Football food is not known for being beautiful.  More often than not, it falls into the Roll-Up-Your-Sleeves messy category and comes with a side of napkins.  This dish turns the tables on the traditional football fare: Buffalo Hot Wings.  These inside-out, fork-and-knife wings may still require a side of napkins but they certainly up the ante on traditional game-time wings.

This more refined version of traditional wings is also considerably healthier.  While most wings are fried and coated with sugary sauces, these babies are baked and can be topped with a hot sauce that contains as few as 5 calories (my personal favorite is Frank’s Red Hot Sauce).  Old fashioned hot wings have become a football food you don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying!

It doesn’t hurt that these are beyond simple to make.  Start with thin chicken cutlets.  Pound them between pieces of wax paper until they are a uniform thickness.  Roll some blue cheese up inside the cutlets. Use a toothpick to close.  Douse with a good amount of your favorite wing sauce.  Bake.  Eat.  I usually serve these will a knife and fork, but you could easily serve these on toothpicks to make them more party friendly!

I use crumbled blue cheese because I find it easier to work with.  A helpful hint when working with the crumbled blue cheese — press the portion you are going to be rolling up in the chicken together with your fingers a bit to get a more solid clump.  This will make it easier to roll.  If there isn’t enough cheese inside after rolling, you can always shove a bit more in the open ends of the rolled chicken.

Update: Thanks to Alta from Tasty Eats at Home for pointing out that not all blue cheese is gluten-free.  If you are sensitive to gluten be sure to check the production methods used by the manufacturer to be sure that your cheese is gluten-free.  Otherwise, try substituting a white cheddar instead!

Inside Out Buffalo Hot Wings

1 pound thin chicken cutlets
4-5 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
4-6 tablespoons hot sauce (Frank’s Buffalo Hot Sauce works perfectly)*
salt and pepper

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place one chicken cutlet between two sheets of wax paper. Using a meat tenderizer or a heavy saucepan, carefully pound the meat until it is approximately 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Be careful not to tear the chicken. Repeat with each cutlet.
- Season each side of the chicken cutlets with salt and pepper.
- Place approximately 1 tablespoon of crumbled blue cheese on the wide end of each chicken cutlet.
- Roll the cutlets around the blue cheese crumbles. Secure each roll with a toothpick.
- Place the rolled cutlets in a baking dish. Using a pastry brush (or your fingers) brush the cutlets with hot sauce. Roll the cutlets around so that they are completely covered with hot sauce.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Carefully remove toothpicks. Serve warm with crunchy celery.  Feel free to drizzle more hot sauce over the rolls before serving.

* You will want to adjust the amount of sauce used based on your personal preference for spiciness and the amount of sauce you like on your wings.

Similar Recipes:

• Summer Chicken Salad with Green Apple Vinaigrette
• Miso Ginger Salmon
• The Best Turkey Burger & Grilled Veggies + Video
• Italian and Southwestern Zucchini Boats

If you enjoyed this recipe, make sure you subscribe to receive free updates by email or RSS feed!