Your Chicken Wings Deserve A Topping That Might Already Be In Your Pantry

Americans have a love affair with chicken wings, consuming close to 1.5 billion on Super Bowl Sunday alone (per the National Chicken Council). Iconic Buffalo and barbecue sauce flavors may be among  the most popular, but they only scratch the surface. Fast food chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Wingstop, for instance, have one to two dozen flavors to choose from, and you can use your imagination to make your own different types, too. To go beyond the sauce, consider using a topping instead. A great example is everything bagel seasoning, which you may already have in your pantry.

The popular flavor blend has spread far beyond its bagel shop origins to perk up all kinds of food. It's a mix of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried garlic and onion, and salt, combining the seeds' nutty taste, savory notes from the dried alliums, and saltiness. Some brands contain black sesame seeds as well as the usual white ones, which adds a little bitterness.

In addition to flavoring the wings, the seasoning blend also adds more texture. The seeds provide a little bit of crunch, even more so if they include black sesames. Everything bagel seasoning can be used to cook other chicken parts like drumsticks or tenders, too.

Chicken wings with everything bagel seasoning are most commonly fried, oven-baked, or cooked in an air fryer. Start by patting them dry with paper towels. Many recipes also suggest tossing them with a starch like potato starch, cornstarch, potato flour, or rice flour to further absorb moisture and help make the outside crispy.

One basic method is tossing the wings with a little olive oil and the seasoning before cooking them in the oven or air fryer. You could also bake them without oil, but remove the chicken when it's almost done, toss the pieces with the topping, and return them to finish cooking. This helps prevent the seasoning from burning. Another simple method is first frying, baking, or air-frying them, then coating the pieces with melted butter and the flavor blend.

The seasoning can also be layered with other flavors. That could mean sprinkling it over wings covered with mouthwatering sauces like barbecue, Buffalo, teriyaki, garlic parmesan, or others that would combine with it well. You could also coat the chicken with it and other ingredients, like a mix of mayonnaise, mustard, olive oil, and honey, and bake.

Depending on how you make the wings, you may want to serve them with a dip. Options could include standbys like a buttermilk blue cheese dip and ranch, or others like Alabama white barbecue sauce or a garlic aioli.