Mm, mmm. I loves me some spicy chicken wings. And these have the added bonus of being sweet. And did I mention easy?

 

Here’s what you’ll need…

 

Chicken Wings, Your Favorite Hot Sauce (not Tabasco), Butter, Cider Vinegar, Fruit Preserves (any kind will work), Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper

 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Set aside.

 

Prepare the wings. If you’ve purchased pre-cut sections, great – skip to the next step. If your wings are whole, as mine were, there’s a little work to be done.

 

First, you’ll need your kitchen shears. If you don’t have any (and you cook a lot), please consider adding them to your tool-kit. Or at least use a dedicated pair of super-strong scissors, as you’ll be cutting bone. That’s right, bone.

 

 

Being extra-special-careful, firmly hold the uncut wing with the “nib” pointing toward you. Slide your shears – pointing away from you – between the nib and first wing section. Cut, separating the nib from the edible wing. Either discard the nibs or cook them for broth. I always toss them, but that’s just me.

 

 

Next (still being careful), firmly hold the wing sections, pointing toward you. Again, slide your shears – pointing away from you – between the two edible wing sections. Cut. This one is sometimes a little tougher, but don’t worry. Kitchen shears were built for this sort of job. Finish cutting all remaining wings into sections.

 

 

Place the edible wing sections into a bowl or large, plastic bag. Pour a couple of tablespoons olive oil over…

 

 

…and generously season with salt and pepper.

 

 

Toss to distribute oil and seasonings.

 

 

Place the oiled and seasoned wings on prepared baking sheet.

 

 

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

 

While the wings are baking, make your sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

 

 

Add your hot sauce and cider vinegar. Stir.

 

 

Add your preserves, stir and simmer until heated through.

 

 

Remove from heat. The sauce can sit until the wings are cooked.

 

Once finished, remove wings from oven. They should be crispy and golden. At this point, you’re ready to sauce your wings!

 

 

You can place all the wings in a bowl and pour the sauce over (which is what I usually do), or you can place a few wings at a time in the saucepan with the sauce. It’s up to you…

 

 

That’s it! Grab yourself some ranch or blue cheese dressing and some carrot sticks and you’re good to go. If you make that dressing from scratch, even better! These are seriously good, folks, and because they’re not fried, I don’t feel too bad eating them. So dig in. Just be sure to have plenty of napkins for your hands and tissues for your nose. Sweet, spicy and messy – I love it!

 

 

 

Here’s the printable…

 

Sweet & Spicy Chicken Wings
Recipe Type: Appetizer
Author: Mikki Brisk
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 45 mins
Total time: 1 hour
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
  • Around 1.5 lbs. Whole (uncut) Chicken Wings (yielded 12 meaty wing sections)
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 2 T. Butter
  • ½ c. Hot Sauce (not Tabasco, as this recipe adds vinegar – I use Texas Pete’s or Frank’s Hot Sauce)
  • 1 t. Cider Vinegar
  • 2-3 T. Fruit Preserves (I used 2.5 T. Pear Preserves)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Set aside.
  2. Prepare the wings. If you’ve purchased pre-cut sections, great – skip to the next step. If your wings are whole, use kitchen shears to cut into sections (discarding nibs).
  3. Place the edible wing sections into a bowl or large, plastic bag. Pour a couple of tablespoons olive oil over and generously season with salt and pepper. Toss to distribute oil and seasonings, and then place the wings on prepared baking sheet.
  4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
  5. While the wings are baking, make your sauce.
  6. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Then add your hot sauce and cider vinegar. Stir. Add your preserves, stir and simmer until heated through. Remove from heat. The sauce can sit until the wings are cooked.
  7. Once finished, remove wings from oven. They should be crispy and golden. At this point, you’re ready to sauce your wings!
  8. You can place all the wings in a bowl and pour the sauce over (which is what I usually do), or you can place a few wings at a time in the saucepan with the sauce. It’s up to you…
  9. That’s it! Grab yourself some ranch or blue cheese dressing and some carrot sticks and you’re good to go. If you make that dressing from scratch, even better! These are seriously good, folks, and because they’re not fried, I don’t feel too bad eating them. So dig in. Just be sure to have plenty of napkins for your hands and tissues for your nose. Sweet, spicy and messy – I love it!
Notes

As far as ingredients go, use your favorites. As listed, I prefer either Texas Pete’s or Frank’s hot sauce for this recipe. On the preserve front, I used Pear Preserves this time as that’s what I had on hand. I’ve used Blueberry, Pineapple and Strawberry – all at different times – with lovely results.

When I’m dealing with raw chicken, I tend to go a little Howard Hughes. Everything has to be triple-cleaned after prep. If I use a wood cutting board, I bleach it. The shears get super-scrubbed. Every little thing that comes into contact with that chicken – cleaned. I’m skeered of raw chicken juice, yo.

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