Paleo Chicken Wings: Crispy, Flavorful, and Guilt-Free

Chicken wings are a universally loved food, perfect for parties, quiet nights, or any occasion in between. For those following a Paleo diet, enjoying wings might seem challenging due to traditional recipes that include non-Paleo ingredients. However, with a few simple modifications, you can create delicious and healthy Paleo chicken wings that are crispy, flavorful, and entirely compliant with your dietary needs. This article explores a variety of Paleo chicken wing recipes, offering options for baking, grilling, and air frying, along with a range of exciting flavor combinations.

Are Chicken Wings Paleo?

The good news is that chicken wings, in their natural state, are indeed Paleo. Eating Paleo revolves around consuming natural sources of protein, healthy fats, fruits, and vegetables. Chicken wings fit perfectly into these guidelines. What makes chicken wings non-Paleo is the addition of coatings or sauces that contain ingredients like flour, dairy, refined sugars, or certain additives.

The Secret to Crispy Paleo Chicken Wings

Achieving that desirable crispy skin without using traditional frying methods or non-Paleo ingredients like baking powder requires a few key techniques:

• Dry the Wings Thoroughly: Patting the chicken wings dry with paper towels before cooking is crucial. This removes excess moisture, allowing the skin to crisp up more effectively in the oven or air fryer.
• Paleo-Friendly Coating: Using a Paleo-friendly starch, such as arrowroot starch, tapioca starch, or potato starch, can help create a crispy exterior. These starches absorb moisture and create a light, crispy crust when baked or air-fried.
• Baking Powder (Paleo-Friendly): Some recipes call for baking powder to enhance crispiness. If you're strictly adhering to a Paleo or AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) diet, you can make your own Paleo baking powder by combining 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar with 1 tablespoon of baking soda.
• Wire Rack: Baking the wings on a wire rack placed on top of a baking sheet allows for 360-degree airflow, promoting even cooking and crisping on all sides.
• High Heat: Baking at a higher temperature (400-450°F) helps to render the fat in the chicken skin, resulting in a crispier texture.
• Air Frying: Air frying is an excellent method for achieving crispy wings without oil. The circulating hot air cooks the wings evenly and creates a crispy exterior.

Baking Paleo Chicken Wings: Recipes and Techniques

Baking is a popular method for making Paleo chicken wings, as it's healthier than frying and relatively easy. Here are a few recipes and techniques to try:

Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings

These crispy baked buffalo chicken wings are easy to make, healthy, and ridiculously tasty!

Read also: Paleo Granola Recipes

Ingredients:

• Chicken wings
• Ghee (melted)
• Hot sauce
• Mayonnaise (Paleo-friendly)
• Coconut cream
• Lemon juice
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Chives
• Dill

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. Pat wings dry with paper towel to absorb excess water, then place in a large bowl.
3. Once the wings have been baking for 30 mins, whisk together the melted ghee and hot sauce.
4. Continue to bake for 10 mins at 450, remove from oven and drizzle remaining sauce over the top.
5. Whisk together mayo, coconut cream, lemon juice, onion and garlic powder, chives and dill until smooth. Serve alongside wings as a dip, with celery or other veggies.

Lemon-Garlic Grilled Chicken Wings

These flavor-packed wings are Whole30 compliant, paleo, keto, and dairy-free. These delicious, grilled chicken wings have an easy sauce with lots of bright lemon, savory garlic, and fresh herbs and go perfectly with all your favorite potato salads and summer sides!

Ingredients:

• Chicken wings
• Oil
• Lemon juice
• Lemon zest
• Garlic
• Sea salt
• Pepper
• Parsley

Instructions:

1. Place the wings in a large bowl and sprinkle all over with sea salt and pepper.
2. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. Pour about 3/4 of this mixture over the wings and toss to coat. Save the remaining marinade for after grilling.
4. Divide the wings between two 16” sheets of Reynolds Wrap® Heavy Duty Foil to create foil packets.
5. Bring up the long sides of the foil and double-fold. Then, bring up the short ends of the foil and double-fold again to seal the packets.
6. Heat your grill to high heat, place both foil packets on the grill, and grill for a total of 20-25 minutes, turning once midway.
7. Very carefully open the foil packets, watching out for hot steam, and place wings on a serving platter.
8. Stir the parsley into the remaining lemon-garlic mixture and drizzle over the chicken wings to serve.

