Favorite Honey-Sriracha Chicken Wings

Name: Favorite Honey-Sriracha Chicken Wings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 80 min
Total time: 100 min
Ingredients: 1 ½ cups ketchup; 3 garlic cloves (minced or grated); ¼ cup honey; ¼ cup apple cider vinegar; 2 tablespoons fish sauce; 1 tablespoon fresh ginger (grated); 2 teaspoons sriracha ((see notes)); 4-5 pounds whole chicken wings (thawed); Salt; 1 tablespoon baking powder; Ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing (for serving, optional); Celery and carrot sticks (for serving, optional)

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Make your guests full and happy at your next party and serve these honey-sriracha wings! Ultra crispy chicken wings are tossed with a sweet and spicy honey-sriracha BBQ sauce to make one irresistible party snack. No matter the occasion, these delicious chicken wings are always a crowd favorite.

A plate of the honey-sriracha chicken wings on a white plate with sesame seeds sprinkled around it and some sriracha sauce in the background.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
Delicious Serving Suggestions
Storing, Freezing and Reheating Wings
Recipe FAQs
Expert Tips
Perfect Pairing
Enjoy More Football Season Snacks
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Made for sriracha lovers: Meet your perfect chicken wing recipe. The spicy sriracha BBQ sauce gives these wings the perfect kick, and you can easily tailor the amount of hot sauce to your liking.

No deep frying required for crispy skin: Of course, you’re more than welcome to fry these wings, but thanks to a special baking technique, we can achieve that same crunch with the oven.

Mostly calls for make-ahead preparation: Hosting parties is a lot of work, so I always recommend serving as many make-ahead dishes as possible to allow yourself to actually enjoy the time with company. These honey-sriracha chicken wings are perfect for that.

Related: Love wings? Make sure you also try these mango-habanero chicken wings and smoked turkey wings — they're a favorite for game day.

Ingredients

Chicken wings: I recommend buying whole chicken wings and then splitting them yourself. Splitting chicken wings is so simple, and we’ll walk through the process. Plus, they’re much cheaper than separated party wings, and I always find they’re meatier.

Salt: For the best flavor and texture, we use the salt to dry brine the wings the night before serving.

Baking powder: This is the secret ingredient to achieving perfectly crispy wings in the oven. It also works great in the air fryer or smoker. If you plan to fry the wings, you can skip the baking powder.

Honey-sriracha BBQ sauce: To make my honey-sriracha BBQ sauce, we need the sriracha hot chili sauce, honey, ketchup, garlic cloves, apple cider vinegar, fish sauce and fresh ginger.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prepare the Honey-Sriracha Wing Sauce

Step 1: We add all the honey-sriracha sauce ingredients to a small saucepan and stir to make one cohesive mixture (photo 1).

A wooden spoon stirring the sriracha wing sauce in a small stainless steel saucepan on the stove-top range.

Step 2: Now we bring the sauce to simmer over medium heat and continue to cook it for about 10-20 minutes (photo 2).

The honey-sriracha wing sauce simmering on the stove-top range in a small stainless steel saucepan.

And that’s it! How easy was that? We transfer the sauce to a sterile, airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to several weeks until we’re ready to use it.

Prepare the Chicken Wings

Step 1: With our sauce made, we’re ready to start on the chicken wings. To separate the whole chicken wings, we first cut off the tip (photo 3).

From here, we find the knob-like bone at the bottom of the drumette (photo 4) and cut right directly underneath that bone to separate the wing into two pieces like so (photo 5).

A collage showing the process of separating the whole chicken wings on a brown wooden cutting board.

Step 2: For extra flavorful wings with the perfect crispy skin, we want to dry brine the wings, and the process couldn’t be simpler. We use paper towels to remove any extra moisture from the skin, sprinkle salt all over the skin and place the wings uncovered in the refrigerator for at least eight hours and up to 24 hours (photo 6).

The chicken wings on a brown wooden cutting board after they've been coated with salt to dry brine.

Technically, this step is optional, but it does make for better wings. I recommend planning ahead.

Step 3: After dry brining, we remove the wings from the refrigerator and toss them with baking powder (photo 7).

The chicken wings in a large glass mixing bowl covered in baking powder after dry brining in the refrigerator.

Step 4: Once we coat our chicken wings, we place them in a single layer on a greased wire rack within a large baking sheet (photo 8). For easy clean-up, we can cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Initially, we cook the wings in a 250-degree F oven for 30 minutes. By first using a low heat, this helps render the fat from the skin. Now we increase the heat to 425 degrees F and bake for another 40-50 minutes to help us achieve that perfectly crispy skin.

The wings on a gold wire rack on top of a baking sheet after they're tossed with baking powder and before they bake in the oven.

