Little white meat lies. That's what you're eating every time you order boneless wings.
The boneless wing isn't a miracle of chicken science, but a clever marketing gimmick to
keep up with Americans' love of wings. Here's everything you should know about boneless
wings before eating yet another one!
Boneless chicken wings aren't really wings. Perhaps Silicon Valley comedian Jimmy O. Yang
summed it up best when he told Bon Appétit:
"Boneless wings are no wings at all-they are little white meat lies."
The name implies someone is meticulously removing the bones from each wing, but no, that's really
not the case. First of all, so-called boneless chicken wings are made with breast meat. To
make them look more like a traditional wing, the breasts are cut down into wing-sized pieces
before being breaded. Obviously if you cut into a chicken wing, you'd find layers of
meat, fat, cartilage, and bone. But the inside of a boneless chicken wing simply yields a
thick layer of white meat - just like a chicken nugget... because that's exactly what it is,
at the end of the day. Controversial, no?
"I propose that we as a city remove the name Boneless Wings from our menus and from our
hearts."
Generally, when chicken wings are cooked, something called the Maillard reaction occurs.
The high temperature of the oven or deep fryer crisps up the chicken skin while turning it
a deep golden brown. But since boneless wings are made from skinless chicken breasts, they
need a little nudge to get that desired texture and color.
That's where breading comes into play. According to Serious Eats, breading helps the boneless
wings cook more gently, protecting them from burning when they contact the hot fryer oil.
Meanwhile, the breading itself cooks very rapidly, drying out to become nice and crispy,
just like the skin on a chicken wing. To create an extra-crispy eating experience, the breading
on your boneless wings can be made with seasoned flour or by using a flaky breadcrumb called
panko. Using a beer batter or tempura batter is less common with boneless wings, but you
could certainly experiment and see if you like this style better when making boneless
wings at home.
Traditional wings generally don't have any added ingredients: they're just wings, as
the culinary gods intended. For example, at Buffalo Wild Wings, the wings reportedly come
in raw and frozen. When they're thawed, the employees apparently just toss them into the
fryer and that's that. Unfortunately, boneless wings aren't quite so simple when it comes
to the ingredients.
Many boneless chicken wings contain sodium phosphate - looking at you, Tyson boneless
chicken wings and DiGiorno Boneless Wyngz. This additive is added to deli meats and poultry
products to keep them moist. It's generally considered safe, although its consumption
isn't ideal if you have kidney issues, high blood pressure, or want to reduce sodium intake.
You might also find flavoring agents like calcium disodium EDTA, or binding and emulsifying
agents like xanthan gum, guar gum, and propylene glycol alginate. Convinced these are real
chicken wings yet?
"This is a tough one. A third of those surveyed are saying boneless wings are not really wings."
General rule of thumb: If you see this word on the ingredients list, run for the hills.
The National Institutes of Health defines it as an enzyme that catalyses the formation
of isopeptide bonds between proteins. In plain English, it's a "meat glue" that's found naturally
in animals, humans, and plants, typically extracted from animal blood, or bacteria.
It sounds weird, but if you've ever had, say, imitation crab meat, you've eaten it.
So this so-called "meat glue," simply put, is used to bond proteins together. In short,
seeing this unpronounceable ingredient on your boneless wing packaging means these wings
were created with a pieced-together patty - Franken-meat, basically - and certainly
wasn't cut from a single chicken breast. In conclusion, if you're looking for something
even faintly resembling an authentic farm-to-table dining experience, avoid this ingredient at
all costs.
Over the years, chicken wings have become increasingly popular… and these days, there's
no doubt about it, they're one of most sought-after parts of the chicken.
"From Atomic to Lemon Pepper, we make it our way. And in doing so, make it irresistible."
Of course, that means that chicken farmers have to raise more chickens if they want to
produce more wings. That means they're also creating more chicken thighs, drumsticks,
and breasts, driving down the price of once-expensive boneless, skinless chicken breasts. According
to the United States Department of Agriculture National Retail Report, the price of boneless,
skinless chicken breasts dropped almost a full dollar per pound in 2020.
That means so-called boneless chicken wings are a good deal for restaurants and retailers.
They're able to market them as a similar product that tastes and looks the same as a regular
wing. All the while, they're able to offer them up as a deal - like Buffalo Wild Wings'
buy-one-get-one boneless wing. As of the making of this video, a basket of 10 boneless wings
at Buffalo Wild Wings cost $10 whereas traditional wings cost $12.99. That $3 savings is a good
deal for you, but it's an even better deal for the restaurant.
It's easy to overcook boneless wings, turning them into a dry, totally lifeless eating experience.
Actually, this can happen to all types of meat. As Smithsonian reports, the water inside
meat's muscle fibers will boil and evaporate when the temperature reaches a certain point.
But dark meat like chicken wings has skin and fat to protect the meat as it cooks. The
fat under the skin helps the meat stay juicy... while the skin acts as a protective barrier
to keep the meat from getting exposed to the heat.
The breading on boneless chicken wings provides some protection, but the lean chicken breast
meat inside the boneless wing doesn't have any fat to protect it. So this chicken needs
to be cooked at a safe temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent Salmonella poisoning,
but continuing to cook it past that temperature will turn the breast meat tough, dry, and
chewy. Speaking of, we'll leave you with this to chew on:
"I don't go to order boneless tacos. I don't go to order boneless club sandwiches. I don't
ask for boneless auto repair."
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite
food are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss
a single one.