





Just in time for Super Bowl Sunday, the National Chicken Council has come out with its 2014 Wing Report. It estimates that during the course of Sunday’s game, American consumers will devour a total of 1.25 billions wings. Yes, that says BILLIONS- Crazy isn’t it!

With all the wing cooking and wing consuming going on, I have to confess I have never made wings myself. So this year I decided to give it a try. After reading and searching, I decided to follow a basic Crock Pot Method from the Know-It-Alls {I mean that in a good way} at American’s Test Kitchen . The results were simply and sweetly fabulous – tender juicy wings with a crisp, crunchy coating in an amazing sweet and fiery sauce!

Instead of their yummy BBQ recipe I wanted to try something a little different. Here’s another true confession – as much as I love to cook, my boys would eat at Panda Express every day of the week! They are big fans of the Orange Chicken, but my favorite is the Sweet Fire Chicken. I wanted to capture that flavor in my wing sauce, so I played with and came up with a sweet and sticky sauce that packs some heat! I think they are amazing!

I created the fiery sauce with some Jalapeno Jelly, Peppers, and Honey.

Toss the wings in a spicy rub before layering them on that sauce in the in the crock pot.

Go ahead and pile them high. Then let them cook for 4 hours on low or high for 2 hours. {The slow cooker lets you get everything done and out of the way, then just finish when it’s time to serve.}

Once the wings are moist and tender, lather on with more of that yummy sweet-fire sauce and stick them under the broiler to let them get nice and crispy and to caramelize the sauce.

Get ready for an amazing taste sensation and beware, these won’t last long!

Sweet-Fire Wings

Ingredients

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup jalapeno or pepper jelly

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

2 hot chili peppers, seeded and finely chopped (I used one jalapeno and one fresno)

1 clove garlic, minced

3 pounds chicken wings (about 30), cut at the joints and wing tips discarded

Directions

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Whisk in jalapeno jelly, honey, lime juice, peppers, and garlic. Allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes. Place 1/2 cup of the sauce in crock pot; reserve remaining sauce.

Combine paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, salt and pepper together, then rub mixture evenly over chicken; transfer to slow cooker. Cover and cook until chicken is tender, about 4 hours on low (2 hours high).

Position oven rack about 10 inches from broiler element and heat broiler on low. Place wire rack in aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and coat with vegetable oil spray. Transfer chicken to prepared baking sheet; discard liquid.

Brush chicken wings with half of reserved sauce and broil until lightly charred and crisp, 8-12 minutes. Flip chicken over, brush with remaining sauce, and continue to broil until lightly charred and crisp on second side, 5-10 minutes longer.

Serve immediately and make sure you have plenty of napkins!