Learn how to make delicious, sticky Portuguese chicken wings that you can serve as a main dish or party finger food. I share an amazing chicken wing marinade that you can also use with other poultry cuts. This dish is gluten-free, paleo, Whole30 and low-carb. I hope you like it! Let me know if you make this recipe in the comments and don’t forget to rate this recipe.
If you want a chicken wing recipe to drool over, this is it! These sticky, spicy and tangy Portuguese chicken wings are juicy, tender and full of flavour and will make your mouth water.
What I love the most about this recipe is that you get a lot of flavour for your buck, so to speak. Chicken wings, even organic free-range, are very affordable and the marinade ingredients are equally inexpensive and easy to find.
Portuguese Chicken Wings Marinade
This chicken wing marinade was inspired by the Piri-Piri chicken I used to get back in Australia. The chicken was covered in this crazy-good tangy, tomato-y, spicy marinade and grilled to perfection. I wanted to recreate it at home and use clean, healthy ingredients.
The marinade features tomato paste, lots of lemon juice, garlic, chilli, spices and coconut aminos. If you don’t have coconut aminos, you can use some Tamari wheat-free soy sauce or regular soy sauce (if tolerated).
A nice thing about this Portuguese chicken marinade is that it’s not just for chicken wings; I use it for chicken thighs, drumsticks, breast meat skewers, prawns, pork and it’s even nice on things like tofu, mushrooms, eggplant and zucchini.
Cooking Chicken Wings
I simply pan-fry them but you can easily throw these on a barbecue or bake them in the oven. Serve with your favourite salad or veggies on the side. Maybe some crispy sweet potatoes. Maybe a little cold cider or crips wine to offset the heat. However, they are not crazy spicy; they have that warm and fuzzy kind of heat.
More Chicken Recipes
- Chicken Wings With Sticky Smokey Glaze
- Korean Spicy Chicken
- Orange Marmalade Chicken
- Bang Bang Chicken With Spicy Almond Sauce
- Paleo Satay Chicken Skewers
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Ingredients
- 16 chicken wings
For the marinade
- 2 large cloves garlic grated
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1.5 tablespoons coconut aminos or Tamari wheat free soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- For cooking: 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil olive oil or macadamia oil, or ghee
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry the chicken wings.
- Combine marinade ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add chicken wings and mix through with your hands, coating each wing thoroughly with the mixture. Ideally, leave to marinate for about an hour (overnight even better). If you don't have the time, 10-15 minutes will still work.
- Heat a tablespoon of cooking oil or some ghee in a large frying pan to medium hot. Place chicken wings skin side up first. Don't overcrowd the pan as we don't want to stew them. Cook on medium heat for 7-8 minutes. After about 2 minutes of cooking, cover the pan with a lid.
- Turn the wings over and add a little more oil if needed. Once again, cook uncovered for about 2 minutes with the lid off and then with a lid on for about 5 minutes. Covering the pan with a lid provides a little steaming environment, which keeps the wings nice and soft. Make sure the heat is not too high as we don't want to burn the wings.
- Serve with some greens and extra lemon on the side.
I just love this dish, it’s dead easy and rapidly becoming one of my regular ‘go to’ dishes when I want something quick for dinner. I tend to use chicken thighs or tender loins. The marinade also works really well with pork! Thank you – I love it.
Thank you! Glad you like it.
Thank you Irena! These wings were amazing and my husband could not stop thanking me for them. ( he is the good cook in the family ). He even insisted on doing the dishes to show his gratitude! I am excited to try more of your recipes and perhaps give him a little competition. Thank you for sharing your passion.
Jodi
Thank you Jodi! Glad to hear the dish was a success with the family 🙂
I am confused what makes these spicy? There’s no chilli or heat in them?
Love these! They’re my go to for wow-factor at parties now. So much flavour.
“marinade is that it’s just for chicken wings”
I believe you meant to say that it is NOT just for chicken wings.
Looks like it! Thanks for spotting the error.
This was easy and delicious and popular with the family. We took these chicken wings on a picnic.