Search no further, this is it. The Nigerian chin chin recipe you have been searching for. Sounds cocky right? But this really is it. Try it and see. Chin chin is a very common Fried West African snack. It is a delightfully tasty crunchy snack.
WARNING: Once you start munching, you would have to be restrained to stop.
Even as this snack is commonly enjoyed in Nigeria, not all chin chins are made equal. Some are overtly sweet, or tasteless, while some are just an oil soaked mess.
Growing up I helped my mom make chinchin a lot during the Christmas season. We always looked forward to making this delightful snack during the Christmas holidays.
Table of Contents
Why does my chinchin soak up oil?
One of our readers asked this question in the comments so I decided to update the post to include the answer. Thank you Yemi for taking out time to drop your comment. You are appreciated ❤️
Sometimes you find that your chin chin is soggy or has soaked up a lot of oil here are a few reasons why?
- The Oil wasn’t hot enough.
- The Oil wasn’t enough for the amount of chin chin dough being fried.
- The Oil was Overcrowded. Overcrowding the oil lowers the oil temperature and we are back to no 1 point above
How to prevent chinchin from soaking up a lot Oil when frying.
- The oil wasn’t hot enough: Before you frying the chin chin. Always test the heated oil by putting a piece of chin chin in the oil . If oil bubbles and the piece of chin chin comes up immediately then the oil is ready for frying.
- The Oil wasn’t enough for the amount of chin chin dough being fried:
Always fry your chin chin with enough oil. Frying chin chin requires deep frying which requires enough oil. - Overcrowding the oil with dough: Make sure you have enough oil to fry your dough. Too much dough overcrowds the and doesn’t allow adequate frying by lowering the temperature of the oil and making the dough soak up oil.
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How do I stop the oil used to fry chin chin from bubbling over and spilling?
Most time this happens when you are frying a second batch of the chin chin dough. I have observed that this happens only when my dough is made with butter. When I make chin chin with magerine , i can fry the whole batch with the same batch without having the oil bubble up and spill over.
But since I prefer the texture and taste of chin chin made with butter here are a few tips
- If you are making a large quantity, use a large pot to fill in oil to accommodate large chin chin dough for each batch then Change the oil after each batch.
- If you are making a small quantity, Use a large pot to accommodate the amount of oil needed to fry the chin-chin in one batch.
It was part of our travel package. We travelled home to our village (country home) every Christmas. So this chin chin served as our snack and also as gifts to visitors. Trust me we never got tired of munching on these and you too will not. Read warning above.
These are soft and almost crumbly on the inside and crunchy on the outside. So not to worry no jaw breakers here. ?. These little delights are ‘CROFT’ in my son’s words meaning Crunchy and Soft You get the drift right. The young man is a foodie at heart creating a portmanteau for food lol. But if Kamso says this is good, Believe me it is ?
Now let’s get to this amazing ‘CROFT’ chin chin recipe ?
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Recommended Products for making best chin chin
1. Pottella deep square 9.5″ copper pan: it has a frying basket, a steamer tray plus you get a free cookbook with it.
2. Frying spoon: This one comes in a set of three. Best value.
3. 32 oz clear plastic storage jars: These come in a set of 6. I reserve 2 for chin-chin and use the rest for storing other pantry staples like oats.
4. Oggi four piece acrylic canister set: Also great for storage.
5. Paper Towel: To absorb excess oil after frying and before storage.
6. Serving bowls: These are perfect to serve your chinchin with.
PIN FOR LATER
Nigerian Chin chin
Ingredients
- 280g (1 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp) all purpose flour
- 82g (1/3 cup) granulated sugar
- 57g (4 Tbsp) salted butter
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup evaporated milk
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Measure and Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Measure and mix wet ingredients together except butter.
- Add butter to the dry ingredients and mix with your fingers until just combined.
- Pour in the other wet ingredients and mix together until dough forms. it should form a perfect dough but if its feels a bit stiff, add a Tbsp of water or milk. if it feels too tacky, add a Tbsp or 2 of flour no more. DO NOT over work the dough.
- Wrap in a saran wrap and allow to rest on the counter for about 5 mins. this allows flavors blend in and develops the gluten which makes it easier during the cutting process
- Unwrap rested dough, you can roll out all the dough at once since dough is small or you can divide into 2 portions and roll individually. Roll out dough to about a quarter of an inch thick because dough will rise when you fry them.
- With a knife or pizza cutter or even a dough divider cut dough across vertically and horizontally forming little squares.
- Put little squares in a bowl and sprinkle a little flour on them and shake to prevent sticking.
