“Chicken Wings and Pizza Night” became a weekly family tradition while I was working on my MBA a few years back. I was working full time and going to school on the weekend, so we needed some quality family time. It was fun to look forward to…but wasn’t great for anyone’s waistline so it was eventually relegated to a “special occassion” dinner rather than a weekly tradition. Ha! Anyway, over the year we cooked a lot of wings! It took a lot of trial & error to get the wings just right (crisy skin with juicy meat) without having to use a fryer. We eventually got there and this recipe has been a winner with my friends & family ever since.

Ingredients

For Chicken Wings:
2 – 4 lbs chicken wingettes and drumettes
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil (for the pan)

Citrus Apricot Sauce
Juice of 2 oranges
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup apricot preserves
2 tsp ginger
Cayenne pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp salt
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Chopped cilantro

Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup mayonaise
3/4 cup Thai red chili sauce
Juice of 1 lime

Directions

Brine the chicken wings in salt water for a few hours. Remove the wings from the water, pat them dry, and place them on a single layer on a wire rack in a sheet pan and refrigerate for about six hours. Drying out the skin on the wings before baking them will help you get the crispy skin you’re after. When you’re ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees (I use the “Convection Roast” setting on my oven). Grease your sheet pan with olive oil, place the wings on it in a single layer, add salt and pepper and roast in the oven for about 45-60 minutes.

To make the citrus apricot sauce, combine all the ingredients except the green onions and cilantro in a sauce pan and bring to a boil on the stove. Turn heat down to low and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened. Remove from the heat and let cool.

About 5 minutes before removing the wings from the oven, brush them lightly with a bit of your citrus apricot sauce. When they’re cooked through and the skin is crispy, remove the wings from the oven and combine them with the sauce. Stir in about 3/4 of the green onions. Sprinkle the remaining green onions and cilantro on top. Serve the wings with the dipping sauce on the side, which is made by simply combining all the ingredients.