“I’ll have just one chicken wing,” said no one ever. ~ Unknown
Wings are a big thing everywhere you go. The meat cutter at my local grocery store and I were discussing this the other day. Years ago, meat markets were practically giving chicken wings away because they were a non-item, no one wanted them. And then . . . THEN . . . somebody had the bright idea to chop them in half and serve them as an appetizer. Now “wings” have evolved to different styles and flavors and levels of heat with a myriad of dipping sauces.
I bought 2.5 pounds of wings, next time it will probably be 3.5-4 lbs. – my 15 y/o son especially is still raving about them two days later. Most BBQ wings are fried and then doused in BBQ sauce, or baked and then covered in BBQ sauce and broiled, but I wanted something different. I want the barbecue flavor infused into the meat, not just sitting on top.
BBQ Chicken Wings
Ingredients
3.5-4 lbs. chicken wings
1 bottle Sugar Free BBQ Sauce
2 cups flour
1 T. smoked paprika
1 T. garlic powder
1 T. chili powder
1 t. ground mustard
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
Directions
Rinse the chicken wings under cool water. Pat dry. Layer in a container with BBQ sauce covering each layer. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator 1-3 hours. Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare the baking pans by lightly spraying with oil. Mix the flour and spices together in a bowl. **You may want to use a large Ziploc bag and shake the wings a la Shake-n-Bake style.** Uncover the chicken and wipe the excess BBQ sauce off, leaving a bit on. Dredge each wing in the flour and spices and place on the baking sheet. Bake 40 minutes, flip and bake another 20 minutes. Remove to platter and allow to cool 5-10 minutes. Serve with your choice of dipping sauces – ranch, bleu cheese, honey mustard, BBQ sauce, Chick-Fil-A sauce, etc.
Once the wings were able to cool on the platter, they were less sticky than those that are coated with BBQ sauce at the end. Still slightly sticky, but with a good barbecue flavor that doesn’t disappear once you bite into the meat. I served these with a Lemon Dill Potato salad, but next time I may go with sweet potato waffle fries.
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