For some reason every time that we order out at the local pizzaria we end up ordering chicken wings too. I don’t know if it’s more habit or because you just have to have wings when you have pizza.
I noticed that we are paying close to $10 for a dozen of the wings. It doesn’t matter what flavor, it’s always ten bucks. Then you have the always predictable fight over who gets the “little legs” and who HAS to eat the “two boned piece”.
Because of this I decided to check at the grocery store and see what the price of just the chicken wing drummettes were. Just as I had thought, they were much cheaper (and everyone will get the part of the wing they REALLY want).
Here is how I did it:
- 3 pounds chicken wing drummettes
- 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1 Tablespoon of dried chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon of dried sliced garlic
- 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 – 1 cup of your favorite bbq sauce, hot wing sauce, teriyaki glaze
In a large bowl or 1 gallon zip top bag, put the teriyaki sauce, pineapple juice, onion, garlic, seasoning salt and ground black pepper. Mix to incorporate. 
Add the chicken drummettes and marinade overnight (at least 4 hours). This helps to get some flavor into the meat. It also helps the meat to stay tender and moist during entire cooking process.
In a 5 – 6 quart crock pot add the drained chicken drummettes. Cook on low for 4 hours. If you cook any longer you will get fall off the bone chicken wings. In most cases, I love fall off the bone meats. With chicken wings being a finger food, I don’t particularly care for them to seperate from the bone. I like to use the skinny end of the drummette as a handle and eat them like a lollipop . ~grins~
After the juices run clear from the drummettes, place them on a plate covered with paper towels to drain any excess fat.
Now typically I am not one to cook something in the crock pot and then finish cooking it in another appliance. I have found that I will always make an exception to that rule when it comes to chicken that the skin has been left on. There is something about the texture of the skin on chicken that’s been cooked in the crock pot that weirds me out. 
Having said that, I was going to finish this on the grill. Just as I opened the door to go light the grill the bottom fell out of the sky. It absolutely started pouring rain. I sighed, then hung my head, closed the back door and went back to the kitchen. I reluctantly turned the oven on to finish the job.
I placed the chicken drummettes on a foil lined cookie sheet and coated one side of some of the legs with some barbecue sauce. The others I left plain because Miss Maddy likes to dip her “little legs” into honey mustard dressing. This works perfect if everyone likes a different kind of chicken wing.
Turn the oven to broil (mine has a HI and a LO setting, I used HI). Place the pan at least 8 or 10 inches from the upper heating unit in the oven. Broil for 5 – 10 minutes until skin has crisped up. Mine took exactly 5 minutes on HI broil setting, and I left the door ajar and didn’t walk away from it either (because of previous experiences with smoke detectors going off, I knew better than to walk away. Just sayin’!) Remove pan from oven, turn drummettes over, coat with desired sauce and place back in oven until this side has crisped up too.
Serve with your favorite dipping sauce…. of course in our house everyone’s is different, but that’s the glory of making them at home!
P.S. My husband suggested putting the wings into a crock pot and keeping them on warm during Super Bowl. I think that’s a great idea, but I really think he’s just anxious about football season. ~grins~
*NOTE* This would be a perfect recipe for taking camping. You could marinade the drummettes and freeze them. Place frozen bag of drummettes in bottom of cooler and when you get ready to use them they will be thawed enough to place in crock pot. You could easily let them cook in the crock pot while you’re swimming, hiking or tubing down the river (depending on where you go camping of course). Then finish them up on the grill or over the camp fire.
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