Wow. Just, WOW. These Sticky Ginger Chicken Wings are just the right amount of salty, sweet, and spicy with a fresh little zing thanks to the ginger. The sticky gooey sauce is so good that you won’t even care when it gets all over your face and fingers. …but maybe keep some wet naps close by. ;)
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Baked Instead of Fried
Restaurant chicken wings are usually fried, but I have an irrational fear (or maybe it’s a rational fear) of deep-frying, so I make my wings in the oven. Sometimes I’ll bake the wings coated in cornstarch to get a nice crispy skin (see my Honey Mustard Wings), but this time I baked my wings right in the soy ginger sauce so the sauce would reduce and turn into a sticky glaze as the wings baked—no need for a second pot. It’s super easy and there’s no danger of fryer grease splashing or causing third-degree burns (or at least that’s what plays out in my head every time I think about deep-frying).
What Kind of Baking Dish is Best?
I used an 8″x11″ glass casserole dish to bake my wings. I suggest glass or ceramic because they conduct heat a little more evenly than metal, which may cause the sauce to burn a bit more on the edges. If you want to double the batch, just use a larger dish, like a 9″x13″, or one that allows you to spread the chicken wings in a single layer.
What to Serve with Sticky Ginger Chicken Wings
Since these wings are so sticky sweet, I would suggest adding a vegetable-heavy side, like this Crunchy Cabbage Salad, or Sesame Cucumber Salad. And then if you want to also add a starch, try something simple like Sesame Rice or Garlic Noodles.
Sticky Ginger Chicken Wings
Servings 2 about 6 pieces eachIngredients
- 2 lbs. chicken wings or drummettes (6.58)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 1/4 cup honey ($0.66)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.12)
- 1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce ($0.13)
- 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil ($0.24)
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.13)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.30)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.20)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place the chicken wings in a glass or ceramic baking dish so that they're in a single layer. Drizzle the cooking oil over top, then toss the wings to coat in the oil. Transfer the wings to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- While the wings are baking, prepare the sticky ginger sauce. Combine the honey, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, minced garlic, and grated ginger in a bowl.
- After the wings have baked for 15 minutes, pour the sauce over the wings, then toss to coat. Return the wings to the oven and bake for an additional 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced into a sticky glaze and deepened in color. Baking time may vary slightly, so keep an eye on the sauce toward the end of the baking time.
- Top with sliced green onions and serve!
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Sticky Ginger Chicken Wings – Step By Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place 2 lbs. chicken wings and/or drummettes in a casserole dish so they’re in a single layer. Drizzle 1 Tbsp cooking oil over top and then toss to coat in the oil. Place the wings in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.
While the wings are beginning to cook, prepare the sticky ginger sauce. In a bowl, stir together ¼ cup honey, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce, 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger.
After the wings have cooked for 15 minutes, pour the prepared sauce over top and stir to coat. Return the wings to the oven.
Continue to cook the chicken wings for about 45 minutes more, stirring every 15 minutes or so, or until the sauce has reduced into a sticky glaze and turned deep brown in color. Baking time may vary slightly, so keep an eye on the sauce toward the end of the baking time.
Top with sliced green onions, then serve! Enjoy that sticky-sweet-salty-spicy goodness!
Your sauces fu@king rule!!!! I make the “Sticky Ginger Sauce” x 8 and jar it up. It’s a staple in my household ❤️. Thank you!
Your sauces fu@king rule!!!!
I made as dinner last night and the sauce was superb! I guess in 2010 when first published wings were still a ‘budget’ food. I can’t remember, but now at almost 3 bucks a pound I resorted to legs & thighs I had frozen & needed to use. I did line my Pyrex pan with foil expecting a sticky clean-up & was rewarded with that choice. The legs & thighs worked great, cook time in my oven was about 50 minutes total. Stir fried veggie rice on the side made for a memorable meal. Definitely a keeper & will make again with nods of approval from my S.O.! Thanks for posting….really enjoyed this one!
I made this with the cucumber salad and it was amazing. I’ve already made it three times. Highly recommend!
I made this for my family this evening. I followed the recipe exactly as written, except I didn’t have chili garlic sauce… I used hoisin sauce instead! It was a terrific success! I’ll definitely cook this again soon.
