Chicken Wings Are More Nutritious Than You Thought

When you need to celebrate game day or just want a fun meal on a night out on the town, chicken wings can make pretty much any celebration feel right. The numbers don't lie — according to the New York Post, by 2017, Americans were gobbling up an average of 290 wings a year, and those numbers haven't slowed down since. When it comes to finding healthy chicken wings, popular chains like Hooters and WingHouse may seem like the worst options ever if you want to stick to a straight-and-narrow eating plan. But don't give up on this Buffalo, N.Y. invention, as chicken wings actually contain some nutritional surprises that can make anyone come back for that second round.

Finding new recipes to use chicken wings in can feel daunting, especially if we don't feel like breaking out the deep fryer. Times change, and it turns out that even if you do decide to whip up some classic crispy wings at home, each serving contains a ton of nutrients. According to EU Poultry, wings have almost no carbs and have high levels of protein. The meat itself has high amounts of vitamins A, E, D, and K, and a wide range of important minerals like iron and calcium. 

With so much goodness packed into a little wing, now you just need to figure out how to cook them to get maximum benefits.

You might assume you need a side of bleu cheese dressing to properly enjoy your classic wing, and that each fried bite has to get coated with a sticky hot sauce. But according to Livestrong, you can glean the optimal amount of nutrition out of chicken wings by choosing to steam, oven-roast, or grill them to bring out their full potential. If you want to cut down on even more fat, EU Poultry also recommends removing the skin in order to make your chicken wings as wholesome as possible.

No matter how you like to eat your chicken wings, you can guarantee to reap some pretty hefty rewards from that plate of chicken goodness. The nutrients in each bite may also help ease the symptoms of arthritis, diabetes, and gout, while potentially helping to treat depression, improving skin health, increasing immunity, and more (via EU Poultry). 

Nothing strikes the great balance between taste and health like a good, old-fashioned chicken wing. If you haven't indulged in awhile, give this food another chance — they won't disappoint.