Pickleback chicken wings are the best way to use up pickle brine

If you’re still throwing away jars of pickles full of pickle brine, stop. Stop it right now. Apart from the fact that you could be using that delicious, salty brine for any number of things you already know about, (salad dressing, whiskey chasers, etc.), there’s an even better possibility you probably haven’t yet considered. That possibility is pickleback chicken wings. And they’re even better than they sound.

Behold the pickleback chicken wings!

Right?? This easy recipe from Delish uses simple ingredients you probably already have laying around (minus the chicken wings). A combination of savory spices like paprika, cayenne and onion powder play well with the salty, tangy pickle brine. The addition of a little honey and brown sugar gives the wings a gorgeous, crispy glaze. Finally, the recipe calls for a little bit of bourbon because, well, they wouldn’t be pickleback wings without a little booze, right?

Best of all, the recipe is EASY. Although the recipe takes a few hours from start to finish, a majority of that time is hands-off: letting the chicken soak in the brine and then baking the wings.

Oh, and yes, the wings are baked, which means no fussing around with huge pots of boiling oil that will almost certainly splatter all over you, the stove and the rest of your kitchen. Instead, you’ll arrange the wings on a wire baking rack so the air can circulate around them and get them all crunchy and delicious. Because they’re not fried, this means they’re basically healthy, so you can feel free to eat all of them by yourself.

For all the information on how to make these delicious wings at home, check out the video at Delish. I can definitely see these becoming a summer staple—a little sweet, a little spicy, a little salty, a little crispy…now you just need some more bourbon to wash them down and you’re in business!