Buffalo Wings Recipe

This authentic buffalo wing recipe will produce addictive, crispy and delicious spicy chicken wings every time.  More importantly, it's a straight forward and authentic at-home recreation of the buffalo chicken wing recipe that will taste just like the wings from your favorite wing spot in Buffalo, NY.  There are many recipes floating around online that claim to taste like real hot wings from New York, but take it from a real New Yorker, these ones actually do.

This recipe uses the steam and bake method, which, if you have the time, results in a higher quality wing.  Bars and restaurants are in a rush to get you your order, and so they fry the wing to speed up the process...but don't be fooled, steaming and baking produces one extremely high quality at-home wing.

Step 1: Ingredients

Wings

• 1/2 as many whole chicken wings as you'd like to serve
• Salt and pepper

Buffalo Sauce

• 3/4 cup Franks Red Hot Original hot sauce
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Dipping Supplies

• 4 large carrots
• 4 pieces of celery

Blue Cheese Dressing

• 2 1/2 ounces blue cheese
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Comments

[smtp007]

Don't USE TIN FOIL. I just finished making these wings. They stuck all over the tin foil, and I wasted a good bit of meat to it.

[purplewg]

I'm sure you like the way you cook them but real buffalo wings are deep fried and then dipped. I just can't get past the boiled chicken thought.

[DannytheGreat]

Do they really taste like buffalos?

[msheppard]

Love every thing in this but the tinfoil advice. My wings stuck to it. If they were just on the pan I could scrape them off. Shared this with some friends on facebook and they loved it as well.

[vandal1138]

A comment and a recommendation;

1st, it is almost 4AM and I am now dying for some hot wings....

2nd; I understand you were going for authentic BUFFALO wings, so not to take away from the authenticity I will make a suggestion for hot wings. Instead of steaming them prior to baking, throw em on a (charcoal) grill. That's what I do and that added smokiness with the hot sauce/buttery goodness is AMAZING. Just a suggestion.

[0311]

Try this sauce: Decide how much sauce you want to make. Divide this amount by six (6). This is one (1) part. In the appropriate bowl, add: 1 part margarine 1 part honey 1 part barbecue sauce 3 parts Frank's Hot Sauce or equivalent Heat in microwave, mixing well. If you want milder wings, decrease the amount of hot sauce. This is the level of spicey that you find here in NYS, 30 milesfrom Buffalo! Originally, you were not supposed to dip the wings in the Bleu Cheese dressing, but it's a free country, so eat 'em any way you want.

[Brandon121233]

Thanks for the instructable noah, saw this method first from Alton Brown, but I like that you included that orgasmic blue cheese sauce recipe and celery/carrot sticks cause Alton doesn't seem to like those. Personally I can't imagine good wings without freshly made blue cheese sauce (ahemmm Hooters)

[Brandon121233]

Oh and I substituted greek yogurt for the sour cream and mayo, and a lime for the lemon, I think it compliments the blue cheese a little better

[sunal135]

since you add extra cayenne; franks red hot isn't hot enough for you i bet. i would suggest getting louisiana wing sauce. I make buffalo sauce for the restaurant i work at. it has more butter and Cajun seasoning instead of onion. i can chug franks red hot by the pint; it horrible weak; with Louisiana wing sauce i regretted my chug and required a gallon of milk.

[valhallas_end]

Hmm, I've always found Louisiana sauce to be fairly weak too. I agree that Frank's isn't spicy, though - it's more a "flavor" hot sauce than a "heat" sauce. It's been a long time since I tried making buffalo sauce - I never thought to try Cajun seasonings...and I put Cajun powders on everything...I shall have to try this soon!

[sunal135]

i currently growing cayenne pepper; they are still seedling; but i hope to be producing peppers within a year

[valhallas_end]

I've never tried growing hot peppers - weather where I live is a bit prohibitive, so all I've been able to grow successfully is horseradish. Hopefully your peppers will come out well! They should be a good addition to any hot or buffalo sauce.

[EvilBunnySlipper]

If you stay in an area where you cannot get hold of "Franks Red Hot Original hot sauce" what can be used as an alternative?

[valhallas_end]

Try every hot sauce in your grocery store! Franks has a great flavor that's perfect for original buffalo style sauces, but I'd think any hot sauce that is less spicy and more flavorful would work well. As someone else mentioned, Louisiana wing sauce is good, Baker's hot sauce is tasty, and if you can find it, Moore's brand hot sauces are delicious. If you don't want to make your own buffalo sauce, I can vouch for Moore's buffalo wing sauce - it's great.

[agr00m]

I agree with EmmettO, most places it's sad to see what they pass off for buffalo wings. It especially irks me when they have BBQ or some other off flavor but advertise them as buffalo style. I don't know if this is the "official" cooking method, I've tried several ways myself except for deep frying, and they've almost all turned out pretty good.

[J-Po]

Nice instructable, I've been using this approach for a long time but never thought to post it. "aephix" Is right about Alton Brown doing this and Alton had a novel idea he displayed and I went with - which was to buy several (I think I did 4 or 5) metal basket's and then slightly disassemble them and reassemble them with bolts and nuts on top of one another, then use a stock pot that way you can steam them all together on like a tier system - I paid like $4 a piece for the metal strainers. Lastly, I use a cooling rack (like for cookies) in the cookie sheet over the foil (cleanup) to get a better crisping on the skin all the way around and it cuts out some cooking time. Also I go top most rack and little higher temp - with the rack the pan acts as a diffuser for the heat since you don't have to worry about sticking the heat wraps around the pan and heats from the top down (quicker). If you are not careful you can overcook the wing & dry out the meat before the skins gets crisp, so the rack helps with that. If you don't mind the added labor to all this you really should brine your next batch, for 2-3 hours before steaming next time, it really makes the proteins hold the juice in the wing and produces a remarkably juicy wing, provided you don't overcook.

