There are many ways to make chicken wings, but the way I've learned to get bourbon chicken wings to stay moist and have a carmelized outer coating is to use a slow cooker. When you use a crock pot, the smell of the wings will travel throughout the house for hours.
Ingredients for Bourbon Chicken Wings
- 2 Pounds of Chicken Wings (wings labeled 1st and 2nd part 'party' wings are best)
- 1 Cup of Bourbon. I like to use Jack Daniel's, but any bourbon will do.
- 1 and 1/2 Cups of Brown Sugar
- 1 and 1/2 Cups of Soy Sauce
- 1 Small Minced Onion
- 1/2 Teaspoon of Ginger
- 1 Teaspoon of Powdered Garlic
How to Start Your Party Wings
Rinse off both pounds of chicken wings and place them in a large bowl. Pour in the bourbon and soy sauce. Next put in the brown sugar and mix everything up. Allow the brown sugar to melt in the bourbon and soy sauce mixture.
Mince or finely chop an onion and add it to the bowl. Put in the ginger and garlic and the mixture is ready for the slow cooker.
Fill Up the Slow Cooker with Wings
Pour the entire bowl of wings and liquid into the slow cooker, put it on high and let it sit for about an hour.
After one hour, stir the wings. Make sure that wings don't float to the top and dry out. It is best to keep the wings covered in sauce throughout the cooking process.
If the liquid begins to boil, turn the slow cooker down. Generally there are only two settings on a slow cooker so go from high to low. At this point, the chicken is cooked, but now the sauce has to thicken and carmelize on the wings.
If you find that you have too much liquid and the wings have cooked for several (3 or more) hours, put the cooker back on high and take off the lid.
Once the wings are brown and have a sticky coating, they are ready to eat. You can leave the wings in the slow cooker to sit in the sauce, keeping it on low and allowing people to eat whenever they feel like it.
Tips for Cooking with Bourbon
Bourbon has a very strong smell, especially when cooking at a low temperature for a long period of time. Start the wings early if you have people coming over and by the time they arrive, the bourbon smell will have decreased.
When bourbon gets too hot (like if you were going to heat the sauce mixture on the stove instead of using a slow cooker) it will catch on fire. This is important to remember because if you are holding a handful of wings and getting ready to put them in the sauce and it catches on fire, you will drop the wings all over the floor. I am unfortunately speaking from experience and it is why I suggest using the slow cooker.
Melissa Nykorchuk - Melissa Nykorchuk has been a professional writer and investigator for the past 8 years. Melissa earned a Bachelor's Degree in English ...
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