My love for lemon pepper seasoning is passionate and enduring—though not, maybe, as passionate (and infamous) as the city of Atlanta's affair. In the ATL, the sour seasoning was first added to Buffalo wings as a way to temper the heat, but it's since become synonymous with the city itself. Twenty seven thousand miles away from the destination strip clubs and local chains cranking out the best lemon-pepper wings in Atlanta, the seasoning blend first made a notable appearance in my life as I was looking for a way to add flavor to fried breakfast potatoes without reaching for ketchup (an abomination in my book). Lemon-pepper hash browns were soon on the rotation of easy, comforting foods that sustained me throughout college and well into my twenties.
Recently, I've found myself reaching for lemon pepper more frequently again thanks to the fine folks over at San Juan Island Sea Salt, who make the best lemon-pepper blend I've ever had. It boasts the sour pucker you expect from the seasoning, with a little something extra—maybe it's the celery salt or the turmeric? And with the rise of the lemon-pepper wing in national pop culture, thanks mostly to homegrown rapper evangelists, I decided on a whim to make my own, entirely inauthentic (whatever that means) version. Mine leverages the aforementioned San Juan blend, while mixing in minced preserved lemon for another layer of briny citrus that is utterly addicting.
Ingredients
3 lbs wings (about 30 wings)
1 Tbsp lemon pepper seasoning, preferably this blend from San Juan Island Sea Salt*
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup parmesan, Microplaned
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 preserved lemon
Juice of 1 fresh lemon
Fresh-cracked pepper
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Arrange the wings skin-side down on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. For three pounds of wings, you'll need two pans to ensure the wings are properly spaced and get nice and crispy.
Cook wings for 45 minutes total, flipping them and swapping their oven rack positioning after 25 minutes.
While the wings cook, remove the flesh from the preserved lemon, then finely chop the peel. Whisk it together it with the melted butter, lemon pepper, salt, parmesan, Dijon, lemon juice and a few grinds of fresh-cracked pepper in a nice, big bowl.
When the wings are done cooking, add them directly to the bowl with the sauce and toss well to coat. Serve immediately, with additional lemon wedges if you like.
*It's worth buying a jar of this to have on hand, not just for this recipe. A dusting of it makes simply roasted potatoes nearly irresistible, and it's a great way to season a fillet of salmon before you pan-sear it. I've gone through several jars of it and still reach for it frequently!
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