Chicken Wings Baked with Bobby Flay's Asian-style Pineapple-Ginger BBQ Sauce

Raise your hands if you think that Bobby Flay is king of BBQ and burgers!
With no hesitation, my hands are above my head!!!
All these Bobby Flay BBQ chicken recipes at here, here, here and here and his burger recipes at here, here and also his most ultimate burger recipe featured in the Food Network magazine, September 2014 issue are all that I have bookmarked... but didn't eventually cook them because they are either too hot and spicy or too complicated with a long list of ingredients! This is so Bobby Flay! Always so mah fan (Mandarin language meaning bothersome) and super complicated!!!

For instance, I like to cook one of his BBQ chicken recipe which contain his famous sixteen-spice rub but can't do it because it requires a few particular kinds of chile powder that is not commonly found in our supermarket! Well, I could have made Bobby Flay's sixteen-spice rub into twelve or thirteen-spice rub... LOL! but I didn't. I believe that the presence of all these sixteen spices in this recipe is pretty essential.
Is food made with complicated method really so delicious? I have to say that... After tasting these chicken wings baked with Bobby Flay's inspired Asian-style Pineapple-Ginger BBQ sauce, I have to give Bobby Flay's complicated way of cooking the benefit of doubt as these wings are really really really good.
Originally, this BBQ sauce recipe from Food Network is used to grill ribs which will take more than 4-5 hours. 4-5 hours!!!??? There is a long preparation step required to make the BBQ sauce and the ribs has to be cooked for more than 2 hours until tender!
I think this 5 hours of cooking is really too much for me and so I have slightly simplified this recipe to bake both spicy and non-spicy chicken wings all in about 2-3 hours...

Chicken wings baked with Bobby Flay's Asian-style pineapple-ginger BBQ sauce

To start, combine these ...

... and these to make the spice rubs

The beautiful Asian ingredients that I have used to make the BBQ sauce.

I have added these to make the spicy wings.

For convenience, I'm using can pineapples instead of the fresh ones.

To cook the sauce, I have caramelized the ginger, onion, garlic and pineapple first.

Add these ...

Finally... These are the sauces!

Using the oven, I'm baking these wings.

The baking takes me about an hour.

The wings are ready!

Serve them with roasted sesame seeds and finely chopped spring onions.

Man: This sauce is superb.
Boy can't talk. Too busy eating.
Mum: This recipe is originally used to cook ribs.
Man: Oh! This sauce must be very delicious with ribs! Please cook this again with ribs!
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Mum had fainted due to exhaustion!!!

Here's the recipe that is mostly adapted from Food Network

Cooks 16 BBQ chicken wings

16 chicken wings

Spice rub:

1/4 cup Spanish paprika or Hungarian sweet paprika which is less spicy and more kid friendly
1 1/2 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground star anise or Chinese 5-spice powder which includes ground star anise and cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground all spice or more Chinese 5-spice powder which includes ground star anise and cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper or white pepper
1 tsp chili powder, optional (add if you like your BBQ to be spicy)

BBQ sauce:

2 tbsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
3-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 large Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
3 cups fresh ripe or canned pineapple chunks from two 440g cans
1 cup fresh pineapple juice
2 cups hoisin sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 to 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (depending on sweetness of pineapple) and I used 1/4 cup because mine canned pineapple in juice
2 tbsp Dijon mustard or 1 tsp mustard powder
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp ground star anise or Chinese 5-spice powder which includes ground star anise and cinnamon
1 tsp ground cinnamon
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For spicy BBQ sauce, add these:

1 habanero or 4 large hot chilies, chopped
6 small bird's eye chillies
3 tbsp chili powder

To garnish:

1 tbsp black sesame seeds, roasted
1 tbsp white sesame seeds, roasted
1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped

For the wings: Stir together the paprika, dry mustard, ground ginger, ground star anise plus all spice / 5-spice powder, salt, pepper and chili powder (optional) in a bowl. Rub the chicken wings with the spice mix, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hrs and up to 24 hrs.

For the sauce: Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Add the garlic, ginger and onions and cook until soft, about 5 mins. Add the pineapple chunks and cook until it caramelizes slightly, about 3 mins. Add pineapple juice, cookhoisin, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, honey, soy sauce, ground star anise / 5-spice powder and cinnamon and cook until thickened, about 30 mins.

Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper . Pour into a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.

Remove the chicken wings from the fridge about an hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 220°C or 200°C fan forced. Place chicken wings on two roasting trays lined with non-stick baking paper and baked them for 15 mins on each side (plus switching the position of the trays) or until starting to brown (about 30 mins). Lower oven temperature to 180°C or 160°C fan forced.

Remove the chicken from the oven and coat the chicken with the pineapple BBQ sauce and return to the oven, basting occasionally for a further 15-20 mins. To finish, transfer chicken wings to fresh sheets of baking paper without any sauce. Return to bake the chicken wings with thin layer of a final baste at 160°C fan forced for 5 mins at each side until the wings turn golden brown and sticky.

Served with roasted sesame seeds and finely chopped spring onions.

Happy Baking

This post is linked to Cook like a Star (Bobby Flay) organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat Your Heart Out and Grace from Life can be simple.

Wanna cook or bake like Bobby Flay? To join, simply cook or bake his recipes from websites like Food Network or Bobby Flay's website or his cookbooks and link with us at this Zoe's, this Yen's or this Grace's post for the whole of November 2014.

To use this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to us at Zoe fromBake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat Your Heart Out and Grace from Life can be simple Cheers! For more details, please see this.

Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking

What's next? Yen fromEat your heart out, Diana fromDomestic Goddess Wannabeand me fromBake for Happy Kidsare cooking and baking a family feast to celebrate Christmas 2014. Join us and link your post with us if you are also cooking something special for your Christmas celebration.