Cowboy Butter Chicken Wings Recipe

Cowboy butter chicken wings are crisp wings tossed in cowboy butter, a melted butter sauce with garlic, mustard, lemon, paprika, chile and fresh herbs. Bake two pounds of wings on a rack at 425°F for 45 to 50 minutes, whisk six tablespoons of melted butter with the seasonings, and toss the two together while the wings are hot.

What cowboy butter is

The Daily Meal describes cowboy butter as an easier version of a compound butter, with everything in it that goes with steak: butter, lemon, garlic, Dijon mustard, paprika, cayenne, red pepper flakes and fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme and chives. It can be shaped into a log, the article says, but is most often served melted, as a dipping sauce.

The same article traces it to a Southern-style diner in New York, Mr. Donahue's, now closed, and to a later run on TikTok. On wings, the melted form does the job of a Buffalo sauce: it coats.

Recipe

Cowboy Butter Chicken Wings

Chicken wings baked crisp with baking powder and tossed in cowboy butter — melted butter with garlic, Dijon mustard, lemon, smoked paprika, cayenne, chile flakes, parsley and chives. Four servings.

5.0 (1)Print

Prep

15 min

Cook

50 min

Total

1 hr 5 min

Serves

4

Cuisine

American

Ingredients

• For the wings:
• 2 pounds chicken wings (split into flats and drumettes)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• For the cowboy butter:
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack on it.
2. Pat the wings completely dry with paper towels. Toss them with the baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and spread them on the rack with space between them.
3. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, turning once after 25 minutes, until the skin is deep golden and crisp.
4. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant but not browned. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the mustard, the lemon juice, the paprika, the cayenne, the red pepper flakes and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
5. Stir the parsley and the chives into the butter. Put the hot wings in a large bowl, pour the butter over them and toss until coated. Serve at once.

Crisp wings from the oven

Baking powder is what stands in for the fryer. It raises the pH of the skin, so that it browns and blisters, and it helps the surface dry out. One tablespoon for two pounds is enough; more can be tasted.

• Dry the wings well. Wet skin steams.
• On a rack. The fat drips away and the hot air reaches the underside.
• Baking powder, not baking soda. Soda leaves a soapy, metallic taste at this amount.

Garlic that does not burn

The garlic goes into the butter for one minute over low heat. Browned garlic turns bitter, and in a sauce this simple there is nothing to hide it. The mustard and the lemon juice go in off the heat: whisked into hot butter, the mustard holds the sauce together, so that it clings to the wings and does not run off as clear fat.

Fresh herbs go in last. Dried parsley and chives add colour and little else; if only dried herbs are at hand, use 1 teaspoon of dried thyme.

Cowboy butter for tenders, drumsticks and pasta

• Chicken tenders or drumsticks: bake or grill them as usual and toss or brush them with the same butter. Drumsticks take the full amount for 2 pounds.
• Linguine: toss 12 ounces of cooked linguine with a double batch of the butter and 1/2 cup of the pasta water, and add sliced grilled chicken.
• As a dip: serve the butter warm in a small bowl beside plain baked wings. A sweeter butter for dipping is the Cajun honey butter.

Keeping and reheating

Sauced wings soften as they stand. For later, keep the wings and the butter apart: reheat the wings on a rack at 400°F for 10 minutes, warm the butter gently and toss.

Wings with a glaze are the Tyson tequila lime wings, and the hot ones are the Wingstop Atomic wings.