“These Smoky Ranch Chicken Wings are bangin’! “, exclaimed my 17-year old stepson who requested wings for tonight’s dinner. He has to suffer through nights of real food which, when you are a picky eater, I mean really picky, will warm up some frozen chicken nuggets or eat the spaghetti without the fabulous sauce I created. So I feel obligated to cater to his needs …on occasion.
I started with a package of wings which was labeled as 4.45 pounds. Wing tips were cut off with shears and the remaining piece was separated at the joint giving me “wingettes.” I was afraid I had more than the 3 pound recipe called for by weight so I was prepared to adjust the seasoning accordingly. Curiosity inspired me to weigh what I had, 3.154 pounds. Now I had to go a step further. I weighed the wing tips I cut off (0.316 pounds). The two together didn’t weigh up to 4.45 pounds. It was off considerably. I’m assuming that absorbent material under the chicken was the remaining difference. I think I will talk to the meat department next time I go to the store about this substantial difference in weight and cost. In the meantime, I’ll continue with the process of making these finger-licking wings! Moral of the story here is always buy more than what you need. They’ll be eaten either way.
As described below, the chickens wingettes are marinated in a plastic bag for about an hour. My Homemade Ranch Seasoning works perfectly is this recipe, but if you don’t have any, make some for its multiple uses, these Smoky Ranch Chicken Wings being one of them. It can be stored easily with the rest of your herbs and spices in a small glass jar or just place in a labeled Ziploc bag.
Place them on a non-stick foil-lined baking sheet pan. I spread them out on two pans and placed them on two oven racks, switching positions after 30 minutes. One pan would probably have been enough but I wanted them to have their own space to bask in the spices while being baked.
Here’s a picture of another night of wings where I placed all of them on one pan which worked out just fine.
After about 40 minutes, they are ready to eat. I wish this was a scratch and sniff picture for you ! You should be so tempted to make these ASAP!
Here is my styled before picture.
About 5-7 minutes later, this is all that remains. The Smoky Hot Sauce, seen smeared on the plate below, is great on these as well as the ranch dip I used to taste test these. Mixing the ranch with the Smoky Hot Sauce provided another sensory experience, a creamy hot sauce. Yum! Even plain, they were perfect! This is all that is left to accompany the bones. Oh my, were these finger-licking good! These are definitely Super Bowl bound !
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
- 3 pounds of chicken wingettes
- 2 T. Homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix
- 1½ t. Kosher Salt
- ½ t. baking soda
- 1 T. Smoked Paprika
- 2T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Pat dry all wingettes with paper towels.
- Place chicken in a large Ziploc bag.
- Mix ingredients in a small bowl then pour into Ziploc bag over chicken.
- Toss to evenly coat, massaging in seasoning from outside of bag.
- Marinate in refrigerator for about an hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place chicken on non-stick foil-lined pan or on parchment paper.
- Bake for about 40 minutes.
- Serve with your favorite sauce, ranch dressing or as is.
