A simple approach to chicken wings and sauce ๐Ÿ—

Words
554
Reading
3 min
Listen
Play
5y

chicken_wings.jpg

My favourite food: chicken wings. Here in Canada, they cost $13+ per pound at a pub ๐Ÿ’ธ. So we've taken to making them at home for less than $5 per pound.

They are super easy to make. Instead of a detailed recipe, here's my broad, adaptable approach (will link to a fancier method at the end).

Simple Dry Rub Wings

  1. Get fresh wings from the butcher. Ask them to separate them for you. Keep the wingtips for soup if you're into that! ๐Ÿฅฃ
  2. Put tinfoil on a baking sheet. If you have a rack, use it and make sure it has some oil on it.
  3. Toss or rub wings with dry ingredients (ideas below).
  4. Put wings on sheet/rack, bake at 425F / 220C for 45โ€“60 mins.
  5. Done!

No extra oil needed, the wing skin has enough fat to take care of that. No need to even flip if you have a rack. If there's no rack, either place the tray higher up in the stove or flip halfway through.

Dry rub ideas

  • ๐Ÿง‚ Salt + freshly ground black pepper. Seriously, this is all you need sometimes!
  • ๐Ÿ”ฅ Jamaican Jerk Rub. This is what's pictured above. We buy the rub at a bulk food store. The trick with this stuff: put way more on than you think you need for the dark finish and signature intense flavour.
  • ๐ŸŒฟ Add freshly chopped or dry herbs. Rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano... any and all, whatever you enjoy. It'll be tasty.

Approach to sauce

These amounts work great for 2 pounds / 1 kg of wings.

  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup main flavour (hot sauce, soy sauce, honey)
  • Splash of acid (vinegar, lime, ๐Ÿ‹)
  • Knob of unsalted butter (adjust amount as you like or skip)
  • Bit of cornstarch for thickening (1โ€“2 tsp)
  • Salt, pepper + anything else to taste

Get the water + main flavour together on medium high heat. Toss in the butter and acid, whisk it up. Season. Taste frequently. Too salty or spicy? Try more sugar, honey or water. Needs ...something, but not salt? Put more acid in.

๐ŸŒŸ Tip: A teeny tiny dusting of cinnamon goes amazing with most hot sauces.

Cornstarch: Once the flavour is where you want it, combine the starch with a splash of water. Stir until it's liquified. Pour slowly into sauce when it's still on med-high heat; whisk fast. It'll get nice 'n' thick.

Bonus: sides as pictured

๐Ÿฅฆ Roasted broccoli

Bunch of broccoli florets tossed with salt, pepper, oil. Add extra herbs/whatever as desired. Pop into oven on tinfoil lined sheet when there are 25โ€“30 mins left on the wings. Place higher up in the stove to avoid over crisping one side.

๐Ÿฅ” Roasted Potatoes

Bunch of potato chunks tossed with salt, pepper, oil. Put in oven at the same time as wings. Stir occasionally for more even browning. These were fingerling potatoes and we used a cast iron pot with bacon fat in the bottom IIRC.

Need a fancier recipe? ๐Ÿ˜œ

I'm sure if you like the Internet and you like food, you know my man Babish, right? Here he is in an old school Binging episode, making lemon pepper wings Atlanta-style (aka Lemon Pepper Wet).


Thanks for reading, and let me know if you have any interesting ideas for sauces / rubs :D

A simple approach to chicken wings and sauce ๐Ÿ— | Ecency