Oh yes! The Thai Curry wing sauce from Great Value is exactly what I was looking for. That unique curry flavor. Great spiciness. It’s finger-licking good and then some. I found myself craving more and more, wishing I’d made a lot more wings for my lunch!
A Wonderful Asian-Inspired Sauce
You can use Great Value’s Thai Curry wing sauce on much more than wings, though you could just use it on wings and be more than happy! It’s also a great dipping sauce for chicken nuggets or tenders. Mix it in with cooked rice. Or noodles. Slather it on roasted chicken. It’s a great all-around Thai curry sauce and it’s priced right!
I love any restaurant, chain or not, that serves chicken wings. I have my favorites for sure, and Buffalo Wild Wings is one of them. That’s because BW3s Parmesan garlic wings are to die for. It’s creamy, a little nutty thanks to the Parmesan cheese, and definitely packed with garlic. This copycat recipe of the Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan garlic wings is spot-on crazy good. I absolutely could not stop eating it. So much so that I made wings covered in the Parmesan garlic sauce two days in a row. Is that wrong?
Cheesy Garlicky Yummy
I say without hesitation that you should double the amount of sauce. These copycat recipe Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan Garlic wings are even better with more. You don’t have to drown the wings in it, no. And if you leftover sauce, that’s quite alright. That’s because it’s good on sandwiches and subs too. Crazy garlicky good. Oh, and don’t hesitate to use it as a dunking sauce for chicken nuggets!
Brrrrrr
This is a pretty thick sauce. And it likes to get thicker if you refrigerate it. So if you have leftover sauce, make sure you let it warm up a bit before using it. Just set it out on the countertop for 30 or so minutes ahead of time. And give it a good shake or stir before pouring it onto your wings. Things like to settle at the bottom of the jar. Get them all evenly distributed before using it.
I store my leftover homemade sauces in squeeze bottles. If refrigerated, I set them out an hour before using so they come to room temperature. You don’t want to put cold sauce on hot wings!
Not long ago I made some wonderful BBQ sauce made with Dr. Pepper. That got me thinking about how I could use Dr. Pepper with my favorite food, chicken wings. And here they are, in all of their glory, Dr Pepper hot wings. Slightly sweet, slightly spicy, and oh-so-sticky good. The Dr. Pepper flavor isn’t real strong, but it’s there. The balance is perfect. These are some mighty tasty wings.
Sweet Sticky Spicy Goodness
Make sure you reduce the sauce when you make the sauce for these Dr Pepper hot wings. The cornstarch is optional, depending on how thick you like your sauce, but for me it wasn’t so optional. I like the sauce to stick to my wings. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like a thin watery lake of sauce in the bottom of my plate while my wings are dry as a bone. The cornstarch thickens it up just right without being too thick. We ain’t painting here, after all.
Diet Tomorrow
I don’t recommend using diet soda to make the sauce. Or brown sugar substitute, either. This just isn’t the time. The flavors just won’t be quite right. Close. But we’re not doing ‘close’ here. We want sauce greatness.
Be A Pepper
There are other flavors of Dr Pepper soda besides the yummy classic one. Like cherry. That’s yummy too. And it makes for a great wing sauce, too. Just follow the same steps as below, using cherry Dr Pepper instead. It’s just that easy.
See Ya Tomorrow
I store my leftover homemade sauces in squeeze bottles. If refrigerated, I set them out an hour before using so they come to room temperature. You don’t want to put cold sauce on hot wings!
For the sauce (start cooking when you start the wings)
Whisk together the Dr Pepper, hot sauce and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer, stirring often, for 30 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by half.
Combine the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and slowly whisk into the sauce.
Bring back to a simmer and stir for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly before saucing your wings.
A few weeks ago I made a beer-can chicken recipe that used a 50/50 combination of Cajun seasoning and Old Bay seasoning. I instantly fell in love with the combination. A little heat, a little sweet, cloves, allspice, paprika… just about all you could imagine. I knew right then and there that I wanted to use the same mix on chicken wings. And so my Cajun Bay chicken wings were born. And oh how good they were. I served them dry, not sauced. Just that great combination of Cajun and Old Bay seasonings, with a little Ranch dressing on the side for dipping. The flavor combination was fantastic, and one you will see here again soon.
One Deliciously Different Wing
Once the wings are cooked, you can dust them with more of the Cajun and Old Bay mix if you want even more pronounced flavors. I skipped it since my wife isn’t quite the fan of Old Bay as I am. She doesn’t like cloves or allspice so much. That’s one nice thing about this mix. You still get those flavors, but they are toned down a bit because of the addition of the Cajun seasoning.
If you want to add more seasoning to the wings after they are cooked make another batch using 1/2 tablespoon each of the Cajun and Old Bay seasonings. Sprinkle the cooked wings with the mix just before serving.
Whenever we are in the Cincinnati area we make a stop at Quaker Steak & Lube for wings. They have the best sauces and service around. My wife’s favorite sauce there is Thai ‘R’ Cracker, a somewhat sweet chili sauce. We also usually pick up a few bottles of sauce to take home. Those bottles don’t normally last long, so I decided to make a copycat recipe Quaker Steak and Lube Thai ‘R’ Cracker wings.
A finger-licking good copy
Just like the original, this chili sauce-based mixture combines a bit of sweet and a bit of heat all with a slight Asian zing. It’s really, really good stuff. The kind of stuff that makes you want to lick your wings, which is borderline weird.
The key to success
The secret to this copycat recipe of the Quaker Steak and Lube Thai R Cracker Wing Sauce is in the chili sauces you choose. Both garlic and sweet chili sauces come in a lot of different variations, making it difficult to match the original taste exactly. I recommend getting a few bottles of each different sauce and mix them and try them to find the combination that you prefer. Our local grocery store had several different brands of each. You can also try your local Asian market for others.
