National Chicken Wing Day is July 29. National Avocado Day is July 31. This is both of them on one platter — charred lime-and-garlic wings off the grill, served around smoky grilled avocado halves with SoCal Original Avocado spooned right into the pit.

The sauce works three ways here: it carries the marinade, it goes on as a late baste for the char, and it fills the avocado halves at the end. Mild the whole way through, so the entire table can eat it.

Ingredients

Wings and marinade

• 3 pounds chicken wings, split into flats and drumettes
• ½ cup SoCal Original Avocado
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice of 2 limes, plus the zest of 1
• 4 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1½ teaspoons kosher salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper

For basting

• ¼ cup SoCal Original Avocado, set aside separately — never reuse the marinade

Grilled avocados

• 3 firm-ripe Hass avocados, halved and pitted, skin on
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ cup SoCal Original Avocado
• Chili-lime salt (Tajín)
• ⅓ cup crumbled cotija
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• Lime wedges, for serving

Directions

1. Whisk the ½ cup Original Avocado with the olive oil, lime juice and zest, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper. Toss with the wings until every piece is coated, cover, and chill 2 to 6 hours. Keep the separate ¼ cup of sauce in the fridge for basting.
2. Set up a two-zone grill: hot side around 450°F, the other side off or low. Scrape and oil the grates well.
3. Lift the wings out of the marinade and pat them lightly dry — wet skin steams instead of crisping. Cook on the cool side, lid down, 18 to 20 minutes, turning every 5, until the skin is taut and they read 175°F.
4. Move the wings to the hot side for 3 to 5 minutes, turning often, until blistered and charred at the edges. Brush with the reserved Original Avocado in the last minute only. Pull to a platter and tent.
5. Brush the avocado halves on the cut face with olive oil and lay them cut side down on the hot side. Leave them alone 2 to 3 minutes until grill marks form, then lift straight off — do not flip.
6. Set the avocado halves cut side up around the wings. Spoon Original Avocado into each pit well and dust with chili-lime salt.
7. Shower cotija and cilantro over the whole platter, add lime wedges, and serve hot — scoop the avocado straight from the skin with each wing.

Tips

Firm-ripe avocados only. They should yield slightly to your thumb but still feel solid; soft ones collapse on the grate.

Baste late. Citrus and sauce go bitter over high heat in about ninety seconds, so the sauce goes on at the very end.

Pull the wings at 175°F, not 165°F. Wings are collagen-heavy and the extra few minutes is what makes them tender instead of rubbery.

No grill? Broil the wings on a rack 6 inches from the element, 8 minutes per side, and sear the avocado halves cut side down in a dry cast iron pan for 2 minutes.

Want more heat? Cut the basting sauce half and half with SoCal Hot Avocado.