I was a vegetarian for many years, but there were a few things that I would find myself drawn to during this non-meat eating time in my life. The two items were chicken wings and bacon…ok, not the most healthy of treats, but if you enjoy them sparingly, there is no harm in indulging.
Today I was entertaining a few friends who stop by regularly over the weekend, and I decided to indulge them in one of my guilty pleasures…traditional chicken wings with homemade hot sauce and homemade ranch dressing. I specially ordered these JUMBO wings from my local because if you are going to eat wings…they’d better be substantial! I’ve ordered them in restaurants where you barely have 2 bites of meat, so I wanted something that was worth eating. The process itself is very easy, and if you buy your own dressing and hot sauce you will save a few steps…but the flavor is really tremendous, especially the home made ranch dressing. Make sure to make extra if you can, because they are always a crowd favorite!
Rocki’n Chicken Wings (serves 4-6)
5 # Jumbo wings, rinsed and dried
1 ½ teaspoons of salt
3 teaspoons onion powder
1½ teaspoon garlic powder
1½ teaspoon paprika
2 cups flour
Spicy Buffalo Sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
¼ – ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (½ teaspoon was perfect for me)
1½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon butter
Homemade Ranch Dressing
¾ cup homemade mayo (very important, or a really good quality one like Duke’s)
½ cup sour cream (good quality)
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon lemon juice
½ -1 cup blue cheese crumbles**optional
First make the ranch dressing by putting everything together in a small bowl and store this covered in the refrigerator so that the flavors have a chance to come together. It is important if you make this ahead of time so that it has a few hours to really develop its flavor. If you would like to make this into a blue cheese dressing, just add the blue cheese crumbles before you put it in the refrigerator.
Next make the buffalo sauce so that it is ready to drizzle on the wings once they come out of the fryer. I do not like very spicy things, so I rarely have hot sauce around. I do have cayenne pepper, so I just add a little of this to jazz it up. If you do like hot sauce, you can add up to 5 oz of whichever brand you prefer like Frank’s or Cholula. In a small pot add all of the ingredients and heat together for about 10-15 minutes until it begins to thicken on low heat. Once it has thickened, add the butter and stir in until melted, then set aside.
Next, begin preparing the wings. Rinse and dry all of the wings and set aside on a large platter. Add all of the dry ingredients into a large plastic bag and then add in the wings, a little at a time, and toss until they are all coated well with the flour. Add about 2 inches of canola oil into your frying pan and make sure it has been heated to about 350°F. Once heated, slowly add as many wings as you can into your frying pan without overcrowding. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, until they are golden brown. Once the wings have cooked through, remove them from the oil and place them onto a large paper lined plate to capture the extra grease. Add some of your finished buffalo sauce to the bottom of a large bowl then add the wings and toss until well coated. Repeat this process until all of the wings are finished.
Lastly, preheat your oven to 350°F. Put the coated wings onto a large sheet pan and bake them on the highest rack of your oven for about 15 minutes. This step is critical, because it “seals” the sauce onto the wings and allows them to take on a lovely color…so make sure that you don’t skip this step. When they are finished browning and you have filled up your first plate full of wings, turn the oven off but keep the remainder of the wings on the sheet pan in the oven so that they stay warm until you are ready to serve the second batch. Serve with cut pieces of celery and enjoy.
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