The Hack That Makes Taco Bell Nuggets Taste Like Boneless Wings
Taco Bell has a famously massive menu and lots of enticing, limited-time offerings, but one offering it is missing is boneless wings. They're a popular preparation of fried chicken, but if you want them from the Bell, you'll have to follow this ordering hack that gets you just about as close as possible to a hypothetical Taco Bell boneless wing.
The chain recently reintroduced its chicken nuggets, brined in jalapeño buttermilk and breaded with a breadcrumb and tortilla chip combo for a unique flavor, with the goal of making them a permanent menu item. The next time you order these, order your choice of sauce to go along with it. Drizzle your sauce on the nuggets and shake it all up in the closed box to evenly distribute it; now you have something similar to boneless wings.
Taco Bell released a limited-time Mike's Hot Honey Diablo Sauce to pair with its chicken nuggets, part of a line of limited-release sauces that includes Hidden Valley fire ranch and jalapeño honey mustard. Any one of these would be a great choice for these DIY boneless wings, as would Taco Bell's classic lineup of hot sauces.
What are boneless wings and why are they popular?
How did this classic appetizer get popular enough that people would want to try to copy it with chicken nuggets? Boneless wings are a culinary institution thanks to the Great Recession. Although Buffalo Wild Wings is credited with inventing them in 2003, boneless wings gained popularity around six years later as chicken wings became more expensive than breasts, yet cash-strapped consumers still wanted wings.
While they may seem similar, chicken nuggets and boneless wings are quite different. Boneless wings are all-meat cuts of chicken breast that are breaded, fried, and tossed in some kind of sauce. Conversely, chicken nuggets are ground chicken (which may contain other cuts, including dark meat, as well as chicken skin) that is molded into specific shapes and then fried. Saucing nuggets up real good may not quite be a boneless wing, but it's the next best thing.