Suya Wings: The Nutty And Spicy Nigerian Chicken You Need To Try

No matter where you go in the world, you'll find street food. From American hot dogs to Mexican street corn and German currywurst to Vietnamese banh mi, one of the uniting features of humanity is that no matter where you're from, you probably love buying food to eat on the go. The beauty of its universality is that there are street foods you may not have tried, such as suya from Nigeria.

Suya is iconic in Nigeria and as close to a national dish as jollof rice. Suya can actually refer to any type of grilled chicken or beef — steak, chicken legs, gizzards, you name it. The key isn't the meat itself here, but the seasoning, which consists of a signature blend of pepper, ginger, roasted peanuts, and other spices. When applied to the dark meat of wings, it produces a wonderfully rich flavor that allows the seasoning to truly shine — and it's something you really have to try for yourself.

Though suya is now wildly popular throughout Nigeria, it's thought to have originally come from the Hausa people in the north of the country. Sometimes one group of the population creates a food that becomes the predominant national dish of the entire country. Such was the case with suya, which is traditionally sold wrapped in newspaper.

The primary element in the blend is one of the signature ingredients of many dishes in African cuisine: peanuts, in this case, ground finely enough to become part of a seasoning blend. Beyond that, you'll usually find salt and ginger, and either black or red pepper (the spiciness comes from both the ginger and whichever type of pepper is used). Other seasonings can make their way into the mix, but those are the main ingredients. The meat is then set to marinate in this spice blend for as little as an hour and as long as 24 hours.

While a lot of foods only have one seasoning phase, suya wings don't stop there. The spice marinade — typically combined with oil and brushed on — is added to the wings after the initial marinade. It continues to be applied as they cook, creating layers of spiced perfection that add flavor, but also textural differences as the spices cook at slightly different rates. This extra step isn't necessary, strictly speaking — you can add all the spices at once at the start like other marinades — but different stages of seasoning yield the best results.

Suya has been gaining international popularity and recognition, to the point that McCormick even recommends which of its spices to use for a suya blend. You can make suya wings at home on the grill, or as with buffalo wings, they can also be cooked in an air fryer, fried in oil on the stove, or baked in the oven. Just be sure to respect the ingredients in the spice blend, and you'll have a great new dish to add to your rotation.