Author Notes: (This is my husband’s recipe and story. We hope you enjoy!)
It was 1980, my big brother came home from his first semester of college at Niagara University and told my family all about Buffalo Wings, how juicy, how spicy, how good, and how cheap! Since that day I have eaten, sampled, prepared, cooked and devoured wings with great passion.
I love classic Buffalo wings fried in peanut oil but have found frying to be too much work, too much clean up, and really not that healthy. So I went to my place of solace (the grill on my back porch) to make me some grilled wings. My sauce is an inspiration from the classic Buffalo wing sauce that adds some sweet and sour while still providing that Buffalo bite.
—kitchenwitchcookie
Makes: up to 3 dozen wings
Ingredients
WINGS
-
3 dozen
chicken wings
-
1/4-1/3
cups vegetable oil
-
2
tablespoons Kosher salt
-
1
tablespoon black pepper
-
1
tablespoon red pepper flakes
SAUCE
-
juice
of 1 lemon
-
1
teaspoon Kosher salt
-
1
teaspoon black pepper (I like fresh ground)
-
1
tablespoon minced garlic
-
1/3
cup honey
-
1/4
cup hot sauce (I like Frank’s Red Hot Original but substitutes will work) *add more hot sauce if you like really spicy wings
-
3
tablespoons butter
Directions
WINGS
- If your wings come whole, divide the wings into sections: thumbs (or drumettes), flats and tips. Discard the tips.
- Wash the wings in cold water and make sure you thoroughly dry them before proceeding with the recipe.
- Place all wings in a large zip-lock bag and coat with the vegetable oil. Be sure to use enough oil to coat all the wings evenly, but do not drench them. Seal the bag and mix the wings around to evenly coat all of the wings.
- Once all of the wings are evenly coated in oil, add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to the bag. Seal the bag and mix all the ingredients so that all the wings are evenly coated with seasoning.
- Remove any air from the bag, re-seal and set aside in the refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour prior to grilling.
SAUCE
- Heat all ingredients over medium-low heat until everything has combined and just comes to a gentl boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Heat grill on high until hot and then brush the grates clean, reduce temperature to low. (Disclaimer: I’m a natural gas grill guy mainly out of ease, but any type of grilling will do.)
- Place wings on grill. Be sure to keep excess oil off the grill to avoid flame-ups. Space evenly and grill for 10-15 minutes per side until skin is crispy, 20 to 30 minutes total. Depending on the size of the thumbs, that portion may take a little longer and may have more than two sides to grill. Turn accordingly.
- Once all the wings are brown and crispy, remove from grill and place in large metal mixing bowl. Pour sauce over wings and toss to evenly coat wings.
- I like eating the wings plain but if I do dip, I serve with Ranch dressing.
