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
Hi, thank you for this recipe. Any idea how this will turn out if I used oat flour in place of all purpose flour and can I make this without sugar? I am looking to make a snack that will be diabetic friendly.
Hi Chichi, my mum used to make chin chin when I was much younger but I never really took up interest in them. But recently my girlfriends made some chin chin and gave me just a handful, so I vowed I was going to make some for me and my family. Looked up in the internet and yours was the first I clicked. And it was rightfully labeled “Nigerian chin chin”. I have made this twice in two weeks. The first time I used butter for the recipe and it bubbled over and then I took your advice and used margarine, same thing. Anyway the long and short of the matter is they both turned out perfect. Please keep up the good work cos it’s a lifesaver for Nigerians in the diaspora.
Hi Uzoma,
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe. It’s so yummy and truly the very Nigerian chin chin lol.
About the bubbling over, i find it doesn’t bubble as much when I use margarine but in all honesty I prefer the taste and texture butter gives.
I have accepted it will bubble over especially when frying the second batch so I try to use a big pot so It doesn’t bubble over. You can try that. 😊
Thank you for your encouragement and your feedback. Stay safe!
– Chichi
ma, how do i measure all these using peak evaporated milk tin as measuring cup.. Thanks in advance
Hi Toseen,
Unfortunately I can’t help you with the measurements with peak tin since I don’t have access to one at the moment. I’m sorry.
Stay safe!
-Chichi
Awesome recipe
Thank you. Happy you liked it.
-Chichi
Good evening ma’am, with this recipe an I bake it in the oven instead of frying?
Hi Dinma,
Yes you can, put the cut up chin chin dough in a baking sheet. Spray lightly with oil spray,then bake in the oven at 350 F (180 C) for 25 – 30 mins.
Make sure to check at 15 mins, stir the dough and rotate the pan. Enjoy! Stay safe !
– Chichi
I tried this two weeks ago. It was awesome. Absolutely CROFT. I made a large batch but it barely lasted two weeks. Everyone couldn’t get enough of it. Now hubby is badgering me to make another batch. Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe.
Yayy!! Vivian! Good job on getting the Croft 😀. Please I plead on his behalf, make some more lol. Thanks for your feedback! Stay safe!
– Chichi
Can I use pastry or cake flour instead of all purpose flour pls?
Hi Lois,
Pastry flour would work but I haven’t tried making it with cake flour. If you do, kindly let me know how it goes. Thanks for stopping by.
– Chichi
Thank you so much for this recipe. My husband is Nigerian and I wanted to make him a special treat. I did change it a little and used self rising flour. He was so surprised and loved it!
This recipe seems so perfect, I haven’t made it yet but I love the fact that it’s a small quantity and you took so much time in the detail. I can’t wait to try the CROFT
Hi Ray,
Hope you and your family are safe. Thank you for stopping by and reading through my post. Yes you would love the ‘Croft’ chin chin. Let me know how it went 😊 Stay safe!
– Chichi
Good job. One quick question ,can. Lean oil be used if there is butter. Can’t go out because of the luckdown
Hi Ogunmekan,
I haven’t tried making chin chin with oil but I don’t think it will work.
Margarine will work instead of butter. Thank you for stopping by Stay safe!
– Chichi
Instead of using baking powder can i use yeast?can i also use normal sugar instead of granulated sugar,can i use full cream milk instead of evaporated milk
Hi Blessing,
Hope you and your family and safe and well.
Unfortunately you can’t use yeast for chin chin.
Granulated sugar is normal regular sugar it’s just not in cubes.
Yes you can use full cream milk instead of evaporated milk.
You can also use powdered milk. To use powdered milk, measure out 1/3 cup powder milk and add 1 cup of room temp water to it then stir to combine. Then measure the amount needed for the recipe and use. Hope that helps. Stay safe.
– Chichi