MAPLE LEAF PRIME CLASSIC BUFFALO WINGS

So sometimes grocery stores make mistakes, and I'm willing to take advantage of their errors. I was at Freshco grocery and I always cruise past the frozen wing sections just in-case there was something new or exciting. Or a deal. On this particular occasion, it was a deal.

See, they were having a sale on Jane's Chicken Wings - which are trash in my opinion - but they had no supply, so they substituted Prime frozen wings instead. I had never had Maple Leaf branded wings before that I could remember, so it was time to try them out, especially at this price.

They had two flavours to choose from, BBQ and Classic Buffalo. The boxes are basically identical so I had to root around for the Buffalo ones. I was SUPER skeptical because I don't have a lot of confidence in Maple Leaf as a chicken wing producer (see below *) and because it says 'Classic Buffalo' but from the box I see it is a breaded wing (Buffalo wings are not breaded) and I know you bake it.

"Our Chicken Wings and sauces are made with real, simple ingredients. Each recipe starts with natural chicken drumettes and winglets that are RAISED WITHOUT antibiotics. Each wing is seasoned with natural spices and lightly dusted with wheat flour before browning them in vegetable oil. Heat at home and toss in our classic Buffalo sauce. For extra flavor, serve with our creamy Garlic parmesan dipping sauce – it’s sure to be a family favourite!"

Prime as a brand is really big on advertising that their chicken is made with "natural chicken" that is "raised without antibiotics" with no artificial "colours" or "preservatives" - positioning themselves as super clean, healthy chicken. It might have to do with the fact that back in 2008 they had a horrible food crisis* that almost destroyed the brand.

After checking out the box and the instructions (gotta say I was glad to see "Do Not Microwave" - chicken wings should never be microwavable), I opened it up and pulled out a bag of wings and 2 sauce packs. The wings are in a big plastic bag, and there were 12 wings inside - not a lot, but they looked like a decent size. They looked not bad for frozen wings too.

The two sauce packets were the Spicy Buffalo sauce and the Garlic Parmesan Sauce. Both come frozen and require you to submerge in warm water for 3-4 minutes.

I placed the wings on a baking sheet on parchment paper; I never put it directly onto the pan or onto tinfoil because they always stick and make a huge mess, with parchment, no mess. There was a bunch of ice chunks and some of the wings had a significant amount of frost on them. I wasn't that concerned but I was going to check them out to make sure it wasn't a problem.

I baked them at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes as per the instructions. The frost seemed to have no effect on them, so that was good. I also noticed there wasn't a lot of grease coming off these wings either, also good.

The breading was consistent over all the chicken held up well on the wings and they actually looked crispy. They even had that crispy sound when picking them up with my tongs for flipping them. Another good sign.

We were having these wings during our big move into our house, so we had some take-out pizza, and we were dining off paper plates due to not having unpacked our plates yet. If you are wondering, the pizza was from Domino's, one was thin crust (no one liked this that much) and deep dish (love their deep dish) - it was a deal, but we didn't want to order their wings (which are ok). Pizza wasn't enough, so hence testing out the frozen wings. Not everyone wanted hot sauce, so we didn't sauce and toss the wings, and I just drizzled the Buffalo sauce over my wings.

For the most part, these were a very decently sized wing. Medium+ for both length and height. The breading made the wings a little bigger, but these were also still meaty wings. The breading was crunchy, and a bit thick, but not in a way that took away from the wing experience. The meat was also tender and the bones easily pulled away from the joints.

On the side I drizzled the Garlic Parmesan and the Buffalo sauce for dipping. Having had many piss poor ranch and blue cheese dips included with frozen wings, I had very low expectations for the Garlic Parmesan, a first I have ever seen with frozen wings. I was very pleasantly surprised. This was a great side dipping sauce. It was thick and creamy, and tasted like Gar-Par. It didn't taste like restaurant scratch made, but for what it was, it was pretty good.

The Spicy Buffalo sauce was not too shabby. It wasn't runny, but not thick either. It smelled like a decent commercial cayenne based hot sauce. It actually listed natural butter flavour in the ingredients, even if it was the last ingredient. I wouldn't call these spicy either, unless you are a heat wimp.

I think everyone liked these wings as they gobbled them up pretty quickly. To be fair, we were also really hungry.

Would I Get Them Again?

Yes for sure, and I went out and got another box to have on hand after having these. The wings are a good size for frozen wings, they have a quality breading that remains crispy and intact on the wing. The wing itself has some very nice, non-fatty chicken that cooks up nicely and remains tender. The sauces are pretty good too. Next time it's just me, I'm going to sauce and toss these wings for sure. There are a lot of garbage frozen wings out there, but I give a big thumbs up for Prime Classic Buffalo (even if they aren't Buffalo). 9.5/14

Prime Classic Buffalo Wings
mapleleafprime.ca/wings-buffalo