Hot Honey Wings

Hot Honey Chicken Wings with a sweet and sticky spicy honey sauce is one of the best chicken wing recipes you can ever make! These crispy chicken wings are baked in the oven then coated hot honey sauce creating a nice glaze of spicy sweetness.

This hot honey wings recipe can also be grilled or cooked in the air fryer, and is such a tasty and flavorful way of enjoying chicken wings.

Hot Honey Chicken Wings

These Hot Honey Wings can officially join my favorite-chicken-wings club, along with my Spicy Baked Korean Chicken Wings, Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings and Baked BBQ Chicken Wings.

Chicken is juicy, tender and flavorful even on the insides. The outsides are crispy and coated in this sticky, flavor-bursting sweet and spicy hot honey glaze.

I’ve worked super hard to perfect this recipe. My goal is to create a hot honey chicken wing recipe that is easy to make and attainable even for those not using a deep fryer or air fryer, and yet is crispy and flavorful.

I’m going to be focusing on showing you how to bake these hot honey wings while ensuring they are truly crispy, and then I’ll also be sharing air fryer and grilling instructions.

These honey hot wings are not only delicious, they are truly very easy to prepare, using minimal ingredients and ready under 45 minutes!

Ingredients

• chicken wings – I am using a combination of wingettes and drumettes. If they came frozen, bring it to a complete defrost the night before, and pat dry to remove all the moisture before seasoning. The less access water on the wings, the better.
• salt – wings will be tossed in seasoning before baking, and salt is an important part of the seasoning mix.
• garlic powder – part of the seasoning mix for the hot honey wings
• smoked paprika – regular paprika can be used if you cannot find smoked paprika, but I like that distinct smoky flavor in my hot honey chicken wings. Also used in the seasoning mix to coat chicken wings before baking.
• baking powder – also incorporated into the seasoning mix, but not for flavoring purposes, instead it is responsible for helping chicken wings crisp up. It breaks down the protein in the skin and dry out the skin, producing a nice crisp and brown texture. Do NOT skip this!
• hot sauce – use more for a spicier sauce, or less. You can use your favorite brand of hot sauce.
• honey – this will be mixed with the hot sauce and serve as the sweet and sticky glaze for our wings.

Equipment Needed

An important tool for baking wings in the oven is a baking rack. Chicken wings will sit on the rack while they are baked in the oven. This helps the bottoms crisp up better (vs sitting on the baking sheet).

Baking rack will sit on a baking sheet, which will help catch juices from the chicken.

In addition, a meat thermometer is super helpful to cook chicken (or any meats for the matter) perfectly. Investing in a good meat thermometer makes cooking meat much easier (and tastier!)

How to Make It

To make these hot honey wings, we first need to make the crispy chicken wings, and then we will apply the hot honey sauce onto it after it cooks.

Baking Wings in the Oven

Okay hear me out. You CAN totally make chicken wings crispy in the oven. It’s totally not true that only deep-fried wings are crispy. I’ve got all the deets for you to make baked wings that are just as crispy, without all the grease! Just follow the instructions below:

First, pat dry chicken wings. Use a paper towel and pat dry chicken wings, especially if they were frozen beforehand. If wings were frozen, bring it to the refrigerator the night before so that it is completely defrosted.

It’s important to remove all the moisture on wings as it helps the seasoning cling onto the wings more effectively, as well as to crisp up the wings in the oven.

After that, dried chicken wings goes into a mixing bowl where they will be tossed with a dry rub consisting of a combination of salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika and baking powder.

Doing this will help season the chicken and make it super flavorful. We don’t want to rely just on the hot honey sauce for flavor, we want to bake the wings covered with seasonings so that the chicken meat is also flavorful on the inside.

As for the baking powder, tossing wings in baking powder is another important step to help crisp up the wings. It dries out the skin on the wings and makes it easier to crisp up in the oven.

Place seasoned wings on a greased (important!) baking rack and sit baking rack on top of a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup).

Place wings about an inch apart and avoid overcrowding.

Bake chicken wings in the oven at 400℉ for 15 minutes. Flip each chicken wing and bake for another 15 minutes.

Chicken is done when internal temperature reaches at least 165℉ when measured with a meat thermometer.

Hot Honey Sauce for Wings

Hot honey sauce is simply a combination of honey and hot sauce. You can get ready-made Hot Honey Sauce from the stores but really…there’s no need to if you have honey and hot sauce lying around in your home.

Simply bring honey and hot sauce together, and mix to combine them. If it is not combining well, you can heat them up in the microwave or on the stove top briefly and it should mix together easily.

Brush Wings with Sauce

When wings are fully cooked, brush sauce onto wings and send it back into the oven for 2-3 minutes.

Alternatively, you can toss wings in sauce.

And that’s all there is to it!

Under 45 minutes, you’ll have flavor-bursting, juicy, crispy and delicious honey hot wings that will knock your socks off! It is THAT good!

Serve it with some fresh carrot and celery sticks, and some blue cheese or ranch dressing on the side to round out the hot honey wings!

Tips and tricks

• Drying is essential: Make sure raw chicken wings are thoroughly pat dried before seasoning and baking them. This will ensure they bake up nice and crispy.
• Grease baking rack: Generously grease baking rack to prevent wings from sticking to it.
• Do not overcrowd: When placing the chicken wings on the baking rack, make sure they are not crowded. The air needs to circulate around the wings to guarantee crispy results.
• Get a thermometer: Use a high quality meat thermometer to test the doneness of the chicken in order to cook it perfectly. Your chicken wings are ready when they reach an internal temperature of 165°F.
• Adjust Spiciness: The spiciness of hot honey wings comes solely from the hot honey sauce and can be adjusted according to your preference. If you prefer a milder taste, you can reduce the amount of hot sauce in the hot honey sauce.

Air Frying and Grilling Instructions

Air Frying Instruction: Air fry chicken wings at 400℉ for 10 minutes, flip wings halfway, then air fry for another 8-12 minutes. Do not overcrowd and overlap wings in the air fryer. They need to be lined in a single layer. Combine sauce and toss chicken wings in it when it is done before serving.

Grilling Instructions: Omit baking powder in seasoning if you are grilling wings. Fire up grill and cook wings until internal temperature reaches 165℉, flipping halfway. When wings are completely cooked, brush with hot honey glaze then remove wings from heat.

Frequently Asked Questions

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