Crispy Oven Baked Buffalo Not Just Wings & Homemade Blue Cheese Dip & Kale Buffalo Chicken Salad

so these are pretty fucking killer. i’m not sure what you do to procrastinate- but it’s a test kitchen over here. i first made this recipe for a super bowl party in andorra and i know i’m a few weeks late this year- but i’ve had wings on the brain. also– blue cheese- it’s my new thing- i used to hate it and now i’m all about it. So i made this recipe yesterday according to the original Bon Appetite – cooking the wings for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. totally fine. But as I said, it’s a test kitchen up in here. So i thought- why not thomas keller this bitch and treat them like the whole roast chicken recipe. This means- higher heat, no oil and less time. I did them for 450 degrees- 25 minutes. And what do we get? WAY crispier skin. I think next time i’d even check them at 20 minutes. before this recipe-  i never knew why wings tasted so good- but now i understand- it’s because buffalo sauce is essentially melted butter and hot sauce.

Now this need not only be applied to wings. Thighs, drumsticks, and fuck it, use it as a dipping sauce for your whole roast chicken.  I read an article the other day about how buffalo sauce is so hot right now. it had a recipe for buffalo skate. i’ve also recently seen in cambridge buffalo fried brussel sprouts (which are damn tasty) and buffalo cauliflower. So if you are a vegetarian this still feel free to play around with this sauce. The blue cheese recipe- i got from a random google search- i was into because i liked the greek yogurt base instead of being mayo and sour cream heavy. yum.

You by no means need to go this extra step but- when i was at ballymaloe i learned this little trick for the drumsticks where you basically turn them inside out- and make them look like lollipops. the ones in the picture are gigantic- but generally they are a lot tinier and cuter. this is great for serving at parties etc or nice with buffalo sauce- because the skin ends up on the inside- and the sauce sticks to outside meat. For the first time ever in snacko backo history- I made a demo video 

Buffalo Sauce – Bon Appetite

For 2.5 pounds of wings/drumsticks etc. Can scale up or down easily- if using more/ less chicken.
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup hot pepper sauce (such as Frank’s) – [i’ve seen this brand listed in a lot of wings recipes and while i’m sure you can use another kind- i will say this tastes exactly like what you think a buffalo sauce would taste like]

Melt butter. Mix with salt, pepper and cayenne. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add in hot sauce. Rewarm just before using. Bon Appetite says can be made 5 days ahead.
Chicken- Preheat 450. take a wire rack, like a cookie cooling rack and place that over a rimmed baking sheet (aka jelly roll pan). wash chicken- pat very very dry. season generously with salt and pepper. spread on single layer on rack. Bake for 20-25 minutes. (how do you know they are done? same way regular chicken- stab one with a fork and see if juices run clean).

Blue cheese Dip – comes from How Sweet It Is 
1/3 cup plain greek yogurt / 2 tablespoons mayo / 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper / 1/4 tsp honey / 4 oz blue cheese
Use a fork to whisk together yogurt, mayo, salt, pepper and honey. crumble in most of the blue cheese- saving some to crumble on top. that’s it.

Buffalo Chicken Kale Salad- What to do with leftovers — Wings aren’t the best as leftovers because skin doesn’t stay as crispy (though i’m sure they’d taste great if drunk). and also how to bring it to work as leftovers for lunch. Rip off a bunch of chicken from the bones. Shred up some kale (rip off its stalk, stack leaves, roll up, and cut into thin ribbons) massage kale with some olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. My salad I added diced apple and avocado. If you want to get crazy add bacon. 

if you are prepping for lunch the next day- you can stick up in your mason jar (ha!) or tupperware. Blue cheese at bottom. then chicken. then apple (give a a little lemon juice) and kale on top. But the best part about a kale salad- is that you actually benefits from getting that time to soften- so if you mix the whole thing up in the morning- and eat it 4 hours later (like i did today) you’re set.

Also- shout out to mrs. weiner who gave me that super cute chicken cutting board. it came in a set of four- fish, chicken, beef and veg- so you keep each separate. similar to my carved out cutting board.