Honey za'atar chicken wings and sumac wedges with a zesty labneh ranch celery slaw

Wings and fries, my way

Hello! Welcome back! Skip all the rambling and scroll right to the bottom of this post for a printer-friendly PDF of the recipe only.

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Hi, friends. The “Big Game” is next Sunday, or so they tell me. To be honest, I could not care less about the Super Bowl or football or truly any sport or game in general, ever.

And if you happen to know me irl and are thinking, “But wait, we used to go and watch the Syracuse games all the time in New York City,” then you’re right. But that was because of the wings, my friend.

I’m not a fan of sports, but wings? I’m wings’ biggest fan. However, in my very humble opinion, the world doesn’t need another classic buffalo wing recipe. That’s been done, that’s been dusted. And if you’re anything like me, when you’re craving Buffalo wings you’re probably just going to order them from the local spot that happens to have the word “wings” in its name (I’m looking at you, Hot Wings Café). Leave it to the experts and all that.

But if you feel so inclined to try a new flavor of wing from a place other than western New York — I mean, they didn’t even make it to the Super Bowl this year — then this just might be the recipe for you.

Tell me more

These are honey za’atar wings. They are sticky sweet and deeply savory, with a delightful herbiness. They’re baked in the oven alongside some parboiled, sumac-coated potato wedges that are perfectly soft on the inside and crisp on the outside, and served with a creamy, crunchy, zesty, herby celery slaw coated in labneh ranch.

It’s a dish that has it all. A lot of flavors that work really, really well together. My kind of game day food on the game days when I’m not calling in the buff wing experts. And a really good, just-a-little-different one for anyone who loves my chicken cutlets with celery slaw recipes.

Before we start

• This recipe is for wings but you can easily use bone-in, skin-on thighs or drumsticks if you’d like. I used drumettes but flats are good, too!

• Za’atar is a Middle Eastern spice mix made with herbs and sesame seeds. I think it adds a really lovely savory quality to food, plus a touch of crunch with the sesame seeds. You can get it at your local Middle Eastern/Arabic grocer, or order online. I think Burlap & Barrel has the absolute best za’atar but Tazah is a great brand that’s available in many of my local Middle Eastern stores.

• We’re cooking both the wedges and the wings on the same baking sheet for absolute ease and less cleanup. That being said, you need a big baking sheet — at least a half sheet. If you only have quarter sheets, divide it between two.

• This served four people when I made it, but game day serving sizes are… different, in my opinion. See how many wings three pounds get you, and decide from there if you need to scale up.

• Go sports!

The recipe

Serves: 4

Cook time: 1 hour