These Sweet Chili Wings combine two of my favorite things: Asian flavors and crispy wings! They’re the perfect balance of sweet and savory. Plus, the cooking process is easy in either the air fryer or oven. Learn how to make sweet chili chicken wings with a homemade sweet chili wing sauce using this easy recipe.
Why Make These
- Perfect appetizer: these sweet chili wings are great for game days, football season, or other times that you are craving wings.
- Buffalo wing alternative: like my honey buffalo wings, these are a great alternative to regular hot wings.
- Cooks in the air fryer of the oven: this recipe calls for crispy chicken wings that are made with baking powder in the air fryer or oven. Use this recipe to have a lighter option compared to deep-frying.
Ingredients Needed
Making sweet chili chicken wings at home is quite easy. Here’s what you’ll need to gather. Be sure to check out the recipe card at the end of the post for the full amounts.
Crispy Chicken Wings
Get crispy skin on your whole chicken wings or party wings in the oven or air fryer with these simple ingredients.
- Chicken Wings I used raw chicken wings, but I cut the chicken wings into parts. You could also buy party wings since they are pre-cut.
- Baking Powder
- Spices: to add flavor to my chicken wings, I used sea salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder
Sweet Chili Sauce
I make this at home since it takes about 15 minutes and I find that the extra steps are more than worth it. As a shortcut, you can pick up your favorite sweet Thai chili sauce from the grocery store.
To make the sauce from scratch, you’ll need:
- Unseasoned Rice Vinegar
- Water
- Garlic Cloves: I’m using fresh minced garlic
- Soy Sauce: or coconut aminos
- Cornstarch or Xanthan Gum: they help thicken the sauce a little
- Brown Sugar: this has a richer flavor compared to white sugar. You should know that this also works well with brown sugar substitutes.
- Ground Ginger: you can use fresh ginger instead
- Chili Garlic Sauce: this is available in the international food aisle at most grocery stores, but you can also make chili garlic sauce. You can increase the spicy flavor of this dish by adding more.
- Sesame Oil
How To Make Sticky Wings
- Prepare the chicken wings: I pat the chicken wings dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture, mix the spices and baking powder, and toss the chicken pieces in the baking powder mix to coat.
- Crisp the wings in the air fryer or oven. For the oven, I place the coated wings in a single layer on a baking sheet. For the air fryer, I work in batches so that the wings can cook in a single layer in my air fryer basket.
- Make the sauce: I add all of the ingredients to a small saucepan on low heat to combine all of the ingredients and allow the sauce to thicken.
- Toss the wings in the Thai sweet chili sauce: once the wings are cooked until they are crisp, golden brown, and have an internal temperature of 165 degrees, I toss them in the sauce before serving them.
Top Cooking Tips & FAQs:
- Toss the wings in the warm sauce: it’s much easier to coat the wings evenly when the sauce is warm. I usually make the sauce on the same day as the wings.
- Serve immediately: to have these crispy and sticky, it’s important to add sauce when you are ready to eat.
- Use the entire spice mixture: the baking powder spice mix helps you get a crispy chicken wing, but also a flavorful one. Be sure to use it all and coat every surface of the wings.
- Make sure the wings are dry: for best results, thoroughly dry the chicken wings before adding the spice mix. It should apply to the wings like a dusty coating without being clumpy or like a paste.
- Use parchment paper or aluminum foil for easy clean up I often add these to the bottom of my baking sheet or air fryer basket.
Storage and Leftovers
Store your leftover sweet chili wings in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Recipes to Enjoy This With:
Sweet Chili Wings
Make Sweet Chili Wings in the air fryer or oven using this easy recipe. Includes an optional homemade sweet chili wing sauce.
Ingredients
Sweet Chili Sauce
- 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar unseasoned
- 1/2 cup Water
- 3 Garlic Cloves minced
- 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1/4 tsp Cornstarch or Xanthan Gum
- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tbsp Garlic Chili Sauce add up to 1 tbsp more for extra kick
- 1 tsp Sesame oil
Oven Fried Wings
- 1.5 lb Chicken Wings about 20 wing parts
- 1.5 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Natural Ancient Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
Instructions
- Remove the chicken wing parts from the refrigerator and pat dry (removing as much moisture as possible helps to have a crispy wing skin)
- Mix the sea salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and baking powder in a small dish or ramekin
- Sprinkle the seasoning mixture on the wings and toss the wings to coat
For Crispy Wings in the Oven
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
- Place wings on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet or a baking sheet with a cooling rack.
- Cook the wings in the oven for 25-30 minutes per side.
For Crispy Wings in the Air Fryer
- Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees if required by your air fryer model.
- Place the wings in a single layer in your air fryer basket
- Air fry at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes per side.
For the Sauce:
- Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk until they are incorporated.
- Heat a sauce pan to medium heat. Cook the sauce uncovered for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Toss the wings in the sauce and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Calories: 384kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 2264mg | Potassium: 274mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 345IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 396mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!