Hi. Could I make this in an air fryer? Guess it will have to be done in smaller batches.
I don’t suggest cooking the wings in the air fryer with the sauce because the sauce will just slide off and burn on the bottom of the fryer. Instead, you can use our air fryer chicken wings recipe, then cook this sauce separately on the stovetop in a pot until it reduces into a glaze. Toss the chicken wings in the glaze after they are air fried. :)
Absolutely the best wings recipe, easy to make and all of the flavors meld perfectly!
Another delicious Budget Bytes recipe! I’ve eaten chicken wings for years but never made them. These were incredibly good and my kids agreed. Thank you for providing awesome recipes that are actually doable!
I made this tonight for dinner and it was so delicious! The sauce was amazing! I did change up how I cooked it so there was less clean up, but it still turned out perfect. I covered cookie sheets with foil, baked the chicken with the oil for 50 minutes, boiled sauce in saucepan in the meantime, then added sauce and baked 10 minutes. I spooned some of sauce back onto chicken and added 5 minutes in oven because my sauce was a little runny – the runny consistency didn’t even matter because it bakes onto the chicken well. The result was crispy, sticky, finger-licking goodness. The family loved it and I will absolutely make this again. I wanna try it with legs next time.
Love the sauce! I can imagine using it on all kinds of proteins. The dish is very good, but I like crispy skin so I might try it as a glaze on skinless thighs I have to think about it because that sauce is to die for.
The sauce is AMAZING!! It’s already getting hot enough outside that I didn’t want to turn my oven on, so cooked them in my Foodi (which is also nice because it lets me start from frozen, I’m never prepared lol). In the last half of the air crisping step I tossed the wings in the sauce, and the glaze came out PERFECT, sticky and sweet and wonderful. I think next time I’ll double the chili sauce, I’d have liked more spice with the sweet. Had a salad on the side with ginger dressing, it was wonderful <3
These were so good! I had to cut the cook time by 5 minutes or so because my sauce was getting thick. Chicken was cooked absolutely perfectly. I paired this with a cucumber salad.
I have never cooked with some of these ingredients before, so that was fun. I wonder if I used too much chicken, though, because the glaze wasn’t as sweet or spicy as I thought it would be. I just added some extra honey
These wings were beautiful looking and perfect for guests. Really easy to make.
Absolutely delicious. My kids love this recipe!!
Looks delicious! Is it possible to make drumsticks this way and just cook them longer?
This recipe was incredible. The only thing I switched was I used Sweet Chili Sauce instead of Chili Garlic Sauce and I put about 3 tbsp in the mix for extra heat.
I haven’t had such a tasty sticky sauce hit my mouth in a LONG time. Moving to Italy, I really miss sauce like this. I will be using this recipe probably numerous times a week because its THAT good. Would also tastes good on chopped up chicken breasts and served like an Asian dish with white rice.
If you go strictly by the recipe you will NOT be Disappointed .you talking about something that is so FREAKING GOOD .
They were a little spicy. So we added more honey and a bit of brown sugar to thicken up the sauce. Also, we skipped the oven method and just dropped them in the deep fryer minus the flour and tossed in sauce like Wingstop. Nice recipe.
Alyce thanks for the tips! I did just what you did and my kids loved it. I’ve made them about 3 times already. Nice recipe but these little tweaks make them great!
My boyfriend & I hosted a “couples cookoff” party at his house for the Patriots-Chiefs game this last Sunday. We went with this recipe for our wings & it was a HUGE hit amongst all of his hockey friends. We didn’t follow the cooking instructions & decided to fry our wings first & then toss them in the sauce. Even used it on our fried cauliflower for our vegetarian friends & they loved it! Even our non veggie eating friend said the cauliflower was great! Saving this forever.
Followed directions to a tee. Sauce would not thicken. Feel like I wasted wings. I should have read older comments.
This sauce is GREAT!! Classic Asian flavors with just the right amount of heat.
Absolutely delicious.! However, my sauce did not thicken. I made this recipe three times, and each time the sauce did not thicken. Could you, or somebody tell me why? I followed all directions exactly. Thanks!
Awesome-sauce!!
