Buffalo Chicken Wings
May 31, 2009 tagged Dairy-free, Egg-free, Gluten-free 
One really great outcome of eating GF/CF is that processed foods are, for the most part, off limits. (OK, I know not everyone will agree that’s a good thing but hear me out.)
When I started down this road I eliminated all those convenient boxes, cans and junk foods and began cooking more things from scratch. I never eat a baked good that doesn’t come from my own kitchen. I make most of my own sauces and salad dressings. I’m not fanatic about this. I have my vices~the occasional potato chip or Starburst makes it’s way into my mouth. But, with convenience foods basically taboo I really eat so much better than I ever did before. And, I like it.
I will come out publically and say I’m torn about the number of GF foods now making their way into the mainstream. (I may have to duck a few flying GF rolls for saying such a thing.) Sure, it seems great for those of us who cannot have gluten to now have a cake available at Starbucks, more readily available baking mixes, or a larger variety of breakfast cereals. But, is it really a good thing to add more processed food back into our lives? Obviously, that’s a personal view and each of us will have our own take. And, I will buy some of these convenient products but not so much as before.
This lifestyle requires we all cook—and, cook a lot. And, the result is wonderful. Cooking is so creative. And, it means that we know what we’re eating and serving to our families. All the ingredients are whole ingredients. For the most part, they aren’t chemicals or preservatives or who knows what. Admit it, we’re all healthier now than when we ate a lot of processed foods.
How does this all relate to Buffalo Chicken Wings? We have to have some of those comfort foods from before. I miss some food, don’t you? So, like all my friends out there in the blogiverse and beyond, ya gotta make some of this stuff at home in order not to feel deprived.
And, wings, to me anyway, are a comfort food. Little saucy nuggets of pleasure. I admit I like sloppy, tasty foods I can eat with my hands. There’s something about picking them up and slurping them that adds to the delight of having wings. And, these wings, as we say in NJ, are “to die for”. You won’t be able to make enough. Trust me on this.
Serve with Buffalo Sauce, recipe found HERE.
Buffalo Chicken Wings
20 chicken wings
½ cup sorghum flour
2 tablespoons fine corn meal
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper
olive oil for drizzling
Buffalo Sauce
3 stalks celery and 2 carrots cut into small sticks
Blue cheese dressing (if you aren’t CF/dairy-free)
Preheat the oven to 400℉. Use Convection Roast if you have a convection oven.
Prepare the Buffalo Sauce. You can do this while the wings are cooking.
Cut off the wing tips and discard (or use for soup). Cut the wings in half at the joint. Trim excess skin or fat.
Put the flour, cornmeal, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper in a large Ziploc bag. Place all the chicken pieces in the bag. Seal and shake to assure all the chicken pieces are covered with the flour mixture.
Line the bottom of a broiler pan with a piece of parchment or aluminum foil and replace the broiler pan top. Remove the chicken pieces (shaking off excess flour) and place them on the broiler pan. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Put the wings in the hot oven and roast for 15 minutes. Turn them and roast another 15 minutes. They should be getting fairly crispy by now.
Remove the broiler pan but keep the oven on. Place about 2 or 3 tablespoons of the Buffalo Sauce into the bottom of a small shallow bowl or dish. Brush each wing lightly with the sauce – don’t worry about coating the wings thoroughly but get some of the sauce on each side.
Return to the oven for another 12 minutes turning once in the middle.
If you want them a little more brown and crispy—turn on the broiler. Place the wings under it for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Watch carefully because they will brown up quickly.
Remove the wings from the oven, plate, and serve with the leftover Buffalo Sauce, carrots, celery and blue cheese dressing (optional).
Reader Comments (6)
Lovely recipe looks better than kfc to me.
I agree with you - when you have to cut certain foods from a diet it forces you to learn other ways of cooking, I eat wheat products on occassion but I really enjoy cooking gluten free the rest of the time and I love eating gf foods too. :-)
I just have to tell you I COMPLETELY agree with the amount of GF convenience foods coming out. The more I learn about what we put in our bodies and how it's affecting us, it seems a natural and logical progression to make things as basic as possible. It doesn't keep me from sighing out of pleasure to see all the foods that I loved as a kid coming out GF thinking my daughter won't be so deprived after all. But then I think: "Well, does she REALLY need to be eating chocolate, sugar, refined, over processed foods anyways?". And will she truly be deprived of anything if she never eats any of these things? Food for though ;)
Andree - I guess everything in moderation, right? Growing up we always were allowed "treats" but it wasn't standard fare. Soda was available at parties, when guests came over, during the holidays. That's it! Even though we did eat cookies from the store my Mom baked for us and always made meals from fresh foods. It rubbed off. My sister and I talk about it today and realize how lucky we were. -Nancy
I think I agree with you about the availability of a lot of gluten free food commercially too. While it was great when I first cut it out of my diet, I really like it that I know how to bake and cook gluten free now as it's cheaper and healthier. In NZ where I live though there are a lot of small cafes etc that offer gluten free food, which is fantastic and something I haven't noticed on trips to the US. For example at brunch the other day I had gluten free bread with my breakfast and it was no problem for them to sub it. I do wonder too, as GF living is sort of trendy if this is a problem for celiacs as it means that staff aren't knowledgeable on cross contamination issues. I am not celiac but eat gluten free for pain management, but I am lactose intolerant and I constantly find it's an issue that people don't understand why I request soy in my coffee for example. So many times I've ordered things only to find they forgot, or they stick a big scoop of icecream in. I get really sick and can usually tell half way through the glass if they mess up and it ruins the rest of my day.
Karin- I agree with you. I think it's great that more and more gluten free options are available at restaurants and in stores. But, it hasn't hurt me not to eat a lot of the convenience and processed foods. In fact, it's made me healthier. So, maybe it's more accurate to say I don't look forward to seeing more unhealthy convenience foods made gluten-free. And, yes, I find many servers don't understand what gluten-free and dairy-free actually means. It can be frustrating. -Nancy
Thanks for the tweet! I agree too it's nice to live a life without lots of E numbers and additives isn't it? I found it particularly hard in the US when I was there to read labels as your food just seems more processed than ours - lots more ingredients if you know what I mean? I contrast this to the Indian packets of pre made curry in vacume packed plastic I bought yesterday that have no additives or preservatives! And they are tasty. :-)
There is a range of gluten free food here that my mum has bought me as a present a few times and while really tasty it is very expensive ($8 for four little cakes) and so full of preservatives I can't believe anyone living the gluten/dairy free life could really consider them as good for them. I would hate to see things go that way more.
One issue I have is that if I see gluten free cakes in cafes I just have to try them... and it's fairly often there is a gluten free menu so I get tempted waaaaayyyyy too much! Also another hazard of gluten free food getting more available.
These look great! Thank you for sharing them on Friday Foodie Fix.
I also made these for the super bowl, and everyone loved them! I am addicted to the Buffalo Sauce, it is amazing! I am so glad that I found your site, you never know how recipes printed from the internet are going to turn out, but so far, yours are two for two. I will have to try some more! thanks!