Pan Fried Chicken with Bulgur is a satisfying Mediterranean-inspired dish with minimum washing up. It makes a perfect weeknight dinner.
Bulgur wheat is always a perfect match with chicken. Although we often make bulgur pilaf as a side dish, we sometimes cook bulgur and chicken in the same pan to have the best combination of flavors. This is one of those same pan recipes.
Bulgur is such a great ingredient that you can use in several ways. If it is a new grain for you, check out our best bulgur recipes too!
The happy marriage of chicken and bulgur is a common way of cooking chicken in the Middle East cuisine. My family always welcomes it no matter how I combine these two. Why I love this Pan Fried Chicken Wings with Bulgur recipe is that it’s super easy and everything is cooked in one pan. Who doesn’t love it when there is less mess to clean up?
This garlic lemon chicken wings with bulgur is not only one of the easiest weeknight dinners I’ve made, but it’s also so flavorful and filling. We almost always enjoy this meal with creamy cucumber salad, which you see on the side of the pan in the pictures here. Everyone (including kids) eats it so heartily that I feel like a professional chef. I can proudly say that this is one of those recipes my family would never get bored of.
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Mom's Method
I learnt the method of cooking chicken wings in pan from mom. The recipe is easy to make and they taste like fried wings with little oil. It never disappoints me, so I mostly cook chicken wings in her way. On the other hand, I love to add my own twist on her basic recipe for chicken wings. That’s how I created this garlic lemon chicken wings with bulgur recipe.
Mom has been here with us for a few days and luckily she had a chance to witness how her own recipe was developed when we made this together for dinner. Can you imagine how I felt proud of myself when she LOVED my version of pan fried chicken wings?
This is a mom and kid approved recipe, you have to give it a try!
How to Make
- It’s important to steam the chicken wings first. To do this, heat the pan, place the wings and pour a little water over them. Let them cook covered over medium low heat. You will see how the wings first release their water and then absorb it. This helps the chicken wings to get tender and juicy.
- Don’t overload the pan with the wings, otherwise you can’t give them a frying effect. You can use two pans if you want to double the recipe.
- When there is little water left in the pan, drizzle olive oil over the wings, sprinkle the spices you like, toss in garlic cloves and squeeze half lemon. Bring the heat to the lowest and cook them covered shaking the pan and flipping over the wings occasionally so that both sides get wonderfully golden.
- It could be better if I used garlic, lemon and olive oil to marinade the chicken wings and refrigerate it beforehand, but we are after easy and quick recipes during weekdays, right? Believe it or not, these garlic lemon chicken wings are finger lickin’ good already.
- If you have time though, you can try marinading the wings first. I’d love to hear how it turns out. Please share it in the comments section below.
- I only use the juice of the lemon, but you can slice the lemon and add them in the pan.
- You can add little water when you feel that they will get too sticky.
How Long To Cook
This is not a deep-fry method, so we use less oil and it takes longer to cook these. We need about 20 minutes to cook both sides. The first step in this method is to cook the wings covered first so that they release some water.
Turn them over or shake the pan covered when some of the water is gone. Do this occasionally and then add in oil, lemon juice, garlic and spices. Cook until tender. So this will take about 20 minutes to cook them completely.
Serving Suggestions
We love to pair it with the following recipes:
As I love seasonal produces, how I serve this meal depends on the season. To give it a little refreshing touch, I always garnish it with some fresh veggies or fruit that we have on hand.
I use cherries and cherry tomatoes this time to feel the summer, but I’d use spinach or cauliflower if we were in winter.
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📖 Recipe
Chicken With Bulgur
INGREDIENTS
Chicken Wings:
- 12 pieces chicken wings
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon sweet chili powder
- 10 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Bulgur:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- ½ cup bulgur
- ¾ cup hot water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
To Garnish:
- Handful of cherry tomatoes
- Handful of cherries
- Fresh Parsley Leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat a non-stick pan. Place chicken wings and pour water over them. Cook it covered over medium low heat until there is little water left.
- Bring to the lowest heat. Drizzle over the olive oil, add in the spices, garlic cloves and lemon juice. Keep cooking them covered flipping them over occasionally until both sides are golden. Transfer the chicken wings on a plate.
- Add 2 tablespoons olive oil in the pan and saute diced onion.
- Add in the bulgur and salt and cook it over medium low heat for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Pour the hot water and cook it covered over the lowest heat until it absorbs all the water. Remove it from the heat.
- Add in the chopped parsley and stir gently.
- Place the chicken wings on bulgur, put the lid back on the pan so that they are heated.
- Top with halved cherry tomatoes, cherries and fresh parsley leaves right before serving.
NUTRITION
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Saima says
I love this recipe. I make it with chicken thighs and with the cucumber and dill salad. It's been in regular rotation for months.
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Saima,
We are glad you like this recipe. It is a family favorite for us too. The cucumber salad pairs really well.
Thank you for the comment 🙂
Cheers!
Nifty Recipe says
These look fabulous, and I love how easy they are!!
Barbara Schieving says
Looks irresistible and so good for you!
Zerrin says
Thank you Barbara! It was really good!
Ri says
Hi, Zerrin,
Could you please post the recipe for the cucumber onion salad? Thanks
Zerrin says
Hi Ri!
Thanks for asking this! I just forgot to post that recipe on the blog although I wrote I would share it soon. I'm putting it in my recipe-to-post list now. Hopefully will shoot a photo of it and share it asap.
In the meantime, I can roughly give you the recipe here. It's super simple indeed. Combine diced cucumbers and sliced onion with Greek yogurt. Season with salt and sumac. Drizzle a little olive oil over it and serve. It goes perfectly with any meat or chicken dish even as a dip with snacks.
Diego Lopes says
One of my favorite combos is chicken with lemon juice! This recipe looks delicious, can't wait to try it!
mariam says
hi how does this compare to the baked ones on your blog with baking powder,,? also do you think steaming the wings over a steam basket to render fat out would be better than boiling than to proceed with frying as in your recipe?
Zerrin says
Hi Mariam, I think these ones are more juicy. Never tried to cook chicken in a steam basket before, but I guess it would be fine.Hope this helps. Please share the result when you try.
Mariam says
Yummy how do these compare with the baked one on your blog ? I always hesitate to bake them because of all the oven tunes and smoke from he fat ! Do you think putting the wings over a steamer basket would work too ,like for 10 minutes so as to render out some of the fat and then sauté with oil and seasonings
Adina says
A beautiful dish, I would love to try it. We don't eat bulgur often enough although I always have some in the house. This would be a great way of eating it.
Zerrin says
Thank you Adina! This recipe is always welcomed by my family. Hope you have a chance to try it and your family loves it as much as we do.
Francine Nault says
I like the idea of steaming the wings like you said but if I did marinate them would it be before steaming them or after steaming and then go on with the rest of the recipe. It sounds delicious!
Zerrin says
I would marinade it before steaming.