FOund these in a google search! So glad I did . My kids ask for them weekly! They no longer want to go the wings restaurant in town because they say these are MUCH better.
can you make ahead and reheat?
These are probably best when freshly made.
can you make these ahead of time and reheat? thank you
Yes you certainly can!
I made this last night and holy huevos was is good!!! I used regular drumsticks since that was all my store had available for cheap (I should know to go shopping before an LSU game day…otherwise the chicken wings are GONE). I have this, among many other recipes from this site, filed away in my “to make again soon” section of my recipe book. My only tip if your using regular drumsticks…stir stir stir!. Since most of the meat will sit over the sauce…they will dry out more easily if you don’t stir them frequently to keep them coated in the sauce.
Yet another who found this to be amazing. Seriously a fantastic recipe. Sooo much flavor! I ended up making a triple batch and reducing it down since I did wings the more traditional method. It’s too watery to be used in that manner.
TOTALLY AWESOME! I make them and they’re gone in minutes. Thanks for such a great recipe.
Glass pans should never be put under the broiler. Trust me, I learned the hard way.
How would you do this dish in the air fryer?
My family LOVES this recipe – it’s our new go-to for wings. The only thing we do differently is boil the sauce down with some cornstarch to thicken it up, then put it on the wings for the last 10 minutes or so – this helps cut down on the blackening of the dish and gets a bit thicker of a sauce.
My sauce didn’t thicken either. When I broiled it, I placed it in the middle of the oven. Maybe these need to be right under the heat. I cooked them in an iron skillet and placed the wings in a bowl. I reduced the sauce on the stove top and it turned out really good. Great taste on the sauce and the wings were very tender.
Mine turned out soupy but were amazing!!! Any tips to make them more glazed?
I did substitute apple cider vinegar for rice vinegar and did not have chili garlic sauce so I omitted it and added a sprinkle of chili powder and garlic powder.
Could you do this same recipe but in the slow cooker? If I were to use drumsticks instead of wings, I would think 5 hours on low then a few minutes under the broiler would do the trick.
It will probably get really soupy in the slow cooker and you’ll probably need to add the sauce after the slow cooking or else it will get diluted and you’ll have trouble making it into a glaze.
could the chicken wings be marinated over night?
I bet they would take on the flavors better by marinating overnight. I would cook down the main ingredients and let cool before preparing though. Sounds like too much liquid. You would not be able to cook down after marinating because the blood and juices would seep into marinate and bringing that to a boil causes coagulation. It wouldn’t make for a nice sauce.
I’ve been making asian style wings for years and this is the best recipe I’ve ever made. Easily. A few tweaks though. If you like your wings crispy, forget baking them in the sauce. Three reasons: 1. The wings won’t get that crispy. 2. They actually don’t need to swim in the sauce to be flavorful. 3. It’s much easier to season them with salt and pepper (maybe some dry spice BBQ or asian spice mixture) and bake them on a parchment lined sheet in the oven while reducing the sauce in a saucepan on the stove. When the wings are done and nice and crispy, just toss them in the reduced sauce and viola. Killer. No need for corn starch or any thickener. Best wings ever.
Tried this recipe last week and it was amazing!! Only thing is it didn’t thicken far much in oven so adding some cornstarch on the stove is great Idea. Finger licking good!!
Delicious!!!!!!
Thanks so much for this recipe, the corn starch was definitely a plus, we found that the sauce didn’t thicken too much in the oven but we cooked a separate batch on the hob which did. Once we finished broiling the chicken, we poured the remaining sauce into the other batch to thin it out, boil that a little and pour over the chicken. Was just incredible.
Thanks
http://imgur.com/a/YcBsl
I just made these and I’m still licking the sauce of my fingers. Oh. My. Gosh. I can’t believe how good these are! Only change I made was less chili garlic sauce, since my boyfriend and I don’t care for super spicy stuff. The sauce thickened beautifully, the whole house smells amazing and this is probably going to be a weekly meal. Thank you so much!
Hello,
Can this recipe be done without honey?
It has to be with honey…..It is the BOMB.COM all day long!
can this be made with chicken thighs too?
Probably, yes.
Did you try this with chicken thighs?
