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. ;)
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!
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.