If you like snacking on Chin Chin a lot or have a party or wedding to cater to, you’ll be happy to know that it’s very easy and quick to make, and requires a few cheap ingredients that you may already have in your kitchen. This post will show you how to make soft crunchy Chin Chin at home.
Chin Chin is a popular Nigerian street snack and a favourite party/ wedding small chops. This crunchy fried snack also makes a delicious tea-time and lunch snack. It’s a light-weight snack perfect for nibbling any time of the day.
So, if you’re ready to learn how to mane Chin Chin at home, swipe or scroll down and let’s get down to it.
Start with the video tutorial below and then scroll down for extra tips including how to preserve fried Chin Chin, ingredient-measurements to make a party-size batch (or for sale), secrets to making Chin Chin soft, crispy and crunchy and what to do if your oil is foaming when frying Chin Chin.
First, check out the video below showing how to make perfect Chin Chin, even if you’ve never made any snack before.
*An ingredients list with measurements when using different quantities of flour are provided (down below) before the end of this post, including chin chin recipe for 1 cup or 100 grams of flour, chin chin recipe for 1 kilo of flour and more.
TOOLS & UTENSILS YOU’LL NEED:
- Mixing bowl
- Spatula or wooden spoon
- Cutting board or Pastry board or a flat space to roll the dough
- Rolling pin
- Knife or pizza cutter
- Wok or deep pot for frying
- Skimmer/ strainer spoon to sieve and scoop out fried chin chin from hot oil.
- Colander or bowl lined with kitchen napkins – to drain off excess oil from fried chin chin
- Optional: a frying basket
- Kitchen scale (preferably, a digital scale)
INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING CHIN-CHIN: Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, butter, egg, flavour (nutmeg, cinnamon or vanilla extract), water
MORE WEDDING/ PARTY SMALL CHOPS AND SNACKS RECIPE:
- How to Make Puff Puff that is Fluffy and Perfectly Round
- How to Make Doughnuts Easily at Home
- How to Make Crispy Samosa: Easy Recipe
- How to Make Spring Rolls: Easy Recipe
Steps on How to Make Soft Crunchy Fried Chin Chin at Home (13 Steps)
This section is for you, if you prefer reading steps to watching video instructions, or if you just want a quick reference. Below is the step by step process for making fried or baked Chin Chin from scratch.
1. Combine all dry ingredients together in a bowl using a spatula or wooden spoon, or your hand: combine and mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, grated nutmeg or your flavour of choice (e.g. cinnamon powder or vanilla flavour).
2. Add the liquid ingredients: Make a well/ hole in the centre and add the liquid ingredients one by one to the dry ingredients’ mixture (add egg, melted margarine or butter).
3. Mix with your hand until the mixture looks crumbly (like garri texture).
4. Now, slowly add water (or milk) bit by bit: add a little, mix and if there are still lots of dry flour, add a small drop of water and mix. Repeat until the dough becomes non-sticky and there’s no more powder flour remaining.
Your hands should be clean with the dough no longer sticking to your hand. At this point, the dough should look like pounded yam ball (not be too soft and not too hard). Keep kneading the dough until you get to that stage. (*Check the above video to see exactly how your dough should look).
5. Now, keep the dough aside. Leave it to rest for about 15 to 30 minutes.
6. After the wait, the dough is ready for rolling and cutting.
7. Roll to flatten the dough: Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface – a table or cutting board. Place the dough on the floured surface and use a lightly floured rolling pin to flatten it to a thickness of (half-inch or 1 cm) or to your desired thickness (some people prefer thick chin chin and some prefer to have it thin).
[HINT: If you do not yet have a rolling pin, improvise by using an empty wine or beer bottle, or just do what Sisi Yemmie did – use your God-given hands to flatten the chin chin dough and get it ready for cutting. That works too.
8. Cut/ slice the dough into bite-sizr small cubes or long strips using a knife or pizza cutter. Ensure to cut all pieces to the same size, so that they’ll fry evenly and get done the same time. Besides, a batch of uniform-size chin chin looks better.
If you’re looking for how to cut your chin chin faster, buy a pizza cutter – this thing saves a lot of time and makes cutting chin chin a dream.
9. Heat some oil: Pour enough oil into a deep pot (up to 3 inches/ 7.5 cm depth), turn your cooker/ stove on medium heat and wait for the oil to get hot. Add enough oil that will allow the chin chin slices to float/ swim on top.
10. Test if the oil is hot enough: Before frying, test whether the oil is hot enough and ready – drop one or two small dough cubes or strips into the hot oil.
