A few days ago, I mentioned how well sweet tea and BBQ go together. While testing my amazing Sweet Tea & Apple BBQ sauce recipe, I decided to use some of the sweet tea to make a brine. I used the brine for chicken wings, but it could be used for any meat.
What is Brining?
Essentially a brine is a heavily salted water, which meat gets submerged into. In the brining process, the meat absorbs extra liquid and salt. Which makes the meat very flavorful and extra juicy.
How to Make the Brine?
To make this brine I used 1 quart of Milos unsweetened Iced Tea, 1/4 cup salt, brown sugar, black pepper, 6 cloves of garlic, 1 small onion, and 2 large apples. I dissolved salt and brown sugar in two cups of unsweetened iced tea. I cut the apple, the onion and peeled the garlic and put It in the iced tea mixture. I added two cups of cold sweet tea, and placed the chicken in the brine, and refrigerated it for 24 hours.
The next day I removed the brine from the refrigerator and rinsed off the chicken wings. If you don’t rinse off the brine, the meat with be too salty. The chicken wings went in a 400 degree oven for about 50 minutes. These chicken wings were so flavorful and very moist. To top all of this off a tossed the wings in my sweet tea and apple BBQ sauce.
Sweet Tea & Apple BBQ Chicken Wings
This chicken brine recipe is made with apples, onions, brown sugar, and unsweet tea. It produces a juicy tender chicken every time!
- 30 chicken wings
- 1 quart Milos Unsweet Tea
- 1/4 cup Kosher Salt
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 1 small Onion (thinly sliced)
- 2 large Apples (thinly sliced)
For the Brine
Bring 2 cups Milos Unsweet Tea to a boil. Add brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir until sugar has dissolved.
2. Cool down the brine with ice. Add remaining 2 cups of Milos Unsweet Tea to the brine mixture.
3. In a 1.5 gallon food storage container add sliced apples, sliced onion, and 6 cloves of garlic. Transfer cold brine to the container. Completely submerge chicken into brine. Refrigerate for 24 hours before cooking. *If you use a freezer bag, do yourself a favor and put the bag in a large bowl in case of leakage.
For the Chicken
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove chicken wings from brine, and rinse the chicken. Place chicken on a prepared baking sheet, and bake for about 1 hour or until golden brown.
2. Remove chicken from pan and toss in Sweet Tea & Apple BBQ Sauce 😉
