Best Way Buffalo Wings
Best Way Buffalo Wings because they’re the winner in our five-way test. The prep has been slightly tweaked to bring it to easy perfection. Allow 8-12 wing pieces per person, so this base recipe will serve about 4.
Ingredients:
1/2 c Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (regular style)
1/3 c butter (2/3 of a stick)
4 lbs chicken wings
Salt and pepper
Method: preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine Frank’s and butter in a saucepan and heat till the butter melts. Dissect the wings, separating the flats and drumettes and saving the tips for chicken stock. Place wings in a bowl and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over about half the butter/sauce mixture and toss to coat thoroughly.
Spread the wings on sheet pans which are lined with parchment paper or silicone sheets. (Recipe will require two half sheet pans, because you want the wings nicely spread out so they’ll cook evenly.) Roast in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, then turn and roast 30 minutes more or until reddish brown and crispy. Toss in remaining sauce (don’t use the same bowl as for the raw chicken unless you wash it) and serve immediately, with carrot and celery sticks and Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing for dipping.
Personally, I prefer to use softened (rather than melted) butter and then beat the Frank’s in bit by bit with a fork. If you add the Frank’s all at once, you’ll end up just stirring a big blob of butter around in a sea of Frank’s. But, if done right, you’ll get thick Buffalo sauce that sticks to the wings (and celery!) when dipping.
Also, convection is very much your friend for the crispiest skin. 🙂
Good thought on the convection oven. I have one and may turn it on when I make my wings for the game today. Do you leave it on the entire time, or just a few minutes at the end? (The latter is my inclination.)
Re butter, you definitely need to thoroughly melt it and incorporate with the Frank’s whatever method you are using. It’s 21 degrees today in upstate New York, so I’ll probably dip my wings then set them outside for a bit. (On the front porch, not the back, where the dog would get them.) The butter will congeal and they’ll be nicely pre-coated as they go into the oven.
Convection all the way, at 400 °F. You’ll want to check them way sooner, of course.
I even use ice-glazed frozen wings most of the time* and they cook in about the the same time as they would fresh without convection. Believe it or not, so long as you pour the water off when the ice glaze melts after the first few minutes, they still turn out just as crispy. Using ice-glazed wings would obviously preclude coating them in sauce before you put them in the oven, though.
*my local grocery store hardly ever has small wings
Didn’t get to experiment the convection because guests arrived early and I was scrambling, grr. To make matters worse, I misplaced the Frank’s Red Hot and couldn’t find my backup. Luckily there was a second backup in the basement.