Serving Buffalo Wings

In other articles, we learned how to prep wings by thawing, dividing, seasoning, and drying them. We learned how to make blue cheese dressing, mix Buffalo wing hot sauce, and cut the celery sticks. The wings got fried and sauced. Now, it’s time to put all that on a plate and serve it up.

This is the final stage in the process of creating Buffalo wings.

Serving is often an underappreciated part of the process and I believe it is just as important as all steps leading up to it. No matter how much effort you put into the prep and the fry, if serving isn't done properly, the wings will never reach their full potential.

What to Serve with Buffalo Wings

Buffalo wings are a very casual and social food. If they could talk they would say something like, “With us, there are no rules. Relax and eat how you want. No one will judge and if they do, @#$! them.” We eat them with our fingers, and while they can be served many ways, they are best paired with other foods that are just as easy to share. And I think that is perfect.

Growing up, it was common on a Friday night for my parents to order wings. But it usually wasn't just wings; it was wings, pizza, and a couple of 2-liter bottles of pop (what we call soda in Buffalo). This combo was so standard that most local joints sold specific combo packages—like a mini pack, family pack, or party pack—grouping different sizes of pizza, wings, and soda together. Great memories.

Later, as I got older, I saw this same theme repeated at just about every kind of event imaginable, including Bills tailgates, birthdays, and last-minute get-togethers. Someone would get a large order of wings and pizza, supplementing the feast with chips, dips, and other snacks spread across the tables. Everything was laid out casually so people could pick at it throughout the day or night. It crossed all social borders and brought people together through a common love of Buffalo wings and other foods.

After college, I moved to California for work and, though I didn't realize it at the time, I continued the tradition by hosting wing parties myself. Because we were no longer in Buffalo and proper wings were unavailable, I learned how to fry them, but it was always a team effort. Friends would bring their favorite snacky foods, sometimes we would order the best pizza we could find, and other times we would make it from scratch. We always made sure the table was filled with dips, chips, and other food everyone could casually share and snack on throughout the night.

Chips, Dips, and Snacks

Like Buffalo wings, chips, dips, and snacks are meant to be shared. They sit out for people to pick at while talking, watching the game, drinking beer (or pop), and waiting for the next batch of wings to come out of the fryer.

Potato chips and dip are a staple of Buffalo gatherings. More specifically, Bison French Onion Dip and plain potato chips. If there is one snack that belongs on the table, this is it.

There is something about it and I don't know exactly what it is, possibly the MSG, but as a kid, I got in trouble for eating all the Bison Dip, many times.

If you never lived in Western New York, you may not understand the joy of Bison Dip. Like Buffalo wings, I grew up assuming it was available everywhere. It wasn't until I moved away that I discovered both were surprisingly difficult to find outside of Western New York.

I still remember walking into a California pizza shop and realizing they didn't sell Buffalo wings. Finding out that Bison Dip was missing from the grocery store dairy section was just as shocking. No good substitutes either.

Drinks

Drinks that go with Buffalo wings deserve their own article, and someday they will get one. For now, you can’t go wrong with cold beer and soda.

Beer: In Buffalo, in addition to the expected domestic stuff and endless microbrews, there is Genny Cream Ale, a Rochester classic that I haven’t seen outside of Western New York. Being right across the Niagara River from Canada, Canadian beers such as Labatt and Molson are popular and heavily advertised.

The Art of Serving Buffalo Wings

I enjoy cooking Buffalo wings for friends and have always enjoyed hosting get togethers. No matter where I am, how many people I am serving, or who those people are, I use the same serving method. This works whether I'm hosting a cookout, a birthday party, or just dinner with the family.

In most situations, Buffalo wings are best served more like a party than a sit down dinner. They are eaten standing around the kitchen, out on the patio, or wherever people naturally gather while the cooking is happening. One person might be frying while someone else sauces the wings, refills the blue cheese and celery, manages the trash, or keeps the cat away from the bones. Wings come out in small batches and get eaten while they are still hot and crispy. It becomes less about sitting down to a plated meal and more about participating in the experience together.

Buffalo wings are best served hot, fresh, and crispy. Crispiness fades quickly after saucing, and wings should not be allowed to sit too long before eating. The key to serving the best possible wings is speed: fry, sauce, plate, serve, eat. No need to rush. Rushing near a fryer can be dangerous. Just have everything organized and ready to go. The speed will come naturally.

When serving a large group of people, it is impossible to make enough wings for everyone to eat at the exact same time with a normal home style fryer. Doing it this way could take hours and leave many of the wings cold and crispless. A better way is to plate the wings as soon as they are ready and set them in a central location where they can be easily grabbed. They will go quickly and still be hot and crispy when people eat them.

Whenever I host a Buffalo wing event, I do my best to create a situation where I can comfortably cook while still being part of the party. I do this by carefully considering where I will be preparing the food and where people will be gathering. Organizing and fully prepping ahead of time allows me to do it all while still having fun.

The following checklists cover most of the things I do before and during a Buffalo wing event.

Food Prep Checklist

• Blue cheese dressing
• Buffalo wing sauce or sauces
• Celery cut up
• Chicken wings
• Prep wings: Defrosted, separated, seasoned, and dried
• Optional: Par cook wings ahead of time to speed up the serving process

Setup Checklist

• Set the fryer up in a stable and secure location that is protected from unknown variables such as children, pets and intoxicated humans.
• Lay out any tools needed. Some of the more important ones include tongs to move hot wings around, a rack to drain wings, a bowl for tossing wings, and a stack of cotton bar towels.
• Keep clean and preferably warm serving plates ready to go. If available, a low oven works well for this. Optional, but highly recommended.
• Organize the serving area to make self serving easy with plates, paper towels, blue cheese dressing, celery, and any other snacks.
• Keep drinks in an out of the way place where people can serve themselves, typically a cooler of ice with beers and pop.

Party Management Checklist

• Keep the serving area clean, organized, and clutter free.
• Place napkins or paper towels in multiple, easy to find, locations.
• Keep lots of extra blue cheese dressing and celery in the fridge where anyone can find it and refill serving dishes as needed.
• Keep a garbage can visible and close to where people will be eating.
• Be sure to keep plenty of hand soap next to kitchen and bathroom sinks.

Serving Checklist

• Be sure blue cheese dressing and celery are ready and available before the wings are ready.
• Serve wings immediately after saucing.
• Put each fresh batch of wings onto a clean and warm serving plate or tray.
• Serve wings where they can be easily grabbed.
• Keep wooden bowls available for bones and empty them often.

The Restaurant Style Presentation

Final Thoughts

Using the above serving guidelines will help ensure that you and your guests are eating Buffalo wings that are spicy, hot, crispy, and served with blue cheese dressing and celery. Just the way Buffalo wings should be.