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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
Ready for some sticky, messy hot wings? Loaded with honey, butter, and spice, these Detroit Honey Hot Wings can be made in the oven or on a grill in about half an hour.
If you’d like some sticky, honey-drenched chicken wings without the spice, try some Baked Sticky Honey Sesame Chicken Wings or Honey BBQ Wings instead. Serve your delicious wings alongside some Fried Pickles or Fried Corn and some dipping sauces. Don’t forget to keep some wet wipes handy!
Reader Review
These are simply the best hot wings I have ever made. The sweet honey sauce, holy Dinah! cray cray good!
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This is an easy recipe, especially if you make use of your BBQ.
- Total Time: Making these hot wings will take you approximately 40 minutes from start to finish.
- Variations: Change up the amount of hot sauce you use in this recipe, or pick an extra hot sauce if that’s what you like. Modify the seasonings to your own personal tastes. Try adding some ginger powder, some garlic powder, or even a bit of garlic/ginger paste. Add a splash of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce. Serve these wings with some homemade ranch or blue cheese dressing and some vegetables.
- Tools Needed: For this recipe, you’ll need some paper towel, a large baking sheet, some tinfoil, a large bowl, tongs, a basting brush
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Chicken: As the name implies, this recipe calls for chicken wings. The same sauce ingredients would work beautifully on thighs or breasts, but you’d need to adjust your cooking time accordingly.
Hot Sauce: Here’s the fun part! Use any hot sauce you want. You get to choose whether these wings are mild enough for your kids to eat or hot enough to melt your face off.
Honey: Any honey will do, so don’t feel like you have to go shopping for some special variety. However, if you happen to already have a hot honey on hand, why not make use of it?
How To Make Detroit Honey Hot Wings
This is a brief overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat oven or BBQ to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and set aside.
- Pat chicken wings dry. Toss in a large bowl with salt and pepper, then oil.
- Cook chicken on grill or in oven for 20-30 minutes, until juices run clear.
- Melt butter, pour into a large bowl. Mix in the honey and hot sauce. Add cooked wings and toss to coat thoroughly.
- Return to oven for 5 more minutes to cook the sauce a bit or eat immediately.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Detroit Honey Hot Wings
Air Fryer: Nowadays, more and more people are discovering the versatility or air fryers. This recipe is laid out for use with an oven or a grill, but you could absolutely test it out in your air fryer. The messiest part comes AFTER the wings are cooked, so you don’t even need to worry about making a sticky mess inside your air fryer basket.
Finish Them: While you can absolutely eat these wings as soon as they’re cooked and coated in sauce, they’ll be even better if you stick them back in the oven for a few more minutes. The honey and butter in the sauce will caramelize and make a delicious, sticky crust on the wings. Try it and see!
Storage Instructions
If you happen to end up with leftovers, you can store them in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can also try freezing them, though it would be wise to spread them out on a parchment paper-lined plate or pan to freeze separately. Once they’re frozen solid so they won’t stick to each other, transfer them to a freezer safe container or bag to take out and reheat later.
More Delicious Spicy Recipes
Looking for more tasty recipes to satisfy your spice cravings?
Try these Classic Buffalo Wings, a batch of Buffalo Cauliflower, or some Buffalo Chicken Dip.
If you prefer a different range of spices, check out these Spicy Cumin & Ginger Chicken Drumsticks or Spicy Bean & Lentil Soup.
There you go, everyone. A recipe for sticky, sweet, and spicy chicken wings. Try it out and let me know what you think.
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Detroit Honey Hot Wings
Ingredients
- 2-3 pounds of chicken wings cut and the wing tips discarded & patted dry with paper towel
- 1/2 teaspoon – 1 tsp cayenne pepper, optional I didn’t use this
- sprinkle of salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/4 cup hot sauce
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees or pre-heat your BBQ, making sure to oil the grill.
- If using the oven, line a large baking sheet with tinfoil.
- Toss the chicken wings with the peppers, salt and then the oil to coat.
- Cook the chicken wings on the BBQ grill until completely cooked through and the juices run clear, 20 to 30 minutes. I using the oven, cook on the foil lined sheet until the juices run clear.
- Melt the butter, pour into a large bowl and mix in the 1/2 cup of honey and hot sauce. This is where you can season the sauce to your liking. My husband likes more hot sauce in this, I like it perfectly as it is. Taste test and see what you’d add more of right now!
- Remove the wings from the grill or the oven and toss them in the hot butter sauce to coat.
- If wanted, you can return to the oven for another 5 minutes to “set” the sauce a little more, but they can also be eaten right away!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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angela hammill says
these are soooo good!!! i love me some messy wings 🙂
Mary P Hoffman says
They look incredible!
Imae Davis says
Where are the recipe ingredients listed for Detroit wings & banana pudding cake
The Kitchen Magpie says
Printable recipes are at the end of every post!
BernJ says
These are simply the best hot wings I have ever made. The sweet honey sauce, holy Dinah! cray cray good!
Michelle says
My husband is from Detroit so I made these and he gave them two thumbs up! Thanks for the tip on the napkins!
Take care!
Michelle
Lana Michelle Strachan says
These sound and look amazing! Making them this week for sure!
The Kitchen Magpie says
Hope you like them as much as we did!