- Heat up oil. Fry till light golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread on a paper towel lined tray to cool. Chin chin will be soft when hot but hardens as it cools.
Notes
Can yeast be added to the recipe? If yes how much of it for a basket of flour? Thanks
Hi Eloho,
I haven’t tried adding yeast to chin chin. But I don’t think it would work in this recipe.
Yeast acts differently from baking powder in food. Yeast would give the recipe a bread like texture.
The ideal rising agent for cookies, chin chin cakes and the likes is baking powder while yeast is for breads, puff puff, doughnuts, fish roll etc.
Hope that helps. 😊
Yesssss! Made this today! I tripled the recipe but my husband was like, “Babe I told you it wouldn’t be enough.” 😅 This is exactly the recipe I’ve been looking for! Thank you!
💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽 yayyy Itunu, this made me laugh so hard. 😂😂 he warned you that it won’t be enough and you didn’t listen. See. 😂 next time make enough jor.
Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the chin chin recipe. You are the MVP.. Hope you get to try more recipes from the blog 😊
Have a blessed day!
– Chichi
What can I use instead of butter
Hi Cynthia,
You can use margarine instead of butter.
Happy New Year!
– Chichi
My chin chin is soft, its not crunchy
Hi Amina,
The chin chin is soft when it just out of the oil but hardens as it cools. When it’s completely cooled that’s when it becomes crunchy.
If it’s not crunchy when it’s cooked, check that you measured the ingredients correctly.
If you like your chin chin really hard, then you can add about 1/2 cup of flour extra. Hope this helps.
Thank you for your feedback. Feel free to reach out if you have further questions.
– Chichi
Hi pls I need ur help nowwww,am on it but it refused to fry,it gets melted in the oil.
What should I do?
Hi Mercy,
This hasn’t happened before. Here are a few things I think might have gone wrong.
1. Did you measure the ingredients correctly? Sounds like there might be a lot of butter in your dough, if that is the case, add more flour to the rest of the dough to get it firmer.
2. The oil may not have been hot enough before you started frying. This will make the dough absorb a lot of oil. Making the chin chin soggy.
Try the above suggestions and let me know. I will be here to answer your questions. Don’t worry 😉
Thanks alot , am grateful
Hi Faith,
You are very welcome. Happy you found it helpful. Merry Christmas!
– Chichi
Thank you so much you have help alot, you make my work easier
Hi Serena,
Thanks for your feedback. Glad to hear that. So happy to help. Wishing you and yours a merry Christmas and a blessed 2019 and beyond 😊
– Chichi
Wow! This was truly just the chin chin recipe that I was looking for. It came out perfect. Crunchy yet soft and not a jaw breaker. I have been munching away since I made them and I have told all my friends about the recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Hey Ify,
So happy you finally found the Nigerian chin chin you’ve been looking for 😉. I appreciate your feedback. Hope you find loads of other recipes you are looking for.
Thanks also for taking out time to share this blog with your friends. You are amazing.
-Chichi
Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe! Since I first made it and ate the chin chins, they’re always on my mind! Yesterday, I even doubled the recipe to make a bigger batch. I work from home and I just love mindlessly snacking on them during the day.
Hi Eden,
You are welcome. Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for trying out the recipe and taking out time to leave me a feedback. ? Hope you get to try more of my recipes. ?
Is it compulsory to use egg?
Hi Oluwafemi.
I haven’t tried making chinchin without eggs. Sorry I can’t help you with that at the moment. I am currently working on a chinchin recipe without eggs. If it works out I will be sharing it on the blog. Make to sign up for my free newsletter so you know when the recipe goes live. Thanks for stopping by. ?
There is a vegan egg replacer that can be used. One tbsp of flaxseed or Chia seeds. Mixed with 3 tbsp of water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and your egg replacer is ready. 1 tbsp is for 1 egg.
Thanks Uzo for pitching in. That’s exactly the egg free recipe I am working on. Haven’t Perfected it just yet. You can give it a try Olufemi
Another thing is this. The recipe works for a maximum of up to 3 eggs as an egg replacer. I would suggest you with make the chin chin in batches
Just came across this and wondering if the butter here is melted already. If not,how much of if should I use as melted butter. I dont do well with consistency measuring unmelted butter
Hi Lola,
The butter in the recipe is not melted. The recipe calls for 57 g of butter which is equivalent to 4 Tablespoons or 1/4 cup or 1/2 a stick of butter ( if you are in the US. ) Hope that helps. Thanks for stopping by. Merry Christmas 😊
– Chichi