Buffalo Style Chicken Wings

Vegans, vegetarians, and the health conscious -- please avert your eyes. For those still reading, I present you the chicken wing. Quite possibly the fattiest piece of food you can eat, even worse if you deep fry it, but luckily I didn't go that far.


These chicken wings are baked, believe-it-or-not, there's just that much fat in the skin that it looks like it's been deep fat fried for ten minutes. Instead, they spent forty five minutes in the oven.


In the television business the first thing you do before creating a show idea is take a hard look at the audience, the demographic. Creating a show for seniors? Well you better have some nostalgia pieces in there. Trying to come up with a set for a children's program? Make it colorful! A show topic for a program for teenagers? Go with anything pop culture. You've got to cater to your audience. So, for a small barbecue this weekend for my family and boyfriend I had a healthy pre-meal smattering of carrots, hummus, guacamole, organic corn chips and.... chicken wings. Hooters-style chicken wings. You see my family and boyfriend are all health conscious, but special occasions (his homecoming) call for special foods. Indulgent foods. And as long as you provide a few healthy options so no one OD's on the wings to the point they feel bad about themselves, you're all good. After all, moderation is key.

I can't remember the last time I had chicken wings, but whenever that was, they pale in comparison to these beauties. I adapted the recipe to be gluten free and dairy free from one here.

Buffalo-Style Chicken Wings

20 chicken wings (separated at the drumette)
1/2 cup gluten-free, dairy-free butter alternative, melted (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Frank's hot sauce)
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

In a large bowl, or large ziploc bag place the rice flour, cayenne pepper and garlic poweder. Coat the chicken wings in the mixture and refrigerate for an hour or more to "set" the flour.

Once that is done, preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. In a medium bowl mix the melted butter alternative and hot sauce together and dip each wing in the mixture and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 45 minutes, turning the wings halfway through.

Serve with blue cheese dressing if you can have it. Or I enjoyed them plain, they're not terribly spicy, but have nice flavor. Use extra hot sauce if you want more of a kick to your wings.