Grilled Sriracha Hot Wings with Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

These wings are a riff on classic buffalo wings – perfect for game day, or any day for that matter!

Ingredients

For the Wings

1. 2 lbs fresh chicken wings
2. 2 teaspoons baking powder
3. 1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Sauce

1. 4 tablespoons butter
2. 1 clove garlic, grated on a microplane or pressed
3. 1 cup Sriracha hot sauce
4. 2 tablespoons honey
5. 1 tablespoon soy sauce
6. 1/2 teaspoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
7. zest and juice of 1 lime
8. 2 more limes, halved
9. diced green onions for garnish

For the Blue Cheese Dressing

1. 1 egg
2. 2 tablespoons sour cream
3. 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
4. juice of 1 lemon
5. pinch kosher salt
6. 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles (divided)
7. 1 cup vegetable or canola oil

Instructions

For the Chicken Wings (Prep)

1. Using a sharp boning or chef knife, separate the drumettes from the flaps at the joints, and the flaps from the wingtips. Reserve the wingtips for stock
2. Place drumettes and flaps in a large mixing bowl; sprinkle with baking powder and Kosher salt and toss to coat
3. Place drummetes on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate, uncovered for 6 – 12 hours

For the Sauce

1. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat until foaming and completely melted; swirling or stirring to keep it from burning
2. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute
3. Add remaining ingredients whisk constantly until ingredients are homogeneous and sauce has thickened slightly
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Use right away or transfer to refrigerator. Sauce can be made 2 days in advance

For the Blue Cheese Dressing

Note: You can just skip the whole immersion blender thing and use a cup of store bought mayo – that’s fine! Just skip the egg and vegetable oil

1. In the bottom of a beaker or jar just large enough to fit the head of your immersion blender, add all ingredients in the order listed above, reserving half the blue cheese crumbles separately
2. Plunge head of immersion blender to the bottom of the jar or beaker and pulse once or twice to combine; then, turn it on – as the emulsion forms, slowly lift the head of the immersion blender (Confused? Check out this 1:37 video by J. Kenji Lopez for a visual.)
3. Stir in remaining blue cheese crumbles

Final Cook and Assembly

1. Set up a gas grill or charcoal grill for 2-zone cooking (hot side/cool side) – for more information about this, check out this article in Bon Appetit
2. Toss chicken wings in 1/4 cup of prepared sauce, reserving the rest of the sauce for the end
3. Place chicken wings on the cool side of the grill and allow to cook through until internal temperature reaches 160°F
4. Transfer wings to hot side of the grill and cook, turning frequently, until crispy and lightly charred, 3 – 5 minutes
5. Remove from grill and allow to cool slightly, 5 minutes
6. While wings are resting, grill halved limes, cut side down, until lightly caramelized and charred
7. Transfer wings and remaining sauce to a large mixing bowl and toss until wings are thoroughly coated
8. Squeeze grilled limes over wings and garnish with diced green onions
9. Serve with Blue Cheese Dressing (and an ice-cold beer!)