Step 5: The wings are ready when they reach an internal temperature of 175 degrees F. While the wings are safe to eat at 165 degrees F, cooking them longer helps break down the collagen and connective tissue for more tender meat. An instant-read meat thermometer works well to ensure the wings reach the correct temperature.

All that’s left is to toss the wings with our honey-sriracha BBQ sauce, and they’re ready for snacking (photo 9). We can toss the wings in a large bowl or place them in a resealable bag and shake it well.

The wings in a large glass mixing bowl after they've been tossed with the homemade honey-sriracha BBQ sauce.

Note: Baked chicken wings is the most popular preparation method for home cooks, but you can absolutely prepare them in other ways. Here are a few alternative ways you can also cook the wings.

Delicious Serving Suggestions

I love serving these spicy, sticky wings with a little chopped cilantro, toasted sesame seeds and fresh lime juice. For classic wing accompaniments, don’t forget baby carrots, celery sticks, and a side or ranch or blue cheese dressing, but you might want some other fun party snacks. These are a few of my favorites.

Storing, Freezing and Reheating Wings

Wings are at their best when served immediately, so that’s what I recommend when hosting company. But if you’d like to reheat them for your own snack, here’s how to enjoy those leftovers.

Allow the wings to cool completely and then store them in an airtight container for up to three to four days.
To reheat the wings, let them sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes. This removes the chill and helps with more even reheating.
Place the wings in a single layer on the greased baking rack and spritz them with water to help keep them moist.
Bake the chicken wings in a 350-degree F oven for five minutes, flip the wings and bake for five more minutes.

Want to freeze your leftover wings? No problem.

Let the wings cool and then move them to a freezer bag and lay it flat.
For best results, freeze the wings for three to six months.
When you’re ready to thaw, move the wings to the refrigerator for 24 hours. If you need the wings sooner, place the sealed bag in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator.
Follow the above directions to reheat.

An aerial view of the honey-sriracha chicken wings on a white plate and brown wooden board with the honey-sriracha sauce and brunch of cilantro in the top corners.

Recipe FAQs

Why should I dry brine chicken wings?

The salt from dry brining brings out the moisture from the skin and meat. While the wings dry brine in the refrigerator, the moisture eventually reabsorbs the salt back into the meat, resulting in juicier, tastier chicken and ultra crispy skin.

How many wings should you plan for serving?

For an appetizer, expect to serve four trimmed wings per person. If you serve these wings for dinner, serve eight trimmed wings per person.

Can you bake the wings whole?

Wings are much easier to eat trimmed, but you can bake and serve them whole if you prefer. That said, trimming wings really is simple and doesn’t take very long, so I much prefer to separate the wings.

How spicy are these wings?

While the sriracha sauce has a kick, most people can enjoy them just fine without them tasting too spicy. Of course, if you prefer more fiery wings, you can add cayenne pepper to taste or increase the amount of sriracha in the sauce.

Expert Tips

Double check to ensure you use baking powder, not baking soda: The two are very different products and not interchangeable.

Ensure the wings don’t overlap: If we overcrowd the pan, they won’t get that crispy skin.

Serve with side plates for those bones and plenty of napkins or wet wipes: Eating wings is never a clean affair, so we want to be prepared for sticky fingers.

Do not rinse the dry brine: We want the skin to be as dry as possible. There’s no reason to rinse off the salt.

Allow the wings to rest after baking: This gives the juices a chance to redistribute to the meat. Just five minutes will do. We don’t want to let them rest for too long, or we’ll lose that crispy skin.

Perfect Pairing

With these honey-sriracha wings, you’ll love a cold kolsch on the side. This light, crisp beer acts as a palate refresher between every bite, and it offers a touch of malt sweetness with plenty of bubbly effervescence to balance the spice.

Prefer a wine? You’ll appreciate a gewürztraminer. Like the kolsch, this wine has a sweet side to counter the sriracha, and the sauce’s ginger and honey pair nicely with the wine’s floral notes.

Or perhaps you’d like a cocktail. A margarita’s burst of fresh lime is perfect with that sweet and spicy sauce. To really amp up the spice, you can try my cucumber-jalapeño margarita, featuring a fresh ginger syrup, or you can keep it simple with my Cadillac margarita or Texas margarita.

I also have a guide to fruity margaritas that would be great. Just like the suggested beer and wine pairings, you’ll adore the extra sweetness from the fresh fruits.

When you need the perfect party snack, these crispy honey-sriracha chicken wings always hit the spot. Your friends and family are guaranteed to gobble them up, and they're sure to become a favorite appetizer for any and all gatherings.

Cheers!

A hand dipping a honey-sriracha wing in a white bowl filled with ranch dressing and a bundle of fresh cilantro in the background.

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Comments

5 from 98 votes (93 ratings without comment)