Hot Sauce Chicken Wings

My sister is craving wings during the SAH orders and when she saw me cooking up a batch on a zoom meeting, she asked for my recipe.

"Hot sauce chicken" is a staple in our household, although often we will use thighs or drumsticks instead of wings just from an efficiency standpoint. Originally from one of the "cook this not that" cookbooks (I LOVE those cookbooks. Genuinely good recipes that aren't diet or gimmicky, despite the book premise),  it's one of our three standard chicken recipes that makes its rotation through the meal prep calendar every month.

Cooked wings ready to be sauced

 The original recipe suggested using Frank's wing sauce and I agree - it's the best hot sauce for chicken that we've found, and it's available at our regular grocery store.

The secret to this wing recipe is roasting the meat with a dry rub, and then tossing in a pan of hot sauce after it's been fully cooked in the oven. The two part seasoning gives a good depth of flavor.

If using a larger cut of dark meat, such as a thigh, season it the night before you cook it. If using drums or wings, a few hours will work. However, if you've totally forgot to season them until right before it's time to throw dinner on the table, it's ok. I promise it will still be delicious.

"Hot Sauce Chicken"

Combine equal parts black pepper, *salt, and chili powder in a small bowl. Enough to lightly coat enough dark meat bone-in skin on chicken to feed whatever ravenous crowd is going to descend on your dining room. If you are as obsessed with smoked paprika as my family, shake a bit in there as well.

*depending on the salt you are using, you may want to reduce the volume of salt slightly compared to the rest of the seasoning. For Diamond kosher salt, equal quantities work well. 

Toss your chicken parts and let sit for up to 24 hours.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees (wings) or slightly cooler if using larger cuts (400-425 for thighs or drumsticks). Cook chicken until done.

Heat up a tablespoon of butter and enough Frank's wing sauce to coat your chicken (usually 1/3-1/2 bottle). Squeeze a lemon into it if you remember. Heat sauce until it starts to bubble.

Throw chicken parts into pan and coat with sauce.



Serve.