I love it when I find a new hot sauce that’s just a bit different than the rest. I crave flavor in my hot sauce, and not just heat. And I love making any hot sauce into a sauce for wings. These Kinder’s Creamy Louisiana hot sauce wings are delicious with just the right heat level for me. Not overly hot, and not boring, either. These are fingerlickingly-good wings!
Make Wings. Make Sauce. And Make Yourself Happy.
This wasn’t complicated. I threw some wings into the air fryer. Or the deep-fryer. I don’t remember. It’s not really about that. I just needed some cooked-up wings. Meanwhile I made the sauce. Two ingredients. That’s it. I went for a hotter sauce, but as you can see in the recipe below, you can adjust the heat by changing the ratio of butter to hot sauce. I tossed the wings in the sauce, sat down, and got to eatin’. And I was happy. Very happy. That’s wing success right there! These Kinder’s Creamy Louisiana hot sauce wings did not disappoint!
In general, the ratio of butter to hot sauce is as below. For example, if the ratio is 3:1 that means you use 3 parts of butter for every 1 part hot sauce. For a mild sauce: 3:1For a medium sauce: 2:1For a hot sauce: 1:1
I stopped at a Wing’s Etc not long ago when I was out of town on a little trip. I’d never been to one. I ordered their wings sauced up in the Say It Ain’t Tso sauce. I devoured them like I hadn’t eaten in days. The sauce was sweet. And a little spicy. And the wings were cooked perfectly. Service was fantastic too. When I got home I set out to make my own General Tso chicken wings.
Nothing But Greatness
I could eat General Tso’s chicken wings daily. The sauce is definitely one of my all-time favorites. My version isn’t overly sweet. But it does bring a little heat. Not such a fan of a spicy wing sauce? Just cut back a bit on the red pepper flakes. I wouldn’t leave it out, though, because I think it adds an important flavor to the sauce.
The wings here are easy. Just tossed in cornstarch and deep-fried. No seasonings required. The sauce is the winner here. I recommend making extra.
This right here is why I love (absolutely love!) buying wing sauces from small, non-chain (or at least, regional chain) restaurants and bars. That’s where I often find the best flavors. These Thai Place wing sauce wings are a huge winner. I mean huge. All from a Thai restaurant in Pittsburgh, that has, sadly, closed, but you can still find their wing sauce in stores! I found it in Jungle Jim’s outside of Cincinnati. And boy am I ever glad that I did! This sauce is has hints of soy sauce. It’s sweet for sure. And there’s a little heat kind just hovering around in the background. Not upfront so it’ll bite you, but it’s there.
Make Some Wings!
There’s no need to over-complicate this situation. Make some wings. Doesn’t really matter how. I went with air-fried wings. You can go with baked. Grilled. Whatever. Even store-bought frozen ones (plain, of course). Just get ’em done and get them in this sauce. You’re gonna enjoy these Thai Place wing sauce wings no matter how the wings are made. The sauce is definitely the star of this show.
Make sure you get extra bottles of the sauce. It’s great on smoked (or grilled) ribs too!
Lightly spray the basket of your air fryer with non-stick spray. Preheat per manufacturer’s recommendation.
Combine the baking powder and wing seasoning. Sprinkle over the wings and toss to coat.
Add the wings to the basket (be careful it’s hot!). If you have trouble fitting them without overlapping, stand the drumettes along the sides of the basket.
Cook at 360 F for 12 minutes for large wings, 10 minutes for smaller ones.
Carefully flip the wings (rotate the drumettes if they are standing) and cook another 12 minutes again (10 minutes for smaller wings) at 375 F.
Flip the wings one last time. Increase the temperature to 390 F and cook another 6 minutes (4 minutes for smaller wings).
I love it when I’m blown away by a bottled wing sauce. Specially if it was the ‘right price’. I grabbed some sauces from Schnucks, a grocery store chain in Illinois and the mid-west and could not have been happier. Schnucks hot buffalo sauce wings were spot-on what I wanted. Great flavor. Great heat. The right consistency. Just flat-out good stuff. I’d make wings with this sauce any day, any time.
Just Make Some Wings
It doesn’t really matter what kinda cooked wings you use when you make a batch of some Schnucks hot buffalo sauce wings. Frozen and baked. Deep-fried. Air fried. Grilled. Whatever. It really doesn’t matter. Just cook them up and get them sauced and get ready for some classic Buffalo wing goodness. And yeah, you might want some blue cheese or ranch dressing on the side to cool you off a bit. These wings do have some kick to them!
I want to go to The Dirty Buffalo. It’s (more than) a wing joint in a few locations around Norfolk and, Virginia Beach in Virginia. Until I can get there I did the next best thing: I ordered a ton of their wing sauces online. I waited like a kid by the door until they arrived. And when they did, it truly was like Christmas. One of my first things to make were The Dirty Buffalo Sweet Heat Mesquite wing sauce wings. This is one of several of their award-winning sauces, so it seemed like a great place to start. And it was.
