Let me start out by saying I did not name these.  This was the name given to my Hot Wings I used to make when I was working as the cook at my College Restaurant.  They were so popular that even after I stopped working there, I had requests to make these wings for parties.

And now it’s time to share the recipe…  Well the current version at least.This is one of my “old” recipes.  And much like things I’ve been cooking forever, it’s gone through lots of versions.  Back in college I used to cook them entirely in the hot sauce.  This made for some spicy meat, but also had a tend any to make them fall apart.  In the second version, I tried to make a breading from the sauce but that ended up with a wing that had way too much “bread” and not enough wing.  The current version is more the traditional “sauce” style, but still with the heat distributed over 3 different layers.

The recipe is below but the methodology is as follows:  By cooking the chicken briefly in the hot sauce you infuse the meat with a lot of the heat.  You also add some nice chicken flavoring to the Hot sauce itself by rendering off some of that chicken fat.  The second layer of heat is in the “breading” itself. Instead of creating a batter form the hot sauce, I implemented a simple flour batter and added heat via some chipotle chili powder.  That adds some heat, as well as some nice smokey flavors.  Finally I take the original hot sauce boil and convert that into a sauce that coats the crispy chicken.

End result?  A crispy chicken wing/drum stick, loaded with flavors and three different types of heat.  It’s not overly spicy, but I’m a proponent of flavor over pure heat.

Ingredients for step 1

• 16-17 pieces (roughly 2lbs) wings/drumsticks
• 1 stick butter, melted (1T reserved)
• 1 1/2 c Franks Red Hot Sauce
• 1T garlic powder
• 1T Italian season
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2T flour

Ingredients for step 2

• 1/2 c Flour
• 1T chipotle chili pepper powder (regular chili powder also ok, but won’t have the smokey flavor.  Instead add some liquid smoke to your sauce)
• Frying oil

Step 1 – 35 min
preheat oven to 350.

In a large pot (big enough for all the chicken), mix together butter, garlic powder, pepper, Italian seasoning. Bring to a simmer. Add chicken. Bring back to a simmer (just below a boil). Cook chicken for 10 minutes. Stir once or twice to keep chicken evenly distributed.

(Wait! No salt?  Yes no salt.  The Franks Red Hot has enough salt in there and that will get more concentrated when you thicken it up later.  Plus you can always add some at the end on the chicken if you feel it really needs it)

Spray a cookie sheet (preferably with sides) with cooking spray. I tend to use foil first and then spray, but it’s not necessary.  Remove chicken from the pan, trying to drain off as much sauce back in the pot as possible, and place in cooking sheet. Turn pot down to low, and cook chicken in oven for 20 minutes. Turn halfway through.  Remove and let cool. Occasionally stir the sauce while the chicken wings cook.

Take the remaining sauce on the stove and add the drippings from the pan back to the pot (if you did a good job draining them there won’t be really much, if any). Mix together flour and reserved melted butter in a bowl to make a roux. You shouldn’t need to cook it since the sauce is already hot. But if you want you can cook it to no more than a blond roux (about 4 min). Add to sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Take off heat.

Break time

At this point you can stop if you want. This is very good if prepping large amounts for a party. The sauce and chicken can be refrigerated for a while before being used. Also don’t worry how thick the sauce gets when cooled. Once heated back up it will return to its thinner state.

Step 2 – 5 min
Heat oil to 350. Be sure you have enough oil that the chicken won’t be touching, or you can also do them in small batches. Make sure the hot sauce made in step 1 is warm/hot. If once hot it’s still too thick, add a Tablespoon of butter and mix. Repeat if necessary. MAKE SURE THE SAUCE IS WARM/HOT, otherwise the thickness will not be accurate. Also make sure not to add water as that will separate the mix, causing you to have to stir it quite a bit more.

Mix together the flour, chipotle chili powder. Take the chicken and pat dry. Dredge the chicken in the flour mix. Add the chicken to the oil and cook for about 3 minutes to make crispy. Remove the chicken wings from the oil and drain on paper towels.

Add the chicken to the sauce. Toss to coat. Each Wing will take about 1 Tablespoon of sauce to cover.  Serve hot with some celery and blue cheese, or along with some pizza.