These addictive Spicy Sticky Chicken Wings are coated in simple tomato, BBQ & Worcestershire sauce with garlic, lime, honey and Cayenne pepper
We go ‘ding ding’ for chicken wings
What’s your favourite part of a chicken? I would have to say mine would be wings and then thighs and my least favourite is breast meat. I know it’s the leanest cut and there’s plenty of meat there, but I find it dry and tasteless.
If we order a bucket of KFC and there were just wings and breasts remaining, I would go for the wings. This pleases my husband, Tomasi, because he loathes the wings. He thinks it should be illegal for KFC to give us more than two pieces of wings in a bucket because they’re so tiny.
Don’t get Tomasi wrong, he would never turn away a bucket of wings. He’ll just whine about how wings are messy and finicky to eat. Hubby often tells me ‘there’s so much effort involved with eating wings, especially when there’s such little meat‘.
I agree with the effort part, but only when we are dining out because I find it really difficult to eat wings and look dainty. So, as much as I love wings, I avoid ordering them because I don’t want people witnessing me gnawing at the bones. However, when I am at home and all the blinds are closed, it’s all or nothing. Bring on those wings!
If you’re obsessed with wings like I am, you would most probably have a stack of wing recipes. This one’s a winner because it’s super duper easy with only a few ingredients required. There’s also no need to marinate the wings for hours or overnight. 1 hour of marinating time and straight into the oven it goes.
These wings are saucy and sticky from the honey, barbeque and tomato sauce. Aromatic flavours from the ginger, lime and Worcestershire sauce with heat from the cayenne peppers.
Delicious marinade in just an hour!
For a long time, I thought the longer we marinade our meat would result in more tasty and flavoursome meat. However, I have since learned that marinating meat overnight is not always the best idea. This is especially true for marinades that contain a high level of sodium. The salt in the marinade draws out moisture from the meat and this is likely to dry out the meat.
This explains why these wings only need an hour to marinade. Any longer, the marinade becomes watery and loses its stickiness, and the wings may turn out a little rubbery. We definitely want to avoid that at all costs!
Once the wings are in the oven, we take them out and baste them once before returning them to the oven. I love doing it this way as it’s less hassle and provides the wings with the right amount of stickiness. However, those that love extra saucy and sticky wings can achieve this by heating the reserved marinade in a frying pan. I’ve included this extra step in the recipe.
Check out these delicious wings recipe:
Cambodian Lemongrass Chicken Wings
Ingredients for spicy Sticky Chicken Wings
Chicken wings – Look for large plump chicken wings for more meat, and larger wings are less likely to dry out during baking. I prefer to chop my wings up myself because I enjoy nibbling on the wingtips. Pre-chopped wings are usually a mix of mid-wings and drumettes but no wingtips. Any part of the wings would work wonderfully for this recipe.
Worcestershire sauce has a strong vinegary, sweet and savoury taste that goes fantastic with meat and seafood. Supermarkets usually stock Worcestershire sauce near the condiments or sauce section. I used Holbrooks’ Worcestershire Sauce.
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How to make Spicy Sticky Chicken Wings
Step-by-step guide with photos
Place the chicken wings and the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and mix well to combine. Cover the bowl with cling wrap/plastic film and place the bowl in the fridge for 1 hour. Don’t let the wings sit in the marinade for longer than an hour as this will cause dry wings and the sauce will thin out and won’t be as sticky.
Baking the wings
In the last 15 minutes of marinating time, preheat oven to 200°C (390°F) or 180°C (360°F) for fan-forced ovens. Line a large baking tray with baking paper, then place foil on top. Doing this will make cleaning up easy. Place a large flat baking rack on top of the foil and spray/brush it with oil. Shake off excess marinade from the wings (reserve the marinade for basting) and place the wings on top of the rack. Bake for 25 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven and brush the wings with the reserve marinade. Turn each wing over and baste that side too. Bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked through.
For extra saucy and sticky wings – Bake chicken for 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked through without basting. In the last 5 minutes of baking time, pour the reserve marinade and 2 tbsp of water into a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook and stir the sauce regularly until it thickens and bubbles. Remove the chicken from the oven and place them straight into the frying pan. Coat the wings in the sauce, then remove from the heat and serve.
Leftovers – Allow the wings to cool completely at room temperature. Transfer the wings into a sealed container and refrigerate. It’ll be good for up to 3 days.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
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Cheers (I’ll drink to that) – Cat Tre
Spicy Sticky Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken wings (NOTE 1)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- ⅓ cup tomato sauce
- ⅓ cup barbeque sauce
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (NOTE 2)
- ¼ cup honey (or brown sugar)
- 1½ tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice (or lemon)
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Place the chicken wings and the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and mix well to combine. Cover the bowl with cling wrap/plastic film and place the bowl in the fridge for 1 hour. Don't let the wings sit in the marinade for longer than an hour as this will cause dry wings and the sauce will thin out and won't be as sticky.
- In the last 15 minutes of marinating time, preheat oven to 200°C (390°F) or 180°C (360°F) for fan-forced ovens. Line a large baking tray with baking paper, then place foil on top. Doing this will make cleaning up easy. Place a large flat baking rack on top of the foil and spray/brush it with oil. Shake off excess marinade from the wings (reserve the marinade for basting) and place the wings on top of the rack. Bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove the tray from the oven and brush the wings with the reserve marinade. Turn each wing over and baste that side too. Bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked through. For extra saucy and sticky wings – Bake chicken for 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked through without basting. In the last 5 minutes of baking time, pour the reserve marinade and 2 tbsp of water into a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook and stir the sauce regularly until it thickens and bubbles. Remove the chicken from the oven and place them straight into the frying pan. Coat the wings in the sauce, then remove from the heat and serve.
