Traditional Restaurant Style Hot Wings

When I was about 22, I worked at a “bar and grill” style restaurant. I worked at this place for several years. I loved it. One thing I loved about this was not only the fab customers, but the food. My favorite was the hot wings. This was one of the first things that I learned to make there. Everything was always made fresh and to order and these was our best selling item on the menu.

As any traditional hot wing order they came with celery and your choice of sauce and side. Most people ordered either our in house ranch or blue cheese dressing and fries. A few people ordered our in house salad but the fries were the way to go. lol. Some people wanted just the sauce to dip their fries in. It’s really good. So, let’s get into making these awesome wings…

Here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. Chicken Wings – wing tips cut off and the wingette and drumette separated
1 Stk. Butter – Room Temp
1 C. Hot Sauce ( I use franks red hot – or a combo of franks and crystal)
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. Plain Vinegar
2 1/2 Tsp. Garlic Powder
2 Tsp. Onion Powder
2 Tsp Seasoning Salt ( we used in house but any brand will do)
1 Tsp. Paprika
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
2 Tsp. Kosher Salt
1 Tsp. Pepper
1/3 C. Avocado oil ( I like using this opposed to vegetable oil but any neutral oil will do)
1/3 C. Cornstarch
1 Tbsp. Cornstarch

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 425*. Line two sheet trays with foil or parchment and place an oven safe rack on top. ( no we did not fry these in our restaurant but we baked them). Set these aside for now.
2. Cut the tips of the wings off and discard. Now, cut the wingette and drumette in two separate pieces and place in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl combine the garlic, onion, seasoning salt, paprika, brown sugar, salt, pepper, 1/3 cup cornstarch, and avocado oil. Whisk together until smooth. Pour over the chicken pieces and toss to coat completely. Leave no wing un-seasoned.
4. Place the wings on to the lined trays evenly. Using the wire rack will ensure all of the pieces get evenly browned and cooked through.
5. Place in the oven for 30 minutes. You can flip these at the 15 minute mark to get both sides nice and crisp.
6. In the meantime, In a sauce pan combine the hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, 1 tbsp cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Add in the butter and place over a medium heat. Continue to whisk until the mixture starts to become thick. You will know when you are whisking and you can see a little line trial off the whisk when stirring. It will be thick but still pourable. Remove from the heat and set aside for later.
7. After the wings have cooked for about 30 minutes remove from the oven and place the wing pieces in a large bowl. Pour over 1/2 to 3/4 of the sauce and toss to completely coat the wing pieces. Place back on the tray and cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until completely cooked through and the sauce is set to the wing pieces.
8. Remove from the oven and brush the remaining sauce over the wing pieces on both sides and place on a serving tray. Let cool about 5 minutes or so before serving.

• I like to use franks or a mixture of franks, old bay hot sauce, and crystal hot sauce. We used somewhat of the same brands In the restaurant but the spices are pretty much the same. They are just on a much smaller scale.
• We always used plain vinegar in our sauce for that extra punch of flavor. Plus it also helped bring out the flavor of the hot sauces the we used. These were the plain mild “hot wings”. They are not to spicy but then again they are hot wings.
• I would serve these with either blue cheese or ranch dressing on the side and maybe a side salad or fries. You serve them however you like and heck, throw in some celery sticks for good measure. lol..

I hope you enjoy as these are one of the recipes that I make quite a lot in our house. If my daughter had it her way we would have wings everyday. But, I like to switch it up on the menu.. lol

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XOXO

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