Everyone has a favorite drunk food, right? For Prez it's french fries. Thatboy likes doritos. For me, it's buffalo wings. It only takes a drink or two before I start begging Thatboy for those firey fried bites of goodness. He very rarely indulges my requests. There is NOTHING healthy about stuffing your face with chicken, dredged in butter and fried. Especially when you've already consumed what amounts to sugar in a glass after glass.
My solution to this situation is to make my own buffalo "wings" at home. And they're so much healthier that I don't even need to make them by guilty pleasure. We can eat it just as much as we like.
The first modification is to use chicken breast, not wings which has less fat - especially when you use skinless chicken breasts.
Next, nix the butter. You really don't need it anyway, there's plenty of flavor in that hot sauce. So much that it's a great addition to chilis, potatoes, soups, even barbeque ribs!
The third "get healthy" step is to grill the chicken instead of deep frying.
And finally, the dip. Here in California they dip their chicken wings in ranch - which has always been the bizarro dip choice for me. Everywhere I've lived we've done the original buffalo wing dip of choice - blue cheese! But blue cheese isn't exactly the healthiest dressing choice, so my lastest trick is to use greek yogurt for just about anything white and creamy - add some blue cheese into the yogurt and you have a dip with the flavor of the original, but with more protein and less fat!
My solution to this situation is to make my own buffalo "wings" at home. And they're so much healthier that I don't even need to make them by guilty pleasure. We can eat it just as much as we like.
The first modification is to use chicken breast, not wings which has less fat - especially when you use skinless chicken breasts.
Next, nix the butter. You really don't need it anyway, there's plenty of flavor in that hot sauce. So much that it's a great addition to chilis, potatoes, soups, even barbeque ribs!
The third "get healthy" step is to grill the chicken instead of deep frying.
And finally, the dip. Here in California they dip their chicken wings in ranch - which has always been the bizarro dip choice for me. Everywhere I've lived we've done the original buffalo wing dip of choice - blue cheese! But blue cheese isn't exactly the healthiest dressing choice, so my lastest trick is to use greek yogurt for just about anything white and creamy - add some blue cheese into the yogurt and you have a dip with the flavor of the original, but with more protein and less fat!
Grilled Buffalo "Wings"
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips
- 1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Wing Sauce
- 1/8 tsp cayenne
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- Mix chicken with wing sauce, cayenne, garlic, and black pepper in a ziplock bag. Marinate 2 hours.
- Heat grill pan over medium high heat. Cook chicken strips 3-4 minutes a side.
I love all the healthy modifications. My favorite drunk food is quesadillas, which kind of suck if you try to make them healthy!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm one of the weirdos that LOVES buffalo wings with ranch!
Aaaahhh, you are a smart girl!!!! Love the healthier dip option....I think it is also more child friendly, not as pungent as blue cheese sauce!!
ReplyDeleteI love wings also and try the healthy version too. But sometimes you just need to have the fried version.
ReplyDeleteCheese fries would be my choice, but your wings would do the trick too.
ReplyDeleteWings are my favorite thing to eat when I'm indulging in a drink or two. LOVE THEM! Love the lightened up version, too. And blue cheese? An absolute necessity.
ReplyDeletei'm a blue cheese girl too. it always cuts down on the fire, which is good since i'm a wimp.
ReplyDeleteI used to really detest buffalo wings, but over the past year, I've grown to love the things. But, since I don't do blue cheese, it's ranch all the way! ;)
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