Make your own chicken wings for Super Bowl Sunday

Wings and football: On Super Bowl Sunday, they're a winning combination.

You can nibble on chicken wings - and let someone else do the cooking - at your favorite local sports bar. But if you're planning to watch at home, you can try this game-day staple with any number of variations.

We asked a few popular places around the suburbs for their take on wings. From sweet to spicy, these recipes are guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser on football's biggest day.

Sweet Cilantro Wings

Recipe from: Sergio Romero, culinary director, Punch Bowl Social, with locations nationwide, including Schaumburg. Makes a half cup of sauce, enough for a dozen wings.

These wings have it all: sweetness from the honey, tanginess from the hot sauce, heat from the chili flakes and a savory component from the cilantro.

The chicken is first soaked in a citrus brine for 24 hours to ensure layered flavoring. The wings are baked and then fried, with the sugars from the sauce giving them a golden crisp skin before being coated in the cilantro sauce. "The finished wing sauce has a red translucent finish, reminiscent of Hanoi-style wings," Romero says.

Served with the kitchen's house-made buttermilk ranch dressing, featuring garlic, shallots and dill flavors, the dish "screams American diner classic," Romero says. "The tangy dressing is a perfect combination for the sweet heat."

Citrus brine

2¾ quarts water

7½ ounces kosher salt

7½ ounces sugar

1¾ ounces whole black peppercorns

½ bunch parsley

1 lemon, halved

1 orange, halved

1½ ounce garlic cloves, smashed

3 bay leaves

12 chicken wings

Cilantro sauce

¼ cup honey

¼ cup Cholula hot sauce

Pinch of red chili flakes

Pinch of salt

Squeeze of one wedge of lime

½ teaspoon cornstarch

½ teaspoon of water

5 cilantro leaves, chopped, no stems

Oil for frying

For the brine: Put all brine ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Strain and cool. Let wings brine for 24 hours in the refrigerator.

In a small heavy bottomed sauce pot, heat honey and Cholula together. Add red chili flakes; whisk together. Add salt and lime juice. As sauce begins to simmer, add the cornstarch mixed with water. Simmer until reduced by about a quarter. Remove from stove and add cilantro.

Remove wings from the brine and bake at 350 degrees in oven for about 25 minutes. Fry in oil, adding enough oil to cover, for about 4 to 6 minutes, until crispy and golden brown. Finally, toss into warm cilantro sauce. Serve.

Sriracha Wings

Recipe from: Corey Grupe, executive chef O'Toole's Pub Group, with locations in Gurnee, Libertyville and Chicago. Makes enough sauce for up to 100 wings. Sauce is good for about two weeks in refrigerator.

Sriracha is the star of this sauce, sweetened with orange sauce and pineapple juice. "It's easy enough to make and has a ton of flavor," Grupe says. "It's good to put on burgers, too."

Every now and then, this wing dish is brought out at O'Toole's Pub, a place known for its variety of wing flavors, from maple bourbon to garlic Parmesan. It's a hit with crowds, he says.

"That's the beauty of wings; they're really an open template," Grupe says. "From playing around with mole and Harissa and various sweet and sour and hot sauces, you really can do anything."

2 bottles of Sriracha sauce

½ pound melted butter

½ cup Chinese orange sauce

½ cup pineapple juice

1 teaspoon black pepper

Up to 100 chicken wings

In large mixing bowl, combine first four ingredients. Adjust heat by adding black pepper, or other pepper of choice, or add more orange sauce or pineapple juice to make sweeter and less spicy. Set wing sauce aside.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse chicken under cold water. Pat dry. Place parchment paper on sheet pan and bake wings for 15 to 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Toss wings in sauce and serve with side of bleu cheese dressing or ranch.

Korean-style BBQ Wings

Recipe from: Robin Nathan, chef and instructor at Marcel's Culinary Experience, Glen Ellyn. Serves six as an appetizer.

This dish is light on work but heavy on flavor. "I don't do difficult," Nathan says. "There's no reason for it to be hard. You throw a bunch of stuff in the food processor, stick it in the fridge overnight, and then toss on the grill or throw in the oven. They are fabulous."

Asian pear adds body and sweetness to the marinade. "It doesn't have to be perfectly ripe, either," she says.

Nathan, who loves cuisines with a diverse flavor profile, saves the extra sauce for the cooked chicken or to toss with rice. "It's garlicky, a little sweet, spicy and salty. You can't believe the amount of flavor you can get in a short amount of time," she says. "It's amazing."

6 garlic cloves, minced

1-inch knob of fresh ginger, minced

½ cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

4 scallions, sliced into ¼-inch discs (green ends included)

1 tablespoon white sesame seeds

3 tablespoons white sugar

1 Asian pear, peeled and diced

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons Korean red pepper flakes (use half the amount if using regular dried chili flakes)

2 pounds chicken wings, broken into drummettes and flats, tips discarded or saved for stock

Combine garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, scallions, sesame seeds, sugar, Asian pear, black pepper and red pepper flakes in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Spoon out ½ cup of marinade; set aside. Pour remaining marinade in a gallon-size zip-type bag and add wings. Squeeze out as much air as possible; seal bag. Massage chicken to ensure marinade reaches every piece. Place bag in bowl and refrigerate for eight hours or overnight, massaging and turning the bag every now and then.

To grill: Remove wings from bag; shake off excess marinade. Preheat grill over medium high heat and oil it. Cook for 8 minutes per side, turning four times total, until wings are cooked through. Put wings in large bowl; toss with reserved marinade.

To roast: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove wings from bag; shake off excess marinade. Arrange wings on a rack set inside roasting pan. Roast 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven; turn wings and roast another 20 minutes, or until juices run clear when pierced with small, sharp knife. Place wings in a large bowl; toss with reserved marinade.

Original Buffalo wings

Recipe from: Neil Jolcover, owner of Gators Wing Shack Grill and Pizzeria, Palatine. Serves 6 to 8.

Craving basic Buffalo sauce? Gators Wing Shack, in its 15th year, is famous for its chicken wings, and it attracts people from all over the area, says Jolcover. Among other awards, they've taken Best of Fest top honors at Chicago's prestigious annual WingFest.

What makes this recipe so tasty? Simplicity and freshness, Jolcover says. But he doesn't need to do a lot of convincing. "Our awards speak for themselves," he says.

Have no time but still want to indulge? Pick up the sauce at stores throughout the city and suburbs. Visit www.gatorswingshack.com for more information.

2 sticks butter

16 ounces of your favorite cayenne pepper sauce

Tabasco

30 whole jumbo chicken wings

Optional fresh chopped garlic, jalapeño

Melt butter fully and slowly in a pan over a low flame. Whisk cayenne pepper sauce with butter until sauce is orange and creamy. Add Tabasco and fresh ingredients to taste. Set sauce aside.

Grill, fry or bake wings till done. Toss wings in sauce and enjoy.