Crispy Baked Wings With Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce

Adapted from a recipe by Lyndsay Burginger

If you love the heat these are the wings for you! The Carolina Reaper is the hottest pepper in the world measuring at over 2.2 Million Scoville Heat Units…ouch! These crispy baked chicken wings are doused in Carolina Kill Sauce to give them a punch like none other while delivering such tasty flavor you’ll keep coming back for more. Have plenty of beer on hand for these bad boys!

Fear The Reaper

The wrinkly little red pepper developed by Ed Currie has officially been declared the world’s hottest pepper. It is roughly 800 times hotter than a jalapeño and more than twice as hot as the Ghost Pepper. Kill Sauce chose this super spicy pepper for their Carolina Reaper hot sauce because of it’s distinctive flavor as well as its heat. The Carolina Kill Sauce comes out of the gate like a blazing inferno but interestingly it doesn’t kill your taste buds. The heat dissipates quickly and you’re left with they yummy flavors of the pomegranate molasses, red bell peppers and balsamic.

Amazingly Crispy Baked Wings

Keep that deep frier in the closet because there’s finally a method that will get you really crispy wings in the oven! What’s the trick? Baking Powder. Food scientists and chefs know this simple trick to get any poultry skin crispy. It’s all a matter of science. The baking powder (and make sure you’re using baking powder, not baking soda) raises the PH level of the chicken skin allowing the protein to break down and the skin to get extra crispy.

Ingredients

• 10 Chicken Wings
• 1 TBS Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• Carolina Kill Sauce
• Limes & Parsley to garnish
• Creme fraiche or Blue Cheese dressing to cool the heat (optional)

Directions

1. If the chicken wings are not broken down for you, you’ll need to separate them unless you plan to keep them whole. Here’s a video showing you how to do it.
2. Put the chicken wings in a bowl and sprinkle with Baking Powder (NOT baking soda) and salt and toss to coat.
3. Place the wings on a wire rack over a baking sheet.
4. Bake in the oven at 250 for 30 minutes.
5. Turn the temperature up to 425 and bake another 40-50 minutes till just golden brown.
6. Place in a clean bowl and toss with some of the Carolina Kill Sauce. Don’t go wild, this stuff is really hot. Serve extra sauce for dipping by the particularly masochistic folks at your party.
7. Garnish with some sliced limes and parsley.