On Sundays We Eat Chicken Wings … #NotSad #Winning

I’ve eaten a fair amount of wings lately. They’re a staple when we watch football in my family. And thanks to both the Texans and the Steelers making the playoffs this year we’ve barely not eaten them.

I’m writing this post a little late. For one, we were inspired to pick wings as a monthly topic because of Super Bowl Sunday, but that literally just happened … like tonight. For two, it’s mega late precisely because it’s Super Bowl Sunday. Even though neither of our teams made it to the big game, we have to watch. This year we decided to go to a friend’s place and up our party food game by making wings. We staid for the whole thing, so I’m tired and, since the Monday after the biggest game all year isn’t a holiday, I have to go to work in the morning. I’ll join the other millions of Americans running around in unproductive zombie mode tomorrow.

But it was worth it. That, ladies and gentlemen, was one heck of a game. But we’re not here to talk sports, we’re here to talk noms … specifically of the winged variety!

Confession time … while we can eat our share of wings till the cows (or chickens) come home, we don’t ever make them. Literally I’ve never made wings. We have our favorite places where we get them – Glory Days, Buffalo Wild Wings – but have shied away from making them ourselves. That was until recently when my dad started making them.

Almost every gathering, party or sporting event is an excuse for him to make his oven baked wings. He made them on Christmas Eve and the Steelers playoff games. They’re fast becoming a tradition and they are so super easy they should not be shied away from.

The wings aren’t breaded, they’re simply coated with a baking soda mixture for crispness, which makes them great for my husband who is gluten free. My dad follows a really simple recipe with just baking soda and salt, but we upped our game a bit by throwing in garlic powder, cayenne and black pepper. Depending on how much flavor or heat you want you can adjust this or try other seasonings.

Also, by baking them elevated on a wire rack the heat gets dispersed evenly all around the wings to pack another crispness punch. It all just seems to work, and even though it takes some time waiting for them to cook, they are well worth it. No fryer needed!

You can choose to toss them in sauce or not. We love a good old Buffalo style hot sauce, so we doctored up some Frank’s with butter, garlic powder, cayenne and Worcestershire sauce. There was just enough heat … not enough to overpower the flavors but enough to build up after downing a few wings.

Oven Baked Chicken Wings
The recipe is for about one dozen wings, so adjust as needed if making more.

For the wings
1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 garlic powder
1/2 course ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 dozen chicken wings

For the sauce
2/3 cup hot sauce
1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

 

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

In large mixing bowl, mix together the baking powder, garlic powder, pepper, cayenne and salt. Toss the wings in the mixture to coat, then place them evenly spaced apart on a wire rack inside or on top of a baking sheet.

Cook the wings for about 30 minutes on 250 degrees, to render the fat. Increase the temperature to 450 degrees and cook another 40 minutes.

For the sauce, in a medium sauce pan, melt the butter and add the hot sauce, cayenne, garlic powder and Worcestershire. Pull from heat. In a large mixing bowl toss the wings in the sauce to coat evenly.