I can never seem to get enough of fried chicken wings.  One time I ate too many of them in one sitting until my stomach felt like it was going to burst. Twenty four of them to be exact.  I’m not sure how it happened, but it’s a true story.

The recipe for these finger lickin’ good chicken wings was inspired by the Pinata Hot Sauce Suzanne and Mike introduced me to.  When I first tasted it, the pineapple and habanero flavors really stood out, so in my mind, it would make a great sauce for something fried, like chicken wings.  And it did!  And I inhaled ten of these in about ten minutes.  True story, again, of course.

The hot sauce has a sweet and tangy flavor, with just enough heat to give it a kick, but not so much that it burns your tongue.  The resulting wings are sweet, spicy, sticky, and definitely a crowd pleaser!  You won’t regret making an extra batch of it, as it works just as well for these wings as for chicken fingers.  Tom tried the chicken fingers I made (just because he doesn’t like wings…who doesn’t?!?) and agreed that the sauce was very tasty.  He claimed to have eaten the leftovers for breakfast, so I think that’s a good sign.

Make these and bring them to the Super Bowl Party this weekend!  I guarantee you’ll be the superstar!

Sweet and Sticky Hot Wings
(makes about 30 wings)

For the wings:
3 lbs chicken wingettes or drumettes
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1½ tsp salt
1 tbsp paprika
Vegetable or canola oil, for deep frying

For the sauce:
¼ cup hot sauce
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup honey
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

In a bowl, whisk the hot sauce with ketchup, honey, and Worcestershire sauce.  Set aside.

Fill a wide thick-bottomed pan with about 2 inches of oil and heat the oil to 400°F.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, salt, and paprika.  Coat chicken pieces with flour mixture, lightly shaking off excess flour.  Fry in hot oil until crispy and brown, about 10 minutes.  Drain on paper towels.

In a large mixing bowl, toss to coat the wings evenly with the sauce. Transfer to a serving platter and serve hot.

*I prefer to use wingettes only, but if you’re using both wingettes and drumettes, try to fry the wingettes in one batch and the drumettes in another to ensure that they are cooked through evenly.

*If you’re making few batches of these wings, you can transfer the cooked wings to an oven safe dish (covered with aluminum foil) and keep them warm in a 200°F oven while you cook the rest of them.  Right before serving, toss them with the sauce and they’ll be nice and crispy.

*You can adjust the heat level by adding more or less hot sauce.  I used ¼ cup of the Original Pinata Hot Sauce with an additional teaspoon of the Extra Hot Pinata Hot Sauce.