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
Pls am i going to put salt on my chinchin
Hi Temitope,
No need for salt if using salted butter.
-Chichi
Hi chi hi I made this recipe today it was amazing and perfect👌👌👍
Yayy!! 💃🏽💃🏽 thanks for the feedback. Happy you liked it. Enjoy! 😀
-Chichi
PS: I now have a youtube channel and I would be happy if you subscribe to my channel and share it with your family and friends too. Thank you so much.
https://www.youtube.com/mydiasporakitchen
Hi, I did the chin chin again today, they turned out way better today. Still not nearly as hard as the ones I used to get as a kid but still really good. Taste and everything else was perfect. Thank you.
I think the problem with the ones from yesterday was excess butter, not sure though 🤷🏽♀️.
Hi Ruth,
Happy to hear it worked out better today. Maybe you added too much butter last time.
I actually like my chinchin Croft which according to my son is between hard and soft. It’s a matter of preference.
Feel free to add a little more flour but be careful not to add too much flour or it will get too hard. Thank you for letting me know how you fared. Stay safe!
– Chichi
Hi, my chin chin came out all crumbly. The first batch was good, the second batch barely survived, the third batch literally dissolved in the oil. Had to trash everything including the oil. The other two batches have been out for awhile now and they are still so crumbly. Didn’t harden at all. I’m thinking it was the baking powder but i’m not sure.
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for the feedback, I am not sure what might have gone wrong with the second batch but I am happy to help you troubleshoot.
1. Was the second crumbly batch the same mix with the first batch that worked perfectly?
2. Did you measure your ingredients accurately
3. Did you overcrowd the pan when you were frying the crumbly batches. If you did, the chin chin might have absorbed oil.
I don’t think it’s the baking powder. Let me know if any of the above was the problem.
– Chichi
They were all the same mix. I just separated them into three batches to avoid crowding the oil. I tried to get the exact measurements I believe. The pan was definitely not overcrowded. I used your measurements which was a small dough and I still separated it into three batches.
This has never happened to me. I find it weird too,especially since it’s from the same dough. I have even kept my dough overnight and it still turns out well.
Did the first batch stay crunchy after frying?
Maybe add some more flour when next you are making another batch.
Hope that helps.
Please Let me know.
– Chichi
Okay, I’ll try it again and add more flour. None of them that turned out good are crunchy. They all crumble in the mouth.
Thank you for replying though.
I’ll let you know when I try it again.
You are welcome. Please let me know when you do. Stay safe! 😊
Hi Chichi I love this recipe of yours I am a big fan of yours Can I use whole milk instead of evaporated milk and can I leave out the nutmeg i am not that a fan of nutmeg
Hi Sam,
Thank you for your kind feedback. Yes you can use whole milk instead of evaporated milk. Leave out the nutmeg if you are not a fan or substitute with cinnamon if that’s your preference.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel and share my channel with family and friends so they can subscribe too. Thank you 🙏
https://www.youtube.com/c/mydiasporakitchen
Hi,pls how can I make my chin chin more harder
Hi Blessing,
You can add 1/4 cup more flour to this recipe. Stay safe!
– Chichi
Hello,
My chinchin never comes out crunchy . Any recommendation to fix that problem?
Hi Liv,
Thank you for reaching out. Can you tell me how your chin chin comes out. Is it soft and mushy? This recipe is meant to be crunchy but not hard. It always comes out crunchy whenever I make it.
Usually after frying the chin chin it comes out soft but hardens as it cools just like cookies.
If you want it harder than this, you may need to add extra flour like 1/4 cup or a bit more depending on your choice. Let me know if this helps.
Stay safe.
– Chichi
Thanks alot. But please what’s the recipe for half bag of flour
Hi Joy,
You are welcome. Unfortunately I can’t calculate that since I don’t know the weight of your bag of flour. Here is how you can calculate it when you are able to get the weight of your flour.
Divide the flour you have by the amount of flour in the recipe for instance, If your bag of flour is 840g, divide 840g by 280g that would be 3
All you need to do is multiply all the ingredients in the recipe by 3. Hope that helps.
– Chichi
PS: I would love it if you subscribe to my YouTube channel. I now upload helpful videos on there. Thank you for your support.
https://youtu.be/1ZasFeb6NFI
This recipe is an amazing discovery. Kudos to you. Please how would I go about making chin chin using this recipe for 1.5 kg of flour
Hi Peace,
Multiply every ingredient the recipe by 5 they will give you a recipe with 1400g of flour. That’s the closest whole number you can get to 1500g. Hope that helps.
– Chichi
Thank you so mich. What about for 2kg of flour. Please reply urgently
Hi Peace,
you are welcome. For 2Kg flour, multiply the recipe by 7. hope that helps.
-Chichi
Pls can I use oil instead of butter while making chinchin
Hi Chidi,
I haven’t used oil to make chin chin but a ready has reported success with using oil. You can give it a try and let me know how it went. Thanks for visiting the blog. 😊
– Chichi