Honey Lemon Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are an all-time favorite for almost everyone I know. Strangely enough, I had never tried them before moving to the USA. Back home in India, our cuisine doesn’t really include kebabs or appetizers made with chicken wings.

At first, chicken wings were something we only ate when dining out. It’s not that I never thought of making them myself—it’s just that Mr. Parveez and I liked them, but we weren’t exactly obsessed. There used to be a halal restaurant nearby that made the most delicious green masala chicken wings, and every once in a while, we’d stop by to enjoy them. Then, a few years later, the restaurant shut down—and with it went those amazing wings we’d come to love.

But honestly, that still didn’t inspire me to start making my own chicken wings. A few months later, we discovered another great halal gyro place that served hot, saucy chicken wings. They were fantastic for a while, but over time, something changed. The flavors started to fade, and the food just didn’t taste the same anymore. I’m guessing the management changed and brought in a new chef who couldn’t quite recreate the old magic.

That’s when it hit me—if I really wanted to enjoy good chicken wings again, I’d have to make them myself.

The first chicken wings I ever made were classic Buffalo wings. The kids loved them, and they quickly became a go-to appetizer for brunches and playdates. After making them for a few years—and watching my little fan club grow—I started experimenting with new flavors.

That’s how my Green Chicken Wings came about, followed by Haala’s Special Hot Saucy Wings, and finally, these. The main idea behind this recipe was to create something that balances sweet and spicy flavors—perfect for those who enjoy a little kick but can’t handle too much heat. It’s that ideal middle ground: flavorful, comforting, and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

Why Wings?

Chicken wings are best cooked with the skin on. When pan-fried or deep-fried, the skin turns beautifully crisp, giving that perfect crunch. And honestly, any saucy flavor tastes even better when paired with that crispy texture—it’s what makes wings so irresistible.

Why use honey and not sugar?

Honey blends much better with spices than sugar. Sugar often tends to crystallize or make the sauce watery, while honey gives it body and balance. It adds just the right amount of sweetness without overpowering the flavors—making it the perfect choice for sauces and glazes.

These wings strike the perfect balance—lightly sweet, lightly spicy, and absolutely irresistible. The flavors play a little game of hide and seek on your taste buds, keeping every bite exciting. Sweet and spicy together are already a winning combo, but when paired with crispy chicken wings, the result goes beyond just delicious. If you love chicken wings, this is one recipe you’ll definitely want to try.

Chicken Ramen Noodles

This Japanese dish was made almost without any prep work. My boys watch some Japanese show which had the character in love with Ramen Noodles and the boys had been on about how delicious the dish looks. now, I have never tried Ramen Noodles only for a simple reason that we never find any Halal Japanese restaurants. And, honestly they never appealed me to try out the seafood version.

But is there any way I could have my boys think the same way. Oh! No, never. They are just out and about and want to try everything under the sky that’s religiously permissible. There are barely any restaurants that serve Halal Asian food around us and my boys are at an age where they really like trying different varieties and since, their mom can cook well and enjoys cooking different cuisines, they just trick me into trying everything they want.

So, I started looking into different recipes over the internet and with 3 hours for research. Yes, 3 hours is all I got because they just started behaving worse than me when I was pregnant with them. The more confusing part was that I didn’t even have basic ingredients. Most recipes I saw have Buk choy, Lemon grass, Broccoli but all I had was Spinach, carrots, Mushrooms, cabbage and zucchini. I could have added Onions, but I think onions have a pretty distinctively sharp taste and adding them to something that soupy. Also onions tend to get a bit too soft and the mushiness in the soup, so avoiding onions is better.

Though I am not a pro at cooking Japanese food, but I am becoming a big fan and try to make them as close to the actual food flavors as I can. A few changes here and there to make it more adaptive to our taste. This is one of the amazing ways of serving your kids more vegetables. Hope you like and enjoy it just the way we did.

Indonesian Chicken Satay

Most South East Asian countries offer their version of Chicken Satay. Though I have never visited any of the countries [despite they are so close to India], from what I have watched and read, its a popular street food. This one is the Indonesian version and to me, is the easiest, you can get everything you need from the supermarket, simple to put together and simply delicious. The kebabs have a peanut sauce mixed in the marination and I find peanut butter to be an awesome substitute.

