Blueberry Bourbon Chicken Wings
I love wings. In turn, I can guarantee that his won’t be the last wing recipe done during this meal challenge year. My wife knowing how much I love blueberries found this recipe for Blueberry Barbecue Sauce. Obviously, the sauce needed to be done first, so I’ll explain the sauce prep first, which will then be followed by the wing prepping.
We hit up Spotify again while for the tunes. This time I just wanted some fun, happy music, so we did the playlist: Summer 50s/60s Beat.
The Line-up (Ingredients) for the Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, finely diced
1 shallot, minced
3 cloves garlic
3½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 large apple diced
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
½ cup strong black coffee
½ cup bourbon, (or substitute apple juice – ha, we used Maker’s Mark)
1 cup ketchup
½ cup apple juice (We used a Capri-Sun)
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup
½ cup balsamic vinegar
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chipotle powder, (more or less to taste)
1 tbsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cinnamon
The Line-up (Ingredients) for the Wings
3 lbs of chicken wings
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp hot sauce
Game Plan (Instructions) for the Sauce
1) In a medium sized sauce pan, heat oil and cook the onion, shallot and garlic over medium low heat until softened but not browned. Always put in the onion and shallot first. Garlic can cook (and burn) within 30 seconds.
2) Add all the other ingredients, stir well and simmer over low heat for about 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has reduced, the apples have softened and the mixture begins to thicken.
3) Let the sauce cool before pureeing until smooth in a food processor.
4) Store in airtight container in the fridge if you are using it within a week or so. Otherwise, freeze it in airtight containers. Also, properly preserving it in mason jars could make it last all summer.
So, that’s it for the sauce. We then borrowed our wing recipe from here.
Game Plan (Instructions) for the Wings
1. Mix together the sauce that we just made, honey and hot sauce and then set that bowl aside.
2. Season the chicken wings with salt and pepper, then grill them on medium heat until the skins are browned and they are almost cooked.
3. At that point, turn the heat down to about medium low and begin to brush on the honey barbecue glaze, continuously turning the wings and building layers of sticky sweet sauce. I coated them at least 3 times with the sauce while they were on the grill.
Serve immediately off the grill. Well . . . let ’em cool down slightly.
I was so excited for the end result.)
This was by far my most favorite meal that we have made so far during this meal challenge and definitely one of the meals that I was most proud of. I was just so happy to be a part of it, while enjoying the entire process and, yes, the final delicious outcome. This is a meal that we will be revisiting again and again! The bonus part is that we had so much of the sauce left over . . . the mealtime fun continues on into the next meal challenge!