Raid Grub: Boneless Wings

It’s been a crazy week for me so far. My sister in law was rushed back to the emergency room on Monday, and my allergies are going haywire and irritating my asthma to no end. So I am barely here, however I wanted to get a post up regardless. Today is the first of what I hope will be a series of occasional posts related to tasty, easy to prepare and most importantly fast food ideal for raid nights.

Every raider has been in the situation of getting home late from work, with only a few minutes left until raid time. Without the time to prepare a full meal you are left with a few options. Do you nuke a hot pocket or similar convenience food, or do you grab some chips or something to tide you over until after the raid. My hope in these posts is to present you with additional fast options.

Boneless Wings

For years I have been a fan of the various wing restaurants, be it Buffalo Wild Wings, Wing Stop or Wings to Go. They are great for lunch specials, but when you are craving boneless wings during primetime it quickly becomes cost prohibitive to go there often. I am not sure exactly when it hit me, maybe it was watching the guy at the wing place I used to frequent every Tuesday prepare our order, but it dawned on me that I could recreate this experience at home. Through trial and error I come to a technique that produces very similar results, or at least close enough on a limited budget.

Ingredients

8-10 Microwave Chicken Chunks (Store Brand, Tyson, etc)
Bottled Marinade or Wing Sauce (Lawry’s, various Wing Sauces, BBQ sauce etc)
1 Quart Sized Freezer Bag (Store Brand, anything with a zipper seal)

Make the Chicken

Okay the first step in the process is to acquire a bag of microwave chicken chunks. There are various brands on the market that will do nicely. I personally prefer Wal-mart’s Great Value brand, just for price and ease… but I know in my local area Tyson is very common and works equally well. If you want a slightly different effect popcorn chicken works equally well, as do chicken strips.

Now cooking your chicken chunks a bit of an inexact science. Basically what you are wanting to do is cook your chicken enough to make sure your breading is firm enough not to flake off, but not all the way as to not allow your chicken to dry out in later phases. Closest estimate is for the 8-10 chunks mentioned in the list, you need to microwave them on high for 2 1/2 minutes. This starts to crisp up the breading but leave the chicken still very juicy inside.

Marinate The Chicken

Now comes the time where you grab the marinade you have chosen. I have found that any of the pre-bottled steak marinades work extremely well, as do the various bottled wing sauce mixtures. I personally am fond of Lawry’s Ginger Sesame marinade as it gives a great Sesame Chicken flavor. For buffalo flavor, I am fond of Budweiser Hot Wing Sauce, but it will vary to what is available in your area.

Take the quart freezer bag mentioned in the ingredient list and place the hot chicken in it. Into the bag you will pour enough marinade to adequately coat the chicken, but it is best to be sparing unless you like extremely saucy boneless wings. In general pouring a thick coat to the top of all exposed wings will be plenty to coat all the pieces. As soon as the sauce is applied seal the bag up tight as to not let too much of the heat escape. You also want to make sure you have a good amount of air in the bag, so that the chicken can move freely.

Shake the Chicken

Now comes the fun part. Shake the hell out of the bag you just stuffed the chicken in. You want to make sure all of the boneless pieces get completely coated with your sauce. If any of the marinade pools up in the corner of the bag, you might have to squeeze it out with your fingers and continue shaking to ensure a thorough glaze. Once everything is coated lay the bag flat on the counter top. This helps to let the chicken soak up any excess glaze.

Caramelize the Chicken

This is the key step that makes your boneless wings start to taste like the real deal. After your chicken has sat in the bag for a few moments, and we are literally talking 30 seconds at the most is needed, empty the contents of the storage bag onto your final plate. Make sure to spread the chicken out, as it will now be clumped together from the shaking. We will be microwaving the chicken again, and making sure it is in a evenly spaced will assure it receives even cooking.

Place the plate in the microwave and let it cook on high for a minute and a half to two minutes depending on how much sauce was used. This extra cooking helps to “bake in” the sauce and will start to caramelize it a bit. This is the step that gives your boneless wings the finished quality as though they came from one of the professional wing restaurants. If you used one of the steak marinades or a thick wing sauce, it will give it a slight crispness to the texture of the sauce.