You Need This Cooking Fat For Chicken Wings That Taste Like Buffalo Wild Wings

For those with an undying love for the perfect chicken wing, having your very own Buffalo Wild Wings sounds like a dream. Well, knowing a little summin'-summin' about how they cook their wings can bring the chain that much closer to our kitchens. What elevates the flavor and texture of Buffalo Wild Wings is also what makes their fries so tasty: beef fat. This is good news, as it allows us not only to replicate the wings at home but also to improve them.

The benefits of using beef fat for deep-frying are many, not the least of which is the superior depth of savory flavor and next-level crispiness it imparts. This makes it a go-to cooking grease for everything from fish and chips to use in stock, baking, sauces, and everything in between. Beef tallow has a high smoke point, making it a bulletproof cooking fat for frying at high temperatures and outperforming other fats like vegetable oils or olive oil.

Buffalo Wild Wings actually lists their key frying medium as beef shortening, rather than straight-up tallow, which is essentially the same, just a tad more solid. Frying wings in beef fat is simple: melt the beef fat in your pan, heat it to around 375 degrees, and fry the wings for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, until beautifully crispy and cooked through. Just strain the tallow when you're done, and you can use it again.

Not only does Buffalo Wild Wings use beef shortening rather than tallow, but the deodorized version on their ingredient list also contains a bunch of other additives. This includes preservatives like citric acid, potentially harmful BHT, and an anti-foaming agent called demethylpolysiloxane, as reported by Localfats.com. This is also bad news for vegetarians or vegans who assume the cauliflower wings are for them, as these are also fried in beef shortening.

The good news for home cooks is that you can replicate the benefits of using beef fat to fry up the perfect chicken wings, but go for cleaner, higher-quality beef tallow rather than shortening. The best tallow you can get is derived from grass-fed beef, as this comes with more healthy fats like omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for the brain, and conjugated linoleic acid, which has anti-obesity, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-diabetogenic effects without the added preservatives.

To get your hands on better tallow, just look online or visit a specialty retailer, farmer's market, or butcher. If you really want to control the process from start to finish, you can even render your own tallow from high-quality beef fat.