Oven Chicken Wings

I don’t have the time or patience to fry things. However, I’ve perfected this chicken wing recipe over many years and anybody who insists that the only way to make chicken wings is in a deep fat fryer is wrong. Tell ’em I said so.

Ingredients

1 to 2 pounds chicken wings (thawed if frozen)

½ cup flour

Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper

1/2 to 1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

Place two oven racks towards the center of your oven and preheat it to 500 degrees F. Yes, it will get hot in the kitchen.

Rinse the wings well. I find placing a wire rack at the bottom of the sink works well for this purpose.

Dry the wings with paper towels. This will actually require quite a few paper towels because you want those suckers bone dry. As dry as you can get them. Be sure to wash your hands and dispose of raw chicken towels properly to prevent any contamination.

Add the flour and seasonings to a gallon-sized resealable bag. Seal the bag and toss until everything’s mixed.

Add the rinsed and dried wings to the bag, two or three at a time, and toss to coat in the flour mixture. Place the wings on a foil-lined baking sheet but don’t crowd them too closely together. Continue until all wings are coated and on a baking sheet. I find your standard grocery store frozen bag of wings will fit on two baking sheets.

Bake the wings at 500 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. The skin should be a caramel brown color. The reflection of the foil will also crisp the underside of the wings, though if you want to be obsessive about crispiness, you can flip wings over halfway through baking. Let the wings cool a several minutes before removing from the foil.

To sauce the wings, place about 5 or 6 of them into a mixing bowl and pour sauce over the top. With tongs, toss the wings around until covered. Add more sauce if they’re dry. Any extra sauce will fall to the bottom.

Also, if it’s football season, how ’bout them Chiefs???