These Crispy, Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings are baked instead of fried so they will help you to keep the calorie-count down while you indulge in this classic game day food.
Anyone with a sports fanatic in the house can tell you, “game day” doesn’t last for only a single day, it lasts the entire season. In reality, game day is as much about the food as it is about the score. So it’s important to have a variety of great finger-food recipes on hand to help you make it from pre-season to the championship finals – recipes like these Crispy, Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings.
I’ve only made chicken wings a few times in the past – they are more of an indulgence than a weeknight dinner, and that’s what makes them perfect for game day. With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, I wanted to share a really easy, healthier recipe for chicken wings. What makes them healthier? Instead of frying these little guys, they are boiled before being baked, giving them a nice, crispy skin before they are tossed in a simple 3 ingredient sauce.
- 2 pounds chicken wings (I used drumettes)
- 1 cup peach jam
- 2-3 tablespoons chili paste
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- onion greens for garnish (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and line a baking sheet (with sides) with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Trim off any extra fat from the chicken wings.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, adding 1-2 tablespoons of salt to the water (similar to when you boil pasta).
- Place the chicken wings in the boiling water, and boil for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the wings from the water to a wire cooling rack placed over a baking pan. Let the wings dry for a few minutes before patting them dry with paper towels. The drier the chicken wings are before you begin to bake them, the crispier they will become.
- Place the chicken wings on the baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Flip the wings over, and bake an additional 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, stir together the peach jam, chili paste and lime juice. Reserve half of the mixture in a separate bowl to be used as dipping sauce when you serve the wings.
- Place the hot chicken wings in the large bowl with the remaining sauce. Stir and toss to coat the wings completely with the sauce.
- Transfer the wings to a plate and serve with the reserved dipping sauce.
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Disclosure: I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada campaign managed by SJ Consulting. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.
Shirley @ gfe & All Gluten-Free Desserts says
Peach jam, chili paste, and lime juice in a sauce for chicken wings?! Holy! I know how good these are, Jeanine. Great photo, too. Thinking I need to make these to take to my sister’s Super Bowl party AND that I need to do a chicken wings roundup. 🙂
Thanks, dear!
Shirley
Jeanine Friesen says
Haha, sounds like a plan, Shirley! 🙂 They are so easy to make, and really, the sauce options are endless, you can cook up a double batch, and make two different flavours quite easily. Makes me wonder why I never did this before! 😀
Ashley says
I’m not that much of a cook, so I love a simple recipe like this! But I do have a little bit of an aversion to eating wings or any other meat off of the bone. (My hubby makes fun of me, you can too!) thoughts on how to adjust this recipe/instructions for nugget size pieces of boneless chicken breast?
Jeanine Friesen says
I won’t make fun of you, I’ve heard of others that can’t do that either. 😉 I’ve used boneless, skinless chicken thighs in place of wings in the past, and it worked really well. I’m not sure boneless skinless chicken breast would have enough flavour to them, but I’d cut them into large cubes (small fingers?), salt & pepper them, and just bake them until done (25-30 minutes?) at 350. Then toss with the sauce. The bone & skin really give a lot of flavour though, so I’d be afraid of them being a little bland. 🙁
Lori says
Wow, this sounds great. So, so , so much less work. Definitely going to try these this weekend. Thanks for all the great work on recipes for the gluten free.
Jeanine Friesen says
They are SOOO easy to do, Lori! Almost too easy! 😉 You’re very welcome, it’s my pleasure. 🙂
Gwen says
They look sooooo good, going to have to try them for sure. Thanks Jeanine.
Jeanine Friesen says
You’re welcome, Gwen! I hope you enjoy them!
Evelyn says
This looks awesome. What section of the supermarket do I find chili paste?
Jeanine Friesen says
Thanks, Evelyn! You can find the chili paste in the asian section – this is the one I have (I’ve even seen it at walmart, so it should be easy to find): http://www.amazon.com/Huey-Fong-Sambal-Oelek-Chili/dp/B0006SKCJU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391096367&sr=8-1&keywords=chili+paste
Doreen Pendgracs says
Very interesting! I’d never thought of boiling the wings first. I usually bake them for awhile, drain the fat off, and then continue baking with the sauce added. I also never thought about drying them off before baking. I will try your technique tonight, as I have a package of wings in the fridge waiting to be cooked.
Jeanine Friesen says
Definitely try it! I had nearly no grease in the baking pan, which is great when you’re baking at a high temperature, otherwise things tend to get a little hazy. 🙂 And any sauce is good to toss them in too, so you can cook up a big batch, and then divide it between two different sauces in the end. Works great!
Jo-Anna says
These look SO good! I love the addition of peach jam in the recipe…yum!
Jeanine Friesen says
Thanks, Jo-Anna! Sweet & heat are such a great combo!
SoberJulie says
I’m with Jo-Anna, I adore that you combine chilli paste with peach jam. Brilliant!
Jeanine Friesen says
Thanks, Julie! Such an easy sauce, so good on chicken wings! 🙂
Evelyn says
Hi, I made these todays and they were sooooo good. I couldn’t find the chili paste you mentioned but I used Kikoman thai style chil sauce. I took a chance since I never used that before either. It came out great. Thanks. The wings came out nice and crispy too.
Jeanine Friesen says
Nice! Great substitution, Evelyn! So glad that you liked them. 🙂
angie says
OMGoodness!!! This was just sent to me via ziplist, it looks wonderful and since there is a football game tomorrow, I think this is a definite on the menu! I am thinking of being a little creative with it, though. Hubby is on a low sodium diet so I think instead of boiling them in salted water I will grill them and baste them in the sauce while grilling, reserving enough sauce to coat them with after they are grilled and a little for dipping. (If need be I can always make a little extra for dipping
Lorraine says
on the crispy sweet and spicy wings..can I pre boil them, dry them, then refrigerate them until I’m ready to bake them later in the day. Thank you in advance..Lorraine
Jeanine says
I think that should work just fine, Lorraine!
Lorraine says
Thank you so much Jeanine, I’m making these for tonight’s Super Bowl and they sound really yummy. I think this is a keeper..I’ll let you know! Lorraine