Wings are the greatest when you’re watching sports.
Wings are the greatest when you’re happy.
Wings are the greatest when you’re sad.
Wings are the best when you’re sick.
I will be serving wings at my wedding, my child’s birth, and my funeral.
Wings are [arguably] the tastiest part of the chicken. Why? Maybe because they have a fat-to-skin-to-meat content. Or maybe not. Who cares. Don’t ask questions.
The problem is, most people are limited to only eating wings when you go to whatever your local chain wing spot is. Wing Stop, KFC, etc.
Maybe you’re blessed enough to live near a top-tier wing joint (shouts to Dirty Birds in Pacific Beach, San Diego. I miss you, Dirty Ranch), in which case, I salute you. Treasure it.
If you’re out here in Korea, you probably know that although Korean fried chicken is a top-tier specialty out here, it’s not as common to find places that serve just wings (except Kyochon, thank you Kyochon for always being there for me).
Here’s the thing.
You can do it yourself. And you don’t need to deep fry it. All you need is an oven or even a toaster oven — and it will still come out crispy af.
Crispy-Ass Buffalo Wings [In the Oven]
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Youtube chef legend that created this. Check out his video here that walks you through it.
Ingredients:
~15-20 chicken wings [frozen is fine]
1 cup flour
Seasonings of your choice. Just S+P is fine too.
I use about ~1/2 tsp. each: cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper
~1 tsp. baking powder
~4 tbsp. Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
~1 tbsp. Butter
Steps:
1 - If your chicken is frozen, defrost them by leaving them in the fridge overnight or with your microwave on the defrost setting.
2 - Preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C).
3 - Lay them out on paper towels and dry them thoroughly.
Like as dry as possible. This is absolutely key for getting crispiness.
If you have extra time, you can dry them and lay them on a baking sheet, and put them back in the fridge overnight. This will draw out more moisture. Honestly I almost never do this though. Just dry them out with paper towels.
4 - Mix up the flour with your seasonings and baking powder.
This is pretty much the same flour mixture I made for the fried chicken. Again, you can mix it all up ahead of time and just store it in some Tupperware.
Only difference here is adding the baking powder. This is the KEY ingredient to getting crispiness in the oven. Baking powder creates a chemical reaction that adds more crispiness. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the one that popularized this, check out his full explanation here. Don’t add too much though, or you’ll get sort of a chemically-metallic taste.
5 - Dredge the wings in your flour mixture. Pack the flour in and shake off any excess.
6 - Liberally oil the bottom of your oven baking sheet. Then line your wings up on it. Drizzle or spray a little bit more oil on top of the wings. Then throw them in the oven for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.
The worst thing in the world is going through the work to make crispy skin, then having it get stuck and torn off because you didn’t oil the sheet enough. Pain.
All ovens are different. Keep an eye on them and flip/take them out when necessary.
You’ll always get a better end result in crispiness if you don’t crowd the pan. Yet I still almost always crowd the pan (because I’m hungry and impatient). That said, try not to crowd it.
6 - Meanwhile, combine the butter and hot sauce in a small saucepan and just whisk until it’s combined. Add it to a large bowl for tossing.
Some people get all fancy when trying to make Buffalo sauce, adding garlic, seasonings, whatever. They’re just kidding themselves. To make the best Buffalo sauce, you need Franks and butter. That’s it.
If you like it really tangy (I said it!!!), only add a little bit of butter. If you want it more mellow, add more butter.
7 - When the wings are crispy to your liking, take them out and immediately toss in the hot sauce mixture.
8 - Serve with ranch and veggies and demolish.
Eat it. Quickly. So it burns your mouth.
You can probably tell this already, but you can sub out Buffalo sauce with anything. You can eat the wings plain, they’ll still be delicious. I’ll do a Korean Fried Chicken recipe soon, my recipe is absolutely fuego if I do say so myself.
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I was going to grab tacos from Los Ayla's (new Bobby D's) for the taco Tuesday and now I'm craving for chicken wings instead. A chicken has only 2 wings (and 2 drumettes) and I wonder who eats the rest of the chicken. Hahah chicken wings are the only part I enjoy.
I'm dying