About Crock Pot Sticky Chicken Wings
When it comes to meat, there seems to be two camps of people:
Those who like meat cooked so tender that if you so much as give it a stern look it falls right off the bone OR those who want to reenact a scene from Quest for Fire with their dinner so that they can vigorously gnaw and chew in order to get their prize.
For me, my allegiance is firmly in the fall-off-the-bone camp.
I don’t want to fight for my meal; by the time the food is on my plate, the fighting should already be done.
If I go to pick up a rib or a drumstick and the bone clatters to the plate, I’m a happy camper.
But as for The Husband?
I guess he’s still in tune with his hunting instinct, cause he wants to fight for this dinner.
The more chewy and tough the struggle then all the better for him.
So as you can probably imagine, I have a crucial decision every time I make a meat dish for dinner:
Is he going to be happy, or am I?
If you’re a crock pot enthusiast like me, I’m sure you already know how the story ends for The Night I Made Crock Pot Sticky Chicken Wings.
Crock Pots are notorious for making ultra tender meat, so – you guess it – this particular meal was a +1 for me.
I was in fall-off-the-bone heaven with this meal. And The Husband, bless his heart, was a good sport about it and still ate everything on this plate.
As for how these chicken wings turned out?
The sauce is very easy to make (just whisk it and use it, no stovetop cooking needed) and has an Asian BBQ-style flavor. The wings cooked quickly, even on low heat (four hours). If you’re in a hurry, you can cook them on high for two hours, which makes them an easy dish to throw together even after you’ve come home for the day.
And, of course, the meat was tender and falling off the bone.
And since this was a +1 meal for me, I guess I’ll need to whip together some baked wings soon in order to balance out the dinner scales in my house. All I have to do is settle on a good baked wing flavor… decisions, decisions!
More great chicken recipes
Recipe Details
Crock Pot Sticky Chicken Wings
Ingredients
Instructions
Spray bottom of crock pot with cooking spray. Arrange chicken wings in a single layer along the bottom.
- Cook chicken wings on LOW for 4 hours or HIGH for 2 hours. If possible, turn chicken wings half way through.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water to create slurry. Add slurry to crock pot and mix with the sauce. Cover crockpot and cook on high for another 10 minutes or until sauce reaches desired thickness.
- Serve chicken wings immediately with ranch dipping sauce.
Can you make this with frozen wings? This will be 1+ for me also since my boyfriend prefers his chicken so crispy that the inside is dry! Lol
Hey Heather! Yes, cooking from frozen should be fine – just double the cooking time (high for 4 hours or low for 8).
I wondered why the cornstarch and water can’t be added at the beginning in the sauce instead of after they are cooked. Thanks!
Hey Kathryn! I’ve wondered this myself, but I think it has to do with the fact that the slurry mixture (water and cornstarch) might thicken the sauce too much if added at the beginning. When you add it at the end, you have more control over how much heat the slurry is exposed to, and thus how thick the sauce gets. There’s an article with more info on it here: https://howtoboilanegg.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/how-to-make-and-use-a-slurry/
I would throw them under the broiler a few min to crisp them up yum!
I’ll have to remember that tip for my husband, Joni 😀 He prefers crispy wings, too!
So if thawrd two hours exact is a great time to cook the wings is t the same for drummettes ?
Hey Shar-nese! Yes, I think those should cook through just fine in 2 hours on high.
oh that looks so yummy. i have big boys here and wings are expensive so i will have to try this with thighs. oh boy yummyl
I substitute apple cider vinegar for the balsamic vinegar which I didn’t have. They turned out get my family loved them. It’s a keeper!
Good to know about the substitution! So glad it still turned out well 😀
Can I use both wings and drumsticks? I wasn’t thinking about the different thickness when I was buying them.
Hey Chloe! Using wings or drumsticks should be fine 🙂 Crock pots cook “gently” enough (sorry, that probably sounds odd, but was best word I could think of to describe it) that both types should cook evenly in the time listed for the recipe.
I’m making these in a few hours! Quick question, I know it says to have the wings in one single layer on the bottom of the crock pot, but I am doubling this recipe to serve 4, can I layer the wings on top of each other? Will they not cook properly? I was going to put one layer, then sauce, then a second layer then sauce again.
Hey Caitie! I *think* layering should work fine, but it looks like by now you might have already tried this by now. If they turned out okay, I’d love to know or any changes you made 😀
Late reply, but in case anyone else needs to know, layering works jus let fine!!!
YES please! I’m lucky in that the boyfriend also loves that fall off the bone tender meat, so these sound perfect. I’ve always baked my wings, but I love this idea of using the slow cooker. And those flavors! I am a sucker for anything with an Asian flair!
Totally with you on the flavor! 😀 This is still one of my favs to serve for sports parties. Thankfully our friends are all cool with fall-off-the-bone, too 😀
Just made them…. The sauce never got thick or sticky. I have the wings in the oven hoping that helps. Very disappointed.
I had the same issue. The wings did not look anything like the picture, and the sauce was a lighter brown color. It didn’t have The nice glaze look it taste to it. The wings had no flavor to them. This recipe was a fail for me. Very disappointing.
Instead of the cornstarch slurry I just pour the sauce into a pan and reduce it to my desired viscosity. It takes about 10 minuets or so, so the timing is the same.
well i tried a few of your ideas already and though none of them ever look like the photos (i am a terrible cook btw) but still tasted good and so far no one complains. so these look easy to make and i am going to give it a try! wish me luck! (if u see a large black plume of smoke coming from the east it just me attempting to cook :P)
Making these now- might add some red pepper flakes or more siraccha to make it spicier. Wait for flavors to meld a bit. I also think I’m gonna broil at the end. Wish me luck. Karen
These are the only wings my wife will eat now. She LOVES them. I found that reducing the sauce in a pan rather than using the cornstarch mixture worked better. Also, popping in the broiler for about 3 minuets keep some the center juicy while crisping the outside.
Curious if you cooked the sauce beforehand or added it at the end of the cooking time.
Delicious wings!! Cooked them on low and at the last hour of cooking time I added the slurry, sauce thickened up nicely