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An online friend of mine recently told me that he never, ever throws out the brine left in a jar of pickles after all of the pickles are gone. He went on to say that he uses it to brine the chicken when he makes Nashville Hot Chicken. I thought to myself, “Darn”, as I flashed back to all of the gallons of pickle brine I’ve watched go down the drain. Though I didn’t have Nashville Hot Chicken on the brain. I wanted wings! And what I got were these delicious pickle-brined wings, super-duper moist and flavorful.
Tender and juicy
The pickle brine doesn’t smack you in the face, it just helped make the chicken more tender and juicy. Do not fear, biting into your wings won’t be like biting into a Vlasic. No, it’ll be like biting into wing greatness!
From now on I am definitely saving my pickle brine. It doesn’t have to come from just pickles either. The juice from anything pickled will do. Just save that stuff up for the next time you make pickle-brined wings and you’ll be as happy as I was.
You can buy pickle juice in jugs now, which is just about the best thing ever.
Also try my pickling spice wings!
Check out my always-growing list of over 100 homemade wing recipes, including sauces and seasonings!
Pickle-Brined Wings
Ingredients
For the wings
- 3-4 pounds chicken wings flats and drumettes separated, tips saved to make stock
- 2 cups pickle juice
For the seasoning
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Place wings in a large resealable baggie or container.
- Add the pickle juice. Seal and toss to coat.
- Refrigerate for 1-4 hours, flipping occasionally
- When ready to cook, remove the wings from the pickle juice and dab dry with a paper towel. Do not rinse.
- Combine the seasoning ingredients and sprinkle the wings with it. Note: If you like, you can sprinkle the wings with the seasoning AFTER cooking instead. I've tried it both ways and they came out great no matter which technique I used.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate and will not include any store-bought wing sauce or seasoning nutritional values.
