Chicken Wings Three Ways: Hot, Parmesan Butter-Garlic, and BBQ

Chicken wings are typically a food I indulge in while at a great dive bar.  The hubby and I are trying to minimize our eating out in favor of great home cooked meals and grilling.  When I had a craving for some wings I decided that I might as well try making them at home.  What's the worst that could happen?  The thing I like about the way wings come out at a bar is that you can choose different combinations to get a variety pack of wings.  I wanted to bring that feeling to our table so I decided to make chicken wings three ways: Hot (of course), Parmesan butter-garlic, and BBQ. 

Hot Wing Recipe:

3 Tbsp butter, melted

7 Tbsp hot sauce

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

¼ tsp black pepper

*recipe found and tweaked from here

After making this recipe I found the cayenne was too potent, so the next time I made wings (which was less than a week later because they were so good!) I went with this simple recipe, which I found to be more authentic from here. 

4 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp white vinegar

5 Tbsp hot sauce

Parmesan Garlic Butter Recipe:

½ cup + 3 Tbsp butter

1 tsp garlic salt

½ tsp onion powder
Pinch black pepper

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

5 cloves garlic crushed

BBQ Recipe:

Open a bottle of BBQ sauce

Hey, I was too tired making the other recipes from scratch to make this one from scratch as well – but if you are a real go getter whip up some of your favorite home made BBQ sauce. 

Other ingredients you will need are 24-30 chicken wings, oil for frying, your favorite dipping sauce (I prefer Blue Cheese) and some celery sticks to give your meal that authentic bar food feel. 

First preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Then, take out three bowls that are big enough to hold 8-10 chicken wings.  Dump all the ingredients in their respective bowls, sans the butter.  Heat up the butter 5-10 minutes before you will be coating the wings.  For the second hot sauce recipe the butter needs to cool a bit so the sauce will thicken up. 

Next, heat up your deep fryer and plop those bad boys in…not too hard though or else you will get grease burns.  While your chickens are frying prep a baking pan with tin foil for easy cleanup.  After they are done frying pat them off with a paper towel and place  8-10 wings in each bowl.  Toss wings so they are evenly coated with sauces.  If you feel the sauces are too thin you can baste the wings after you place them on the pan with the remaining sauce. 

Put them in the oven and cook for 10 minutes.  Monitor closely because if you cook too long the cheese on the parmesan wings may crust up and become crunchy. 

After they are done baking arrange them by type on a serving tray with your dipping sauce and garnish with celery.  Bon appétit!