Instructions

1. Wash the chicken wings and pat them dry with, or leave them to dry on, paper towels. Separate the drumettes from the wingettes by feeling for the natural separation between the two parts and cutting along this section with a sharp knife. Then snip off the wingtips and throw them away. Also called “the flappers,” the wingtips contain scant meat, so you will be sacrificing very little by eliminating them.

2. Place the chicken wing parts on a baking sheet so that you can brown them, if you wish. Slow-cooking the chicken will make the wing parts tender, but the process won’t create that crispy edge that many people enjoy about wings. Sprinkle the wing parts with salt and broil them for about 10 minutes. Turn them over after five minutes. Alternatively, broil the wings after they’ve cooked and you’ve bathed them in sauce. This technique will produce a stickier wing.

3. Spray the slow cooker with nonfat cooking spray. Set the drumettes and wingettes inside and set your slow cooker to low, then cook them for six hours or set the cooker to high and cook them for three hours.

4. Drain the fat and grease from the slow cooker one hour before the wings should be fully cooked. This step will help ensure that the sauce will adhere to the chicken and not commingle with the fat and grease.

5. Stick with your favorite bottled barbecue sauce to coat your chicken wing parts, and perhaps embellish it with a little orange juice and honey. To downplay the sweetness – or just to provide some kick – add a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.

6. Step up the flavor of your drumettes and wingettes with a chili-flavored sauce. Mix equal amounts of chili and soy sauce in a bowl. Then add some minced garlic and, for added heat, a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.

7. Make a honey of a sauce by combining some honey and half as much ketchup in a bowl. Then halve that amount again with ginger and soy sauce. Top it off with a dash of ground red pepper, if you like.

8. Stir up a teriyaki sauce for your wings and refine this wide-ranging flavor to suit your taste buds. Start with equal amounts of granulated and brown sugar. Spice it up with some garlic powder and ginger. Add twice as much soy sauce as you did sugar, then let your personal taste lead the way with water and a little pineapple juice. Stir the sauce after each new addition and then taste it. With these core ingredients, you should be able to fine tune a unique blend of teriyaki sauce.