Dinner - Oven Baked "Wings"

Tonight was one of those nights that I was craving beer and wings...maybe it's the atmosphere of the upcoming Super Bowl, or possibly that it's just one of my favorite meals ever, but I decided to try the healthy route and oven bake them and oh man...was it yummy!

I had some leftover drumsticks (hence why I title this post "wings") that I decided to coat in spices and bake in a super-hot oven, then lather with wing sauce to satisfy my "wing-tooth." Hehehe...see what I did there? :)

For my spice mixture, I used cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, jerk seasoning, parsley, salt, and pepper. I was going for a classic chicken wing, however if you prefer something less spicy you could choose a different combination of flavors that more closely matches your wing preference!

I mixed the spices together in a medium bowl, then coated each drumstick liberally with the mixture...to make this part easier, I'd recommend using one hand as a clean hand to sprinkle the mixture onto the meat, and the other as the dirty hand to turn the wing around to make sure it gets fully coated.

After the wings were coated, I placed them onto a baking sheet to put in the oven. As you can see, I actually set a cooling rack on top of the baking sheet to make sure they were crispy all around, however you could also just turn the wings throughout the baking process to be sure they crisp up nicely. 

Once the wings were in the oven, I quickly threw together some potatoes and onions for a side, I diced three potatoes and sliced a medium onion, adding it to a 9 x 13 pan with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of cayenne. I added these to the oven to bake with the chicken wings. 

After baking for nearly an hour, I pulled all the ingredients out of the oven to cool. The drumsticks had a nice crispy coating on them, which was the perfect base for smothering the wings with wing sauce. (While I prefer my wings super saucy, you could reduce or completely eliminate the amount of wing sauce you use...completely at your discretion!)

The grocery store was out of Franks Wing Sauce so I went with Louisiana brand...typically I'd say stick with Franks because it's more true to the wing flavor I like, but this was actually a pretty good substitute!

 These wings, combined with some creamy ranch and a cold beer, definitely hit the spot tonight! 

Oven Baked Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

- 1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

- 1 Tbs. Smoked Paprika

- 1/4 cup Jerk Seasoning

- 1 Tbs. Parsley

- 1/4 tsp. Salt and Pepper

- 6 Chicken Drumsticks

- 1/4 cup wing sauce

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. Mix all spices together in a medium bowl

3. Coat the chicken drumsticks generously with the spice mixture

4. Place drumsticks on a baking sheet

5. Cook for 30 minutes at 425, then reduce temperature to 375 and cook for an additional 15 minutes