These wings are perfect for game day and no one will know they are actually healthy! These boneless wings and peppercorn ranch are completely paleo, Whole30 approved, low carb, keto, and gluten free! And it's all made right on your stovetop in 30 minutes!
Cut chicken thighs into wing-sized pieces. Should be about 3-4 pieces per thigh. Place in a large bowl. Sprinkle with potato starch, sea salt, and pepper. Toss to coat.
Heat large cast iron skillet (I use my 15-inch skillet) over medium heat**, add 2 Tbsp ghee once it's hot. Allow to melt, then arrange chicken in the skillet and make sure not to overcrowd the pan. If you're using a 15-inch skillet you will be able to cook all the chicken in one batch. If you are using a smaller pan then you will need to work in batches. Once the chicken is in the skillet you don't want to touch it until it's time to flip to the other side. This is what gives it a nice crispy texture.
Cook chicken for 25 minutes, flipping once about halfway through. While chicken is cooking you can make the ranch dip and the buffalo sauce.
Make peppercorn ranch. Using a food processor or immersion blender, blend together egg yolks, 1 tsp lemon juice, mustard, and salt. Slowly drizzle in avocado oil to make an emulsion. Once it's nice and thick (you've just made mayo), add in remaining lemon juice (5 tsp), almond milk, garlic, onion powder, and pepper. Blend for about 15 seconds to combine. Add in chopped herbs and pulse a few times just to combine everything. Don't blend too much or your ranch will turn green from the herbs. Transfer to serving dish and refrigerate until needed (this will thicken it a bit too).
Make buffalo sauce. In a large mixing bowl, combine 4 Tbsp ghee, 2/3 cup Texas Pete, 2 tsp white vinegar, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika. The ghee will melt when you add the wings to the bowl, so no need to melt it before adding to the sauce.
Toss chicken wings in sauce. Once the chicken is done, place it in the bowl with the buffalo sauce and stir to coat. Allow the ghee to melt and then stir again.
Serve with peppercorn ranch, celery sticks, and carrots!
Notes
*The omission of potato starch will not change the taste of the wings at all. The potato starch just helps the sauce stick to the wings better and gives them a little more of a crispy texture. I make these wings without the starch all the time and they are still great! **If you are using a large cast iron skillet like the 15-inch cast iron skillet that I use, to get a medium heat you will need to use a power burner on your range and set it to medium or if you only have regular burners, then you will need to set it to high to get a medium heat. This is mostly because cast iron doesn't heat super evenly and 15 inches is a really large skillet. Because it doesn't heat super evenly, you also want to make sure the entire skillet is hot before adding the chicken. I give mine a good 5 minutes to heat up. Reduce the heat during the "preheating" if it starts to smoke too much. But then you'll want to increase it again right before you add the chicken. Arrowroot starch can be substituted for potato starch. Tapioca starch cannot. Tapioca starch will give you a slimy texture.These wings are the perfect mild/medium spice level. Just spicy enough, but not overwhelming. If you want more spice, I suggest adding some cayenne pepper or Tabasco to your buffalo sauce instead of increasing the amount of Texas Pete. If you want something more mild and kid-friendly, just decrease the amount of Texas Pete to 1/2 cup and add 1 more tsp vinegar (so 1 Tbsp vinegar total).