A simple chicken wing brine that is exactly what you need to take your wings from good to GREAT! With a simple pot of water, kosher salt, garlic, and herbs, you can infuse your wings with flavor and tenderize the meat to create chicken wings that are a WHOLE LOTT YUM!
The Best Chicken Wing Brine
We are often looking for meals that are quick, easy, and full of flavor... but once in a while, it is nice to spend some time preparing our meals. This chicken wing brine recipe is just one of those occasions. The prep work itself is super simple and then we simply have to wait while the brine works it's magic.
The end result, always, is a batch of wings that is bursting with flavor and fall-off-the-bone tender... along with a grateful family!
We love to use this chicken wing brine before we make our air fryer chicken wings or pan-fried chicken wings. The brine always adds a depth of flavor that simply seasoning the outside cannot achieve.
Why you'll love Brined Chicken Wings
- Make restaurant-quality wings right at home when you start with a brine.
- Our chicken wing brine recipe works no matter how you are planning on cooking your wings!
- We are combining salt, garlic, herbs, and spices to create a brine that is flavor and effective but will not overpower any sauce or rub you are adding to your wings.
- This chicken wing brine is easy to double or triple and use for other cuts of chicken including a whole bird.
- Compliant with just about every eating plan out there, our chicken wing brine is the best way to infuse the flavor your food needs to help you stay on track with your eating goals!
We love to use this chicken wing brine recipe before we whip up one of our amazing wing recipes such as air fryer wings with dry rub, baked dry rub wings, or pan fried chicken wings.
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Chicken Wing Brine Ingredients
While a brine is mostly salted water, we are going to also include garlic and four different herbs to compliment the entire recipe.
- water
- coarse kosher salt
- black peppercorns
- fresh herbs - parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage
- garlic cloves
Brine for Chicken Wings Substitutions and Variations
- To make a quick and easy brine, just use water and coarse kosher salt or coarse sea salt. The purpose of brining is to tenderize the meat and make it more juicy and flavorful, simple salted water accomplishes that.
- 1 cup of brown sugar or sweetener can be added to the brine.
- Making lemon chicken? Feel free to add lemon slices to your brine to infuse even more of a lemony flavor.
How to Brine Chicken Wings
The key to a good brine is patience. We are going to combine our water with the flavoring elements, heat, then let the chicken wing brine chill in the fridge and work its flavoring magic.
Prep Ingredients
Put the water, kosher salt, black peppercorns, garlic cloves, and fresh herbs in a large pot.
Add the lid to the pot. Over medium heat, bring the mix to a simmer.
Cook
Once the liquid is simmering, cook it for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner.
Allow the chicken wing brine to cool completely.
Brine
Once the brine has cooled, add the wings to the pot.
Press down to make sure the chicken wings are completely covered with the brine mixture.
Cover the pot and add the chicken wing brine to the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Remove the wings from the brine and rinse the chicken with cold water.
Pat the wings dry with paper towels.
The brined wings are now ready to use alongside your favorite wings recipe.
How long to brine Chicken Wings?
How long you brine chicken wings in part depends on the size and type of wings. As a good rule of thumb, we recommend brining chicken wings for at least 30 minutes but not longer than 24 hours. If you have larger drumettes, they can handle being brined longer for up to 2-4 hours. The smaller wingettes could just use a quick brine for 30-60 minutes. Brining wings longer than 24 hours can give you overly salty and mushy chicken.
Tips for this Chicken Wing Brine Recipe
- Morton's table salt is NOT the same as kosher salt or sea salt. Table salt is much stronger and not recommended as a substitute for brining.
- Be sure to allow your brine to cool completely so you don't accidentally start cooking your chicken wings in the brine.
- Make sure your wings are fully submerged in the brine before you place the pot in the fridge.
- Allow your wings to sit in the brine for at least 1 hour. Feel free to brine them for up to 12-hours.
- This brine will also work for other chicken pieces, such as breast or thighs, as well as a whole bird. Make sure your meat is fully submerged.
- To ensure your wings crisp up during cooking, be sure to pat them dry after brining and rinsing.
What to Serve with Brine Chicken Wings
The sky is truly the limit with a brined chicken wing! This super accommodating food is perfectly content paired with scalloped potatoes and air fryer asparagus, dressed up with a BBQ rub and beans, or served alongside other finger foods including jalapeno poppers and stuffed mushrooms.
Best Chicken Wing Brine FAQs
Yes. Simply add 2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per every cup of water. Apple cider vinegar is a superb way to tenderize meat.
Brining before smoking is not essential but highly recommended. A brine increases the juiciness of the meat and helps it to be more flavorful.
While brining wings isn’t an essential part of cooking them, there are definitely benefits to soaking chicken in brine if you have the extra time. Brining your wings helps to retain moisture, which will give you juicier more tender meat. You can change the flavor of the brine by adding herbs and spices which enhance the flavor of the wings and penetrates into the meat too. Brined wings also make the chicken meat extra tender since it breaks down muscle fibers.
How long you can soak chicken in brine depends on the size of the chicken parts and also what pieces you’re thinking about soaking in brine. As a general rule of thumb, brine chicken for at least 30 minutes for smaller pieces such as chicken wings, but larger chicken pieces like bone-in breasts and thighs do well being brined for 2 to 4 hours. If you’re cooking a whole chicken, brine it overnight or for up to 24 hours.
At most, don’t brine any chicken longer than 24 hours since it can become too salty and the chicken meat starts to get mushy.
More Chicken Wing Recipes
Looking for more chicken wing recipes?
- Air fryer dry rub chicken wings
- Frozen air fryer wings
- Stovetop chicken wings
- Chicken wings dry rub
- Dry rub baked chicken wings recipe
Come connect with us on Instagram! Be sure to tag us (wholelotta.yum) when you make a recipe. You can also find us on Facebook, and Pinterest.
Chicken Wing Brine
An easy brine for chicken wings whether you're baking wings, air frying, or doing smoked wings. Whether you want to keep it a simple chicken wing brine or add flavors or sweetener, we'll teach you all that you need to know!
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- ½ cup coarse kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- fresh herbs - parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage
- 6 small garlic cloves
Instructions
- Put the water, kosher salt, black peppercorns, garlic cloves, and fresh herbs in a large pot. Turn the burner to medium heat, add the lid to the pot, and bring the mix to a simmer.
- Once the liquid is heated, cook it for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the mix from the burner.
- Let the chicken wing brine cool completely.
- Once the brine is cooled, add the wings to the pot. You'll want the chicken wings to be completely covered with water.
- Cover the pot and add the chicken wing brine to the fridge for 1-2 hours.
- Remove the wings from the brine and rinse the chicken with cold water. Pat them dry with paper towels.
- The brined wings are now ready to use alongside your favorite wings recipe.
Notes
To make a quick and easy brine, just use water and coarse kosher salt or coarse sea salt. The purpose of brining is to tenderize the meat and make it more juicy and flavorful, simple salt water accomplishes that.
Morton's table salt is NOT the same as kosher salt or sea salt, table salt is much stronger and not recommended as a substitute for brining.
As an optional step, 1 cup of brown sugar or sweetener can be added to the brine.
Making lemon chicken? feel free to add lemon slices to your brine to infuse even more of a lemony flavor.
The chicken brine recipe works for whole chicken wings or trimmed wing sections. You can also use the exact same recipe for other types of chicken pieces.
Double or triple the brine as needed if you want to brine something like a whole chicken.
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 8Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 7084mgCarbohydrates 1gNet Carbohydrates 1gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 0g
John Sparks says
Have you ever added Buffalo wing sauce or hot sauce to the brine? If so, how much please.