Extra Crispy Buffalo Wings

You gotta love some Extra Crispy Buffalo Wings!  They are one of my family’s favorite foods.  I think they would eat them every week forever if I made them!  They are extra crispy, while still being juicy and tender.  The key to crispy, juicy, tender wings is the brine!   If the chicken soaks up all of that  extra moisture from the brine they don’t dry out during the cooking process.  It takes a little time and prep…but totally worth it!!

Prepping the Wings

Make your brine by running a few cups of hot tap water into a large bowl.  Add the salt and sugar to the hot water and stir until dissolved.  Add the soy sauce and then some ice to cool the mixture down.  Fill the container with water until you’ve reached one gallon.

If you purchased whole chicken wings, remove wing tips and separate the flat from the drumette at the joint with kitchen shears or a sharp knife.  Add them to the brine and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Once the wings are done brining rinse under cold water.  Pat them dry with paper towels and place them on a wire rack over a sheet pan and refrigerate for 2 more hours.  This will allow the skin to dry out helping to achieve extra crispiness.

Cooking the Wings

Start by adding about 2 quarts of oil to a large Dutch oven, preferably cast iron as it will help maintain temperature.  You fill your pan 2 ½ to 3 inches deep with oil.  Heat over medium high heat until the oil reaches 375°.  Also, preheat your oven to 200°.

Meanwhile, prepare the coating for the wings.  In a small bowl add the cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt and corn starch and whisk to combine.   Transfer to a gallon sized zip top bag.

Add half of the wings to the zip top bag and shake to coat wings.  Remove the wings from the bag, tapping them to remove any excess coating.  Return the wings to the sheet pan topped with a wire rack.  Repeat with the other half of the wings.  Allow wings to rest until oil reaches 375°.

When the oil comes to temp add half of the wings and try to maintain a temperature near 360° while cooking, adjusting heat as necessary.  Depending on this size of your wings this should take 10 to 12 minutes. Once cooked, use a spider or large slotted spoon to transfer to another sheet pan topped with a wire rack and put in the oven to keep warm while the next batch of wings cooks.  Allow the oil to return to 375° before adding the rest of the wings and once again, maintain a cooking temp near 360° while cooking.

Buffalo Sauce

While the wings are cooking prepare the sauce.  Add the butter, Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce, Tabasco, Brown Sugar, and apple cider vinegar to a small saucepan. When butter melts whisk all ingredients together and turn heat to lowest setting to keep warm.  This will make more sauce than you’ll need for this many wings, but it’s great to combine with barbecue sauce to make more sauce choices.  I like to serve 3 sauces, Buffalo, BBQ, and Hot BBQ (a combination of the 2).

Serving the Extra Crispy Buffalo Wings

For wet (coated with sauce) wings, add the wings to a large bowl and pour over about half of the buffalo sauce and toss to coat.  For dry wings, serve the sauce on the side for dipping, along with some blue cheese or ranch dressing and some carrot and celery sticks.

These Extra Crispy Buffalo Wings are perfect for any Game Day bash or anytime any time at all really!  I hope you’ll give them a try and let me know how you like them!