[oddree]

My family LOVES their wings. I make them all the time now. Just had them last night! I have made them both baked, and deep fried. Deep frying definitely come out better if you ask me. But to make them in any kind of speed you need to have a large deep fryer. For a couple years I used a little "Fry Daddy" which only cost me $10, but only did 6 or so wings at a time. And cooking them takes 4 to 6 minutes. So I ended up being in the kitchen all night, bringing out tiny little trays of wings. Now I use a big Rival deep fryer that holds a lot of oil. I can easily cook ten at a time. The deep fryer probably retailed for $50 to $100. I got it at a yard sale for $5. These "one trick cooking devices" are yard sale gold. ;-) Worth looking out for!! Also - for sauce I recommend Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (original flavor). It's not hot, just really, really, tasty. A guy I work with swore by this sauce and now that I have tried it, I would never use anything else.

[larrydag]

I suggest adding a little vinegar to the Buffalo wing sauce ingredients.  It gives it a little zest and balance to the flavor.

[Deadly Computer]

I agree, I put about 1/4-1/2 cup of white vinegar in my sauce.

[op22222]

I Had a Deli/pizza/wings shop in Rochester NY (Right next to Buffalo) Back in the '70s. My sauce was as good or better than the Anchor Inn... according to my customers that is. The reason, I think, was because I used top quality ingredients. Most restuarants won't spend the money anymore to make it right. I can't give out my recipe, as it cost me quite alot of money back then, but I will give you some hints, then you can experiment! Don't use brown sugar or karo syrup, use real honey instead. Yes, it is expensive, but makes a huge difference. Also, add some ground cinnamin.... only about one/sixteenth of a tsp...thats all..any more and you will ruin it....you just want a very very faint taste of it. And yes, like NAOHW says, butter, not margarine, real butter . NOAHW''s recipe sounds awesome, I will try it .

[chabias]

Yes....REAL butter is a must!

[chabias]

Well done, Noahw!! Your recipe is very similar to mine. I don't have a favorite wing between the Anchor Bar and Duff's....I prefer mine!

[aephix]

This wing recipe is great, especially if you don't have a deep fryer. The only thing is, it is identical to the Alton Brown recipe on his show "Good Eats".

[big-jamie]

 hey hey, i made these wings, not the celery and carrots though, and the wings are lovely, nice and crispy, just i feel that the sauce was just hot, didnt really have a distinctive flavour

so from all this i say this is the best way to cook chicken wings =)

[wactac]

 Sorry for sounding stupid.  Is that 20 minutes each side or 10 minutes each side for a total of 20 minutes?

[noahw]

To get them really crispy it will take around 20 minutes per side, for a total cook time of 40 minutes total.  But, as Crash2108 noted, it's important that you bake them until they are crispy and how you like them, even if that's shorter or longer for you.

[Crash2108]

 You must cook it, until it is done.

[LakeLivin]

I've had very good results cooking my wings in a convection oven.  Crispy outside, juicy inside, without all of the extra fat from frying.

And, I agree with larrydag, the best wings I've had seem to have more vinegar than just what is contained in the hot sauce. . .

[mowie]

convection ovens are awesome my dad used to use on for everything when our oven blew up and even after we got a new oven he still uses the convection one

[Spangler]

As a Buffalonian, I agree you can only get true buffalo wings in Buffalo New York. (I had tried them in Vegas, Nice fancy Restaurant. 6 wings, 18 bucks, they were boiled, gummy, and drizzled with Franks hot sauce. I weeped.
I think Franks is a cop-out sauce, just my oppion though. But as for the Anchor Bar, I know it's their claim to fame but I think they've gotten lazy with it. The wing size is inconsistant, once out of the past 20 years the wings were huge. Mostly they're tiny little things, little meat.

I dig Duff's, Just Pizza or Avenue Pizza, (but always looking for suggestion) La Nova is over priced and nothing special, just standard for wings or pizza.

[chabias]

I agree with EmmettO...they're just "wings", but I do get a kick out of restaurants in other states trying to pass off their 'Buffalo wings'. Yuck!

I've always boiled my wings to cook them, then finish them in a pan with a little butter and hot sauce until they're just crispy.  My daughter won't settle for anything else.

Go Sabres!

[EmmettO]

 Usually the term "Buffalo" wings irks me because I've seen and tasted them done very badly in the past. Here in Buffalo NY they're just chicken wings.

Still the recipe looks right! There is of course no one recipe for chicken wings but the original at the Anchor Bar was Franks Hot Sauce and butter. You also got the crispy part right. Most places selling Buffalo Wings cook them soft and have some kind of hideous orange goo on them.

I imagine you or some relatives are from the Queen City?

[red-king]

 looks tasty!

[dimex1984]

thanks love dem wings

 

[kaptaink_cg]

Now those look GOOD!   I used to boil and deep fry mine, but they still didn't come out "right".  Will definitely try your method.  (damn.. making me hungy.. still have a couple hours at work....)

[canida]

These were excellent - tasted like fried wings, but without the extra grease.
Yum!

[scoochmaroo]

Yum!

[JakeTobak]

That first picture almost makes it look like the wings are covered in melted cheese. Gives an idea actually, don't expect to hear back from me though. I suspect that my plan will result in my arteries getting backed up and exploding.