These Hot Honey Chicken Wings are sweet and spicy and perfectly crispy! Make them in the slow cooker or bake them in the oven with simple ingredients but bold flavor!
Easy Hot Honey Wings
We are a wing lovin’ family and these wings are all the rave right now in my house. Whether you love a good hot wing or a honey garlic wing, these are a delicious combination of both!
Made with your favorite hot sauce, honey, butter, and cayenne pepper, these crispy wings are smothered in sauce and tossed right into the crockpot to cook low and slow until tender and juicy. Then we finish them under the broiler for that extra crispy finish with some extra glaze on top! I also included instructions below on cooking them in the oven or air fryer instead of a slow cooker.
Like these baked chicken wings with a dry rub coating, they are always a crowd favorite and the perfect appetizer for gatherings, parties, and game day menus.
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Ingredients Need to Make This Recipe
Below is a list of the ingredients you’ll need to gather to make this recipe. Scroll down to the full recipe card for the specific amounts.
- Chicken wings: You can use fresh or frozen. No need to thaw them first. You can use whole chicken wings or separate the drumettes and flats.
- Hot sauce: Use your favorite kind. Frank’s Red Hot is always a favorite.
- Honey: For a sweet flavor and sticky fingers!
- Butter: I use unsalted melted butter since we’re adding salt to the wing sauce.
- Seasoning: Cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Add some onion powder and smoked paprika too if you’d like. You can control the amount of spice you want by adding more or less.
How to Make Hot Honey Wings in a Slow Cooker
This recipe will come together in a couple of steps then the slow cooker does the rest.
Step 1: Dump the wings into the slow cooker, spread them out as best you can. Combine the ingredients for the sauce, reserve 1 cup, and then pour the rest over the wings in the crockpot.
Step 2: Put the lid on and cook the wings for 4-5 hours on LOW. If using frozen wings, you MUST cook them on HIGH heat for 3-4 hours.
Step 3: Once the juicy chicken wings are finished cooking, preheat the broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Transfer the wings from the crockpot to the lined baking sheet, allowing the excess sauce to drip off, and then discard the remaining sauce.
Step 4: Brush the wings with the reserved spicy honey sauce and put them in the oven to broil on low for 6-8 minutes, flipping halfway. Be careful to watch them closely so they don’t burn.
How to Make Hot Honey Wings in the Oven
Step 1: Pat wings dry with a paper towel.
Step 2: Mix the sauce ingredients in a large bowl, reserve a cup, and toss the raw chicken in to coat.
Step 3: Place the wings to a wire rack overtop a foil-lined large baking sheet. Arrange them in a single layer.
Step 4: Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 40-50 minutes, flipping and basting halfway. Be sure they are cooked to an internal temperature of 165° F.
How to Make Air Fryer Hot Honey Wings
Step 1: Pat wings dry with a paper towel and season with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt, and pepper..
Step 2: Place the chicken wings in the air fryer basket in a single layer leaving space in between them. Yo may need to cook in batches depending on the size of your air fryer.
Step 3: Cook the wings in a preheated 400°F air fryer for 15 minutes, flipping them half way.
Step 4: Mix the hot sauce, honey and butter together in a medium bowl, reserve a some in a cup.
Step 5: After cooking the wings for 15 minutes, brush them with the sauce and cook for another 5-10 minutes until done and the internal temperature reaches 165° F.
What to Serve with Hot Honey Wings
Serve with some raw celery and carrot sticks, and a cool creamy dipping sauce like ranch dressing, blue cheese dressing, or my favorite yum yum sauce.
If I want to make it a meal for a larger crowd, I will usually aim for a side dish like the best macaroni salad, ranch potato salad, old-fashioned southern potato salad, or creamy cucumber salad.
You could also serve it with roasted potatoes or a helping of macaroni and cheese!
Tips
If using a slow cooker smaller than 7 quarts, the cooking time might be longer.
Always cook on high when using frozen wings. This prevents the meat from cooking at a low temperature for too long before it starts to cook.
How to Store Leftovers
Refrigerate: Leftover wings can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freeze: You can transfer them to a freezer bag and keep them frozen for up to 1 month. To prevent them from freezing in a giant block of wings, you can set them on a tray to flash-freeze first, before transferring them to the freezer bag.
Reheat: If they’re frozen, thaw them overnight in the fridge. You can reheat wings in the oven at 350°F until warmed through.
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Best Hot Honey Wings Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 pounds chicken wings fresh or frozen
- 1 ½ cups hot sauce of choice
- 1 cup honey
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Hot Honey Wings in a Slow Cooker
- Add the wings to your slow cooker.4 pounds chicken wings
- In a medium size bowl, add the hot sauce, honey, butter, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and mix together. Remove one cup of sauce and set aside to use for basting the chicken after cooking.1 ½ cups hot sauce of choice, 1 cup honey, 4 tablespoons butter, 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, salt and pepper
- Pour the remaining sauce over the wings the the slow cooker.
- Place the lid on and cook wings for 4-5 hours on LOW. If using frozen wings, cook them on HIGH for 3-4 hours. Either way cook them until they are no longer pink and the internal temperature reaches 165° F with an instant meat thermometer. Cooking frozen wings on HIGH is necessary to prevent them sitting at a lower temperature for too long and risking
- Once the wings have finished cooking, preheat the broiler to low heat on the oven. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with non stick cooking spray (you can also grease with butter or olive oil)
- Remove each wing from the slow cooker, allow any juices to drip off each one and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
- Brush them withe the reserved hot honey sauce.
- Place in the oven and broil for 3-4 minutes. Flip them over and cook for another 3-4 minutes until crispy
- Serve with a dipping sauce like ranch dressing, blue cheese dressing or yum yum sauce.
Hot Honey Wings in the Oven
- Preheat oven to 400° F and place a wire baking rack over a rimmed sheet pan lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
- Pat the chicken wings with paper towels.
- In a large bowl, mix all sauce ingredients.
- Remove ½ cup of the sauce.
- Add the wings and toss to coat.
- Place the chicken wings, skin side up, on the wire rack and cook for 20 minutes.
- Then flip the wings over, baste with more sauce and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclosure
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.
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