There is so much more to this recipe than simply adding lemon and garlic to chicken wings. This lemon garlic chicken wings recipe is loaded with fresh herbs, packed with a fiery punch of hot sauce and mellowed out with flowery honey. It's awesome and only takes a minute to make!
This Lemon Garlic Wings recipe is: Gluten Free, Paleo, Low Carb, Primal and overflowing with flavor.
LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN WINGS ARE FLAVOR BOMBS!
Around our house, wings are a favorite for lunch or dinner. My kids just LOVE them, so I make a lot of wings. I'm always playing with different preparations and recipes for new wing sauces. This lemon garlic sauce was a happy accident.
I was trying to make more of a traditional lemon garlic wing sauce with just lemon, garlic and a few herbs. I left the kitchen for a minute and when I came back my son had dumped a bunch of hot sauce into the mix. Ok.
My concern was the amount of acid when combining hot sauce and lemon juice. Yikes- it really curls your teeth. Add in a touch of honey and BLAMMO! A delicious lemon garlic wing sauce with just the right amount of heat. I hope you love it too.
GRILLED LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN WINGS
When cooking chicken wings, it is best to cook them without the sauce. If you go into any restaurant, they are going to (most likely) deep fry the wings first and add sauce after. Some restaurants blanch, steam, bake or even microwave (nasty) the raw wings before they fry them to save time cooking. One thing applies: they are never coated with the sauce while cooking.
You can learn how to grill chicken wings with my helpful step-by-step instructions. Here's a snapshot on how to grill wings:
- Add the wings to a hot grill and lower the heat to medium.
- Cook one side for 4-5 minutes. Flip and repeat.
- Often times the flats will finish cooking prior to the drums. The flats also like to cause more flare-ups! Keep your eye on them.
- The wings are cooked when they have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
After they are done cooking, simply add them to a bowl with some of the lemon garlic sauce. Lightly coat with tongs and serve hot. They taste really good when loaded up with the herbs.
LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN WINGS IN THE OVEN
There are a number of different methods to cooking chicken wings in the oven.
One way is slow and low, allowing the fat in the wings to render and the skin to crisp up. This is a great method, but takes forever.
Another method is to blast them with heat in the beginning to crisp the skin, reduce the heat to prevent burning and finish them off under the broiler. This method takes about 20 minutes and is my favorite.
Once you have cooked the wings to 165 degrees, remove them from the oven. Give them a bath in the lemon garlic sauce and serve hot.
HOW TO PREPARE CHICKEN WINGS
LOVE CHICKEN WINGS?
Get more of my wing recipes here:
Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
Thai Sweet Chili Wings
Smoked Wings
Devilishly Spicy Hot Wings
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN WINGS RECIPE:
There are a couple things I want to talk about with this recipe related to the HEAT.
First, when you combine lemon and hot sauce, for some reason they seem to be HOTTER than normal. We eat Cholula hot sauce daily in our house and normally it doesn't taste all that spicy. When it is added to the lemon, my lips were burning and mouth felt like an oven. It was unexpected and awesome.
The takeaway: be cautious when adding the hot sauce. Make sure that you taste it first, then add more if you are comfortable with the level of heat.
Second, you can use whatever hot sauce you like. We love Cholula, but it would be tasty with Tabasco or even Franks Red Hot. Just use a good, quality hot sauce.
Zesty Lemon Garlic Chicken Wings
With heat and style, these lemon garlic chicken wings will make you smile! Loaded with fresh herbs, lemon, garlic and love. Serve this sauce on grilled or oven baked wings.
Ingredients
For the wings
- 32 Wings, Total count
- 1 tablespoon Salt
- ½ tablespoon Pepper
For the Lemon Garlic Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Honey
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Clove Garlic, Minced
- 2 tablespoon Hot Sauce
- 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoon Parsley, Flat leaf, chopped
- ½ tablespoon Rosemary, Chopped
Instructions
For the wings
- Preheat your grill.
- Salt and pepper the wings.
- Add to the grill. Cook for 5 minutes. Flip and repeat 3X (total cook time should be between 12 and 20 minutes depending on your grill). Cook until the internal temperature of the wing is 165 degrees.
For the Lemon Garlic Sauce
- Add all the ingredients to a bowl. Mix well.
Making the Lemon Garlic Chicken Wings
- Add the cooked wings to a fresh bowl.
- Pour over 3-4 tablespoon of the Lemon Garlic sauce. Mix well with tongs.
- Add more sauce if you would like. Serve remaining sauce as a dipping sauce in a separate bowl.
Notes
For sweeter wings, add in more honey.
For a thicker sauce, add in some corn starch or arrowroot. When the sauce hits the cooked wings, it will activate the starch and thicken quickly.
Want less garlic punch? Try using roasted garlic instead. The flavor will be completely mellow.
Nutrition Information
Yield
32Serving Size
gAmount Per Serving Calories 99
I've been waiting for a wing recipe just like this. So many recipes have heavy sauces and this looks light and delicious. I purchased all the ingredients today and can't wait to try it.
Hi Brenda:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. How did the wings come out?
Have an excellent day in the kitchen!
Scott
What?? No truffle brains? But seriously, I think I'm making these tomorrow night with the kids. Nice one, Scott =)
HA! I'm saving the truffle "brains" for when I get home. You're going to lose your mind with how good they taste. In the meantime, grill up some of these fantastic wings... in about 10 days check back for my Chipotle Aioli coated wings. They're outrageously good.
I'm a huge fan of wings. I will eat them any way I can get them. These lemon garlic wings look so good that I feel like running to the store and getting the ingredients! In fact, I think I may. 🙂
Hi Elaine:
Sounds great! I hope you had a chance to make them- I love this recipe!
Take care-
Scott
This looks AMAZING:) We really like chicken wings and I am always looking for an alternative to buffalo wings. This is great, thanks for sharing!
Hi Tina:
Thanks so much- I really appreciate it. Let me know if you get a chance to try the recipe!
Take care and have a great day in the kitchen-
Scott
I love chicken wings in any form - These look delicious!
Hi Christine:
Thanks so much- did you get a chance to try them?
Hope you're having a great day-
Scott