Several weeks ago, I decided it was time to make hot wings. Not that I had ANY idea how to cook them mind you. But I REALLY like them. I was REALLY craving some. And I REALLY didn’t wanna go out to get them!

This is how I decide what’s worth my time to learn how to cook.

I started searching through Pinterest and found a recipe on FifteenSpatulas.com for Crispy Baked Chicken Wings. They looked really crispy and definitely cooked like you’d expect hot wings to be done.

This is how my first attempt turned out (and why I like recipes!). They didn’t have a ton of flavor without the hot wing sauce though. I think part of that was the fact I didn’t put enough salt in the water before I boiled them.

I will say though, they kept very well in the fridge, and reheating them works great, so I got to enjoy them for several days!!

This week, I decided that, since it was Mother’s Day weekend and I’d have time on my hands, I’d make more wings. But since I’d bought over 5 pounds of drumettes, I figured it would be a good time to test out another flavor too.

I found a recipe on JustAPinch.com for something called “Heroin Wings”. I wasn’t sure how they’d taste, but the recipe was super simple so I decided that was the one!

The problem was, the recipes times and oven temperatures weren’t the same. And it’s tough enough for me to figure out temps as it is because this dinosaur of an oven I use cooks higher than it’s set (even *I* don’t burn stuff THAT often). I don’t need any extra complications. My other thought was that I was testing out a new recipe… but I REALLY liked the original one.

So, I adapted it to use the “boil first, cook at a higher temperature for fewer minutes” method from the Crispy Baked Chicken Wings recipe.

Let’s see if I can walk you thru my awesome chicken wing culinary skills. 🙂

NOTE: While there are a lot of instructions here (for those like me who need all the help we can get), it ultimately comes down to boil, coat & bake!

First, I boiled all the wings in salted water (more salt than last time). Then, rather than put them on wire racks (and create more dishes for myself), I dumped them all into a large strainer and let them drain.

After they stopped steaming, I laid a clean towel on the counter and set them all on it. The first time I used paper towels and they kept sticking to the wings. The clean dish towel worked MUCH better!

While the chicken was “drying”, I melted the butter…

… and mixed the parmesan cheese and spices for the new recipe.

Then I put both pans in the oven to heat them up before putting the chicken on them. It takes roughly 2-3 minutes to heat it up. Just be sure to put the foil on the pans before you put them in the oven. These are the kind of things I forget and how I end up burning myself!

Once the butter was melted, and cooled enough to not burn my fingers (NOT burning myself is always the goal that I rarely achieve), I dipped the wings in it one by one, then tossed them each into the bowl with the cheese and spices. A quick toss around and they were coated. Easy peasy!!

Once I had them all coated, I took the first pan out of the oven and put the wings on it.

I put those in the oven, grabbed the other pan, and put the rest of the wings on that one, without any coating.

WARNING: Be sure to open your windows and turn on a fan before you put these in the oven. They WILL set off the smoke alarms in your house!!

About 20 minutes into cooking, I turned all of the wings over so they’d crisp on both sides. Then I put them in for another 15 minutes. I like mine well done and they were fairly small, so you may wanna adjust your time as needed.

Here’s what the regular ones without coating looked like after 30 minutes:

And here’s what the Parmesan ones looked like after 30 minutes:

Once all of them were done, I mixed up the coating for the crispy wings.

LOW CARB NOTE: Frank’s makes a “ready-to-go” hot wing sauce that I picked up a few weeks back thinking it would save time of my having to mix it myself. Come to find out, they also add the crap stuff into it that makes it no longer a low carb thing. So you’ll wanna buy regular Frank’s and mix it yourself!

Finally, you KNOW they’re just not hot wings without a ranch or bleu cheese dressing of some sort. And since I don’t know how to make that yet, I used this 365 Organic Garlic Ranch Dressing that I get at Whole Foods. It was delicious!! It’s not super low carb, but it’s not bad (and it tastes better than any of the Walden Farms ones I’ve tried so far).

The End Result

As for the finished product, I completely understand how the “Heroin Wings” got their name… they EARNED it!! They have incredible flavor and just became my favorite, even over the traditional Hot Wings!

Oh, and the foil on the pan? It didn’t make ANY difference at all to the crispiness of the wings. But it made a HUGE difference on the cleanup!! One thing to note though. While the Parmesan wings were super easy to lift from the foil and turn over, the plain wings stuck to it. So rather than fight with each wing, I moved the whole piece of foil (wings and all) over to the counter. I placed a new piece of foil on the pan. And then I flipped the foil with the wings upside down onto the new foil. It was much easier to lift the foil from the wings than the wings from the foil. Don’t ask me why. Just know that it works and it saves time and frustration!

So that’s it. I can now officially proclaim that I know how to make chicken wings (as long as I don’t misplace the recipes!). These are definitely going onto my list of favorite foods to make at home.

And while it’s more than 3 steps so it’s considered cooking to me, the flavor (and the money I save making them myself) is well worth the extra steps!

Maybe next time, I’ll test out another flavor!

Until then,

Debi aka @GenXBrat

p.s. Do you make your own chicken wings? Are there any particular flavors you like when you make them or when you eat at your favorite wing place? I’d love some ideas on which flavor to try next!