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Italian Herb Wings with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce (+wine pairing)

appetizer· snacks· Tailgating Recipes

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Italian Herb Wings with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce – A flavorful recipe for wings that are baked, not fried! These wings are tossed in garlic, Parmesan cheese, and a trio of Italian herbs and then baked into incredibly crispy wings. They are then served with a homemade Gorgonzola dipping sauce and paired with a refreshing glass of Kung Fu Girl Riesling. 

My wine pairing posts this summer have been quite popular with you guys. I’m glad you appreciate the tips and recipes to ensure a perfect pairing with some of my favorite wines. I’m happy to bring you another installment today!

I present to you the Kung Fu Girl Riesling. What a phenomenal name, huh?!

Bottle of wine from the velvet devil named kung fu girl

Riesling is a German wine that is on the sweeter side of the spectrum. Kung Fu Girl Riesling, however, hails from the good ole USA. Washington state, to be exact. With Washington’s Wine Month being celebrated this month, it only seems fitting to select this wine for today’s pairing.

Plus, with consistent 90-point scores, you cannot go wrong with this Kung Fu Girl Riesling.

American Rieslings tend to be a little sweeter, but this version is on the semi-dry side. It’s perfect for enjoying with lighter meals like sushi, or salty snacks, like cheese and flatbread pizzas.

But what’s even greater about Rieslings is that you cannot go wrong with pairings. The brightness and balance of the wine makes it a dream to pair with, as it doesn’t get temperamental with bold flavors or acidic foods.

So you really don’t need to overthink this pairing – pick whatever food or snack your heart desires and it’s sure to taste great with this wine.

For my pairing, I decided to go with one of my favorite salty snacks – wings! But these aren’t just any wings – they’re packed with Italian flavor and one killer dipping sauce.

Check out my Italian Herb Wings with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce!

Italian Herb Wings with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce in front of the bottles of wine Stack of Italian Herb Wings

I have been obsessed with wings ever since high school, when we’d enjoy weekly wing nights at our local pub. Who could turn down 25 cent wings?!

These wings are a little bit of a step up from those wings of my high school years. Instead of my usual teriyaki wings, I am making a dry wing (aka they’re not tossed in sauce).

For these wings, we’re tossing them in a mixture of Italian herbs, garlic, and Parmesan cheese before we bake them until they’re perfectly crispy. In other words, the trifecta of flavor. Once you get a whiff of this mixture as you toss the wings in it, your taste buds will begin to yearn for them. Your patience is sure to be tested!

That’s right – we’re baking these wings, not frying. Hallelujah! You can put away that gallon of vegetable oil for this one, folks.  

Prepared wings on a foil sheet ready to be baked

I couldn’t believe how crispy these wings got without being fried in a pot of hot oil. But there are a few things I had to do to achieve this crispiness:

  1. Dry off the wings extremely well. Otherwise, the excess moisture will keep them from browning.
  2. Roast the wings at a super high temp. These wings are cooked at 500 degrees. Bet you didn’t think your oven got that hot!
  3. Don’t flip the wings. The longer the wings are untouched, the deeper the skin will brown.

Once you bake the wings, let them cool for 5 minutes and then serve with the creamy Gorgonzola sauce and a bottle of refreshing Kung Fu Girl Riesling.

You can either share or keep them to yourself. But I think you’ll have a tough time letting anyone get close to these babies.

Dipping an Italian Herb Wing into Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce Italian herb drumstick being dipped into the gorgonzola cheese sauce

And if you’re looking for another great Washington Wine for their Wine Month, check out The Velvet Devil Merlot. It also pairs extremely well with many foods and won’t let you down when you need a smooth (“velvet”) and sexy (“devil”) wine to drink. This wine has been named Wine Enthusiast Best Buy 3 years in a row!

Both wines are members of the Charles Smith collection of wines. Make sure to check out their site for some more of their Washington Wines that you can enjoy this month and all year long.

Alright, there you have it – a killer wine pairing to enjoy this month. What other wines do you want to pair this year? Let me know in the comments below!!

Print Recipe

Italian Herb Wings with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce

A flavorful recipe for wings that are baked, not fried! These wings are tossed in garlic, Parmesan cheese, and a trio of Italian herbs and then baked into incredibly crispy wings. They are then served with a homemade Gorgonzola dipping sauce and paired with a refreshing glass of Kung Fu Girl Riesling.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

For the chicken wings:
  • 4 pounds raw chicken wings
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
For the dipping sauce
  • 1/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese crumbles
  • 2/3 cup mayo
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice fresh
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

For the wings:
  • Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
  • Prep chicken wings by cutting into 3 parts: drumette, flat, and tip. Discard the tips. Using a paper towel, dry off the wings as much as possible. This will remove excess moisture, which will make wings nice and crispy. Add wings to a large bowl. Add oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and dry herbs to chicken and toss with your hand, massaging the chicken as you mix.
  • Place chicken wings on prepared baking sheet with skin-side down and spacing out the wings into one even layer. They should barely touch.
  • Bake wings for 15 minutes in preheated oven. Rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees and bake another 15 minutes. No need to flip wings. Remove and let them cool for 5 minutes.
  • Serve wings with dipping sauce (recipe below) and a bottle of Kung Fu Girl Riesling.
For the dipping sauce:
  • Add all the dipping sauce ingredients together into a medium bowl. Using a fork mash up the Gorgonzola cheese into the other ingredients and then combine together until smooth. Add more salt and pepper, if needed.

Pin for later:

Italian Herb Wings with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce photo collage

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Comments

  1. Li says

    The wings are AWESOME!! They were flavorful and juicy. I prepared the wings strictly by the recipe. The only issue I had was the wings didn’t brown within the time given. You just have to be careful. All in all they are amazing and will be put in rotation. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  4. Summer says

    I love chicken wings plus the ease of cooking, this certainly goes to my menu list. Thanks a lot. I have been looking for easy chicken recipes.

    Reply

  10. Jen E. says

    Oh my goodness my mouth is watering! Everytime I read one of your recipes this happens. This dipping sauce is everything, I need to be making this all football season long. My family is so going to appreciate it.

    Reply

  17. the sophia diaries says

    wow, this looks absolutely amazing! I wish I could cook like that xD I’ll have the try this recipe in the future!

    Reply

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