Gameday Chicken Wings

When we watch football, I cannot forget chicken wings. The whole family loves to munch on chicken wings during the big game. I have concocted my own wing rub recipe for my chicken wings that is so yummy and it goes with any type of dipping sauce or is just great by themselves. Here is my version of chicken wings complete with the wing rub recipe and my recommended dipping sauces. Be sure to have lots of napkins on hand, as these can get messy!

Gameday Chicken Wings

WING RUB: (the picture below is what your rub should look like after it is mixed)
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup paprika
2 Tbsp seasoned salt
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp granulated garlic or 1 clove garlic that is minced and pressed (if using fresh garlic do not add it to the dry ingredients, add it to the shaker bag with the rub when you coat the chicken wings)
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like your wings)
1 tsp hickory flavored liquid smoke (optional)

CHICKEN WINGS
2-4 lbs chicken wings (thawed if you are using frozen wings)


Mix dry ingredients except liquid smoke (and fresh garlic, do not mix with dry ingredients). Put chicken wings in large plastic bag with 1 cup of rub and shake to coat. Add liquid smoke and fresh garlic if you are using fresh garlic and shake again. Refrigerate minimum 24 hours and maximum 48 hours).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make a single layer in baking dish or cookie sheet; bake 1 hour or until done.

Crock Pot directions: After coating with rub and refrigerating, put in crock pot; turn on low for 4-6 hours and on high for 2-3 hours.

Notes:
- I recommend baking so they do not fall off the bone while trying to eat and dip, if you do not care, the crock pot makes very tender wings.
- Dipping sauce can be used; I recommend BBQ sauce (homemade is better; here is the link to my own BBQ sauce in this site Dips, Sauces, and Condiments and scroll down until you come to the homemade BBQ sauce recipe), ranch dip, blue cheese dressing, or honey mustard sauce.
- Store extra rub in airtight container in a dry cool place, or in a ziplock storage bag clearly labeled

The dipping sauce we used is a purchased sauce (I do not do that often at all unless the sauce tastes very good). We got it when we went to the fair and the wing sauce is to die for! It is called Honey Habanero Wing Sauce made by The James Gang BBQ Company and they have so many products that look good, it was a hard choice. Richard (my husband) is the sauce whiz and he is very picky about sauce but he liked these so we bought some to give them a try. In the box he bought we got 1 bottle of the Honey Habanero Wing Sauce (spicy but with a nice sweet bite to it), Spiced Rum Steak Marinade, and their original Hickory Smoke BBQ sauce (we got 2 bottles of that, it is very good). If you do not make your own sauce, I highly recommend buying this sauce. I usually make my own, but this is a good one to buy. One more little tidbit about this sauce, we looked at the labels of the sauce and we did not find any high fructose corn syrup in any of them, just fresh ingredients and it tastes so good. Give them a try!