You can’t beat buffalo chicken wings as finger food and these are pimped up with dates and a scotch bonnet chili in the glaze.

Date and Chili Buffalo Chicken Wings, Grab Your Chapstick!

All things considered, buffalo chicken wings are my favourite finger food… For me, they must be sticky sweet and spicy hot because that’s the way I roll!

These date and chili buffalo chicken wings unsurprisingly tick both of those boxes.

The chili world seems to have gone crazy of late with ever hotter bastard varieties being developed, but for me, the big boy chili is the scotch bonnet.

Now the scotch bonnet is very similar to the habanero in terms of punch however the sweet flavour reserves its place in my favourite list. It is also the key chili in my jerk chicken recipe.

However these wings do come with a word of warning, do not wipe your eyes after preparing them, you will cry… Well, I cried!

A Sweet Hot Date!

The second ingredient of note in these buffalo wings is dates.

I find it surprising that they do not appear in more glaze recipes.

They are gloriously sweet and sticky and as a result, when stewed down with a little vinegar and sugar they form a perfect sweet and sour glaze.

In fact, dates have long been used as a sweetener, particularly when the cost of sugar was so high!

I adore cooking wings, these date and chili bad boys join 4 other wing recipes here on Krumpli.

We also span the cooking methods too with baked grilled and fried all being covered.

Other wing recipes on Krumpli:

• Hot wings.
• Lemon Pepper Grilled Chicken Wings.
• BBQ Sriracha Glazed Chicken Wings.
• Crispy Spiced Fried Chicken Wings.

How to Bake Buffalo Chicken Wings.

Whilst I am not averse to frying things, as a general rule I do not do it often. 

Unlike cooking and eating wings which I do all of the time.  Because of this most of the time I make baked wings, or grilled of course.

These are baked and I like to add corn flour or cornstarch to the dry spicing mix.

This helps add a nice crispness to the wings for the same reason it adds a crunch to the batter on my fish and chip recipe.

Other than that it is a simple case of cooking in a very hot oven.

It is best to ensure that air can circulate below as well as above by cooking on a grid.

Why Are Buffalo Chicken Wings Called That?

Surely I am not the only person who has asked this question.

Cuz let’s face it, buffalo wings are massive, or buffalo wings don’t exist… Either way, the name is daft!

Well, it is daft until a bit of research, they are actually named after the home city of the bar that made them popular.

Back in the 1960’s wings were cheap as chips (and still are to a degree) and really used for soups and stocks.

Rumour has it the owners of a bar called the ‘Anchor Bar’ in Buffalo added them to the menu and the legend was born!

As with all of these things, there are claims and counterclaims. However, whichever bar/restaurant did it first it was in Buffalo.

Date and Chili Buffalo Chicken Wings

Yield: 4 Servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

You can't beat buffalo chicken wings as finger food and these are pimped up with dates and a scotch bonnet chili in the glaze. Definitely not for the feint of heart!

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Ingredients

• 1 kg Chicken Wings, Separated into winglets and drumettes
• 1 Tsp Cumin
• 2 Tsp Sumac
• 2 Tbsp Cornflour, Corn starch on the US
• 1 Tsp Coarse Sea Salt
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 50 g Dates
• 1 Scotch Bonnet Chili
• 150 g Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
• 75 ml Water
• 150 ml Red Wine Vinegar

Instructions

1. Coat the wings in the oil.
2. Mix together the cumin, sumac, cornflour and salt and then toss over the wings to coat.
3. Arrange on a baking tray and cook for 40 minutes at 220°C or 450°F.
4. Whilst the chicken is cooking blend the dates, chili and red wine vinegar in a blender to form a paste.
5. Put this paste in a pan and then add the brown sugar, water and sesame seeds and bring to a boil then reduce by half.
6. After the chicken has been cooking for 40 minutes, remove and coat in the sauce and then return to the oven for 10 minutes.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 1083 Total Fat: 60g Saturated Fat: 17g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 38g Cholesterol: 389mg Sodium: 1428mg Carbohydrates: 61g Fiber: 3g Sugar: 46g Protein: 72g