I was making my way around the sampling bar at a Pepper Palace store (one of the many I’ve been to), when I came across the peach barbecue sauce. As you guessed it, the sampling bar lets you try out the various sauces, be they wing, barbecue, salsas or hot sauces, before buying them. I gave the peach sauce a try and instantly put a bottle in my cart. I knew the sauce would be great on a rack of grilled or smoked ribs. And it’d be fantastic on my Pepper Palace Peach Barbecue wings.
So easy, yet so good!
It’s hard to get any easier than this recipe. Just cook up some wings and sauce them. Whether you opt to go light or heavy on the sauce, these Pepper Palace Peach Barbecue sauce wings bring a nice fruity flavor that isn’t overpowering. It’s really like biting into fresh peaches, all in a lightly sweet BBQ sauce. It’s finger-licking good, for sure!
Remember that if you have to refrigerate your open bottle of sauce, let it sit out on the counter for at least 30 minutes before using. You don’t want to ‘shock’ hot, just-cooked wings with a cold sauce.
It’s a tremendous understatement to say that I love Plucker’s wing sauces. I’ve tried many of their bottled sauces and they are all absolutely fantastic. I devoured my last bottle of medium Buffalo sauce, so I had to resort to making a copycat Plucker’s medium Buffalo wings sauce. Oh, and all was right in the world again! The perfect amount of heat, just enough to wake me up but not so much to make me cry. Wonderful traditional wing flavor. These are the wings that are destined to disappear in no time.
Perfect Heat and Flavor
I cut the recipe down so I could enjoy a small batch of copycat Plucker’s medium Buffalo wings for my lunch. No point in heating up my huge restaurant-style deep fryer for just a handful of wings. So, I used my Fry Daddy fryer instead. This little fryer gets a workout in my house. It’s the perfect size for a small batch of wings.
I usually reach for the Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce when I make anything Buffalo-style. And sometimes I’ll go for Crystal Hot Sauce, which has a wonderful Louisiana-inspired flavor. You want a traditional cayenne sauce, and not something flavored like a habanero mango hot sauce!
Place the hot sauce, vinegar, butter, jalapenos and pepper in a sauce pan over medium-high heat.
Once the butter melts, whisk the ingredients together until the sauce comes together.
Reduce heat and keep warm until ready to use.
For the wings
Heat 3" of oil to 350 F in a deep fryer or Dutch oven.
Working in batches if necessary, fry the wings 8-10 minutes or until they reach 165 F. Remove to a wire rack over a baking sheet or paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Dry wings are popular for a reason. There are a lot of great wing seasonings on the market. You don’t have to use them to make dry wings, you can instead use them to season wings before you sauce them. Often, though, I find myself going the dry route so I can enjoy the seasoning without it ‘fighting’ a sauce. Wing Magic Smoky Lime seasoning dry wings are a great reason why I do wings this way. This seasoning has a lightly smoky flavor with a little kick. You bet it’s just the right amount of sweet. And oh, lime! Delicious citrusy lime comes along for a decidedly different taste. These are great, different, wings!
Smoky Citrus Goodness
Wing Magic Smoky Lime dry wings seasoning comes from the folks over and the Fire and Smoke Society. They make a huge variety of absolutely addicting seasoning mixes. From burgers, to baked potatoes, to wings, they have the right flavors for everything. Head on over to their site and take a look around. You’ll be drooling in no time. I did!
I prefer to season my wings immediately after cooking them. The seasoning will stick to the surface of the hot wings better than if you wait until they cool off.
You’re heard of Nashville hot chicken. Heck, you’ve probably had it plenty of times, just like me. And I’ve made a few batches of wings with Nashville hot sauce on them. There are a number of good bottled sauces out there, like the one from Buffalo Wild Wings. Well, move over Nashville! New Orleans hot wings are in the house! I took the same concept, battered fried chicken wings with a spicy paste, and Cajun-ized it! These wings bring the flavor, the crunch and just the right amount of heat.
