Honey barbecue sauce makes these chicken wings a messy marvel

As an appetizer or full meal, these wings are easy to prepare.

I’ve never met a chicken wing I didn’t like. In fact, I’m the self-proclaimed chicken wing king here at Post Food, having already shared recipes for spicy Buffalo wings, tangy lemon pepper wings and wings seasoned with Old Bay. Each features a different cooking technique with various flavor profiles that you can mix, match and adapt as you see fit. Now I’m back with yet another to add to the equation: shallow-fried wings tossed in a sweet and sticky honey barbecue sauce that can be enjoyed as an appetizer while watching a football game or for dinner as the main course alongside a salad or roasted vegetables.

While each cooking method has its benefits, the results from frying chicken wings are hard to beat in terms of speed and crispness. In just 10 minutes of frying, you can have golden brown, delicious wings. (I’m still an advocate of using the air fryer for chicken wings — and have included instructions should you want to use one — but its capacity makes it better suited for smaller quantities than the amount of wings called for here.)

Understandably, some home cooks are hesitant to fry very often because they are afraid of injuring themselves or starting a fire, don’t want to deal with the amount of oil required, don’t like the mess or lingering smell, or some combination thereof.

When it comes to frying safety, the most important things to remember are that dry foods are your friend and to gently lay foods in the oil. For the former, that simply means patting the wings dry with a towel. For the latter, don’t drop food from any sort of height, as it will cause the oil to splash. This means you’ll need to get up close and personal with the hot oil. If you’re afraid to use your hands, tongs can give you extra distance for protection. And when

you do add food to the oil, lay it away from you so that if there is a splash, it’s headed in the opposite direction.

Rather than using heaps of oil to deep fry, shallow frying can achieve similar results with a small fraction of the cooking oil, making it much easier to deal with when you’re done. (I haven’t tried them yet, but there are now also cooking oil solidifiers that make the disposal process even easier.)

Perhaps the biggest issue with frying is the mess it can create, but that can easily be solved one of two ways. The first is covering your skillet with a splatter screen, which can help to keep your stovetop clean. The other method, which I was introduced to by food and dining editor Joe Yonan, is to simply use a pan with tall sides, such as a stock pot or Dutch oven.

Unfortunately, the smell from frying can’t really be avoided. Your best bets to deal with it are to cook in a ventilated area (a.k.a. open a window), clean up as soon as you can and use some form of air freshener.

With these tips in hand, you can fry with ease.

The wings are simply seasoned with salt and pepper because this recipe is all about the honey barbecue sauce. While you can certainly use your favorite storebought sauce, you can easily make one that’s finger-lickin’ good. Honey adds floral sweetness, a touch of molasses lends depth, apple cider vinegar’s acidity balances the sugar, and a handful of spices provide additional layers of complexity. The result is scrumptious.

SCOTT SUCHMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; FOOD STYLING BY LISA CHERKASKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST These sticky and delicious Honey Barbecue Chicken Wings are shallow fried, then tossed in a honey barbecue sauce.

PEXELS Honey adds a touch of floral sweetness to a tangy wing sauce. And while there’s nothing wrong with using a store-bought product, you can make a sauce at home that’s finger-lickin’ good.