If the dough immediately floats back to the top, it’s a confirmation that the oil is hot enough. If remains down at the bottom, it indicates that the oil needs a little more time to get hot enough.
11. FRY OR BAKE: Fry in medium heat and stir repeatedly until it gets brown. How to bake chin chin is fully explained down in the next section. Ensure not to add too many chin chin doughs in the pot, so they don’t soak up oil and become greasy.
While the chin chin is frying in the hot oil, turn it frequently so that they’ll all fry and brown evenly.
12. Scoop out of the hot oil: When your chin chin have browned enough (golden brown), use a strainer spoon to transfer them to a colander or a dish lined with paper napkin.
13. Serve: Allow them to cool slightly and serve warm.
Baking Chin Step by Step (How to Make MiniMie Baked Chin Chin)
Yes, you can bake chin chin instead of frying, and this section explains how. To make baked chin chin, first make the dough – following the process in the above section.
The video tutorial above also shows how to bake chin chin, but if you prefer to read the steps, here goes…
1. Make your dough and cut into bite-sized pieces: Follow the beginning steps in the above video above to mix your ingredients, make the chin chin dough, roll and cut into small pieces.
2. Place the chin chin slices in a baking tray: After rolling and cutting the chin chin dough into small pieces, place them in an oiled baking tray or on an oven tray lined with aluminum foil or baking paper/ parchment paper.
3. Sprinkle some oil on top of the chin chin
4. Then bake in a pre-heated oven (set at 180 degrees Celsius). Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Serve
What does baked chin chin taste like? Baked chin chin has a biscuit-like texture, and harder / not as soft as fried versions – but they are healthier (contain less calories). They feel differently in the mouth, and are not crunchy.
**If you don’t know what baked chin chin tastes and looks like, buy a pack of ready-made Minimie chin chin (it’s baked, not fried). Personally, I prefer the taste of fried chin chin, especially the crunch mouthfeel when I bite into them.
How to Store and Preserve Fried Chin Chin to Keep Fresh
Store away your fried chin chin in a mason jar or any airtight container and store in a dry place. Ensure to close the container immediately after taking out some chin chin.
If air enters the container, your chin chin will lose its crunchiness to become too soft and melt in the mouth. However, with proper storage, fried chin chin can keep stay fresh for months.
Making Large Batch of Chin Chin? See Recipe, Measurements and Ingredients List
100 Grams (1 Cup) Flour Chin Chin Recipe: Ingredients + Measurements
- 1 cup of flour (i.e. 100 to 120 grams)
- 1 tablespoon Sugar = 3 teaspoons or 20 grams
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of powdered milk or 1/3 tablespoon
- Pinch of nutmeg or your desired flavour
- 2 tablespoons of butter = 6 teaspoons
- 1/2 an egg
- Water
500 Grams (Half Kilogram) Flour Chin Chin Recipe: Ingredients + Measurements
- 5 cups of all-purpose flour (between 500 grams to 600grams )
- 1/2 cup of sugar = (100 grams) = 8 tablespoons
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 2 tablespoons of powdered milk
- 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 150 grams of butter = Half cup = 10 tablespoons
- 2 eggs
- Water
One Kilogram (1 Kg) Flour Chin Chin Recipe: Ingredients + Measurements
- 10 cups of all-purpose flour (1kg)
- 1 cup of sugar = (200 grams) = 16 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 4 tablespoons of powdered milk
- 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 300 grams of butter = 1 cup = 20 tablespoons
- 4 eggs
- Water
Two Kilogram (2 Kg) Flour Chin Chin Recipe: Ingredients + Measurements
- 20 cups of all-purpose flour (2kg)
- 2 cup of sugar = (400 grams) = 32 tablespoons
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 4 teaspoons of baking powder
- 8 tablespoons of powdered milk
- 2 teaspoons of nutmeg
- 600 grams of butter = 2 cups = 40 tablespoons
- 8 eggs
- Water
3 Kilogram (3 Kg) Flour Chin Chin Recipe: Ingredients + Measurements
- 30 cups of all-purpose flour (3kg)
- 3 cup of sugar = (200 grams) = 48 tbsp
- 3 teaspoons of salt
- 6 teaspoons of baking powder
- 12 tablespoons of powdered milk
- 3 teaspoons of nutmeg
- 900 grams of butter = 3 cups = 60 tablespoons
- 12 eggs
- Water
What to Do If You Don’t Have a Scale or Measuring Cup
*The standard measuring cup is not the same as your cup at home. Not following the measurements correctly can make your chin chin not come out perfectly. You can buy a set of cheap measuring cups here.