Make ‘Em Hotter. Or Don’t.
You can make your New Orleans hot wings as hot and as Cajun as you want. Or tone it down a little, if that’s your thing. Add more hot sauce to make the sauce a little thinner and of course, a little hotter. The more seasoning, the more of that Cajun flavor and the thicker the paste is. It’s a fine line. You don’t want a thin sauce here but you also don’t want it so thick you can’t get it to stick to your wings.
You can use whatever hot sauce you prefer, but for me, this recipe screams Crystal hot sauce. It’s from Louisiana. Boom!
Mix buttermilk with 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt in a large bowl.
Add the wings and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Heat 3" of oil in a Dutch oven or deep fryer to 350 F.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, paprika and remaining kosher salt.
Remove the wings from the buttermilk and drain. Do not pat dry.
Place wings in the flour mixture and toss to coat well.
Working in batches if needed, deep fry the wings 8-10 minutes or until they reach 165 F. Transfer to a wire rack over a baking sheet or a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
I’m not particular when it comes to cooking my chicken wings. Baked, deep-fried, grilled, it makes no difference to me. As long as I’m eating wings I’m one happy guy! During the week, though, if I want wings for lunch I gotta go with a technique that gets wings done with minimum fuss so I can get back to work. That usually means air frying them. I prefer to start with fresh wings, but sometimes they just can’t be found, so I grab some out of the freezer. This is my go-to method. This is how to cook frozen wings in an air fryer.
It’s really easy
This is not a complicated process. There’s nothing fancy about cooking frozen wings in an air fryer. No defrosting. Just cook them up a bit, season them, finish the cooking and sauce them. I sometimes also add more seasoning at the end.
Wing selection
Frozen wings come ‘pumped’. That means they are injected with a broth-like solution that plumps them up and keeps them juicy after cooking. Most frozen turkeys come the same way so don’t let the words ‘contains chicken broth’ scare you off.
I prefer sections when I buy frozen wings. Drumettes and flats, separated. Whole wings are fine, but they’re a bit harder to put into a small air fryer without them overlapping. You don’t want your wings to overlap, you want nice even cooking.
Seasoning
I like to season my wings with a light hand at first. I don’t want the seasoning to burn in the air fryer. So I add a little after the wings have cooked just a bit. When they are done I can add more, along with sauce if I’m using it.
I usually use salt and pepper for my seasoning, but I like store-bought ones too. If I want to make a mix at home, my fire-eater seasoning is my favorite.
Do not add the seasoning when the wings are still fully frozen. It’ll just roll right off the wings.
Saucing
You can use any sauce you want, of course. For homemade Buffalo-style sauces, I’m a big fan of my copycat’s of Hooter’smedium and hot wing sauces.
Dipping
Blue cheese dressing or my copycat of Wingstop’sranch dressing make for great dipping sauces for your air-fried wings.
Cleaning up
I wipe my air fryer basket out after each ‘fry’. Every few cooks I’ll put the basket into the dishwasher for a good cleaning. But, I never put it directly into the dishwasher without wiping it out first. I don’t want all of that chicken grease in my dishwasher or my pipes. Check your air fryer’s cleaning recommendations for further information about cleaning your particular model.
Add wings to the fryer basket and cook for 10 minutes. Do not overlap the wings. Try to not let them touch each other or the sides of the basket so that they cook evenly.
Use tongs to remove the wings to a bowl. Sprinkle with your wing seasoning and toss to coat.
Return to the air fryer and continue cooking another 10 minutes or until the wings are golden brown.
Remove from the air fryer. Toss with more seasoning and/or sauce and serve.
Notes
Do not thaw the wings ahead of time. You will cook them directly from the freezer.