Honey Garlic Chili Paleo Chicken Wings

These Paleo Chicken Wings are crispy, sticky, sweet and spicy! And because they're baked in the oven, they're so easy to make. You'll want to make extra Honey Garlic Chili Sauce, too!

Ingredients:

• Chicken wings
• Paleo baking powder (cream of tartar, baking soda, arrowroot or tapioca)
• Salt
• Chili sauce
• Honey
• Garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 450°. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (optional step: add a wire rack on top of the foil).
2. In a small mixing bowl, make the Paleo baking powder by mixing together the cream of tartar, baking soda and arrowroot (or tapioca).
3. Pat the chicken wings dry with paper towels - this is very important! The wings need to be as dry as possible to get crisp in the oven.
4. Add the wings to a large mixing bowl and toss with 2 teaspoons of the Paleo baking powder (save the rest for another use) and the salt.
5. Line up the wings on the foil (or wire rack), skin-side up, making sure they're not touching or too close together.
6. Bake the wings for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and flip the wings so they're skin-side down. Bake for another 20 minutes.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and flip them one more time so they're skin-side up again. Bake for 5 minutes (total baking time is 45 minutes).
8. While the wings are baking, make the sauce by whisking together the chili sauce, honey and garlic powder in a small bowl.
9. Once the wings have had their 45 minutes of baking, brush or spoon the sauce onto the skin side of the wings.
10. Bake for another 3-5 minutes - keep an eye on them to make sure the honey doesn't burn. The amount of time will vary by oven. Once the wings look bronzed and crispy, remove the pan from the oven. Let the wings cool until you can handle them, then dig in!

Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings (AIP-Friendly)

This crispy oven baked chicken wings recipe is just that - perfection! And it’s easy. The secret to crispy baked chicken wings without baking powder is using a wire rack on your baking sheet to create 360-degree airflow in your oven!

Ingredients:

• Chicken wings
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Sea salt
• Honey
• Scallions
• Yogurt dip (Paleo-friendly)
• Garlic

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (use the convection setting if you have it for slightly speedier cooking), arrange a rack in the middle of the oven, and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and a wire rack on top.
2. Rub the wire rack (or spray) with ½ the olive oil and add the chicken wings flat-side (or skin-side) down. Season with the rest of the olive oil and sea salt.
3. Bake in the oven for approx. 45-50 minutes, flipping the wings halfway through. As the skin cooks and crisps, it will release drippings which may cause some smoke in the house, so have your windows open and fan turned on (it’s worth it, trust me). Trim off any burned wing ends if you have them.
4. Meanwhile, mix all ingredients including ½ of the chopped scallions for the honey-garlic sauce in a large mixing bowl and toss cooked chicken in the sauce until well coated right out of the oven and let sit.
5. Next, mix up the yogurt dip in a serving bowl.
6. Serve chicken wings with the yogurt dip, and garnish with more chopped scallions. Optionally serve on a crudités board with your favorite chopped raw vegetables.

Smoky Honey-Lime Glazed Paleo Chicken Wings

These irresistible paleo chicken wings with flavorful spice rub and smoky honey-lime glaze will please both the kids and the grownups.

Ingredients:

• Chicken wings
• Smoky paprika
• Cumin
• Lime juice
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Honey
• Coriander
• Spring onions or chives

Instructions:

1. Cover the chicken pieces evenly with spices, lime juice, garlic and olive oil and rub all over. Ideally, you would marinate the chicken in the spice rub overnight or a few hours ahead of time, but if making on the day, then allow to stand for 15-20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F and line a large sheet or a flat tray with some parchment paper. Grease the paper with a little olive oil or coconut oil.
3. Place the chicken pieces on the tray and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
4. In the meantime, mix the glaze ingredients with the leftover marinade in a large bowl and set aside.
5. Remove from the oven and transfer the pre-cooked chicken to the bowl with the glaze mixture. Toss through to coat evenly, and then place the glazed wings back on the tray.
6. Cook in the oven for 7 more minutes until the glaze gets a little sticky and caramelized.
7. Remove from the oven and arrange on a platter. You can sprinkle the chicken with chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) and chopped spring onions or chives.