If you don’t have a scale or standard measuring cups, here are some conversion tips:
- 1 cup of flour = 8 tablespoons (using USA standard measurement)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour = 120 grams = 4 1/4 ounces (Source)
- 1 tablespoon (tbsp) of flour in grams = 15g (Source)
Click to the next page for solutions to common problems people face when making Chin-Chin.
Thanks for the well detailed measurement.
Thank you, Comfort. I’m glad you found our ChinChin recipe with measurements helpful.
Thanks alot for this well stated step by step recipe to getting a nice crunchy, soft munchy chinchin. Really learnt alot.
My pleasure, Dorcas. Please let us know how the ChinChins you make with this recipe comes out.
Thanks for the teaching, i want to go into commercial chin chin production, in my immediate market, there are about three brands of chin chin of which they sell at the retail price of #50, when i did my costing, there was no profit due to high cost of materials, later i was told there is a special recipe for commercial chin chin without egg, butter and milk also, they use sweetener instead of sugar or combination of both.
i was told they use oil to mix instead of butter.
My challenge is the amount of oil to replace butter and the right quantity of sweetener to use instead of sugar.
i will be very grateful if you can help me with useful information .
Hi Ojo. Thanks for reading. Sorry, I have no idea about that.
thank you for this,I made a very soft chin chin and my mom says it’s too soft. I now know why, thank you.
Hi Ruthie, thanks for that feedback. I’m glad you now know what you can do to prevent your Chin-Chin from being very soft.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for this very detailed recipe. I have struggled with getting the right measurement, especially when I want to make a large batch of chinchin. The measurements is everything. I will return with feedback as soon as I am done.
Hi Nne, I’m glad you found our Chin-Chin recipe. I hope to hear how it works out for you.
Enjoy making your big batch of Chin Chin.
Thank you so much ma. I love my chinchin crunchy and soft with vanilla flavour
Thanks for the feedback, Rhoday. Me too – crunchy ChinChin is it for me. Yea, Vanilla flaour takes it up a notch.
Thank you so much for this, it really helpful. I love vanilla flavour for my chinchin, and I love it crunchy, like really crunchy, please can I get a list of what I should use, what I should reduce, and what I shouldn’t use at all
Thanks Rhoda, the Ingredient list and measurements to use is in the above post already. Please ensure to read the post to the end (not just the title), so that you will see the ingredients list.
ma,
I just established a chin chin business. but how to calculate my profit is an issue and also how to package
Hi Sandra, simply write down the total amount you spent on ingredients (including firewood or gas). After sales, write down the total amount you sold. Then subtract cost of ingredients from the total Naira that came from sales. That is your profit.
Profit = Sales minus Expenses
thanks for sharing I love dis as safe me from wasting alots of resources
Thanks, Morenikeji. Let me know how your ChinChin comes out when you make it.
Thanks for this tutorial, i always fry chin chin and am about to fry one now.
I love my chin chin crunchy and soft
Pls, can salt be added to chin chin
Thanks for your feedback, Ihuoma. We are many in ‘team soft and crunchy chi-chin’.
Your question shows that you didn’t read the above post, because the full Chin-Chin ingredient list and measurements is there, and salt is also there.
In this blog, we always include a ‘Table of Contents’ at the beginning so that you can quickly scan through and skip to any part if you are in a hurry. Ensure to always read the post to look for answers to your question, and maybe even learn something new, and if your question is not answered, then go ahead and ask in a comment.
Go ahead and use our Chin-Chin recipes above, then come back and comment to tell me how it worked for you:)
Hope that helps.
Good job ma’am
Please the above listed recipe can both be fried and baked???
Yes, Blossom – Chin-Chin can be fried or baked.
Note that there is a difference in the taste and texture of fried vs baked chin-chin. Some people prefer fried Chin-Chin, and some prefer baked one, and some people like both types. The baked version tastes similar to biscuit – and that’s not bad. There are many ready-made Chin-Chin that are baked.
If you try the baked version, be sure to let me know your favourite Chin-Chin (fried or baked).
And how is my chin chin going to be like by using 250grams of butter f9r 2kg all purpose flour…..I mean is it going to be soft,hard ,crunchy?
Your answer is already covered in the post above (under the Q & A section: What does Butter do in Chin Chin?). Please, scroll up and read to understand that Chin-Chin can be made without or less butter and it will still taste good.
