You don't need to go to Hooters to get good chicken wings anymore.
(photo by Jenn Harris)

I am a firm believer that chicken wings should be in their own food group. Well, I guess I'm getting a little carried away, but I do feel like they can hold their own on the entree section of a menu.  There are plenty of restaurants that celebrate the chicken wing, like Wingstop in downtown or Hooters, which I must say has some of the best chicken wings I've ever tasted--if you can get past all the breasts in your face.

The one thing about wings is that they are messy. So messy in fact that as much as I love going out for wings, if I'm going to get dirty eating I'd much rather do it in the privacy of my own home.

I don't discriminate when it comes to wing sauces. With the hot kick of vinegar in buffalo sauce, it might be my favorite, but a sweet honey sauce comes in at a close second.  I've tried to make a couple buffalo wing recipes but I never quite get the sauce right. I have, however, become quite a master at a certain sweet wing sauce concoction.

My wing sauce is a mixture of tangy balsamic vinegar, salty soy sauce and honey. Once you make this sweet and sticky sauce, you'll want to put it on everything! I top the wings with some toasted almonds for a  nice crunch.

You can eat these wings with friends or by yourself. Just make sure you have A LOT of napkins.

Ingredients:

15 Chicken wings or 10-12 Drumsticks (or as many as you can fit into a Ziploc bag with the marinade)

½ cup balsamic vinegar

¼ cup soy sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp orange juice

1½ tbsp light brown sugar

1 tsp black pepper

4 cloves grated or crushed garlic

½ cup sliced almonds

In a large Ziploc bag, mix together the vinegar, soy sauce, honey, orange juice, brown sugar, pepper and garlic.  Place the chicken in the bag and rub marinade into the chicken.  Place the chicken in the refrigerator for a minimum of two hours to marinate.  Preheat oven to 375F.  Toast almonds lightly, about 7 minutes.  Replace almonds with chicken.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until chicken juice runs clear.  While the chicken is baking, take the leftover marinade out of the Ziploc bag and boil on the stove for 5 minutes, then let simmer and thicken for 10 minutes.  After the chicken has finished cooking, take a pastry brush and baste the chicken with the marinade.  Take almonds and crumble on top of the finished chicken.