The Liquor You Need In Your Chicken Wing Brine To Make The Flavors Shine

When gathering the ingredients to compose a perfect chicken brine, the typical suspects come to mind: Water, salt, sugar, your favorite spices, or if you're feeling adventurous, a splash or three of beer. Bourbon is another great addition to your brines and glazes, but the liquor that Italian chef and TV personality, Giada De Laurentiis, recommends you use in your baked chicken wing marinade feels like it comes out of left field — at least until you try it.

According to De Laurentiis, tequila is a great liquor to add to your chicken brine because you can actually still taste the tequila once the baked and glazed wings come out of the oven. Tequila is made from agave nectar that's then fermented and distilled. There are three different categories of tequila, largely depending on the aging process, but the important thing to note is the fewer additives during the production process, the more premium the tequila.

Tequila is an excellent ingredient to consider when making Mexican dishes, especially when using meats that are a canvas for more complex flavors like chicken. The floral and sweet notes from the agave nectar, mixed with the natural spiciness of the alcohol will infuse your chicken skin with rich flavors.

Chicken wings make for the ideal party platter especially once you get the hang of cooking up crispy chicken skin that blankets moist and meaty bites. If you're still learning how to crank out perfect chicken wings, take a peek at our list of 13 chicken wing hacks that will help revolutionize how you wing. One big thing we recommend is brining your wings. The common misconception is that brining is only for Thanksgiving turkey, but truly it can work on any bird and is especially effective when it comes to infusing bold flavors into your chicken wings.

If all this brine talk has you convinced, we recommend taking a simple chicken wing recipe and swapping out the sauce for a brine. All you need to do to emulate De Laurentiis' recipe, shared on her website, is bathe a pound of chicken in ½ cup of tequila, juice from one lime as well as its zest, a tablespoon of agave, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and a spice of your choosing (we like to add a couple of tablespoons of sriracha) for up to four hours. Once those flavors are soaked into the chicken, toss your wings in the oven while reducing the leftover marinade into a glaze to drizzle over your baked chicken. Serve with some homemade blue cheese dressing, carrots, and celery and you just might put the local dive out of business.