Best Chicken Wing Recipes

At Pasturebird, we love a good chicken recipe! Whether it be a savory whole roasted chicken, or a creative and inventive spin on chicken breasts, we never get tired of exploring new and original ways to cook chicken. As versatile and delicious as chicken is, in our opinion there’s one part of the chicken that doesn’t get enough credit in the kitchen: chicken wings! 

Chicken wings don’t get nearly as much love as they should. Often relegated to the menu at sports bars and tailgate parties, most people think of chicken wings as more of a party food than a delicacy. We like to think that chicken wings are an incredibly adaptable food, as much at home in gourmet cooking as they are as a Superbowl side dish. 

Aside from being very high in protein, chicken wings have zero carbs, and they are ideal as a meal or a snack, especially for people following paleo or low carb diets. Chicken wings can also be adapted for large or small crowds - while someone cooking a solo meal may think a whole roasted chicken will go to waste, a few chicken wings are easily cooked in a conventional or toaster oven, and are the perfect serving for one. When cooking for a larger crowd, you can simply increase the volume of your recipe to fit your needs.   

In this post, we’ll give you some ideas for out-of-the-box chicken wing recipes. While we love the common chicken wing flavors such as a good classic buffalo wing (using a paleo/Whole 30 compliant wing sauce of course!) or a dry lemon pepper rub, we want to highlight some of the lesser known but super delicious ways to prepare chicken wings. Any of these recipes can be prepared using the method of your choice - barbeque grill, air fryer, or oven. You may choose any of these cooking methods depending on how crispy, juicy, or char-broiled you like your wings. 

Good Quality Chicken is a Must

There’s nothing worse than a shriveled, gristly chicken wing to ruin an otherwise top notch recipe. In these, and any recipe, the quality of your products will affect the quality of the dish. Of course we always recommend pasture raised chicken in any recipe, and these chicken wing recipes are no different. Pasture raised chicken tastes better due to the nutrient dense, wholesome diet that our birds get from foraging on healthy pastureland every day. Their meat is rich in flavor, full of vitamins, minerals, and a robust taste that can’t be matched with conventionally-raised chickens. 

Sweet and Spicy? Yes, Please!

For a paleo twist on this honey-chile chicken wing recipe from Food and Wine, coconut aminos can be substituted for the soy sauce called for in the recipe.

You’ll need approximately 4 pounds of chicken wings, and this isn’t as much as it sounds - there are only about 4 to 5 wings in a pound, so 4 pounds of chicken will feed 2-3 people, depending on how hungry they are!

Ingredients

4 pounds chicken wings

¼ cup olive oil 

¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

½ cup honey

2 tablespoons coconut aminos

Salt and pepper 

2 thinly sliced green onions for garnish

If you’re a paleo purist, you may be worried about consuming rice vinegar. While the fermentation process that rice vinegar undergoes removes antinutrients and increases the health benefits, and is therefore considered paleo-friendly by some sources, feel free to substitute apple cider vinegar for the rice vinegar in this recipe, to keep this recipe 100% paleo. 

To prepare this recipe, toss the wings in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then place in a single layer on a baking sheet or air frying rack, depending on how you choose to cook them. For air frying, preheat the fryer to 400 degrees and cook for about 18 minutes, turning once halfway through. In the oven, preheat the broiler and cook wings for 45-50 minutes, turning once. 

While the wings are cooking, heat the vinegar and crushed red pepper for a minute or two, and then remove from heat, let cool, and stir in the honey and coconut aminos until everything is combined. Once the wings have reached your desired level of crispness (making sure to cook to at least 165° F per food safety standards), toss them in a large bowl with the honey glaze, sprinkle with the sliced green onions (scallions if you're fancy ;), and serve warm. 

Yes, Chicken Wings Can Be Gourmet

For this Crispy Turmeric and Pepper Spiced Chicken Wings recipe, adapted from Epicurious.com, you can choose to use either freshly ground peppercorns, according to the recipe, or already cracked black pepper, in a pinch. Substitute coconut palm sugar for regular sugar to keep this recipe paleo. 

Ingredients

2 tsp. black peppercorns or ground black pepper (you can substitute these in equal measure)

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tsp. coconut sugar

3½ tsp. salt

4 lb. chicken wings (pat dry so the spice rub sticks)

3 tablespoons of ginger, peeled and finely grated 

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil

Lemon wedges (for serving)

To make this truly unique spice mix, combine pepper, turmeric, coconut sugar, and salt in a small bowl until uniformly mixed, and then sprinkle over or rub onto chicken wings. Mix ginger, garlic, and oil in a bowl and toss with wings to combine. Allow the wings to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes so the flavors can marinate together. 

For this recipe, we recommend using the oven so the wings can cook slowly and the flavors can really pop. Preheat the oven to 425° F, and cook for 60 to 75 minutes, turning once halfway through. Per the recipe, placing the wings in a cold oven and allowing them to sit while the oven is preheating allows the wings to get even crispier. 

We’d love to hear your feedback on these chicken wing recipes, and we’d love to hear your favorite chicken wing recipes too!  Just don't forget to order your wings!!!