Sweet and Spicy Party Wings

Growing up I lived for my Mama's chicken. Fried chicken, smothered chicken, baked chicken, roasted chicken, if it had chicken in it, I knew it was fixin' to be fierce. Hell, my Mom's chicken was so good, chickens would stop by the house and asked to be cooked up by her.

Now, pale as my Mother is...she cooks soul food better than most black folks that grew up in the South. Her fried chicken was out of control, and her fried chicken wings made you see visions of the Virgin Mary. She also made a baked chicken that she covered in soy sauce and honey, and it would come out sweet, moist, and hot...how many of my lesbian friends like their women.

Seeing as I have tried to stay away from Crisco and its accompanying health problems as an adult, but recognizing that I love me some chicken wings, I decided one day to use my Mom's honey/soy sauce glaze on some wings.

The result was soo good that I had a roommate that would just come home from work with a package of wings and a hopeful smile.

Over the years I have added a bit of this and that to the recipe. For my birthday party this last weekend, I marinated and baked 8lbs of chicken wings for the party. At only $1.99 a pound, I got away with enough chicken for thirty people for less than $20, and there wasn't nary a piece of chicken left up in the house when it was over.

Here's the secret recipe.

Sweet and Spicy Party Wings


1 to 2lbs fresh or frozen chicken wings/drummies
1 Cup Honey
2 Cups Soy Sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
5 or 6 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper

For cheapness sake...buy a couple bags of the frozen wings at Cub or Rainbow and make sure they are thawed out.

Spread them out in a large cake baking dish. Something that has some depth to it.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium size microwave safe mixing bowl, pour about a cup to two cups of honey...depending on how many wings you want to make.

Nuke that for about 20-30 seconds so the honey melts.

On standby have about two to three cups of soy sauce. Mixed in with the soy sauce you should have some minced garlic...if you mince it yourself mince five or six cloves. If you buy the preminced stuff...buy the stuff in water and not olive oil and use about three heaping table spoons.

Once the honey comes out of the microwave add the soy sauce and garlic to the bowl.

Then evenly pour the honey/soy sauce mixture over the wings in the cooking pan/pans.

Sprinkle the crushed red pepper, pepper, garlic salt, and seasoning salt over the wings.

Then add about a half cup water to the bottom of each pan. This will keep the soy sauce from scorching.

Make sure the wings are thoroughly covered with the sauce....and pop in the oven for about 40 minutes. Check them from time to time to make sure that the soy sauce isn't burning on the bottom of the pan, and add more water to the bottom of the pan if it looks as if it is going to dry up.

Turn the wings about 10 minutes into the deal and then turn them again after 10 minutes.

Pull 'em out and serve 'em up.

This recipe will easily feed six to eight people if eaten as an appetizer. Serve them with brown rice and vegetables for a meal and you can feed four to six people. Either way, the entire cost of this meal should run you about $6-$8.

PS For every pound of wings you add...add another 1/2 up of soy sauce and 1/2 cup of honey. The rest of the ingredients are really to taste.