How to Make Crispy Buffalo Chicken Wings

You don't need to shuffle off to Buffalo to get crispy chicken wings, you can do it right in your own home! The key to getting the wings crispy without drying out the meat is deep frying. Yes, that's the secret! That's why they're so good at restaurants- they're deep fried. I can't stress this point enough. If you don't have a deep fryer and you want to make crispy chicken wings at home, go buy a deep fryer.

Back in my restaurant days, I trained many people on how to make crispy Buffalo wings, so I'll let you in on the trade secrets.

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Wings Recipe

Ingredients:
Chicken wings
peanut oil
flour, optional

Preparation:
Set the deep fryer to 350 degrees and let the oil warm up.
Rinse the wings in a colander and let them drip dry. (Pat dry with paper towels, if needed, but don't let any little pieces of paper towel stick to them.)
Toss the wings in flour, if desired.

Cooking:
Fully submerge wings in the oil.
Make sure they don't stick to each other- shake the basket or use long metal tongs to separate them.
Wait until they float. When you pick up the basket and shake the wings, it should make a sizzling sound.
Don't set a timer- use your eyes to see if the chicken wings are done. (But plan on approximately 10- 15 minutes for each batch. Cooking time depends on the size of the wings, and each deep fryer cooks differently.)

Tips: Don't put too many chicken wings in the deep fryer at once. I don't like the flour on chicken wings, but some people do.

Buffalo Wing Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:
liquid margarine
hot pepper sauce
cayenne pepper

Preparation:
Mix half liquid margarine and half hot pepper sauce in a large bowl. (If you want to measure, start with a half cup of liquid margarine and a half cup of hot sauce.) This is a basic Buffalo wing sauce.

As is, the sauce is mild, but you can add cayenne pepper to taste. The general rule of thumb is: lightly sprinkling cayenne pepper over the top of the sauce makes a medium Buffalo wing sauce, and liberally sprinkling cayenne pepper makes a hot Buffalo wing sauce.

If you have a plastic container with a lid (like one that solid margarine comes in) use it to coat the wings with sauce. Place the wings in the container, ladle Buffalo wing sauce on them, put the lid on, and shake the container to fully coat the wings. (The wing sauce will stain plastic, so don't use a good bowl for this.)

Tips: Serve Buffalo wings with a side of celery sticks and chunky blue cheese dressing.