Does it matter if it’s two pounds of the larger wings in smaller packages or two pounds of the smaller wings in the big bulk bag size?
Larger wings may have to cook a bit longer.
This is so yummy! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I made it for breakfast with baked potato wedges and carrots. Since my family like spicy food, so I adjust slightly the recipe by adding chili paste made from garlic, red onion, salt and little tiny hot red chili (the most spicy one in our country same as spicy as jalapeno).
I would just like to thank you for taking time out of your busy day to share this wonderful information! I really appreciate it! Not only are these recipes delicious but they are all budget friendly! I can’t explain how thankful I am for this information! Be blessed! #whodat
Thicken sauce in a non stick pan on the stove top!
Outstanding wings! Thank you…
Outstanding, the best wing ever! Tip: After the wings are cooked, i thickened the sauce on the stove top in a non stick pan.
i love this!!!! and actually like every recipe we’ve tried from this site (peanut chicken, dragon noodles, etc). we make so many of your recipes so often! but for this, we double the sauce (but not the sriracha) and use boneless skinless chicken breast pieces instead of wings. (i saw someone earlier asked a question about that… we cut thin sliced pieces of breast tenders and follow the same baking time and broil about 2 min longer but stir at more intervals! so we stir at 2, 2, and 2.5 min. and it’s always perfect). yum! @ corky, if you buy all the ingredients for this, you won’t regret it because you’ll end up making this AT LEAST once a week. not even kidding. it’ll be worth it.
Oh my gosh, these look and sound just like some wings we had at a Chinese bistro recently. My boyfriend is going to flip! Maybe I’ll surprise him with this for dinner on the Chinese New Year. By the way, I found your site about a month ago (through Mr. Money Mustache) and have made so many of your recipes already and all have been fantastic. Thanks for sharing your talent! :)
Made these last night and holy crap! Amazing! I did broil them a little longer to get that char. Thank you for a new dinner favorite! :)
Made these last night with a value size pack of wings (4.5lbs) so i doubled the sauce and used 2 pans. I was a tad confused about the baking times. Wasnt sure if they were supposed to be done after the initial 25 mins or if they were supposed to go another 25 after that. But…thats how I did it, total of 1hr cooking time. They turned out great!! My husband just about fell out of his seat when he tasted the sauce and now wants me to throw it on other pieces of chicken. I figured i will just start it on the stove top to thicken depending on what im using it on. And on tonights menu, the Italian Wonderpot!! Cant wait!
Since making that post I’ve also learned that adding a little cornstarch to the sauce makes it thicken up almost instantly. Just mix the cornstarch with a little water first to make sure there are no lumps. You can definitely cook the chicken by itself in the oven and make the sauce on the stove top, then combine the two at the end. Glad you enjoyed it!
When you say “a little” cornstarch, how much do you mean? I’m still really bad at estimating how much cornstarch I need to thicken my sauces.
Hmm, there’s not a lot of sauce for this one, so I’d say 1 to 1.5 tsp cornstarch would be good.
Thanks for getting back to me. Made this tonight and my sauce didn’t totally thicken up; however, I was using a pretty small baking dish and I don’t think the liquid could spread like it needed to.
The sauce was totally delicious, and I’m kind of glad it was a bit runny. Served it over coconut rice and was in heaven.
My sauce never thickened :( , wandering what i did wrong
Any suggestions on a boneless version?
Hmm, I think the cooking time would take some experimentation. I wouldn’t want to guess blindly.
Okay… I understand why my brother raves and loves your site.. These wings are now in my recipe box FOREVER.. loved them!! We used legs and the sauce was a little runny.. but I just added some fresh ginger and some extra honey and cooked it down to a glaze and gobbled them up!
Anon – You could probably use Sriracha, but I wouldn’t use a regular hot sauce (tobasco) because it has a different flavor.
can you sub the chili garlic sauce with anything else?
