Old Bay wings with homemade blue cheese sauce

I’ve been in a bit of a cooking rut and was relieved THRILLED when Andy suggested I try making Old Bay wings. Old Bay wings make my heart go pitter-patter. It’s almost embarrassing how much I think and talk about them.

It took ages for me to find a recipe for baked wings that sounded right. I used a method I found on Recipe Tin Eats, adapted the seasoning, and was blown away by the result. Andy’s head was in a constant state of nodding “YES” the entire time he ate. :)

We had such an incredible blue cheese sauce during our Valentine’s dinner at Dan’s Restaurant & Tap House in Boonsboro that I had to ask the waitress what ingredients went into making it. I’m happy to say my attempts to re-create it were successful! (So successful I was eating it like soup.)

note: I had to cut the following wing recipe in half because my oven isn’t quite big enough for two large pans to fit side by side. I think I could make it work if I used one large and one medium pan. There were 26 wings in the package I picked up, and I cooked 14 last night. I’m going to make the rest today. We munched on salad and raw carrots dipped in blue cheese waiting for the wings to cook, so we were plenty full by the time the chicken bones were picked clean.

I was too busy grubbing to take a picture. This is from Andy’s cell phone!

Baked Old Bay wings
serves 4

• 4 lbs chicken wings, separated into sections (thaw them if using frozen wings)
• 2 heaping Tbsp baking powder
• 3-4 Tbsp Old Bay

1. Arrange your oven racks to use the second to lowest and second to highest racks. (Positions 2 and 4.) Set oven to 250.
2. Pat down wings with a paper towel until they’re dry, then place them in a large ziplock bag with the baking powder. Shake until coated, then add Old Bay and shake to coat until both sides of every wing is mostly coated in spice.
3. Line a baking pan with foil and arrange the wings on the top.* It’s okay if they’re snug!
4. Bake the wings on your second to lowest rack in the oven for 30 minutes.
5. Increase the heat to 425 and move your wings up to the second highest rack. Cook for another 50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time.
6. Let the wings rest for 5 minutes before eating. Test the skin with your fingertip, and if it’s not crispy you can cook the wings a little longer. If you have a meat thermometer, check that they’re fully cooked (165 degrees.)

*I used to put the wings on a Pam-sprayed wire rack over the foil-lined pan, but I forgot to use it on my third go of making this dish and the wings turned out to be my crispiest yet. 

Blue cheese sauce (also great on top of steak or a burger)
serves 4

best made 30 or so minutes before serving. I like to make it while the wings are baking.

• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 package of crumbled blue cheese
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1-2 tsp lemon juice, to taste (I preferred 2 tsp)
• pepper to taste

1. Sauté shallot slices in oil over medium-low heat for 5 or so minutes until the shallots are soft and slightly browned. Drain oil from the pan.
2. Mix remaining ingredients together* and add the shallots.

* I mix the ingredients in the same pan as the shallots and then refrigerate it until cool. You don’t have to heat up the dip, it will mix fine cold — but I like for half of the blue cheese to melt.)