Kid Friendly Appetizers~ Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings

Some kids aren’t crazy about spice foods, but some love them! If your kids love buffalo wings, I have a recipe for you to make them at home. I make baked buffalo chicken wings instead of frying them. They still have quite a bit of fat from the butter, but I prefer to make them that way.

I adapted the recipe from this  Buffalo Chicken Wings Recipe but I simplified it a little.

Buffalo Chicken Wings

• 20 chicken wings (you can also use chicken breast strips, or boneless breaded chicken chunks), washed and patted dry.
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 recipe buffalo wing dipping sauce, recipe follows
• Blue Cheese, or Ranch dressing (optional)

1. Place chicken wings into a large, zip-top plastic bag.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Add the flour mixture to the plastic bag and toss with the wings to coat well.

3. Pour the chicken wings onto a baking sheet and spread evenly. Allow the chicken to sit on a floured baking sheet to dry out for about 1 hour. I don’t always let them sit, and they still turn out fine!
4. Bake at 350`F for about 45 minutes, or until cooked through. If you have any kids that don’t like spicy food, you can serve up the wings with a BBQ sauce, or straight up without any sauce.
5. Drizzle with half of buffalo wing dipping sauce. Toss and coat well. Serve hot with the remaining dipping sauce.

Buffalo Wing Dipping Sauce

• 1 cup Frank’s hot sauce
• 1 cup (2 sticks) melted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and set aside until your ready to use it. If you’re making it ahead you may need to warm it on the stove in a saucepan if the butter starts to harden.

Makes about 2 cups

You can pair the Buffalo Chicken Wings with some celery and blue cheese or ranch dip to add a little cool to the spice.

I made these for our Superbowl Celebration the other night. Here’s the whole spread.

If you’d like to check out some of the other recipes you can check them out here:

• Cherry Pepsi Cupcakes (and Caramel Corn)
• Personal Mexican Pizza

Do you have a favorite kid friendly appetizer?