The Name Is Truth
Just like the name says, this sauce is a little sweet. But only lightly so. These aren’t dessert wings. Heat? Yes. But again, only slightly so. Well maybe a bit more than slightly if you’re heat-averse. But still, not crazy hot by any stretch. All with a gently smokiness in a sauce that is just the right consistency to stick to your wings without being gloppy. We don’t like gloppy and there’s no gloppy here!
Just Make Some Wings!
I used my standard air fryer recipe when I made these The Dirty Buffalo Sweet Heat Mesquite wing sauce wings. You can use whatever approach you want. I happened to go with my air fryer because that’s what I felt like today. Tomorrow, I’ll likely get out my deep-fryer! The key here is to not do anything that will hide the delicious flavors from the sauce. So don’t over-season your wings. Go light with it. Let the sauce shine. It’s really great stuff. Don’t fight it.
Note: If your wing sauce is refrigerated, set it out on the countertop before starting the wings so that it warms up a bit. You don’t want to put cold sauce on hot wings.Note: The full 30 minute cook time is for large, meaty wings. If your wings are a bit thinner (er… scrawny) back the times down to 10/10/4 minutes instead of 12/12/6 minutes.
The best things about dry wings are the super-crunchy skin and the wonderful combination of flavors. Although you can get great flavor in a wet wing, the skin doesn’t like to stay crunchy too long in the sauce. About half the wings I make are dry. Just like with wet wings, the combinations are almost endless. Today I made some Da Kine Hawaiian Original Dry Rub Seasoning wings in my air fryer. They were truly enjoyable.
Say Aloha To Greatness
Da Kine Hawaiian Original Dry Rub is a wonderful combination of saltiness along with hints of garlic, lemon pepper and coffee. Yep, coffee. It’s that essence of coffee that really adds amazing depth to these wings. I couldn’t get enough of the seasoning. I liked it so much that I seasoned my wings three times. Once before cooking. Again after cooking. And then again after plating.
You can make dry wings using any technique you like. Just grab a bottle of seasoning and got nuts with it!
Lightly spray the basket of your air fryer with non-stick spray. Preheat per manufacturer’s recommendation.
Toss the wing flats and drumettes with the seasoning.
Add the wings to the basket (be careful it’s hot!). If you have trouble fitting them without overlapping, stand the drumettes along the sides of the basket.
Cook at 360 F for 12 minutes for large wings, 10 minutes for smaller ones.
Carefully flip the wings (rotate the drumettes if they are standing) and cook another 12 minutes again (10 minutes for smaller wings) at 375 F.
Flip the wings one last time. Increase the temperature to 390 F and cook another 6 minutes (4 minutes for smaller wings).
Remove wings to a bowl and sprinkle with more of the seasoning. Toss to coat.
Saddle up, pardner! We’re headin’ out to get us some great vittles! These Yellowstone Original Cowboy BBQ sauce wings are sure to satisfy after a long day at the ranch. Or in your office chair. Either one. Classic tomato-based BBQ flavor. A little sweet. Slightly smoky. Nice and thick. Don’t worry about the sauce running down and getting onto your boots, this stuff sticks like it should!
Great Chuck Wagon Eats
Ok, I don’t have a chuck wagon. I made my wings on an air fryer. I should’ve at least cooked them over charcoal to go with my cowboy theme. But I didn’t. Heck, it doesn’t really matter how you cook your wings. Just get them done. Then toss them in some Yellowstone Original Cowboy BBQ sauce. And eat.
Lightly spray the basket of your air fryer with non-stick spray. Preheat per manufacturer’s recommendation.
Combine the baking powder and wing seasoning. Sprinkle over the wings and toss to coat.
Add the wings to the basket (be careful it’s hot!). If you have trouble fitting them without overlapping, stand the drumettes along the sides of the basket.
Cook at 360 F for 12 minutes for large wings, 10 minutes for smaller ones.
Carefully flip the wings (rotate the drumettes if they are standing) and cook another 12 minutes again (10 minutes for smaller wings) at 375 F.
Flip the wings one last time. Increase the temperature to 390 F and cook another 6 minutes (4 minutes for smaller wings).
I love smoked and fried Buffalo wings. The flavor and the crunch just cannot be beat. I had a dream of making a ‘wing flight’ the other night. Yep, that’s the kind of stuff I dream of. Kind of like a beer flight but with smoked and fried Buffalo wings 4 ways. Like Cincinnati chili even. You can get it 1 way, 2 ways… 4 ways… even more ways! It’s like wing heaven!
Smoked Just Right
I start out smoking a big batch of wings. Nothing fancy here. Just some Buffalo seasoning. Then onto my smoker for 2 hours. I’m not aiming for crunchy skin here. I won’t get that at the low temperature I smoke at. I’m not looking for completely-cooked wings either. Just get them to 140 F or a little more.