I store my leftover homemade sauces in squeeze bottles. If refrigerated, I set them out an hour before using so they come to room temperature. You don’t want to put cold sauce on hot wings!
I usually cook wings on my Char-Broil Big Easy or on my charcoal grill using the Vortex. I have to admit, I was pretty pessimistic about the idea of cooking wings in a slow cooker. Would I like the texture? Would they taste as great as wings off the grill?
One thing’s for sure, making Buffalo Ranch wings in a slow cooker really couldn’t get any easier. It was the perfect recipe for my working-from-home lunch. Toss everything in first thing in the morning and at lunch, enjoy some wings!
The Verdict Is In…
So how were they? Well, mighty tasty for starters. In fact, I loved the flavor. Big time. Texture-wise, they got barely crispy but the meat was oh-so-tender and juicy. For truly crispy skin you’ll have to leave them under the broiler for a good bit of time, but keep an eye on them. I found the skin to be melt-in-my-mouth tender and I didn’t actually miss not having super-crunchy wings. In fact, it was a nice change. I loved them!
They’re Easy. And Good!
Although not traditional Buffalo wings to a purist, I still enjoyed these slow cooker Buffalo Ranch wings more than I actually thought I would. No mess, no fuss and very tasty. Certainly much easier than firing up a grill or even deep fryer to make a batch of the wings you normally expect.
Place the wings into the bottom of your slow cooker.
Combine the wing sauce, Ranch dressing mix and salt and pepper and pour over the wings.
Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours – 3 hours until the meat is starting to pull back from the bones.
Carefully transfer the wings to a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray. Place under a hot oven broiler and broil until just starting to crisp.
I bought a big box of bottled wing sauces from Alliger’s House of Wings. Located in Sayre, PA, Alliger’s has some of the best bottled sauces I’ve ever had. I cannot get enough of them. House of Wings Kamikaze wing sauce is no exception. It’s nice and spicy. No wimpy sauce here, that’s for sure. It’s different and very good. It has hints of being a traditional kicked-up Buffalo wing sauce. But then comes the soy sauce. And horseradish. And ginger. See, I told you it was different.
Think Buffalo. Think Asian.
My only complaint about House of Wings Kamikaze wing sauce is that I didn’t order enough of it or any of their other flavors. Don’t do like I did and order one or two of each bottle. Back up the truck. Get a lot of each one. You won’t regret getting a bunch of them. You will regret not getting enough.
Remember that if you have to refrigerate your open bottle of wing sauce to 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.
Yowsa. Somebody needs to open a gallery of chicken wing pictures. A picture of these Detroit hot honey wings would be right by the entrance. Under heavy guard. Security cameras everywhere. People taking selfies in front of it.
I loved these wings much more than I ever thought I would. They’re almost like your standard Buffalo wings with one very obvious addition: sweet honey. Oh, and cayenne. Sweet heat, exactly what you’re searching for in a great wing. I know you hear ‘sweet heat’ a lot these days. Some sauces deliver on that promise, some don’t. This one definitely does and it backs it up with tons of flavor, too.
A Fantastic Twist On Classic Buffalo Wings
You can add more cayenne pepper to the wings as they marinade if you like, but I leaned towards more sweet than heat when I made Detroit hot honey wings. The sauce is so great you could eat it by itself. I think it might also make for a great ham glaze too. And it would also make for a great sauce over roasted or grilled chicken. And for dipping shrimp? Perfect.
Hot-Ish
There are lots and lots of great hot sauces out there. Different flavors. Different peppers. And you’re welcome to use any one of them. I went with a classic cayenne pepper hot sauce. You know the stuff. Frank’s Redhot. Kind of my standard go-to hot sauce. Hot but not overly so. And very flavorful. My kind of hot sauce, and it’s perfect in the sauce for these wings!
I store my leftover homemade sauces in squeeze bottles. If refrigerated, I set them out an hour before using so they come to room temperature. You don’t want to put cold sauce on hot wings!
Oh man, what great wings these creamy Buffalo wings were. They disappeared in no time at all. They’re a simple take on the traditional Buffalo wing, with the same great spicy heat, but with a creamier sauce. Flat-out delicious and definitely finger-licking fantastic.
A Great Twist on the Classic Sauce
I cooked the wings on my Vortex, which I use on my Weber Performer grill. The Vortex concentrates the heat from the charcoal into a circle, which you then surround with the wings. The chicken wings cook up super tasty and crisp in just over 30 minutes. I let them cool only slightly then tossed them with the creamy Buffalo wing sauce. And then I went to town on them. It was almost embarrassing, but you’ll understand once you try them.
I store my leftover homemade sauces in squeeze bottles. If refrigerated, I set them out an hour before using so they come to room temperature. You don’t want to put cold sauce on hot wings!
I was perusing the spice section at our local GFS store when I spied a big container of Frank’s RedHot Original Seasoning. Yeah, like I’d pass up on anything wing-related. I grabbed a bottle and stopped by my grocery store and picked up a family pack of fresh chicken wings. I was going to make wings. Great wings. Buffalo Ranch dry wings.
Dry is Good
Dry wings really bring out the flavor of the wing and the seasoning. They aren’t buried in sauce so much that its all you can taste. Now that doesn’t mean I’m shy with the seasoning, but I am careful that I can still taste the chicken. These wings are absolutely fantastic, with that traditional Buffalo wing flavor, but without the mess. If you don’t have a GFS in your area you can find other brands of Buffalo style seasoning in your grocer’s spice section.
I like to make my spice, rub and seasoning mixes in big batches and keep them in large bottles with easy-to-pour shaker lids.
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.
