Even before the vegan diet, I always felt an artery harden when eating a chicken wing. I could always get beyond this because, well, buffalo wings taste so stinkin’ good. This is especially true with a huge bucket of potato wedges and two tubs of ranch and bleu cheese dressing. Add a good football game and a beer and I can’t think of a better night in front of the TV. In fact, I was so obsessed in college with that buffalo taste that I would eat chicken wings whenever I could afford them. If I couldn’t I put the Red Hot sauce on pasta and even popcorn (at 3 AM, anything tastes good). A 12 wing basket with fries and dipping sauces is about 140% of your fat, calories, and cholesterol intake.
Aleta and I both thought our wing days were over until I saw frozen vegan “boneless wings” at our local specialty store. The brand is called “Health is Wealth” and the box is called “Chicken Free Buffalo Wings”. These “wings” are 100% wheat gluten and vegan. I picked up a box of these with high hopes and rushed home.
For ranch sauce, I made an all vegan ranch dip with the following ingredients:
- 1 cup vegan mayo
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons of fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup of plain soy milk
- 1/4 cup vegan sour cream
Blend all this in a food processor until creamy and put in the fridge for 15 minutes. For wing sauce, melt 1/2 cup of Frank’s Red Hot (don’t use anything else) with 1 tsp of margarine. Bake as many wings as you’d like according to the box. When they are done, dump the in a medium sized bowl and add some hot sauce. Toss the wings a bit until they are coated. Add more or less sauce depending on taste.
We were absolutely shocked at how good these wings were. They had the same taste and texture as the boneless buffalo wings we used to eat at Chili’s. The ranch dressing had the cool garlic flavor to balance out the hot and spicy. As a matter of fact, I whipped up a batch of these last night and watched the Colts vs. Rams game.