First came Sweet but Sassy sauce wings. And they were good. Oh so good. That got me thinking that I needed some Pepper Palace Sweet But Sinister sauce wings next. Needed. Wanted. Craved. So I made them. And they were good too. Oh so good. Like their sassy cousin, they’re slightly sweet. Unlike their sassy cousin, they’re hotter. In a really good way kinda hot. If you’re looking for a kicked up sweet wing sauce, this is it.
Good To The Last Drop
Pepper Palace Sweet but Sinister sauce wings sauce is just the right consistency to stick to your wings. No sauce lake at the bottom of your plate here. Nope. It’s on the wings and it’s there to stay, bite after bite. Well, after you pick them up it’s on your fingers too. Don’t be sad after you take that last bite of your wings, there’s still some finger lickin’ to be had. You’ll want to enjoy every last drop of this sauce.
This right here is why I just love eating wings. There are so many flavors, so many sauces, seasonings, cooking techniques… and each is fantastic. Pretty Thai Sweet Chili sauce wings are wonderfully delicious. They have an absolutely fantastic flavor. Slightly sweet, with a minimal touch heat and a hint of garlic and vinegar, this is downright tasty sauce. This sauce is ‘very clean’, with only a few ingredients and all of them natural. It might seem a little thin at first, but it’s actually just the right consistency for wings or anything else.
Great On Other Dishes, Too!
Pretty Thai Sweet Chili sauce wings are reminiscent of Thai BBQ sauced-wings. This sauce would be great on pot stickers, dipping egg rolls, or in a stir fry. But it’s truly outstanding on wings. Sometimes it’s nice to have a break from hot, Buffalo-style wings.
The Pretty Thai brand has a number of fantastic sauces, and they’re great on more than wings. Try them all!
Ahhhhh. There’s just something so satisfying about the combination of roasted garlic and Parmesan. Put the two in a creamy sauce and you’ve got the perfect topping for perfectly-cooked, crispy wings. Kinder’s Garlic Parmesan wing sauce wings hit the spot and are a great change from classic Buffalo wing flavors.
The Perfect Balance
Kinder’s Garlic Parmesan wing sauce goes on thick, but it kinda ‘melts’ when it hits hot wings. The flavors get everywhere, in every bite. It’s not gloppy or too thick, not at all. Take a gander at the wings in the picture above. Man, were they ever delicious! This isn’t a salad dressing. It’s a wing sauce!
If a restaurant sells its own bottled wing sauces, I’m there. You don’t have to tell me twice. You’re standing behind what you make when you also go thru the trouble and expense of bottling it. We were at a Fricker’s the other day, and yep, that meant I had to have some wings and grab some sauce to go. This time I got Fricker’s Frickin’ Kicker wing sauce. Yep, you can guess from the name that there’s gonna be some heat in this sauce, and there was. This is a great, classic Buffalo wing sauce. No fancy modifications to the original, just great vinegar and spices. Perfectly spicy on some wings at the restaurant or wings made at home.
Yeah It’s Got a Kick. A Great Kick.
If you head over to Fricker’s web site you can order some Fricker’s Frickin’ Kicker wing sauce too. Their sauces are very reasonably priced. They currently sell four varieties online, but if you head to a restaurant they’re more than happy to make any sauce you want off the menu ‘to go’. The sauces come in Mason jars and are made fresh, right then and there. It’s awesome!
Vinegar (the quality stuff). Butter (the real stuff). Cayenne (the spicy stuff). Combined they make for a delicious wing sauce. Lillie’s Q Buffalo wing sauce is just that. Just the right consistency to stick to your wings without being, well, gloppy. And not so thin that none of the sauce sticks to the wings. What would be the point of that?
Buffalo-Inspired Greatness
I will point out that even though the bottle doesn’t specifically state ‘hot’ on it, these Lillie’s Q Buffalo wing sauce wings are pretty spicy. Not like screaming hot, but you’re gonna feel it. It’s a very flavorful sauce, and I’d expect a little kick from just about any Buffalo sauce. Just letting you know!
