Ah. The chicken wing. A finger food favorite.
Whether smothered in sauce, or served extra crispy, I’m always up for a good chicken wing.
After years of being convinced that I could never make the perfect, crispy, chicken wing at home, I decided it was time to give it a try. Well, really, I was forced in giving it a try when I couldn’t get a damn chicken wing anywhere during Superbowl XILX (go pats!). It was like every single person in Boston pre-ordered their wings a year in advance and was doing the Superbowl right except for me. Rough times man. So, I ran over to the supermarket and managed to grab the two last packs of wings to get this party started.
While I LOVE a good, saucy chicken wing, I wanted to try something different (also just wanted to stay away from ladling my chicken wings in a sauce made of 80% butter–sorry Paula). That’s when I decided I wanted to make a dry, spiced rubbed chicken wing. Perfectly crispy on the outside and ridiculously juicy in the inside.
You can watch prep, cook, and serve my spice rubbed chicken wings here:
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: $
Time: 20 Minutes
Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken wings (party wings separated at the joint)
1-2 tbsp Cumin
1-2 tbsp Chili Powder
1-2 tbsp Cayenne
1-2 tbsp Smoked Paprika
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Instructions:
Prep
- Place your chicken wings into a large mixing bowl
- Sprinkle in the spices spices (you can add more or less depending on your love of heat)
- 1-2 tbsp Cumin
- 1-2 tbsp Chili Powder
- 1-2 tbsp Cayenne
- 1-2 tbsp Smoked Paprika
- Salt and Pepper (to taste)
- Mix the chicken and the spices together to get an even coating on every wing
Cook
- Bring a large-sized pan to medium heat on the stove (non-stick if you have it)
- Add in about 1/2 a cup of canola oil
- Give that about a minute or two to heat up
- Add the chicken wings one by one (as to not overcrowd the pan, which causes the food to boil instead of fry!)
- Let the chicken cook for about 5 minutes on each side
- When the chicken has finished frying, place the wings on a baking rack to let the excess fat drip off
- A lot of people tend to place freshly fried food on top of paper towels or paper bags to try to drain off excess fat, but what they’re really doing is just allowing the food to sit in its own fat and get soggy 🙁 that’s why I prefer using a baking rack instead.
Eat
- Once the chicken is done, serve with your desired dipping sauces
- tip: these wings go great with guacamole!
What do you think? Are you more of a sauce or dry rub person? Let me know! I’m working on a couple of sauce recipes as well that I’ll be sure to share with you guys soon! 🙂