This easy recipe is a winner. These wings marinate as they cook and the results are incredibly delicious. They meat literally falls off the bone. There are several ways of doing the final step and each yields a slightly different result.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Fresh Harvest Maple balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 cup soy sauce (reduced sodium)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Ancho or Cayenne or your favorite pepper
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 15-20 chicken wings (cut into drumettes)
- 3-4 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3-4 tablespoon water
(Garnish options: chopped green onion, fresh cilantro or sesame seeds)
Directions:
In a sauce pan add the honey, brown sugar, maple balsamic, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, Ancho or Cayenne and season to taste with black pepper. Add more Ancho or Cayenne if it suits your tastes (if you want them more spicy). Bring the mix to a boil, then lower the temperature and simmer for a few minutes (until the sugars have dissolved and the sauce is beginning to thicken). Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Cut the chicken wings into drumettes. Discard the wing tips.
Spray your crock pot with non-stick cooking spray and place the chicken inside. Pour the sauce over the chicken and move the chicken around a bit with tongs so that it is completely coated with sauce. Put the lid on and cook on high for 3 ½ to 4 hours. Gently stir the chicken drumettes a few times during cooking to ensure maximum coverage of the sauce.
Once finished cooking, remove the chicken drumettes carefully and place on a plate. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and water, then pour into the crock pot with the leftover sauce. Mix together well, place chicken back into the slow cooker, and let cook for about 20-30 minutes or more (until the sauce starts to thicken up). Just before serving, sprinkle with garnish.
If you want to speed up this process, pour the sauce with the cornstarch and water added into a saucepan and cook on the stovetop for 4-5 minutes or longer, until the sauce thickens and pour over chicken drumettes. This works better if your drumettes are falling off the bone. (Add more cornstarch and water mixture as needed to get a thicker sauce. Sauce will thicken more upon cooling a bit.)
Another option, which is good for reheating them as well, is to put the cooked drumettes on a non-stick baking sheet in the oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes – brushing the glaze on the wings before baking.