Satay Chicken is more known as Malaysian and Thai, though Indonesia is actually the country that came up with the dish. All these countries have their own recipes and versions of these wonderful dish. I will be sharing Malaysian Chicken satay as well. I am a big fan of Malaysian food but for some reason always find it easier to make the Indonesian version of Chicken Satay, since its easy and scrumptious and my kids love it.

When I was looking into the various chicken Satay recipes, I realized that even though they all had very close similarities, they all taste entirely different and are easily distinguishable. The Indonesian version is easier and kind of a little faster than the other.

The Peanut Sauce in the recipe has been substituted with Peanut butter and if you happen be someone who prefers going more authentic, you can always try getting some peanut sauce from the Asian market. The traditional Peanut sauce is made by grinding Peanuts, soy sauce, Hot peppers, baby onions and lemon together. The paste is usually thick and water is only used little at a time. if you plan to make yours at home, I suggest you to use peanuts without skin, and use dry Red chilies as an option for hot peppers. Lemon juice and little water as needed. Just using a blender to combine everything together.

Since I use Peanut butter, I add Red chili flakes, sugar, soy sauce and lemon juice separately. I feel marinating the chicken pieces together with all the spices and Peanut butter does an amazing job and makes the dish deliciously flavorful. I have made thise for school lunches, home lunches, small gathering and for pot luck. It has always been loved and appreciated and its a super amazing recipe to bookmark and pass on. Enjoy!!!

Stir Fried Chicken

Indian Chinese dishes are pretty popular with people. I experimented this dish which c is made with crispy chicken chunks. Its lightly tossed in a spicy chili sauce.

You will like this dish if you like the Indo Chinese fusion dishes. Its wonderfully delicious and the technique in various dishes where the flavors are combined always makes the dishes scrumptious.

If you have never had this dish before then definitely try it out. If you enjoy takeout dishes like sweet and sour chicken, then you will probably enjoy this dish as well. It uses the Chinese takeout technique of ‘deep frying and tossing it in a thick sauce to coat it’ that most of us are very familiar with but uses a dark spicy chili sauce instead of the usual sweeter sauces.

This recipe is a dry chili chicken version, however if you prefer the gravy version of chili chicken then just double up the sauce recipe to make it more saucy. The type of peppers you use in this dish will be your preference, depending on how spicy you like your food. Though my kids are pretty good with taking spice, I used bell pepper and dry Red chilies to flavor it up.

I personally LOVE crispy foods, but find it slightly irritating when it when it is 60% batter and 40% chicken. This dish is lightly coated and therefore has a very light crispy exterior. This makes for a less greasy end product as well.

Oven Fried Chicken Roll

A little twist to our all time favorite fried chicken roll. My kids love the fried chicken roll. We tried it in some restaurant in India a few years back from a popular joint. The roll was amazing crunchy and delicious. Since, we returned, these chicken rolls found a place to our play date parties, since they are a big hit in kids.

Though I would always fry my chicken but then when a dish is made more often, it sometimes makes you switch to a healthier option and that is exactly what I did with my fried chicken roll. Instead of frying it in oil, I substituted my fryer with my oven to make the chicken a little more healthier. The bread/Roti that i made for the roll is also cooked on a skillet without using oil.

Its funny that a person like me who isn’t very conscious about what she eats and I also truly believe that flavors shouldn’t be played around with and I made sure of that with this one too. This dish came to perfection after a few trials and errors and this is the final outcome, as good as the regular one.

Now, the first try for making the chicken without frying was cooking it in the air fryer. I am not sure if people achieve a lot of success while using air fryers, because I don’t seem to like them much. I have an air fryer from one of the best companies and I did follow all the instructions as well, but the chicken came out very chewy and the outer part wasn’t as crunchy either. I tried again and this time sprayed a little oil. The result was great exterior and very chewy inside.

Then I decided I should give my oven a try too and though everyone has their preference, but trust me on this one that the oven gives you much better results than an air fryer. There is definitely a little more work where you will have to turn the pieces around mid way cooking to ensure the chicken is cooked evenly from all sides, but, it’s totally worth it.

The sauce that I used to assemble the roll is pretty simple to make. The recipe is available in sauces. If in case its not, please feel free to remind me. Being a homemaker and a mother to two boys, I do forget updating things…LOLzzz

Meanwhile, please do go through the recipe. I am sure you will love to try it too. Its easy, simple, and healthy. Enjoy!!!