When my daughter graduated from 8th grade the students ‘were required’ to make a parent gift that they presented to us at the ceremony. One part of the project was to include a ‘FAMILY RECIPE’. My kid said since we don’t have any I just downloaded one from the internet. WHAT! We have a ton of family recipes, had she only asked for help I would have given her one and one for every student graduating.
But this started my wheels turning. How DO I create a historical resource of recipes, traditions, etc that I can pass down to my kids? My husband’s mother passed away when the kids were 1 and 3 and while he has a few aunt’s and uncles I’m not sure what they’d be able to provide in way of his immediate family and what they enjoyed on a Saturday morning. My mom has given me some ideas on food etc and she even went as far as to start teaching my kids how to cook.
After much thought I said to myself why does it just has to be our immediate ‘family’, so I reached out to others that are connected to us, long time friends, in-laws etc. And asked for their favorite recipes and traditions. My brother in law, Lee gave me a recipe that I’m now calling Uncle Lees famous fried chicken wing recipe. The secret to this AH-mazing recipe is to par cook the wings BEFORE frying. This will ensure your wings are moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. And boy were they ever. The family pack of chicken I purchased contained about 15 wings and there were no left-overs…NONE whatsoever. Now in all transparency I’ve never written a recipe post before and while this is a work in progress I want to as that you have some patience around the lack of photos etc. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.
How to cook Your wings
Step One: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. While waiting for over to come to temp line your baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray.
Step Two: Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and stir with a fork to incorporate flavors. Rub olive oil on wings then rub on seasoning.
Step Three: Place chicken wings on prepared rack. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
Step four: Carefully remove from the oven and serve wings hot.
Recipe tips
- To get crispy wings, make sure to pat them dry with paper towels before adding oil and seasonings.
- Save time by buying party style wings which is a mixture of drummettes and wingettes.
- Lining the baking sheet with foil or parchment paper helps you have less mess and easy cleanup.
- I don’t advise the use of butter when you par bake them since butter burns.
I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. Feel free to tag us in your post @dinnerwiththewife on Insta
Uncle Lee’s Famous Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Chicken Wings I use the family pack
- .5 cups White vinager
- 2 cups Water
- 1/4 cup Adobo
- 3 TBSP Black Pepper
- .5 cup flour
- 1 cup corn starch
- 2 cup oil for frying
Instructions
- 1. Rinse chicken under cold water place in a large bowl with the vinegar and cold water and let sit for about 2 hours
- After 2 hours dump water/vinegar mixture pat wings dry with paper towels
- Add seasoning and be sure that all wings are completely coated
- Par cook the wings in a 350°℉ oven for 30 min, depending on wing size this may cook them entirely and that is ok!
- While wings are baking mix flour and corn starch in a large ziplock bag and set aside.
- At last 10 minutes of bake time heat frying oil in pan over med heat. Watch that it's not smoking or your chicken will cook too quickly on the outside
- Toss wings in flour/corn starch making sure to shake off any excess and slowly place wings in hot oil being sure to not over crowd the pan
- Fry for 10-15 or until they are golden brown then flip and repeat. Remove from oil and place on paper towel
- Continue until all wings are cooked. Sprinkle with garlic powder and serve