Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Happy first day of Fall everyone! I’m currently sitting outside enjoying this cool Fall morning watching the leaves starting to fall and sniffing the warm scent of cinnamon in the air (wait a second.. maybe that’s just my chai tea I’m smelling!) Fall is easily my favorite season. There is just something about tailgates, pumpkin carving and the fall fashion that just makes me feel so warm and fuzzy. Give me jeans, sweaters, scarves and a chai tea in hand and I’m a happy girl! While I’m ready for all things pumpkin, apple and chai, I’m still a little hung up on football foods.

Remember those 15 Healthy-ish Gluten-Free Recipes for Football Season I shared with you a few weeks ago? Well, apparently everyone was a fan (You see what I did there?). While scouring for recipes to share with you, I kept coming upon chicken wing recipes – which totally makes sense. To make cravings worse, there was a tailgate themed lunch at work. I usually don’t eat in the cafeteria at work since gluten cross-contamination is real and brutal on my system. But I just had to take a peak at what they were serving. Everything was fried and delicious looking and then I stumbled across the chicken wings. Now at this point, my craving for chicken wings was already pretty high. But after seeing them there I was just dying for some chicken wings. I ran back to my desk and quickly texted Michael that chicken wings were on the football menu for the weekend. Since then, we have made these chicken wings numerous times since they get requested so often!

The secret to these wings is getting a crunchy skin on them in the oven. By baking them in the oven with some oil and then broiling them for the last 5 minutes, we are able to get some great crunch on these bad boys. You would think they are fried! The wing drumettes aren’t baked with the sauce on, but instead the wings are tossed in the sauce after baking to ensure crispy skin and mega saucy goodness. I like my teriyaki sauce to have a little bite and not to be cloyingly sweet, so I only add about two tablespoons of honey to the sauce. If sweet is your thing, by all means, add up to 4 or 5 tablespoons of honey. I thought they were perfect with 2-3 tablespoons though. What totally makes these wings though are the toppings. Sesame seeds, green onion and cilantro. They add so much texture and flavor that I wouldn’t suggest skipping this step! Trust me, as soon as you make these wings, you’ll be running back to the store so you can make more!