Air Frying Paleo Chicken Wings

Air frying is a fantastic way to achieve crispy chicken wings quickly and without a lot of oil. Here's how to do it:

Read also: Paleo Diet Delivered: What You Need to Know

Basic Air Frying Instructions

1. Pat Dry: Pat the chicken wings dry with paper towels. Eliminating as much moisture as possible from your raw chicken is crucial for achieving crispy chicken wings.
2. Season: Toss the wings with your desired Paleo-friendly seasonings.
3. Preheat: Preheat your air fryer to 400°F (200°C).
4. Arrange: Spread the wings out so that they don’t overlap. Don’t crowd your chicken. This is key for getting crispy wings every time. Giving the chicken enough room for the air to flow all around them will help them cook evenly and get crispy on all sides. Best to use a large air fryer if possible, but if you have a smaller one, just air fry the chicken wings in batches and allow the cooked wings to hang out in a 250-degree oven while the other batches cook to keep them crispy. This is key for getting crispy wings every time.
5. Cook: Air fry for 18-20 minutes, flipping the wings over at the halfway mark.
6. Sauce: Toss the crispy chicken wings in my honey-garlic sauce.

Whole30 Crispy Chicken Wings (Air Fryer or Stove)

These Whole30 Crispy Chicken Wings just might win you over!

Ingredients:

• Chicken wings
• Potato or Arrowroot Starch or Flour
• Oil (if cooking on the stove)

Instructions:

1. First, blot the chicken wings dry with a paper towel.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the spices, starch/flour, and water to create a slurry.
3. STOVE: Heat 1/4" of oil to medium-high heat in a large skillet. Once hot, dip both sides of each chicken wing in the slurry and add to pan. Don't overcrowd the pan - you will need to cook these in more than one batch. Cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until both sides are golden brown. Remove from pan to a plate or dish lined with a paper towel or parchment paper.
4. AIR FRYER - Generously spray your air fryer basket with cooking spray. Dip both sides of each chicken wing in the slurry and add to basket in a single layer. Don't overcrowd the basket - you will need to cook these in more than one batch. Air fry at 375 for about 6 minutes on each side, or until both sides are golden brown. If wings stick to your basket, next time line basket with parchment paper. BUT, keep in mind parchment paper is flammable, must be trimmed to fit to not be against heating elements, and not intended for over 450 degrees.

Paleo Chicken Wing Sauce Ideas

The sauce is where you can really get creative with your Paleo chicken wings. Here are a few ideas:

• Honey-Garlic: Combine honey, minced garlic, coconut aminos (a soy sauce alternative), and a touch of ginger for a sweet and savory sauce.
• Buffalo: Mix hot sauce with melted ghee or coconut oil for a classic buffalo wing sauce.
• Lemon-Herb: Combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and fresh herbs like parsley, oregano, and thyme for a bright and flavorful sauce.
• Smoky BBQ: Use a Paleo-friendly BBQ sauce (many store-bought versions contain added sugar) or make your own using tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, spices, and a touch of honey or maple syrup.
• Spicy Chili: Combine chili sauce (check ingredients for Paleo compliance), honey, garlic, and a pinch of red pepper flakes for a spicy and sweet sauce.
• General Tso's: Combine coconut aminos, apple cider vinegar, blackstrap molasses, baking powder, arrowroot starch and seasonings.

Serving Suggestions

Paleo chicken wings can be served as an appetizer, a main course, or a snack. Here are a few serving suggestions:

• With Vegetables: Serve with a side of raw vegetables like carrot sticks, celery, broccoli florets, or cucumber slices.
• With Dips: Offer a variety of Paleo-friendly dips, such as guacamole, Paleo ranch dressing, or a lemon-yogurt dip.
• With Salads: Pair with a fresh salad for a complete meal.
• With Cauliflower Rice: Serve with cauliflower rice for a low-carb and Paleo-friendly side dish.
• As Part of a Chicken Wing Board: Arrange the wings on a large platter or cutting board with crudités vegetables and dips for a visually appealing and delicious spread.

Storage and Reheating

• Storage: Store leftover chicken wings in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Freeze leftover, completely cooled wings in an airtight, freezer-safe container or plastic bag for up to one month.
• Reheating: Reheat thawed wings that have come to room temp in the oven at 325 until warmed through and crispy (about 10-15 minutes), or (even better) in your air fryer at 350-400 degrees until hot and crispy (approx.

Read also: Paleo Mayonnaise Recipe

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