If you are like the rest of us, you enjoy chicken wings whenever you can. You could even eat them for breakfast, a snack later in the day and still have them for dinner. But how many calories in a chicken wing do you get when you eat chicken wings so regularly?
Too many calories that make you fat?
Don’t know?
Me neither! I enjoyed my chicken wings but didn’t have a clue which chicken wings contain more or fewer calories. So I got out to find out what I was doing to my body eating all the wings. Do you want to know, don’t you? Let the findings surprise you.
Read more...
But first, let us see who else besides you and me, loves chicken wings.
How Many Chicken Wings Are Eaten in America?
So, we are in good company here.
According to the American National Chicken Council, more than 1.25 billion (100 million pounds) servings of chicken wings are eaten during the Super Bowl Weekend alone. Outside the Super Bowl Weekend, more than 3 billion pounds are consumed in a year.
You can be served with chicken wings at thousands of outlets; including Anchor Bar, the "home" of the chicken wings, KFC, McDonald's, Domino's Pizza, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Seoul Chicken, Polito's, Lotteria... and many other places where food is served.
How Many Calories in a Chicken Wing?
It depends on some factors.
While you may eat the same size chicken wings at different places, you can eat more or fewer calories depending on the outlet. This happens because the different brands follow varying recipes. However, the overall reason your favorite chicken wings may be packing in lots of calories is how it is prepared.
In case you are fond of eating the full chicken wing, complete with the skin, you could be eating far more calories than eating a skinless, boneless wing. The same happens when you eat deep fried chicken wings as opposed to grilled or roasted wings.
In addition, chicken wings contain a lot more than calories. Each small wing can provide you with protein, fat, iron, sodium and cholesterol.
Counting the Calories in Fried Chicken Wings
According to Healthcare Online, how many calories in a chicken wing depends on the method of preparation and cooking. A small, raw chicken wing contains 43 calories. When fried, the same chicken wing contains 89 calories; 55 calories when barbecued, and 26 calories when grilled.
When covered in batter, a deep fried chicken wing with bones and skin contains 159 calories. This calorie is 6 percent of recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calorie intake for an adult male. Deep fried chicken wings with bones and skin pack in 81 calories.
However, broiled, roasted or baked chicken wing contains fewer calories. With skin on but bone removed, one small chicken wing contains 52 calories and 5.79 grams of fat. One little chicken wing provides 20 percent RDA of protein and 8 percent RDA of fat for an adult male.
Frying the chicken wings adds excess fat which leads to increased body fat and obesity. Adding batter when frying chicken wings adds more calories. It also adds as much as 10 grams of fat that you eat in one wing. If you are looking for chicken wings that are healthier and contain fewer calories and less fat, choose broiled, roasted or baked products.
Low-Calorie Chicken Wing Recipes
But you don't have to go to any restaurant to have your favorite chicken wings. You can make your delicious snack by following one of the many recipes in the Recipes for Chicken Wings or 70 Unbeatable Recipes for Fried, Baked and Grilled wings; both available on Amazon. Also, you could have a quick peek at pure wings recipes in a lot of other places.
One such place is Fitness Magazine which has great ideas for low-fat chicken wing recipes. Use these to get the same great flavor you would get from restaurant without having to worry about how many calories in a chicken wing.
Low-Calorie Baked Wings Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pcs chicken wings
- 1/2 apple; peeled and seeded
- Five cloves of garlic
- 50 grams of veggies
- Spicy marinating sauce: chili sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, sesame oil
Directions
- Step 1: Wash and rinse the chicken wings and cut slits on the surface. Put in a bowl.
- Step 2: Cut garlic and apples into small pieces and put in the bowl.
- Step 3: Add the sauce, vinegar, fish sauce and sesame oil and mix.
- Step 4: Set the wings aside to marinate for 3 hours, or overnight. This action will make the chicken wings get darker than just one to two hours in the marinade.
- Step 5: After marinating, put the chicken the mixture into preheated oven and bake at 200°F for 20 minutes. Alternatively, grill over charcoal or fry in a frying pan.
- Step 6: Serve with vegetables.
Alternatively, you can refer to the video below. It provides a different recipe, also very fun to grill chicken wings.
Conclusion
Finally, if you are still with me, I guess you now know the answer to your question about how many calories in a chicken wing. You can get more or fewer calories from your favorite chicken wings. Skinless, grilled, roasted and baked are better for your health. But, however, you choose to eat it, enjoy the delicious chicken wings.
Do you enjoy trying things out for yourself? Perhaps, like me, you have a new found love to know exactly what you eat! Whatever your reason, pick one or more of the following resources and find some recipes to try out:
If you are curious about how many calories in salt or an avocado, please refer to here and here.
Have a question or comment about chicken wings or other related topics; forward them to me in the comments section.
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When you refer to ‘one chicken wing’ do you mean a whole chicken wing (i.e. drumette and wingette combined) or to each separated joint? It’s a bit confusing, as obviously a chicken wing consists of both parts, but buffalo wings are often referred to as each individual piece being ‘one wing’, and your photos show both. Many thanks!
A “whole wing” is two parts, the drum-eye and the flat. Is that what you mean? Or is the calorie count for each piece?