Baked Chicken Wings with Yogurt-Blue Cheese Dressing

With Super Bowl Sunday just a week away, I thought now would be the perfect time to post this recipe.  For those of you who don't have a grill (like me), and baking your chicken wings is your only option, this is a recipe for you.  My friend, Chris, from Nibble Me This, states that every time you use an oven instead of a grill for chicken wings, an angel loses it's wings.  Sorry Chris, but since you don't live next door to me, I had no choice.  :o)

I made these last Sunday and and Joe and I pretty much polished off the entire 3 lbs. of wings ourselves.  And wanted more.  They were that good. 

I honestly didn't know what to expect from baked wings, but I have to admit to being very pleasantly surprised.  They were so tender, they literally fell apart in our hands, as well as crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside (you may need to bake them longer than the recipe states to get the amount of crispiness you like), and we loved the sauce!  The hot sauce and honey were a great combination.

You also must make the yogurt-blue cheese dip.  It is out of this world.  I'll never buy blue cheese dip again.  This homemade version is definitely better than anything you can buy in the store.

I would, without a doubt, make these again and can't wait to do so.

Enjoy!

Baked Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese-Yogurt Dip
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Dip

3/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 small clove garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon skim milk or buttermilk

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Wings

Cooking spray, for the baking sheet

3 pounds chicken wings, split at the joints, tips removed

4 stalks celery, cut into thirds

4 carrots, cut in half

2 bay leaves

1 cup fat-free low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce (or 1/2 cup other hot sauce)

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon honey

Make the dip:  Pulse the yogurt, blue cheese, mayonnaise, garlic, milk and lemon juice in a food processor until combined but still chunky. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Make the wings:  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Put the chicken wings in a deep skillet; add 3 pieces of celery, 3 pieces of carrot, the bay leaves, chicken broth, hot sauce, paprika, butter, honey and 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the chicken is almost cooked through, about 18 minutes. Transfer the wings to the prepared baking sheet and arrange in a single layer; reserve the sauce in the skillet.

Bake the wings, turning once, until the skin is golden and crisp, 30 to 35 minutes. Meanwhile, simmer the reserved sauce over medium-low heat until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Discard the celery, carrot and bay leaves. Reserve one-quarter of the sauce for serving. Return the wings to the skillet and toss with the remaining sauce. Serve the wings with the blue cheese dip and reserved sauce; cut the remaining celery and carrot into sticks to serve on the side.

Makes 6 servings (really, for us it only made 2-3 servings)

Source:  Food Network Magazine - January/February 2012

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