When you rub fresh lemon zest into just coarsely ground black pepper, you release the oils of both. It’s like a magical culinary experience bringing out the flavors of each. A little citric acid (A.K.A sour salt) gives the seasoning that ubiquitous tangy tartness you find in most lemon pepper seasonings. To quote the NYT: This golden dust gives off high-voltage flavors! Aside from being delicious, it’s pretty simple to make. Perfect for Simchat Torah or football season!
Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
Have you ever been completely exhausted from prepping, cooking and hosting a thousand people for the Holidays? I’m at that point. The good thing is, that I prep a lot in advance so that I’m not totally freaking out when everyone descends at once. I also am a big fan of finding recipes that we all can enjoy and sharing them with you – SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO SEARCHING FOR THEM. Considering that my family has a long standing minhag (custom) of eating chicken wings on Simchat Torah, when I found the recipe for Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings in an email from New York Times Cooking, I was thrilled! It was an easy way to add another variety to our repertoire.
The NYT Lemon-Pepper Chicken Wings by Eric Kim. You can totally understand why I thought we’d all love them!!!
Making Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
In this recipe you actually make the lemon pepper seasoning from scratch. Now while that may intimidate some, it shouldn’t. The most complicated part of the recipe is zesting some lemons.
Really.
One thing to note, is that when I made my wings, I doubled the recipe and as a result it took way longer to dry out the fresh, homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning.
A question did arise while my family was chowing down on the incredibly wings (it was the Holiday otherwise I would have taken pictures of the piles of bones lol).
Why not just used jarred, ready made lemon pepper.
I think the answer should be intuitively obvious to the casual observer.
BECAUSE IT’S BETTER!
There are no funky ingredients that you can’t pronounce, everything is fresh and you know what’s going into it.
However, given that not everyone can zest lemons š I strongly recommend getting your lemon pepper from The Spice House, just keep in mind that it does contain MSG.
Don’t forget the Citric Acid…
One of the secret ingredients in this recipe is Citric Acid…. A.K.A Sour Salt. I made my first batch without it, simply because I didn’t have any and didn’t have time to get some. I was able to find some by Pereg, and then sprinkled it on before serving. It did make a difference, and the lemon flavor was way more prominent.
Pereg Sour Salt/Citric Acid. If you click on the image and use code KOSHEREVERYDAY you can get 15% off your order. Note: It is an affiliate link.
You can actually see the lemon zest on the wings!!!
Here’s The Recipe For Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
As always… you’re the Executive Chef in your house. When Dear Husband asked me if we could make these with store bought lemon pepper seasoning, that was exactly my response. I do recommend investing in the citric acid/sour salt it does add some awesome tanginess to the recipe, then make sure to squeeze some lemon juice on the wings before eating as well. YUM!
They’re really really good!!!
Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4-6 appetizer servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Gluten Free
- Diet: Kosher
Description
When you rub fresh lemon zest into just coarsely ground black pepper, you release the oils of each. It’s like a magical culinary experience bringing out the flavors of each. A little citric acid (A.K.A sour salt) gives the seasoning that ubiquitous tangy tartness you find in most lemon pepper seasonings. To quote the NYT: This golden dust gives off high-voltage flavors! Aside from being delicious, it’s pretty simple to make. Perfect for Simchat Torah or football season!
Additionally, I doubled the recipe for the Lemon Pepper Seasoning – we like our wings heavily seasoned.
This is another I found it so you don’t have to recipe! Here is a link to the original on the New York Times Cooking Website.
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 2 pounds chicken wings, whole or separated into wingettes and drumettes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
For the Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- 2 lemons
- 2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
- 1 packed teaspoon dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon citric acid (optional; see Tip)
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Heat oven to 400 degrees, 375 degrees convection, and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. I used my awesome Caraway large sheet pan and didn’t have to line it. If not using a “non-stick” ceramic pan, line the pan.
- On the sheet pan, or in a large bowl, pat the chicken wings dry, and toss with the olive oil and salt until evenly coated.
- Roast on the prepared sheet pan until the chicken skin is golden brown and crispy, turning once halfway through, 30 to 40 minutes.
For the Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- Finely grate about 2 teaspoons zest from the lemons onto another parchment paper-lined pan (a considerably smaller one works).
- Add pepper to the zest, mix to combine and spread in an even layer.
- Cut the lemons into wedges and set aside for serving.
- When the wings are done roasting, transfer them to a large mixing bowl and turn off the oven.
- Place the pan with the lemon zest and black pepper in the still-warm oven, letting the lemon zest dry out and the black pepper toast in the residual heat, 3 to 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn or brown the zest; it may darken in shade slightly but should still be a vibrant yellow. (See note below)
- In a small bowl, use your fingers to mix together the toasted lemon zest and black pepper with the salt, brown sugar, garlic powder and citric acid (if using) until well combined. Be sure to break up any clumps of sugar
- Sprinkle 4 teaspoons of the lemon pepper over the wings and toss until evenly coated. Taste for seasoning, adding more lemon pepper as desired (we added a lot). (You can store the rest of the spice blend in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 1 month.)
- Transfer the seasoned wings to a large platter and garnish with the lemon wedges. Serve immediately.
Notes
I doubled the recipe for the Lemon Pepper Seasoning – we like our wings heavily seasoned. Keep in mind that if you do double the recipe it will take longer to dry out the spice. I had that issue but in the end it turned out great!
My lemon zest and pepper didn’t dry out in the time specified in the original recipe. I turned the temp to around 200 degrees and dried them out for another 5-10 minutes checking every two minutes or so to ensure it didn’t burn.
The wings at Romanian Kosher here in Chicago are the absolute best wings around. Let me know if you’re here and we can take a field trip together!
From the NYT recipe:
- Citric acid is the secret ingredient in most commercial lemon-pepper seasonings. An organic compound found in lemons and other citrus fruits, it is sold powdered (sometimes as sour salt) in the baking and spice aisles of supermarkets as well as online. It gives you an electric tartness without fresh juice. But if you donāt want to go this route, be sure to spritz the chicken wings with the lemon wedges right before serving (and do this anyway, even with the citric acid, as the sharpness is exhilarating).
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ozs.
- Calories: 162
- Sugar: 1.7 g
- Sodium: 150.4 mg
- Fat: 12.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 9.1 g
- Fiber: 1.2 g
- Protein: 5.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sometimes I love AI lol.
More Marvelous Appetizer recipes!
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