>Also in the FAQ sections A to D above, I explained the exact ingredient responsible for making Chin Chin Soft; the one that makes it Crunchy. I also explained the ingredients that will make Chin Chin hard if they are not present.
Bullet number D FAQ above is about Butter in Chin Chin, and there you will find answer to how you Chin Chin will taste with too much or too little butter. Bullet number A and B talks about the ingredients that if not added, your Chin Chin will be hard.
Please scroll up and read the FAQs (a to d) part of the post above for your answers and let me know if you still have questions.
Thank you so much for the tutorial .I’m grateful.
Please can I use 250grams of butter or magarine for 2kg all purpose flour?
Yes, you can.
Thanks so much Ma.
I love your chinchin tutorial. I’ve been searching for this long time now.
Ma, am a student and would want to start a chinchin business but scared(about measurements and equipments to use) cos I’ve not made chinchin before.
Hello Treasure. Thanks for your feedback. I am happy that you finally landed here and found our Chin-Chin tutorial.
Use the measurements in my ChinChin tutorial above and make some for yourself first. Try it 3 times and come back to tell me how it turned out. Don’t be afraid of making a mistake – it will be fine. Just save this page and come back to watch again and take notes when making your first and second ChinChin snacks.
Here’s my advice for you: start small, and test out recipes inside tutorials like the ChinChin above. Don’t start a ChinChin business yet until you have made ChinChin a few times for yourself and family members.
Stop waiting till you have everything and start doing it. After reading/ watching a snacks tutorial, go and buy the ingredients listed in that tutorial and do it.
Start by making chin-chin with 1 or 2 cups of flour for 1 or 2 persons at home, and do it a few times until you are comfortable and can do it without looking at a tutorial.
Let me know how it goes.
Very educative and we’ll explained. Although I’ve been into chin chin business for a while now, learning is a continuous process. ♥️♥️
Thanks, Olusola.
You’re right – we learn every day.
Been looking for a post like this all my life, u just saved me. Thanks for sharing.♥️
Aww! Thanks for the feedback, Victoria. I am so glad you found my Chin-Chin recipe.
Let me know how the recipe comes out for you.
Am so bless with this tutorial
May God Almighty bless with more wisdom.
I will try mine although I have not fry Chin Chin before
Thanks, Grace. The answer is in this post (above) – please read again. In the above article I listed some customary gift ideas (such as a bottle of good wine/ whisky) for a first-visit-to-in-laws. Please read the article in full – your answer is there.
This is a wonderful tutorial, well explanatory, no confusion, I would try mine and see out it come out
I’m happy you like our Chin-Chin tutorial, Precious.
After trying it out, let me know how it comes out for you.
This is quite detailed and explanatory. Thanks and God bless you.
I’m glad you like it, Temitope. Thanks for reading, and do check out our other wedding/ party food ideas.
Thank you for this tutorial especially the baking part and its well explained
I’m glad you like the explanation, Mercy. Thanks for reading.
By the way, if you love party and wedding snacks, such as samosa and spring rolls, be sure to check out my tutorials and featured videos on how to prepare them and other finger foods.
Thanks for the teaching, i want my chin chin soft and crunchy. And my favorite chin chin flavor is nutmeg.
You’re welcome, Debby. Nutmeg flavour adds an oomph to Chin-Chin and I too love it.
Please can I use only egg yoke
You can, because you can even make chin-chin without eggs.
Hi!
Thanks a lot for the chinchin tutorial.
I have tried the recipe yet my chinchin is not crunchy. This last time I did not add baking powder yet there are big bubbles in my chinchin. It taste good but its soft and not crunchy.
What am I not getting right?
Thanks
Linda
Hi Linda, glad to know that you tried the Chin-Chin recipe.
How soft or hard was your batter (mixture)? If the mixture/ batter you roll and cut was too soft, it would fry to become too soft chin-chin.
Could you try with less water the next time (and let’s see)? Ensure to add water drop by drop until you get a texture like hard pounded-yam ball.
Try again with the 100g recipe (above), and using the exact measurements as listed (no guessing), but add water in drops until you get the right consistency. **It would also help if you watch the process in the video above.
*Next time, add baking powder, as it would fix that problem of ‘too soft’, as baking powder adds texture and some hardness/ crispiness, and at the same time makes it light (and not hard).
Let me know how it goes. Happy shin-chin frying!
Thanks for this well-detailed recipe. I think corn flour also helps to make it more crunchy.
Thanks for that feedback, Olubunmi. Ah, that Corn Flour addition must be a secret. Lol. I have to try it. Thank you for sharing.