Winging It: Darin’ Dab Ghost Wings from Popeyes
Bottom Line: The Darin’ Dab Ghost Wings from Popeyes definitely deliver on the heat when you add the Last Dab sauce, and these are some tasty wings as well.
Chicken again, chicken again, chicken again. There are so many spicy chicken options out there—because the restaurant industry thinks that’s the only protein it can add a kick to—that I wonder if I’ll have enough time to get to all of them. Wendy’s has a collaboration with the Wednesday TV series that includes spicy nuggets and “Dips of Dread,” McDonald’s has spicy new sauces for its chicken tenders, Wingstop has two new flavors for its wings, I’ve discovered two more hot chicken places here in San Antonio, and on and on. So much piquant poultry, so little time.
But there’s one new addition that caught my eye and that I made some time to try out. Popeyes has teamed up with Hot Ones and they are offering Sizzlin’ Sriracha Dippers, the Smokin’ Rojo Sandwich, and Darin’ Dab Ghost Wings. Fast food places often promise spicy food but end up short on the burn, but I know that when Hot Ones is involved, the spice is rarely on the mild side.
I went with the hottest selection on the new menu—Darin’ Dab Ghost Wings—which includes six bone-in or boneless wings dusted with Ghost Pepper dry rub and served with a packet of Hot Ones Last Dab Sauce. It was actually supposed to come with a Hot Ones Last Dab Ranch dip cup, but apparently they were out of that, so they gave me the Last Dab sauce and a Ranch cup to mix together myself. Regular readers will know that I’m not a big fan of Ranch, so I didn’t bother with that and pulled out some bleu cheese dressing from the fridge as my condiment of choice (I got the meal to go).
I ordered the boneless wings, but they gave me bone-in instead, which was still okay. The wing pieces weren’t too big, but they still had some meat on the bone. The crust from the batter has a decent crunch and a nice amount of seasoning. There’s a bit of sweet in there with a Cajun twang, and these have some heat, making my lips tingle (you can read my previous review of the Ghost Pepper Wings here).
After sampling one wing to get a baseline on the heat (a little above Medium on my scale), I put two drops of the Last Dab sauce on the next one to see how that amped up the burn. It delivered an immediate assault of spice, with an intense peppery kick and some notable fire (you can read my review of the Last Dab Sauce here). But it wasn’t intolerable—I didn’t need to douse my mouth with a fire extinguisher—so I headed for the next wing. I put on another two drops of the sauce and dipped that one in the bleu cheese, and it worked out quite well, delivering a nice cooling contrast to the intense heat, but the wing still had plenty of burn.
Heat-wise, I’d put the wings with two drops each of the Last Dab Sauce at above Fiery on my scale. After eating five of those with the sauce, my mouth was definitely ablaze. But I had fries on the side, and I dipped those in the remaining bleu cheese (a surprisingly good combination), which cooled things off nicely. There’s plenty of sauce in that packet, so if you want to increase the amount on each wing, you certainly can. But that’s recommended only for the toughest of chiliheads, and the average mortal will want to steer completely clear of these altogether.
The six-piece order of Ghost Pepper Wings runs 670 calories, which is on the high side for a drive-thru item (and they also pack in 46g of fat). The good news is that the Last Dab Sauce doesn’t add much in the way of calories, but any creamy dipping sauce will tack on about 100 to 200 cals, depending on how much you use. The Cajun Fries add another 365 cals, which gets you over a thousand and due for some extra time in the gym. As an option, the mashed potatoes and gravy come in at only 110 cals, and the coleslaw is 140 cals, both worth considering if you’re trying to keep the total down. And the latter should also work really well as a cooling counterbalance to the heat of the Last Dab Sauce.
At twelve bucks for the combo with a side and a drink, that’s definitely on the high side, but fast food isn’t always cheap food these days. The Hot Ones menu is a limited-time deal, and I’d kind of like to give the Smokin’ Rojo Sandwich a try at some point. But with so many other chicken items to sample, I’ve got to be picky with my poultry choices. If I get around to it, I’ll definitely report back. But if not, I know I’ll find plenty of other spicy chicken to write about.
Nutrition Info:
Serving Size: 6 Bone-In Wings
Calories: 670
Fat: 46g (17g Sat/2 Trans)
Protein: 45g
Carbs: 21g
Sodium: 1420mg