I can fry them after they are smoked. But I always make sure I make enough to freeze for another day. I vacuum pack them for maximum flavor and freshness. Nothing beats the ease and flavor of taking a pack of smoked wings out the freezer, thawing them, and deep-frying them.
This Is The Way. Or Ways.
After the wings are smoked it’s time to heat up the deep-fryer. The wings are fried ‘naked’ or ‘coated’. The ‘naked’ ones are just that. No coating. Nothing. Just into the hot oil until the skin is crispy and the wings done. It doesn’t take long. The ‘coated’ ones just get tossed in a simple flour/seasoning mix. I could go crazy and make a complicated mix for them. But I don’t this isn’t the time for that. These aren’t those wings.
Fire up your smoker for 225 F. Use any wood you like. I used Jack Daniel’s whiskey barrel chunks because I wanted a good, noticeable smoke flavor. Use a lighter wood if you want your wings to be a little less smoky.
Toss the wings with plenty of the Buffalo wing seasoning. When you think you've added enough, add more. This is not the time to be shy.
Place the wings onto the smoker and smoke for 2 hours. No need to rotate or flip them.
When done, remove from the smoker. You can deep fry them immediately or freeze them for thawing and frying later.
To fry, heat canola oil to 350 F. Fry the wings based on whether you are making them 1 or 2-4 ways, below.
Smoked and Fried Buffalo Wings 1 Way
Working in batches, add the wings and fry for 1-2 minutes or until they are the desired color.
Remove from oil and let drain and cool on a wire rack.
Serve wings naked, without sauce.
Smoked and Fried Buffalo Wings 2-4 Ways
Combine the wing coating ingredients in a shallow bowl or pie plate.
Lightly toss the wings in the mixture.
Working in batches, add the wings and fry for 1-2 minutes or until they are the desired color.
Remove from oil and let drain and cool on a wire rack.
If serving 2 ways, serve the wing naked, without any sauce.
If serving the wings 3 ways, toss the wings in your favorite Buffalo sauce.
If serving the wings 4 ways, toss the wings in your favorite Buffalo sauce. Pour some more sauce into a small glass and dunk the wings, coating well.
We drove to Bloomington, IL for a few days and went over to Bloomington, IL to do a little antiquing. Our hotel was next door to a grocery store, a regional chain named Schnucks. This of course meant I had to go on a wing sauce hunt. Did I make out like a bandit! Schnuck’s has a big selection of its own brand of wing sauces. I grabbed a bottle of each one. The lady at the checkout didn’t even blink an eye at my conveyor belt full of sauces rolling slowly towards her. When we got home I made a batch of easy air fryer wings and sauced them up. I loved these Schnucks Spicy Garlic wing sauce wings!
Nice Flavor. Great Heat.
These Schnucks Spicy Garlic wing sauce wings hit the spot. They aren’t super spicy but they do make you sit up and notice. And they do have a nice garlic hit, too. Enough to make you notice that too. I was more than happy with the flavor. And I’ll tell you, you can’t beat the price either. Next time we’re anywhere near a Schnucks I’m stopping by and grabbing some more of this sauce and all their others!
I wanted some lemon pepper wings. But sadly, I didn’t have any fresh wings on hand. So off to our local grocery store I went. And they didn’t have any fresh wings either. Sadness began to creep in when it dawned on me that Tyson makes lemon pepper crispy wings! So off to the frozen section I went, and there they were! Boom! Time to rush home and make some rather delicious, easy, crunchy lemon peppery wings!
Crunchy Battered Yumminess
Tyson lemon pepper crispy wings come as a variety of wing pieces that are seasoned and battered. Some pieces are bigger than others. You toss them into the air fryer and in no time you have hot and crispy wings. They’re fairly mildly seasoned. I’d call it a nice middle-of-the-road flavor. Not too overwhelming. So I grabbed a bottle of lemon pepper seasoning and ’embellished’ the wings after they came out of the air fryer. Then they were perfect.
The bag says there are 4.5 servings inside. Nope. Not for me. More like 2! So if you’re grabbing some for the gang to come over and watch the big game, grab extra bags. Lots of extra bags.
Ranch dressingoptional, for serving. Or use your favorite
Instructions
For the air fryer
Lightly spray your air fryer basket with non-stick spray. Preheat your air fryer to 360 F per the manufacturer's instructions.
Add the wing pieces and cook for 12-14 minutes. Note: I prefer 16 minutes. I recommend checking them after 12 or so minutes to see if you are happy with the color of the wings and remove them before 16 minutes if desired.
Remove wings and let cool for 2 minutes.
Sprinkle or toss wings in seasoning, if using, and serve.
For the oven
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Add wings and cook for 10 minutes. Flip and cook another 10-15 minutes.
Sprinkle or toss wings in seasoning, if using, and serve.
