Main Meals

Chicken feet

By
17 September 2025
4
Easy
10 minutes
30 minutes

“Walkie talkies are a combination of chicken heads and feet enjoyed hot off the grill. To anyone afraid to try chicken feet, they’re just the continuation of a drumstick. It’s not quite as easy to find the heads, but people like to stew them with the feet and necks or gizzards. Enjoyed boiled and fried in some households, or cooked in a curried broth with onions and eaten with isonka samazi (steamed bread) or amagwinya, walkie-talkies are hailed for their deep, rich flavour and gelatinous texture.” – Khanya Mzongwana

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Ingredients

Method
  • 500 g chicken feet
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 stick celery
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 litre water
  • 2 T canola oil
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 cup Woolworths Korean BBQ sauce
  • amagwinya, for serving

1. Place the chicken feet, onion, garlic, celery, thyme, bay leaf and water in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes, or until soft and the meat pulls away from the bone easily. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Remove the chicken feet from the cooking liquid and pat dry with kitchen paper.

3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the chicken feet. Fry until golden brown and crispy, then add the BBQ sauce and toss in the sauce until thoroughly coated. Serve with amagwinya and an ice-cold beer.

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Photographs: Toby Murphy And Jan Ras
Production: Khanya Mzongwana
Food Assistant: Emma Nkunzana

Khanya Mzongwana

Recipe by: Khanya Mzongwana

If you're anything like our deputy food editor Khanya Mzongwana, you're obsessed with uniqueness and food with feeling. Cook her family-tested favourites, midweek winners and her mouth-wateringly fresh takes on plant-based eating.

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