These crispy and flavorful Game Day Baked Chicken Wings taste like the restaurant version with none of the bad-for-you ingredients! 
I’m one of those people who do not look forward to Fall. Fall means colder and darker weather which I despise. I’d rather it be hot summer all year long, even if it means excruciating heat and constant sweating. Yeah, I’m crazy like that. There’s a reason I moved to California, after all.
However, one of the redeeming qualities of this new season is football, my second favorite sport to watch after soccer (Any soccer fans out there? …Nobody?). Even when our favorite team isn’t playing (we have the unfortunate burden of being Jets fans), football is always on on Sundays because there’s something nice and soothing about just listening to the plays and the commentators in the background. Which is exactly what happened all day yesterday. Oh, glorious Sunday.
Also, most importantly, football means game day food means hot wings. Which are basically crack. If we see wings on the menu, we will order them 90% of the time, no joke. However, you never know what you are getting at restaurants, and they usually come breaded in flour (which I DEFINITELY cannot eat), deep fried in god-knows-what kind of polyunsaturated oils, and/or covered in sauces that contain soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, and other creepster ingredients. No bueno.
These baked wings taste like what you’d get at a restaurant – crispy, tender, just the right amount of spicy, and seriously addicting. I made 3 lbs of wings for the two of us, because I got 2 lbs last time and it was not enough. We still finished almost all of it, save for 6 pieces. I don’t know whether I should be embarrassed or proud.
The trick to making the wings taste like they are fried is boiling them before they go in the oven. This takes out some of the fat, so the wings aren’t soggy at the end. Basically, they are baked already half cooked.
When choosing the hot sauce, make sure to look at the ingredients list. My current favorite is TJ’s Jalapeño Pepper Hot Sauce, which is made with: red ripened jalapeño peppers, distilled vinegar, and salt. So awesomely simple. Another Paleo-friendly hot sauce is Frank’s RedHot Original, but I’m sure there are many more.
I like my wings pretty spicy, but you can play around with the hot sauce to butter ratio. Add more butter for a less spicy sauce. I know… it’s like the easiest recipe for wing sauce. You’re welcome.
You can see that I didn’t cut off the tips. Feel free to do so if it creeps you out. I think the thin bones are delicious to chew on and it hurts for me to waste any part of the animal.
It’s a glorious massacre.
Game Day Baked Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 3 lb chicken wings preferably organic and pasture-raised
- 5 tbsp hot sauce
- 3 tbsp butter
- Salt
Instructions
- Bring a big pot of water to a boil.
- While the water is heating up, cut the chicken wings to separate the wings and drumettes. You can also cut off the tip if you don't like the way it looks. I like to leave mine on.
- Once the water is boiling, carefully dump the chicken pieces in the water, cover, and let it boil for 8 minutes.
- Drain the chicken wings and lay them on a cooling rack over a baking sheet pan in a single layer. No need to grease the pan!
- Place in the refrigerator without covering for at least 2 hours so the wings can dry.
- Preheat the oven to 450 F.
- Take out the wings and bake for 20 minutes, then flip, and bake for another 10 minutes.
- While the wings are baking, pour the hot sauce and butter in a big mixing bowl and microwave for a minute or 2 until the butter is melted.
- Whisk the mixture with a fork.
- Once the wings are done, dump them in the mixing bowl with the sauce in it.
- Toss the wings with a big spoon or a spatula so they are evenly coated with the sauce.
- Serve and eat!
Notes
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