Crispy Baked Thai Chicken Wings

I was pretty excited to get my recipe for this round of A Taste of Home Cooking's recipe swap.  Sunday afternoon means football in our house during the fall and into winter, and I love to have "football foods" for lunch while we catch the one o'clock game.  For this season's inaugural Sunday afternoon, I had already been planning on classic buffalo wings, so Jill's recipe for baked wings with Thai curry-lime sauce fit right into my plan.

I LOVED these wings.  The spicy-sour-sweet combo is one of my favorites, and the sauce here hits all those notes for me.  It's probably even going to make another appearance in my kitchen this week, as part of a shrimp stir fry.  I added a little more honey because I like my wings to be a little on the sticky side, and skipped the cilantro in favor of some toasted sesame seeds and scallions because as much as I want to like it, cilantro just never tastes good to me.  I also popped the wings back in the oven for a few minutes after their initial dip in the sauce for some caramelization, and thickened the sauce up while they were there for another thick coat of the good stuff when they came out.

Crispy Baked Thai Chicken Wings

What's in them:

4 pounds chicken wings
extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ c (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 generous Tbsp of Thai red curry paste
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp soy sauce
zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tsp cornstarch
thinly sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

How to make them:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken wings from the package and pat them really dry.  Place them in a large bowl, drizzle generously with olive oil, season well with salt and pepper and toss to coat.

Spread the wings onto a baking sheet and roast them in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the skin gets crisp and brown, and the meat is tender. Flip the wings about half-way through cooking to ensure that both sides get golden brown.

While the chicken wings are cooking, place the butter, red curry paste, honey, zest of the lime and soy sauce into a medium saucepan. Warm the mixture over low heat, whisking frequently to incorporate all of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm until the wings are cooked.

When the chicken wings are ready, toss them, in batches if necessary, in the curry lime sauce, returning them to the baking sheet when coated.  Place the wings back in the oven, baking for another 5-7 minutes until the sauce begins to lightly caramelize.

Meanwhile, stir the lime juice into the remaining curry lime sauce, whisk in the cornstarch, and bring to a gentle boil, letting it cook and bubble until the sauce has thickened.  Plate wings, drizzle with thickened sauce, and garnish with scallion and sesame seeds if desired.