Why they’re so good!
Who doesn’t love a good chicken wing and these hot honey chicken wings are no exception. A beautifully balanced spicy and sweet sauce over perfectly crispy chicken wings – yes and please. If you love chicken wings, you absolutely need to try these! They’re great as an appetizer or party wings or even for game day but equally as good for a comforting dinner.
These spicy, sticky chicken wings are made using very simple ingredients. A few pantry spices add base flavour, then honey, chilli and hot sauce all melted together with butter creates the most amazing sauce.
And there’s no frying here. Aside from heating the sauce on the stove top, all the cooking is done by the oven getting the wings perfectly crisp on the outside without loads of oil or mess to worry about cleaning up. I recommend using a rack over your baking sheet for the very best results but there really is nothing to it.
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Ingredients
These mouth-wateringly delicious hot honey chicken wings use very basic ingredients. Some simple dry spices create a flavourful seasoning for the wings – which is wonderful all on it’s own – and the sauce is my hot honey recipe with butter added for even more flavour and richness.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Chicken wings: You can’t make honey hot chicken wings without, you guessed it, whole chicken wings. They’ll get more evenly crispy if separated into flats and drummettes (the wing tips can be discarded or frozen for making chicken stock another time) but they will still work whole.
- Baking powder helps to crisp up the chicken skin.
- The chicken wing seasoning is a mix of dried spices – salt, onion powder, paprika and garlic powder.
- Honey is the main component of the hot honey sauce. As they all have different flavour profiles, you can get creative with yours if you like. Use a runny honey you love.
- Dried chilli flakes, also known as red pepper flakes, are what gives the majority of the chili heat to the honey sauce. They’ll infuse in the hot honey, then you can strain them out or leave them in there for an even hotter experience.
- Sriracha is used for adding a little tang and some umami too. You can use another hot sauce or just leave it out and add more chilli flakes.
- Unsalted butter adds richness and a subtle buttery flavour to the sauce.
Mikes hot honey seems to be a popular option to use when making hot honey wings, but it’s not available everywhere and I love the freedom and control of making it yourself. Since it literally takes only a few minutes, why wouldn’t you?
I like to serve them with wedges of lime for squeezing over or some finely sliced green onions. For just a little colour you can garnish with some parsley or coriander (cilantro) too.
How to make them
If the flavour isn’t enough for you, these chilli honey chicken wings take very little effort to make. To get your wings extra crispy, you can sit them in the fridge uncovered overnight to help dry out the skin. This does a great job if you think to do it in time but your wings will still be amazing without taking that step.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Prepare the wings
For best crispy results, cut the wings at the joints into 3 pieces with a sharp knife. The wing tips can be discarded or frozen for making chicken stock and the other two portions – the flats and drummettes – are the parts you’ll bake. Cutting them into pieces like this allows them to cook more evenly all over.
Dry the wings well with paper towel and, if you have time, sit them on a tray in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to get extra dry.
2. Season the wings
Season the wings with the seasoning mix then lay them out in a single layer on a wire rack over a baking sheet.
Bake the wings in a hot oven for around 45 minutes (maybe an extra 5-10 minutes if you have very large wings) turning the tray at the halfway point so they cook evenly. There is no need to flip the wings. Keeping them skin side up gets that skin perfectly crispy.
3. Make the hot honey
While the wings bake, you can make the hot honey. Combine butter, honey, chilli and sriracha in a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until it barely comes to a simmer and the butter is fully combined in. Take it off the heat, and let the chilli flakes infuse for 10 minutes.
At this point, taste the hot honey. You can strain the chilli seeds out of the sauce if the honey alone is spicy enough or leave them in there for extra spicy.
4. Coat the wings
Once the wings have finished baking and are looking golden brown and crispy, mix them in a large bowl with about ⅓ of the hot honey butter sauce.
Lay them back onto the baking sheet, skin side up, and bake for another 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them so the honey doesn’t burn.
5. Serve
Serve the wings immediately with extra hot honey on the side for dipping or drizzling over the wings. These are lovely with wedges of lime, too, though it’s not absolutely necessary.
Can I air-fry these hot honey wings?
You can air fry these as well. Season the wings as per the recipe. Spray your air fryer basket with oil spray, then place the wing pieces in, in a single layer. Spray with oil over the top, then air fry for 15-20 minutes until cooked through (the internal temperature should read 74C/165F on a thermometer). The cooking time will vary depending on how big your wings are. Leave space for air to circulate around the wings but if you have a rack that allows you to add a second layer, you can use that. You’ll need to do a couple of batches to get them all cooked. Add the hot honey glaze then air fry for a further 3-4 minutes.
What to serve with chicken wings
- For freshness, serve up the honey hot wings with a lovely light side salad like this pear and walnut salad or this asparagus, rocket and parmesan salad.
- Creamy side dishes always go great with fatty meaty dishes so something like this apple coleslaw or creamy cucumber salad is just perfection
- Something carby is always great too. Try these garlic dinner rolls or this pesto garlic bread. A classic potato salad or this no mayo potato salad are great companions to these hot honey wings too. And you can never go wrong with mac n cheese.
- Fries or wedges are also great with chicken wings and it all makes a wonderful finger food feast for a game day meal.
- If you want a complimentary dip, this ranch dip, ricotta dip or yoghurt dip are all lovely and cooling. This avocado cream is wonderful too. Blue cheese dressing is a classic with a hot wings recipe though not necessary with honey hot wings.
Storage
These hot honey chicken wings are definitely best served fresh but they can reheat well too so, if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The hot honey sauce is best stored in the fridge due to the butter but will need to be reheated to get runny again.
FAQ’s
Just 4 ingredients – honey, dried chilli flakes (aka red pepper flakes), sriracha and butter.
The first step is to make sure they’re super crispy to begin with and the baking powder will help with this. Secondly, a sauce low in water moisture, like a honey sauce will mean your wings stay crispier longer.
Yes, you should be able to get a spicy kick from your hot honey and the great thing about making it from scratch is that you can control exactly how spicy it is.
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Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken wings
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
FOR THE SAUCE
- ¾ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon hot dried chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) (notes 1)
- 1 ½ tablespoons sriracha (or other hot sauce) (notes 1)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan forced) / 400F. Line a baking sheet with baking paper then sit a wire rack over the top, if you hae one.
- Cut wings at joints to separate. Discard the wing tips. Pat the rest dry with paper towel and place in a bowl. Sprinkle over baking powder, salt, onion powder, paprika and garlic powder and given them a good mix so they are all coated.
- Space out on the baking sheet, skin side up, and place in the oven for 45 minutes until golden and crispy.
- While the chicken is cooking add the sauce ingredients to a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring just to a bubble then immediately set aside until needed. You can strain some or all of the chilli flakes out if you want to calm the spice a bit – give it a taste after 10 minutes steeping time and decide.
- Once the chicken wings are ready, add them to a large bowl with about ⅓ of the sauce and toss them to coat well. Spread them back out on the baking sheet, skin side up again, and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Serve with more sauce on the side.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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