Just found your recipe.. have chick legs marinating right now.. we love the legs.. more meat.. less effort.. love the sauce.. and cant wait to grill these tomorrow…
I made it with legs and thighs. Up here in Toronto, Canada, they sell bags of three chicken leg-thigh units (so six chicken pieces) for about $4.50. I took your amount and prepared two legs and two thighs. It was perfect, and tasted delicious. When I took my first bite, I could not believe how flavorful the dead meat was inside. This is like the only thing that has gone right in my life in the past two and a half years. Usually when I try dishes like this, the sauce might taste good, but the chicken is only flavored on the outside and inside it’s just bland white nothing. Here there wasn’t a single stringy bit that was untasty! WHHHEEEEE!
I made these last night for dinner. They were SO good. I love that they have a little bit of a kick at the end. Fabulous recipe! Will make again soon , very soon
I would try baking them for 15-20 minutes longer before broiling. Give them a second stir at the point when I took them out of the oven and then pop them back in for the extra time. It sounds like your sauce didn’t reduce enough. Basically, more moisture needs to evaporate off and the sugars need to caramelize more. Also, try broiling for a 2-3 minutes longer. It will burn on the edges of the pan but don’t let that scare you into taking them out. The sauce its self won’t be burned. I hope that helps!
I’ve made these twice and although the flavor is great, my sauce never thickened up…stayed very watery. And your sauce looks so nice and red, mine was brown and unattractive. Any suggestions? I did make these in a non stick pan and used regular sized chicken legs rather than wings.
Turned out amazing! The sauce didn’t thicken as much as I’d like — in retrospect, probably because I used full-size chicken drumsticks and crammed everything in an 8×8 Pyrex ’cause my doll-size apartment oven can’t handle a bigger pan — so after broiling the meat, I ended up dumping the whole shebang into my biggest frying pan and letting the sauce thicken that way. But the meat turned out incredibly tender, and the flavor of the sauce was divine. Next time, though, I’ll cook it in two batches so the sauce can thicken as advertised. I think that’ll give it an even sticker texture and more intense flavor.
Made these for a dinner with friends and they flew off the plate! So good!
Nice one! ( I have lost count, though I think this was dinner 23#
We both love chicken wings and it was a serious ‘eating out’ treat, but I can buy 2 pounds for about 6$. I know that is almost double what you pay, but its a seriously cheap price up here from a grocery store.
We usually pay about 11$ a pound out at a restaurant. Do the math, even without the sauce (which I have all that on hand anyways since you are a whiz at repeating ingredients in a new and fresh way :-)
That’s a crazy savings of 16$ and I didn’t have to listen to crummy music and drunk people! lol
What brand of glass baking dish do you use? The brands I own, Pyrex and Anchor, say not to use them under the broiler.
I have just started following your blog. It is great! I love that you picture your ingredients. It is very helpful. I didn’t really know what chili garlic sauce was. So again, thank you. I will be making many of your dishes. YUMMY!!
This looked sooo good and looked up the details. I had virtually everything in the pantry, so off I went. Of Note: Chicken wings used to be almost a ‘trash’ part. The chicken sellers and the Buffalo Wings partners turned them into something special and wings now cost as much – or more than breasts! Go figure. I prefer the better flavor of dark meat, so I used legs at about 25% the cost. Just my preference. (I gave the legs about 10 minutes additional roasting time and exactly the same under the broiler – came out perfect.) There will be a next time, just too good to now make again. I may zing it up a little more, but not much. Thanks for sharing this great recipe.
Yum, I love chicken wings! Will give this recipe a go! :)
I’m drooling…
For an even easier clean up, line your baking dish with foil, spray with cooking oil, bake the wings, roll up the foil and chuck it in the garbage.
Making this tonight … very similar to one of my favorite recipes from Thailand!
But, please, God, don’t encourage people to have worse table manners than they already do. Licking fingers = gross.
That’s right Corky. An inexpensive recipe for one person may not be for someone else. You have to pick your recipes based on what you’ll eat and what is selling for a good price in your area. Once you have those two bits of info, you can do a recipe search to find something that works!
This would only be a budget dish if I already had all of those Asian ingredients in my refrigerator. It implies a commitment to cook Asian-style often enough to amortize the purchase of those ingredients over several other recipes.
Unfortunately, I never seem to cook Asian often enough to use up this stuff before its expiration date…
Oh, how I am lovin’ your blog!
Welcome to New Orleans!
I just recently started following your blog, and I absolutely love it.
Om nom nom! I could mess up a whole big plate of these <3