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Copycat Buffalo Wild Wings Thai Curry Wings
My wife and I both love love love Buffalo Wild Wings. We will almost always say yes if the other asks about going for their Tuesday night special on wings. I usually go for the parmesan garlic and or the Thai Curry with the bone-in. They sell the sauce, but in this recipe, I replicate the flavor as closely as I can with my recipe. The color is different, and it doesn't look the same in texture either, but it tastes fantastic!
The idea of how I would possibly recreate this flavor started when we were eating at BWW. My wife stated that the Thai curry wings tasted more like Indian curry to her; being Thai, I trusted her and had the same thought myself. One of my Pakistani patient's mom a while back always cooked while I worked with her son. The smells were so insanely good I asked her how I could make it. She directed me to the Indian market and showed me the box for the Shan spice mixes. She showed me that they have the instructions on the back. I keep them in our pantry constantly now.
I could not place which Indian/Pakistani recipe BWW's Thai Curry Wings reminded me of. The ones I remember were nothing like that flavor, so I just took a shot in the dark. I made this recipe below and the sauce before adding oil was almost dead on for flavor. I just replicated what I did in the recipe below but then stop after mixing the ingredients. You will see what I mean below.
What I did was very simple. As I stated earlier, the instructions are on the box. I followed the instructions on the box switching out the green chilies for Thai chilies. I also added some coconut milk as Thai recipes tend to have them and some green tabasco to go with the lime. The Karahi recipe calls for lemon juice, but I like the lime better. I added some green tabasco too because that stuff makes everything better and goes well with the tang of the lime.
Baking the chicken wings
We baked our wings because baking is healthier than frying. We bought a 3 pounds container of raw chicken wings unflavored at Aldi for $6 and change. The package said to cook them in the oven until they reach 180 degrees. To do that we cooked them at 450 for 55 minutes on a cookie sheet until they were dried out a bit and a little crispy.
Making the Sauce
For the sauce, you just follow the instructions on the Shan Karahi white mix box. If you have an Indian market near you, you will want to buy the other ingredients while you are there because many aren't available at other stores. The ginger paste, for example, is hard to find elsewhere. Indian markets often even have fresh Thai peppers in the produce section. Some of the healthier ingredients that are substitutable have come from markets other than Indian markets. You can grab a low-fat version of yogurt anywhere.
Some Thoughts on the Health Value of this Recipe
White meat chicken is a healthier and often less expensive option to other meats. These have the skin on so there is a bit of fat. You may want to be a purist and remove it, but for our recipe, we left it on for better or for worse. The sauce itself doesn't have much bad stuff in it. I didn't calculate the sodium content; you're welcome to do it if you want and leave the result in the comments. Otherwise, as always just let us know what you think in the comments. Always check with your health care provider of choice if you are concerned about your specific health-related dietary needs.
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds raw, unflavored chicken wings
- 6-12 finely chopped fresh Thai peppers pounded in the mortar and pestle
- 2 tablespoon green Tabasco
- ½ 8 oz can lite coconut milk
- 6 tablespoon lime juice
- 4 tablespoons non-fat yogurt
- 2 tablespoons of ginger paste
- 1 package Shan chicken white karahi mix
- Olive oil cooking spray
Instructions:
- Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Oil a cookie sheet and place the wings evenly across it spraying the top of the wings with the olive oil cooking spray.
- Cook the wings until 180 degrees, checking with a food thermometer. It took 55 minutes for ours.
- For the sauce
- Pound the Thai green peppers and add the green Tabasco.
- Add in the Karahi mix, lime juice, ginger paste, chicken and yogurt and ½ can of coconut milk and stir.
- Place the mix into a saucepan and heat on low to medium low to reduce and thicken the sauce.
- Add the wings to the sauce mix and mix thoroughly to cover the wings.
- Serve immediately with a dressing of your choice and vegetables such as carrots and celery.
- 3 pounds raw, unflavored chicken wings
- 6-12 finely chopped fresh Thai peppers pounded in the mortar and pestle
- 2 tablespoon green Tabasco
- ½ 8 oz can lite coconut milk
- 6 tablespoon lime juice
- 4 tablespoons non-fat yogurt
- 2 tablespoons of ginger paste
- 1 package Shan chicken white karahi mix
- Olive oil cooking spray
- Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Oil a cookie sheet and place the wings evenly across it spraying the top of the wings with the olive oil cooking spray.
- Cook the wings until 180 degrees, checking with a food thermometer. It took 55 minutes for ours.
- For the sauce
- Pound the Thai green peppers and add the green Tabasco.
- Add in the Karahi mix, lime juice, ginger paste, chicken and yogurt and ½ can of coconut milk and stir.
- Place the mix into a saucepan and heat on low to medium low to reduce and thicken the sauce.
- Add the wings to the sauce mix and mix thoroughly to cover the wings.
- Serve immediately with a dressing of your choice and vegetables such as carrots and celery.
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Tukta Reilly says
Hi ya. I am Thai also and living in the UK but spent time living in the US two and a half years. So I really loved Thai curry from BWW so much. My husband and myself went out to have Thai curry chicken wings from BWW quite often as it's so good.
I've been searching the receipe since then but couldn't find one. Thanks a lot for making this.
I totally agreed that thai curry chicken doesn't taste like Thai curry. It's more than like Indian like your Thai wife'thought. I believed that they put curry powder as well as it's yellow and tastes like turmeric curry powder. So you're right to use the Shan chicken white karahi mix instead.
I'll make this today and will use your receipe but will tweek a little. I'll use the curry powder instead. Also I couldn't taste any kind of coconut milk from BWW's so I guess they may use double/single cream or evaporate milk instead.
I'll let you know how it goes. But thanks a lot for the receipe.
Adam Shed says
Yep, the Shan Karahi White Chicken mix is pretty similar. The color is not similar but the taste is. You may find one more similar. Let me know if you do. Either way, it's delicious stuff. Thanks for the comment!!
Joe says
I see many reviews like this for recipes and it drives me bonkers. "Sounds good I give it 5 stars". How can you give it 5 stars when you haven't made it yet??? I could make dirt stew sound good, but don't rate until you try it! I will rate this when I try it. I have to find the spice mix first, but I love the Thai Curry sauce and have been buying it from bw3 to use at home. Btw I definitely taste coconut milk in it.
Adam Shed says
Thanks for taking the time to comment! I agree. If you make it and decide to give it less than 5 stars please let us know why. 🙂
Mike says
These wings are off-the-charts good. They taste exactly like the ones from BW3s. I absolutely loved them. Thank you for posting the recipe.
Adam says
Thank you very much!
DD~PL -777 says
Hello from the Midwest USA!! Seasons greetings&BAYOU NEW YEAR. I've misplaced my own version of the BW² TC sauce that I duplicated from their first retail recipe so I'm on the search again. I remember when this sauce was first launched and bought a bottle straight. Didn't get their wings, just got the sauce. I actually took it home, brined a 10pk of thighs and then baked them and added the bww sauce near the end for about the last 10 min of oven time. POW!! Anyway, I noticed in your list of ingredients that turmeric want used! That'll give the yellow coloring a at least. And I believe it'll give some more "texture"(gritty)
Their recipe had changed since it first came out and I'm not too happy about it. Their original recipe was at least a little cleaner. I won't buy another bottle ever. Yuk!
Thank you for being here for this first time visitor. I'll be looking through the rest of your page! 😎🤙🏽🤙🏽👍🏽🤝🏽
I love your Mel's thumb up! 👍🏽
Adam Shed says
She's a sweet lady. Always positive. 🙂 Thanks for your positive vibes, we do our best but have a long way to go.