A different spin on hot wings…

Yes, a paleo friendly sweet & spicy wing sauce exists. If you follow a Paleo or Primal template, you’ve already discovered  most BBQ and wing sauces are awful. Try finding one that doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient and  one without sugar. That’s why you’re here. Today we’re going to make a sauce much better than you can find in stores.  This sauce contains the sweetness of pineapple and mango, slowly followed by the heat of jalapeno and habanero. The wings are pre broiled in an oven, and then added to the crock pot with the sauce to finish cooking. The crock pot helps infuse the sauce with the wings to create a fall off the bone texture.

We are mighty proud of the sauce we created, and will definitely include it in some future recipes.  I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Please leave any comments or suggestions below!

What you need:

Tools: Baking sheet, aluminum foil, food processor or blender, medium pan.

• 3 to 5 pounds of pastured chicken wings. We used almost 5 pounds. Use quality meats when you can afford to folks. I understand.
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 medium mango. 1 cup will be used for the sauce, the remainder for the dipping salsa / sauce.
• 2 cups of crushed pineapple (don’t be afraid to use some of the juice as well). 1 cup for the sauce, 1 cup for the salsa. I used two 8 ounce cans.
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped.  Seeds and all. (optional, use less if you don’t wan’t heat, or skip the seeds if you’re a baby)
• 1 habanero pepper, chopped.  Seeds and all. (optional, only for those that want to bring the heat, like we brought it)
• 4 medium cloves of garlic, chopped
• 6 ounce can of tomato paste
• 1 cup of beef stock
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of paprika
• 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup coconut milk (for fruit puree dip)

How to make the awesome paleo sauce:

1. Add your tablespoon of coconut oil to your pan and set the heat to medium low. Add your jalapenos, habaneros, and garlic to the oil and get them to sweat a bit (about 5 minutes). The goal is to let the capsaicin (hot stuff) in the peppers combine with the coconut oil and create the spicy primer for the rest of your sauce to absorb.
2. Add the mango and pineapple to the pan and mix well and let cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Let all the elements of the pot soften slightly.
3. Add your beef stock, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, and seasonings. Stir well.
4. Reduce your heat to low and cover. Let cook for about an hour, and stir a few times. There should be no visible liquid separate from the sauce elements. If there is, open the lid and allow the sauce to cook down a bit.
5. Let your sauce cool slightly and then add to your food processor or blender. It would be ideal to let the sauce chill overnight to let the flavors blend, yet same day cooking will work too.The goal is to puree the peppers and fruit into an even sauce like consistency (see awesome picture above). This should not take much pulsing of your processor or blender, as the cooked fruit and peppers are soft already. Do not over process the sauce, as the fruit and peppers are your sauce’s binders that give it thickness and substance. Regular sauces just use syrup or molasses for this, we’re cooler and smarter than that.

How to wing it all together:

1. Set your oven to broil, or 400° if your oven lacks such a setting.
2. If necessary or desired, separate your wings into pieces (wing, drums, tips)
3. Line a baking sheet or pan with aluminum foil, add your wings, pop in the oven.
4. Broil for 5 to 10 minutes on each side. Leave your oven door cracked open for ventilation. Don’t go too far, pay attention silly.
5. The goal is to get the wings to slightly brown on each side. Once you see a light brown color, flip them and repeat.
6. Line your crock pot with a few wings and then use a spoon to cover them with your sweet heat sauce. Your goal is to coat the wings as evenly as possible with your sauce puree. Make sure you leave enough sauce left to cover the wings on top. Use a spoon, use a spatula, or toss them in a large bowl if you don’t care about cleaning up more stuff in the sink.
7. Cook on low heat for 4 to 6 hours depending on the strength of your slow cooker. We let them cook the full 6 because they get super tender.

These are HOT, what do I dip them in?

I hope you weren’t thinking about bleu cheese or ranch dressing, because that would be weird, not to mention hard to paleo-fy. If you want something to cool the wings down a bit, simply make a fruit dip out of your left over pineapple and mango. I combined a cup of mango and crushed pineapple (drained) in my food processor. Lightly pulse and add 1/4 cup of coconut milk. The result is fruity puree that tastes something like a pina colada, yet will provide some cooling for those that require it. I straight up sucked the meat off the bones and licked up all the sauce as well. But the fruity puree did taste good after my lips were tingling for a while. Viva capsaicin.

But I thought a sweet sauce would use honey?

We decided to skip the added sugar. The sauce has plenty of sweet from the pineapple and mango, and the heat is just an awesome compliment to it. If you really want to play with some honey in your slow cooker, go ahead and drizzle about a quarter of a cup worth on top of your wings before you add the sweet heat sauce.

 Pretty picture. You get the point. Now get your fingers all covered with sauce and lick them clean.

Pin It