Grilled Chicken Wings: Buffalo Style

Tailgating and Healthy Food are not exactly synonymous. There’s pretty much nothing virtuous about liquefied cheese and frying All. The. Things. BUT good news: just because it’s Football season, (AKA the Fall-for all my non-sportsy fans) it doesn’t mean you have to throw all your good intention to the wind and wait to resume your healthy eating habits in January

Allow me to elaborate.

My hubs is a self-proclaimed “Chicken Wing Connoisseur.” The dude loves wings. But he also loves when his pants fit. SO we started scheming.  What if we could “healthi-fy” one of his favorite foods just a little bit? The following is our collaborative effort.

Our “give-and-take” if you will.  While this recipe is MUCH healthier (and WAAAY better tasting I might add) than your average run-of -the-mill basket o’ restaurant wings, they still can’t be considered “light.” BUT that being said, they’re not deep fried or breaded so I’d say cut your loses and enjoy on occasion.

OK, quick! Chris just walked out of the room, so while I have your attention, to healthy up this recipe even more, you could play with eliminating the butter and going for a lower sodium hot sauce and a reduced sugar BBQ, there are lots of Paleo recipes out there that would do the trick. You could also try going “sauceless” but I realize that even typing that is close to sacrilegious for some so experiment at your own….and now he JUST walked back into the room so let’s rock and roll out this recipe: 😀

Healthier Grilled Chicken Wings: Buffalo Style

12 Wings

Serves 1-2

Sauce:

• ½ Stick Organic Butter
• 5 oz Frank’s Red Hot (Check out this MASSIVE bottle. You will never run out.)
• 1 ½ C Just Sweet ‘Nuff BBQ Sauce OR
• 1 C Open Pit & ¼ C Organic Ketchup (our Favorite is the Aldi brand)

*Sound weird? Trust the process 😉

Melt Butter on low. Add Red Hot. Add BBQ Sauce or BBQ Sauce & Ketchup combo

Cook in a small sauce pan on Medium Heat until it just begins to bubble.   Reduce to a simmer and stir and keep on low until wings are ready. Stir occasionally.

Wings:

• Olive Oil
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Poultry Seasoning
• Paprika
• Sea Salt
• Pepper
• Pinch of Cayenne

Drizzle wings with a little Olive Oil and season liberally with all spices except Cayenne.  Go easy on the Cayenne kids.  You’ll be getting plenty of heat from the sauce.

Grilling:

Heat Grill on Medium High for 10 min. Grill Wings for 4 min on one side. Flip and grill 4 minutes on the other side. Continue cooking and flipping to preference. Each grill is different but 8-12 minutes total grilling time is usually the sweet spot.

Dressing Wings:

When wings are done cooking, place them in a bowl and drizzle sauce over the wings tossing as you go.

You are now ready to consume all the wings.

You never have to feel victimized by the food options surrounding you.  There’s always a way to make little and big tweaks to a recipes in order to amp up the health factor for your No Small Life.  Food should taste good AND food should help your body feel and run better, not worse.

So the next time a “Wings Craving” strikes, try “Fall-ing”(ok that was bad)in love with a batch of these babies.

Here’s to a new healthier recipe to chow on while you’re watching the Big Game.

Until next time,

Chris & Meg

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