Let Winter Beers Make Holiday Recipes Special

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Blue Moon Crispy Wings with Lindsay Olive Dipping Sauce

Kick your Christmas party entertaining up a few notches. These crisp wings and tangy dipping sauce is a good start!

It’s that time again, folks! Time to start planning the annual holiday parties and the menu.

This year, I want to go with tried and true party favorites.  I also want to keep it simple because I want to spend as much time with my guests as I possibly can. You can’t get much simpler and popular than wings.  I think they are everyone’s favorite! 

Everything I need from Price Chopper

I found everything I needed at my local Price Chopper Supermarket. I particularly took advantage of many of their specially priced #HolidayAdvantEdge items. Not only were there quite a few pantry-stocking items on sale, but two things I needed to test my wing recipe–Lindsay Olives® and many beers.  I decided to try Blue Moon® because, well, I’ve never tried that one before!  Great sale price, so why not?

Beer aisle at Price Chopper #42 Catskill, NY

Condiment and dressings aisle Price Choppler #42 Catskill, NY

Instead of the most-often served buffalo wings, I decided to do mine with a crispy beer batter along with a simple, but tasty, dipping sauce.

Yummy and crunchy

I had a trial run with both the wings and the dipping sauce before I will put them on my holiday party menu. The night you have your party shouldn’t be the first time you make or serve anything–remembering Murphy’s Law here!  Anyway, you probably won’t have to look very hard for taste testers–not if there’s wings to be had (if you don’t eat them all yourself, that is.)

Beer batters for fish or chicken are pretty common. However, I did find that using ale, which Blue Moon is, produces a much crispier batter and there’s a hint of fine ale flavor that comes through.  It doesn’t seem to dissipate like some beers will.  I have to admit, I loved the flavor it imparted.

Feel the crunch, taste the ale

As for the dipping sauce, I loaded it up with onion, coarsely chopped olives, celery and plenty of garlic.  You can go easier on the garlic if you don’t love it as much as I do–or leave it out if you hate it.  This dip can stand many alterations and still taste great.  

Versatile dipping sauce

Beside being a tasty dipping sauce for the wings, it can double as a sandwich spread or a complete salad dressing for your tuna or chicken salads.

Blue Moon Crispy Wings

• 2 lbs chicken wings*
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tbs seasoned salt
• 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 12 oz Blue Moon® Belgian White Ale
• oil for frying

*An equal amount of frozen, ready-cut wings (thawed) may be substituted.

Prepare wings by cutting off wing tip and cutting through joint to make 2 pieces. Pat dry with paper towels.


In a small bowl, mix flour, seasoned salt and cayenne pepper. If flour has too many clumps, sift it–you need a relatively smooth batter.


Slowly add the Blue Moon ale.  Use only enough to get a thick batter–I used 10 oz to achieve the proper consistency.This should be the consistency of a thick pancake batter.  Let this sit for 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, heat 2-inches of oil in a deep heavy skillet or dutch oven (I use a dutch oven–less mess) over medium high heat.  Heat oil to 375 degrees F–a cube of white bread will brown in 60 seconds at this temperature.  My advice is to use a deep fry/candy thermometer for best accuracy.


Dip wing pieces into batter, letting excess batter drain off back into the bowl; add to hot oil.  Don’t overcrowd the pan as it will bring down the temperature of the oil resulting in greasy and non-crispy wings.  Fry in small batches.


Fry wings approximately 20 minutes, turning half way through the cooking process.


Remove from pan and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.  You can keep the wings hot and crispy by holding them in a 200 degree F oven while frying remaining batches.


Serve hot–serves about 4-6 as an appetizer.  Serve with Lindsay Olive Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)




Lindsay Olive Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1/4 cup coarsely chopped ripe Lindsay® Olives 
1 tbs garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-3 drops hot sauce (optional)


Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.  Chill for about 30 minutes before serving.


Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

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