Fesenjoon Chicken Wings
Fesenjoon (or Fesenjan) is easily one of my all time favorite foods, and the tart and sweet flavors work perfectly as a chicken wing sauce! If you have never tried fesenjoon, it’s a Persian chicken stew that is flavored with walnut and pomegranate. The stew is very deceptive looking – it’s just a bowl of brown. When you take a bite the way the pomegranate and walnut come together creates an explosion of flavor!
The inspiration for this recipe
I met some new friends recently who introduced themselves to me as wing connoisseurs. Upon finding out that I was a food blogger, I was immediately asked where I thought the best wings in Boston were. My totally modest answer was of course, “my kitchen”. A few weeks later I had them over to prove to them that I wasn’t bluffing. I was inspired by one of my guests who goes to the middle east for her job to find new fabrics for her design company, and made the chicken wings taste like my favorite Persian stew of chicken, pomegranate, and walnuts, called fesenjoon.
Make the fesenjoon wing sauce
Were basically doing a stickier, sweeter, simple version of the stew for the wing sauce. Toast the walnuts first, then take half of them out of the pan. Set aside for garnish. Add some onions and oil to the pan, then garlic, chicken stock, pomegranate molasses, turmeric, and honey.
After it cooks for 15 minutes, blend it smooth, and then let it simmer on low until everything is ready.
Fry the chicken wings
The wings are marinated in yogurt with some salt, pepper, vinegar, and turmeric. After they come out of the marinade, they get a sprinkling of flour and cornstarch before they hit the fryer.
Fried to perfection!
Toss the chicken wings in the fesenjoon sauce
After they cool for a minute, add the chicken wings right into the fesenjoon sauce and toss to combine.
Serving the fesenjoon chicken wings
Pile them up on a plate and top with the walnuts, parsley, and some fresh pomegranate seeds. So good!
The flavors in these fesenjoon chicken wings are incredible! The tartness and sweetness from the pomegranate molasses is so good! Tart and sweet are just what you are looking for in a good wing sauce so it all makes sense.
Tart, sweet, savory, and sticky. These wings are amazing! Even a buffalo purist said she liked these more than the buffalo ones!
Notes on this recipe
If you want a dipping sauce for these fesenjoon chicken wings, I would do a tzatziki or raita. You can check out my guide on those type of sauces here.
For a traditional fesenjoon recipe, check this one out!
If you can’t find pomegranate molasses near you, this is the one I used. If you use a different brand, it might be sweeter, so taste the dish and adjust the honey if needed.
For more fun twists on wings, check out my mango lassi wings, negroni wings, or carbonara wings!
Fesenjoon Chicken Wings
Equipment
Ingredients
Wings and marinade
- 12 wing segments flats and drums
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- salt and pepper
wing sauce
- 5 ounces raw walnuts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced onions
- 2 cloves garlic cut in half
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 cup pomegranate juice
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 cup pomegranate molasses
- 1/4 cup honey
Finish
- oil for frying
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
Instructions
Marinate the chicken
- Mix the wings with the marinade ingredients and cover. Set aside in the fridge for at least two hours or overnight
Make the sauce
- Cook the walnuts in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Just add them to the dry pan, no oil. Cook until browning a bit on all sides, about 6 minutes, tossing often and being careful not to burn.
- Remove half the walnuts from the pan and set aside. Add in the olive oil and onions and cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add in the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add in all the remaining ingredients. Cook for about 10 minutes at a low simmer.
- Move the sauce to a bowl and blend until smooth with a hand blender. You could also do this in a blender or food processor. Return the sauce to a pan and keep over low heat until ready to use. If it gets too thick at any point, you can add a splash of water or chicken stock to loosen it up.
Cook the wings and serve
- Chop the toasted walnuts you had set aside.
- Preheat the frying oil to 375. Mix the flour and cornstarch in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- In batches based on what will fit in your fryer, shake off excess marinade from the chicken and dredge it in the flour mixture. Fry for about 8 minutes until brown and crispy.
- Add the wings right into the wing sauce and toss to coat. Serve and top with the walnuts, parsley, and pomegranate seeds.
oh snap! these fu***ers look incredible, thanks! next cooking project inked in the calendar
It looks so delicious! Love it!