Baked Turkey Wings Recipe

If you love chicken wings but wish they were a lot bigger, then you really ought to try cooking turkey wings, instead. They've got everything you love about the chicken kind and a lot more of it. As recipe developer Christina Musgrave describes this dish, "These turkey wings are a flavorful and easy way to make an affordable cut of white meat."

In this recipe, Musgrave coats her wings with a simple mixture of some very basic spices, the kind you probably already have in the pantry. She then bakes the seasoned wings in a foil-covered pan full of chicken stock. While the stock does keep the meat from drying out, the extra moisture means that the skin won't get all that crispy. If you really want some crunchy skin, though, there's an easy remedy. "You can remove the foil and broil [the meat] for the last few minutes of baking if you wanted really crispy wings," Musgrave suggests.

To make these baked wings, you'll need the turkey wings themselves, of course. You'll also need a few spices: paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. A little olive oil will help the seasonings stick to the meat, while chicken stock, Musgrave says, is poured over the wings before cooking to "protect them from drying out."

Stir together all of the dry spices: the salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. This is a pretty basic, and yet versatile, seasoning mix that can be used on everything from poultry to beef.

Musgrave likes to prepare her turkey wings whole, tips and all, but as this part tends not to have much meat, she says "You can cut the tips off for soup [i]f you wanted to." You can also separate the wings at the joint to make flats and drummettes if you think these will be easier to eat or to fit into the pan.

Whether or not you chop up the wings, you'll need to drizzle them with oil, then sprinkle them with the spice rub. Make sure that each wing or wing section gets an even coating of seasoning.

Put the turkey wings in a pan, then pour the chicken stock into the pan. Cover the pan with foil and bake the wings for an hour, or until they reach an internal temperature of 165 F.

Once the wings are done, don't throw out the chicken stock! Musgrave says "You can definitely use the pan liquid for gravy," although she also suggests saving it for use in soup. She says these wings are good with mashed potatoes, which would also go well with that gravy and make for a Thanksgiving-ish meal. For something spicier, though, you could always dip the wings in buffalo sauce — in which case, celery sticks and blue cheese would make the perfect sides.