Build the Ultimate Chicken Wing Platter for Your Super Bowl Party
Photo: Claire Lower
Chicken wings are the perfect game day food. There’s something delightfully primal about eating meat right off the bone, licking sauce off your fingers and washing it all down with a cold beer. Classic wings need no improvement, but there’s something to be said for variety.
To change your wings, you only need to change your sauce. You can bake a big batch of ‘em all at once, and toss those meaty morsels in as many different sauces as you see fit. To get super crispy wings from your oven, you’ll need to follow J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s baking powder method.
Oven-Fried Wings (adapted from Serious Eats):
Chicken wings, as many pounds as you desire
¾ teaspoon baking powder for each pound of wings
¾ teaspoon kosher salt for each pound of wings
Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set cooling rack inside. Dry each chicken wing with paper towels. Sprinkle each pound of chicken wings with ¾ teaspoon of baking powder and ¾ teaspoon of kosher salt, and toss in a large bowl to coat.
Distribute chicken wings on rack-lined baking sheet and let rest uncovered in the fridge for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Place wings on the upper middle rack and cook for 20 minutes. Flip wings and continue to cook until crisp and golden (about 15-20 minutes).
Once wings are cooked to crispy perfection, you are ready to sauce! Below you will find three delicious options: Classic (of course), Spicy Ginger Fish Sauce, and Wasabi Ramen. All three preparations make enough for three pounds of wings.
Photo: Claire Lower
Classic Buffalo Wings
Classic wing sauce is mind-blowingly simple but, since it’s made from two of the best things on this earth: hot sauce and butter, it’s also mind-blowingly good.
6 tablespoons of butter
½ cup of your favorite hot sauce (Frank’s is a classic choice, but feel free to go crazy)
While your wings are getting nice and crisp in the oven, melt the butter over low heat in a small sauce pan. Once butter is fully melted, whisk in hot sauce until fully incorporated.
Once the wings are done cooking, toss with sauce in a large bowl until fully coated.
Serve with carrot and celery sticks, and plenty of blue cheese and ranch dressing.
Spicy Ginger Fish Sauce Wings
Inspired by a trip to Pok Pok, these wings get a good dose of umami and funk from fish sauce, that magical ingredient that gives Thai food its addictive flavor. Ginger, garlic, and Thai chilies give them an extra dose of spicy flavor, while brown sugar provides a sweet counterbalance to the heat.
1 cup of fish sauce
Juice of 2 limes
4 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 Thai chili, sliced into thin rounds (if you can’t find Thai chilies, Serrano peppers will work)
5-6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of butter
⅔ cup brown sugar
Combine fish sauce, lime juice, ginger, and chilies in a bowl and whisk to combine. Cover and store in the fridge for a couple of hours, to draw out all the delicious flavors.
Once everyone has gotten to know each other, remove fish sauce mixture from fridge. Sauté garlic in butter over medium low heat until just golden. Combine garlic and pan butter with fish sauce mixture.
Add in brown sugar and heat everything in a small sauce pan over medium heat until mixture is thick and syrupy (about five minutes).
In a large bowl, toss wings in sauce until fully coated. Place wings on platter and spoon remaining sauce on top, taking care to get a couple of chili slices on each wing.
Wasabi Ramen Wings
These wings are the ultimate in junky, salty-sweet indulgence. Made with cheap ramen flavor packets and wasabi powder, these sinus-clearing babies will keep you coming back for more.
1 flavor packet from “beef” flavored ramen
1 flavor packet from “Oriental” flavored ramen
3 teaspoons of wasabi powder
1 tablespoon of superfine sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Combine all ingredients except vegetable oil in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
Toss wings, fresh from the oven, in vegetable oil until lightly coated. Lightly dredge each wing through powder mixture. Let rest for five minutes to allow the wasabi powder to open up.
Photo: Claire Lower
Buffalo Cauliflower
Meat-abstainers shouldn’t be denied the spicy, tangy goodness of buffalo sauce, and these tender and crispy cauliflower bites certainly satisfy the craving.
1 medium cauliflower, separated into florets
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
5 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
½ cup of your favorite hot sauce
Preheat oven to 375℉. Whisk vegetable and sesame oil together and toss with cauliflower florets until coated. Roast florets on a baking sheet until they soften and begin to brown (about half an hour).
Meanwhile, melt butter in small sauce pan. Once butter is melted, whisk in mayo and hot sauce. Remove cauliflower and toss with sauce until coated. Return cauliflower to oven and roast until sauce thickens and begins to bubble (10-15 more minutes). Remove and serve hot with blue cheese or ranch dressing.
Photo: Claire Lower
Buffalo Chicken Dip
If you want the full chicken wing experience in one bite (plus extra richness by way of cream cheese) the buffalo chicken dip is the way to go. Serve with garlic toast points, tortilla chips, or crackers, go the “slightly healthy” route and scoop with carrots and celery.
8 ounces cooked chicken, shredded
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
¼ cup mayonnaise
¾ cup hot sauce of your choice
1 cup crumbled blue cheese, plus more for topping
Preheat oven to 375℉. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low until fully combined. (Alternatively, you can use a fork to combine everything a large bowl, it will just take a bit longer.)
Transfer to an oven-safe baking dish and top with more blue cheese. Heat in oven until the edges are bubbling and blue cheese is fully melted.
