Recipe: Spicy Chicken Wings

DaMan loves hot wings. Unfortunately, he prefers the breaded kind, not the buffalo sauced kind. He loves a spicy breading on deep fried wings.

This is so not compatible with the Paleo/Primal lifestyle that we are trying to emulate, but I thought that I might try to work something out as a "Once in a While" treat, while still keeping it gluten-free, and trying to cut down on the badness that happens when you deep-fry foods.

What I came up with probably isn't for day to day clean eating. Most certainly not when you are doing a cleanse, or a 21/30 day challenge, but it does boast to not having any wheat flour, and it was pretty delicious.

I was having a hard time coming up with an egg wash and "breaded" coating that stayed on the chicken wing through the cooking process. I had a moment of genius inspiration and decided to try tahini as way to  thicken the egg wash in to a more batter-like consistency, and it worked pretty darn well! If you don't have or cannot obtain Tahini, you might try an unsweetened almond or other nut/seed butter, but it might be more difficult to incorporate into the egg wash without using a food processor.

In an attempt to keep calories down, I only pan-fried the wings for a short time, just enough to set the coating, and then finished cooking in the oven. I wanted the breading to be crunchy, yet have the same mouth-feel as a deep fried wing.

*Note, work in batches. Fry a few wings at a time, then put on a cooling rack with paper towels or aluminum foil underneath to catch the excess oil.  Then carefully move the wings to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to finish in the oven. You might want to double line it.

So here you go. I hope you enjoy it as much as DaMan did:




Spicy Breaded Chicken Wings

(this recipe coated about 20 wings)

Wet Ingredients for the egg wash:

•  3 eggs
• Spicy Hot Sauce, a few dashes, to taste
• 2-3 Tablespoons Tahini
• 2-3 Tablespoons Almond or coconut milk (if needed to stretch the egg wash)

Dry Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/3 cup almond flour
• 1/3 cup almond meal (dried leftover almond paste from making your own, if you keep it)

Egg Wash with Tahini (the secret ingredient!)

Spices, these are optional, but highly recommended for flavor and for beefing up the "breaded coating":

• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Mrs Dash
• Seasoned pepper
• Paprika
• Sea Salt
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Put all the dry ingredients and your chosen spices into a gallon-sized ziplock baggie. 
3. In a large bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients well.
4. Heat a large skillet with your preferred oil. I ended up using veggie oil, because the coconut oil smoked too quickly. If you can make it work, great.
5. Drag your chicken wings through the egg wash, then coat with the dry ingredients by shaking them in the baggie with the dry ingredients.
6. Place in skillet and let brown for 2-3 minutes on each side. 
7. Place chicken on cooling rack with paper towels underneath to catch excess oil. Let drain for a few minutes.
8. Place drained chicken on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven until the chicken reaches 165 degrees.



Fry in batches, don't overcrowd the skillet.







9. Let wings cool for a few minutes, then serve.

Enjoy!

Here's a Primal Ranch Dressing Recipe that you might use a dipping sauce,it's from Mark's Daily Apple.

place quick fried wings to a cooling rack before transferring them to the oven for finishing.