Chicken Wings are Super Bowl Winners

Cindy ZimmermanFood, Poultry

Chicken wings are hands down the big favorite of Super Bowl fans, according to the National Chicken Council .

super-bowl-wingsThe Council’s 2015 Wing Report estimates that 1.25 billion wings will be eaten during Super Bowl XLIX this weekend as fans watch the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, but wing lovers from coast to coast differ as to what they like with those wings.

The data shows that more than four in five U.S. adults (81 percent) eat chicken wings, and more than half (56 percent) of them say they typically like to eat their wings with ranch dressing, according to a new National Chicken Council poll. After ranch dressing at the top, 42 percent of wing lovers choose barbecue sauce as a typical snack or dipping sauce; 36 percent said blue cheese; 36 percent hot sauce; 35 percent celery; and 20 percent choose carrots. Ten percent of wing lovers describe themselves as “purists who eat nothing with their wings.”

The survey asked which dipping sauces or snacks chicken wing eaters typically like to eat with their wings. They could choose more than one option.

Northeastern wing eaters are significantly more likely to prefer blue cheese dressing (49 percent) than those in the Midwest (36 percent), South (30 percent) and West (30 percent), while those regions are more likely to prefer ranch dressing.

In this interview, National Chicken Council Vice President of Communications Tom Super talks about chicken wing preferences and trivia.Interview with Tom Super, National Chicken Council