Spicy BBQ Chicken Wings – Whole30 and Paleo friendly. These finger lickin’ wings are perfect if you need an extra kick from regular ole BBQ chicken wings!
At this point, you all should know that I love spicy anything. If there’s a recipe out there that can be turned spicy, I will make it spicy. So when I was eating BBQ chicken wings at one of my favorite BBQ joints, I kept adding hot sauce because it needed a little kick. Thus was born the spicy BBQ chicken wings that are Whole30 compliant and 100% delicious.
There are a few key things I always do to ensure the sauce sticks to the chicken wings. Nothing annoys me more than tossing chicken wings in sauce but nothing really sticks to the wings –especially when they are baked wings. You end up with wasted sauce and chicken wings that aren’t living up to their saucy potential.
Here’s my secret: arrowroot flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, and/or cassava flour. The key is to lightly dust the chicken wings with one of these flours because they create a crust that the sauce can stick to. VERY important when it comes to making sure you having saucy wings. Very important.
Another important step is to make sure your chicken is bone dry before seasoning and then lightly dusting it with one of the listed flours. If there is moisture, there won’t be any kind of crisping or allowing the flours to do their thing.
So remember to dry your chicken, season it, and then lightly dust it with one of the flours listed. Whether your bake, barbecue, and/or fry your wings, any type of sauce you toss it in afterwards will definitely stick. This is the same method I use in my meal prep chicken hack I shared. Not only does it work perfectly for this spicy BBQ chicken wings recipe, but you can use for other chicken recipes!
Spicy BBQ Chicken Wings (Whole30, Paleo)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken wings
- ¼ cup cassava flour or arrowroot, tapioca, potato starch flour
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ - 1 tsp cayenne pepper depending on how spicy you want it
- ½ cup bbq sauce
- 2 tbsp buffalo sauce
- avocado oil spray
- diced jalapeno
- chopped cilantro
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease using avocado spray or any cooking fat of your choice and set aside.
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Meanwhile, pat the chicken wings dry, season with kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
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Lightly dust the chicken wings on both sides with cassava flour.
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Shake off any excess flour on the chicken wings and then place on the baking sheet.
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Lightly spray the chicken wings with avocado oil spray. Bake for 20 minutes, flip, and then bake for an additional 10 minutes.
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While the chicken wing is baking, combine barbecue sauce with hot sauce. Taste to see if you want it spicier and if it needs salt and pepper.
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Remove chicken from oven, toss chicken in barbecue sauce making sure all of the wings are coated.
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Place coated chicken wings back on baking sheet, turn the oven up to broil, and broil for 3-5 minutes or until wings start to char.
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Plate the chicken wings and then garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and diced jalapenos.