Buffalo Ranch Wings
In 2021, I had ranch wings as part of my round up of the best wing recipes I made that year. I stand by that being a good recipe, but I was really left wanting more out of those wings, in particular, something spicy. So I decided this year to make what I think is a better incarnation of ranch wings, and I did that by merely pairing it up with Buffalo sauce since we all know that these two classic seasonings already go well together, and I was left fully smitten by these Buffalo ranch wings.
The one fault in that original ranch wings recipe was they darkened too much during cooking. They didn't taste burnt at all, but they definitely looked like they were. I attributed that happening due to the buttermilk powder in the ranch seasoning mixture, which I had applied to the wings prior to cooking. So to fix that this time around, I made a separate wing seasoning that kept most of the herbs and spices, but ditched the powdered buttermilk.
This seasoning mixture did include baking powder though, which is what creates a textured skin on grilled or baked wings, and that renders them better holders of sauce, plus added crispiness. After patting the wings dry with paper paper towels, I tossed them with the seasoning mixture until all the chicken appeared evenly coated.
I then took the next step to crispy grilled wings, which was to arrange them on a wire rack set in a baking sheet and placing the whole thing in the fridge overnight. This air drying step is the most crucial part of getting a good crunch to the skin, one that holds up even after being drenched in sauce the way fried wings do.
While the wings rested in the fridge, I did mix up a standard ranch seasoning that included the required buttermilk powder, which is what provides that hallmark tang to the sauce. I was really happy with the how the ranch seasoning tasted last year, so this part of the recipe remained exactly the same.
What was most different was that I dropped a few tablespoons of the ranch mixture into a standard combo of Frank's hot sauce and butter that I had heated up. This gave that rich and spicy sauce an extra tang and strong herbal stamp that certainly drove it in a direction slightly away from the ubiquitous Buffalo sauce. While I was going on that path, I figured I would enhance some flavor components and add more depth by adding a few more ingredients like dark brown sugar, cayenne pepper, and apple cider vinegar.
I still had half of the ranch seasoning remaining, so I mixed that up with a cup of sour cream to make a classic ranch dip. The dip was my favorite part of those ranch wings last year and was crucial in delivering the more familiar and comforting ranch flavor, so it seemed like a smart move to keep it in the mix here too.
After firing up a full chimney of charcoal, I dumped those scorching hot coals out and arranged them on one side of the charcoal grate to create a two-zone fire. I then placed the wings, which had the desired dry appearance at this point, on the cool side of the grill and covered.
Forty-five minutes later I had beautifully browned wings with none of the blackened appearance I experienced with those ranch wings last year. At too hot fire could have still played a part in the darkening there, but I think this more or less proved my hunch that it was the buttermilk powder that was the primary culprit.
Finally, I transferred the wings to a large bowl, poured in the Buffalo-ranch sauce, and tossed to coat. Then onto a serving platter they went and I added on some celery sticks and the bowl of ranch dip.
There's no doubt in my mind that this is the superior incarnation of ranch wings. To be fair though, these aren't singularly ranch, and once the sauce was adorning the wings its herbal essence was diminished a bit and that tangy heat of Frank's delivered an upfront Buffalo-style flavor. The spice mixture was still there though and came through just enough to let some of the garlicky, oniony, and herbal components in. Of course, those came out more following a dunk in the dip, which I still highly recommend if you want to boost that ranch profile. All-in-all though, I would say these were Buffalo wings with depth to them that made them taste different, in a good way. Because of that, this may be an implementation I turn to when wanting to serve some standard Buffalo wings because I know it's going to deliver on that ubiquitous taste, but will also turn heads to ask why these taste different in the best way possible.
