiri chili powder, and salt. Whisk it together until smooth.
Pat the chicken wings dry with a paper towel. Add the chicken wings into the bowl and massage the marinade into the wings until fully coated.
Cover the wings and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.
In the meantime, whisk together the rice flour, corn starch, baking powder, garlic powder, and onion powder for the seasoned flour mixture. This is also a great point to make the makhani sauce.
Once the chicken is done marinating, toss the chicken wings in the dry ingredients to evenly coat. Shake off excess flour.
Fry Chicken Wings
Place a cooling rack over a half sheet tray.
Heat neutral oil in a dutch oven to 350°F. Fry the chicken wings in batches of 6-7 at a time, being careful not to overcrowd the dutch oven to prevent the temperature from dropping.
Fry the chicken wings for 6-7 minutes, or until the skin is a crispy deep red. Place the wings on top of the cooling rack to allow the excess oil to drain. Continue to fry the rest of the batches.
Makhani Sauce
Melt two tablespoons of butter on medium heat. Add the star anise and black cardamom and allow the flavor to infuse with the butter for a minute.
Add the chopped onions and ginger garlic paste into the butter. Sauté until the onions start to brown. Then, add the spices - the cumin, garam masala, coriander, cloves, and kashmiri chili powder. Give everything a good stir and let it cook for 1-2 minutes so the spices can bloom in the butter.
Once the oil starts to separate on the sides, add in the tomato paste, canned crushed tomatoes, sugar, and salt to taste. Switch the stove to low to medium heat, and allow the sauce to simmer. It'll start to thicken and darken significantly. The fat will once again start to release and form little pools.
Remove and discard the black cardamom pod and star anise. Transfer the ingredients into a blender along with the rest of the butter. Blend the sauce until it's completely smooth.
Transfer the sauce back into the pan. Pour in the heavy cream and continue to simmer until the sauce is thick. This is a great point to taste and adjust for spices (see notes). Remove from heat and finish off the sauce with a pinch of kasuri methi.
Assembly
Transfer the wings to a large mixing bowl. Pour the makhani sauce over the wings and toss to evenly coat.
Serve in a large serving platter with cilantro as garnish and carrot sticks / celery sticks.
Notes
MAKHANI SAUCE
If there's still a bit of texture from the onions after blending, add a bit of warm water into the blender and continue to blend until it's silky smooth.
Taste the makhani sauce after you add the heavy cream and adjust for spices and salt. If it tastes like straight up tomatoes, you may not have let the spices bloom enough, or they may be low quality spices. I'd start by adding more ground coriander and cumin and then adjust the others. However, keep in mind that the chicken wings themselves are full of flavor from the marinade.
SPICE MIXTURE
If, for some reason, the spices aren't accessible, I'd highly recommend the MDH Butter Chicken Masala. Use a quarter of the box for the marinade, and another quarter for the makhani sauce.