Chicken Wings: Sweet, Sticky & Perfect for the Barbecue or Oven
Celebrated for their sweet flavour and stickiness when roasted or barbecued, chicken* wings are a universal favourite and for good reason. With a high skin-to-meat ratio, they deliver crispy edges and rich flavour in every bite, making them ideal for crowd-pleasing meals or finger food feasts.

They’re perfectly suited to a classic American-style sweet and spicy glaze, or to Asian-inspired marinades with soy, ginger, garlic, and chilli. However you prepare them, these versatile cuts reward minimal effort with maximum flavour.

Swaledale chicken wings come from slow-grown, native breed birds raised outdoors on small farms in the Yorkshire Dales. Butchered to order and Always Fresh, Never Frozen®, you can buy chicken wings online for delivery direct to your door.

Chef Val Warner Inspires
"The first thing to attack, secretly I might add, is the wings on a chicken roast. Slipping in, I'll cut both away in the hope a hungry table will not notice, scoffing them in the broom cupboard in burnt lipped, hot handed haste. Bought prepped, they are a mainstay in my house.

Here are a few variations on the theme of being fried or grilled. I add that I always take off the tips as they yield little, make eating even messier, so are best plopped in the stock.

Separate them at the elbow and give the divided wings an overnight buttermilk treatment with maybe black pepper, bay, garlic and little else. They are then fit for dredging. Beat an egg into the buttermilk, return the wings and then dredge.

Far crispier than straight wheat flour and I'll normally use a mix of corn starch and potato flour. Dove's Farm Gluten Free Self-Raising is also an excellent choice in that all three will deliver a gluten-free and super crispy result. Dried Douglas fir needle salt can be wonderful.

Of course you can add to the flour such spices as cayenne, smoked paprika, ground fennel, oregano etc. Fry until crisp. Old Bay is my absolute favourite seasoning to scatter over a simple fried wing and can be easily ordered from America.

Alternatively, marinade for the grill in a barbecue sauce of molasses, ketchup and vinegar, you know the sort of thing.

Another absolute favourite is to enjoy the wings jerk-style. This must be punchy and include allspice, garlic, thyme, fresh ginger, cloves and black pepper, brown sugar and malt vinegar. Be careful not to marinade for too long as the malt vinegar will compromise the meat. I tend to marinade with less vinegar, then add more with a brush once grilling and also add extra brown sugar with each turn.

Tandoori your wings in yoghurt spices and grated onion. Grill on a skewer removing the grill plate but using the lid so that the bbq becomes more of a tandoor oven than a sausage incinerator.

Back to fried, and I like to do a simple dredge containing a lot of ground coriander, a little cumin and smoked paprika. Once grilled, dip the wings into a green sauce of mainly fresh coriander with no other herbs but for a fraction of fresh mint, olive oil, a little lime or lemon juice, garlic, green chilli and salt. Blitz to smooth.

Marinated with a little Greek-style yoghurt, olive oil, cumin, garlic, honey, grated raw onion, cinnamon, a little tomato purée and lemon juice, and I rejoiced in finally getting the secret mix from my favourite Lebanese grill. Honey was the real secret.

Oh yes and don't forget the patient painting over a lesser heat Japanese yakitori (grilled chicken) style.

For braises, I love the Filipinos 'Adobo' style using soya sauce, onions, garlic, black pepper, bay, sugar and white wine vinegar. It's truly delicious and brilliantly easy to make. A very reasonably priced dinner when using wings."

⭐⭐ great taste® 2022 Judges' Comments
"Invitingly golden, with crispy skin, these chicken wings are plump and well proportioned. On the palate, they impressed: the meat was full of deep flavour that suggests a happy, well-bred bird, and was moist and toothsome with pleasing length.

We enjoyed the juiciness of the chicken and thought the quality of the rearing shone through. There was a good consistency of size and fat distribution.

These are good-looking, well-prepared wings, attractively meaty for a wing. The flesh is firm, sweet, and gently flavourful. We're not sure our memories serve us well enough to compare with 'how chicken used to taste' but we did enjoy the sweetness, juiciness, and the ample flavour. Pleasing clean finish, too."