Another Del Monte Quick N Easy boxed arrived a few days ago so I was excited to embark on another cooking adventure. I love, love, love receiving my boxes from them!!! Not only does it come with a Del Monte Quick N Easy sauce to try, it also has little kitchen gifts too. I love my new chopping board with P for PATS!!! And my cheese knives (I love cheese!!!) and salad spoons! I’m slowly becoming a domesticated diva thanks to all these little kitchen tools and trinkets. I used to be kilig receiving shoes and clothes but these days I’m equally giddy over knives, chopping boards and other kitchen paraphernalia! Hahahaha!
This time the folks at Del Monte sent me their Caldereta sauce and the challenge was to use it for Buffalo Wings! Caldereta for Buffalo Wings?!?!?!!? Hmmmm. I wasn’t sure if it would work, especially since the two dishes are worlds apart! But I was determined to accept the challenge and since the instructions seemed so easy, I didn’t see the harm in trying it. PLUS Pat loves chicken wings and he always, always orders it when we’re out. Walang kamatayang pakpak!!! Hahaha! So I was excited to make a homemade version for him to enjoy. This is a very budget friendly dish, the only ingredients you’ll need are the chicken wings and of course, Del Monte Quick n’ Easy Caldereta Sauce! The other ingredients are already stocked up in your pantry like garlic, honey, butter, chili, salt and pepper so no need to spend extra for them. Yup, that’s it!!
The Caldereta Sauce has all the ingredients mixed into it so you don’t really have to add anything else! It’s the perfect all-in-1 recipe mix because it has the taste of real tomatoes, liverspread, cheese, chilli, spices and seasonings that makes a flavourful base for many different recipes. You just snip the packet open, squeeze out the sauce and mix! You can add a bit of salt and pepper to the marinade if you want but honestly, it’s already perfect as is so you’ll need just a bit Oh and unlike other sauces in the market, this doesn’t contain MSG. Phew!!! So it’s safe even for kids!
Mix and smile. Mix and smile. Hahahahaha. Well, at least just for the photo-op! Nagpakita pa ang aking mini-double chin! Cameo role lang? Haha!
Make sure you evenly distribute the Caldereta sauce so you can use a big spoon or your hands to massage the chicken. Oh and please wash your hands properly before handling the meat, you’ll be amazed at how these germs can be on full stealth mode if you’re not careful! For the chicken to soak in all the flavors, you can refrigerate it for around 15-30 minutes. You can also opt to do this the night before and leave it marinating in the ref. So the next day you can just take it out of the ref and cook!
When your chicken is ready, just sauté garlic, butter and honey! You can also opt to use brown sugar or muscovado. Then add the remaining Calderata sauce mix and water to simmer. Then you just add the chicken and VOILA!!! I wish I could add a longer list of instructions, but that’s basically it. It’s that simple!
I’m sorry I got carried away with the cooking that I failed to take a shot of the chicken in the pan! Hehehe! Praning kasi ako sa talsik ng mantika so safety first—no time for a camera shot! Hahaha! But it’s super easy, you just cook the chicken in the sauce and wait for the meat to get white and tender (no more redness). You can add a sour cream and blue cheese dip if you like but these buffalo wings are already tasty on their own. You can pair it with corn on the cob, french fries (you can also use kamote!), and or veggie sticks! I’m not much of a wings person–I’m not a dark meat eater, hehehe—so I kind of cheated and made another batch with chicken breast strips! They turned out really yummy too and is a good alternative for white meat eaters like me Although I used the Caldereta mix for this, it really tasted like legit resto level Buffalo Wings. If you want more of a kick, add more siling labuyo to make it even more spicy and guy-friendly. But I personally like the honey-garlic taste so I focused more on those two ingredients along with the Caldereta mix The mix is really versatile and easy to use so you can do different variations with it. Again, I’m giving myself a PAT on the back for a job well done!!!! Yeheyyy!
Product photos above by Bea Marquez, other photos are by ME