Tandoori-Style Chicken Lollipop Recipe

Chicken lollipops, which can be made from either drumsticks or wings, might be the kind of thing you'd expect to have debuted either at a hipster lounge or suburban cocktail party, but as it turns out, they're Indo-Chinese in origin and are a popular fusion food on the Indian subcontinent. While there are many styles of chicken lollipops ranging from Buffalo to barbecue, this recipe from developer Deniz Vergara pays homage to their place of origin by using tandoori-style seasonings.

"Tandoori chicken wings are one of my favorite ways to prepare chicken wings," says Vergara, and describes the flavors in the spice rub she seasons these chicken lollipops with as "bold and savory." She does admit that there's a bit of a learning curve to making this dish, telling us, "The hardest part is making the drumettes into lollipops," but goes on to say, "Once you get [the] hang of it, it is quite easy."

These chicken lollipops start with chicken, of course — Vergara opts to use drumettes. The sauce is made from yogurt, olive oil, garlic, ginger, garam masala, salt, smoked paprika, turmeric, and cayenne.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Take a drumstick and cut around the end of the bone to loosen the meat from the bone.

Firmly hold the bone, and with a knife carefully scrape the meat downwards away from your hand to form the lollipop. Repeat with all the drumsticks.

In a medium bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon of olive oil along with all ingredients except for the drumsticks. Stir until combined.

Add the drumsticks to the bowl and mix to fully coat the wings.

Spread out the drumsticks in a single layer on a prepared sheet pan.

Brush with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Cover the bone with a small piece of foil so it doesn't burn.

Bake the drumsticks until cooked through and the skin is crispy, about 40 minutes.

Serve immediately with your choice of dipping sauces and sides!

Vergara tells us, "I bought the drummettes," which is her choice for the easiest way to make chicken lollipops, but she adds, "You could always buy the pack." This refers to a package of whole chicken wings because if you separate these at the joints, you'll have both flats and drummettes (and also tips). While the recipe here provides directions for lollipopping the latter, Vergara does say, "You actually can lollipop the flats with a slightly different technique."

In order to turn a chicken flat into a lollipop, you'll first need to separate the two small bones and then remove the thinner one before pushing all of the meat down toward the end of the thicker bone. While there's simply not enough meat on a wing tip to make it worthwhile trying to lollipop, you can always save these to make a basic chicken stock. You can, however, make chicken drumsticks into extra-large chicken lollipops using a similar method to the one used for drumettes. In each case, the cooking time might be slightly different from the one listed here, so be sure to use a meat thermometer to determine when your chicken is done. According to the USDA, chicken isn't cooked until it reaches 165 F.

As Vergara says of this dish, "I like to serve these either as an appetizer or a main course." As per the instructions in the recipe, she recommends serving them with a dip of some sort but leaves it up to the cook's choice. When asked for her own preference, though, she tells us she likes to make a cilantro-yogurt dip. Other dips that would work well with this South Asian-spiced dish include mint or mango chutney or Szechuan sauce.

The sides you serve, too, will depend on whether you'll be eating these chicken lollipops as an appetizer or an entree. If the former, you could pair them with samosas or curry puffs or you could opt for something simpler like basic crudites — as Vergara tells us, "I cut up cucumbers, carrots, and celery sticks," to accompany the lollipops. For a main meal, she likes to go with roast potatoes, while rice or naan would also work well with this tandoori-seasoned chicken.