Give Your Chicken Wings More Flavor With This Viral Condiment

Whether you're hosting a game day party or just a fun get-together for friends, chicken wings are easy to grab and packed with flavor. Plus, you can get creative with the different sauces and toppings, ensuring there's a flavor that suits everyone. If you're looking for new ways to upgrade your wings, however, there's one condiment you should consider adding — cowboy butter. 

Essentially a type of compound butter, cowboy butter is made of melted or softened butter and seasonings. The rustic, smoky-flavored sauce reminiscent of cowboys sitting around a campfire while out on a drive has been making the rounds on TikTok and Instagram with various creators sharing their own renditions of the recipe. Although there are many variations, a few key ingredients for cowboy butter's characteristic flavor include lemon, paprika, cayenne, red pepper flakes, garlic, Dijon mustard, and your favorite herbs.

While it is most commonly used to top a juicy steak, there's no reason you can't use cowboy butter for wings instead. It brings on tangy, smoky, and rich flavors that work perfectly against the neutral savoriness of the wings.

The first thing to note when making cowboy butter wings is to pay attention to the butter you use. You'll want to start by melting or softening unsalted butter. Unsalted butter ensures you can adjust the level of saltiness to your taste, without accidentally overshooting from the get-go. Using melted butter means you can immediately brush this mixture onto your wings when you're ready, but combining your seasonings with softened butter and then storing it in the refrigerator is a great way to allow the flavors to meld. This approach is also great if you want your extra cowboy butter ready to top a steak or baked potato in the next few days).

Once your butter is at your preferred consistency, mix in your spices and herbs. A few popular seasonings to add that help bring out cowboy butter's unique tasting notes include additions such as Worcestershire to boost the salty, funky flavors or horseradish for a bit of extra heat. You could also throw in lemon zest to boost the citrusy notes or tajín for a similar spicy citrus flavor. Play around with your mix-ins, and think about what flavors would work with your wings.

Finally, all that's left is to cook and coat the chicken. You can use any method you like, whether that's preparing the wings in the oven or popping them in the air fryer. Coat the wings with cowboy butter while they're hot to help ensure the seasoning sticks well, and double-check that they are fully coated so you get the same smoky, delicious flavor in every bite.