These barbecue baked chicken wings are sweet, smoky and just sticky enough to make us very very happy. Skip the oil and fryer and make baked wings instead! Jump to the Brown Sugar Baked Chicken Wings Recipe or read on to see our tips for making them.
Barbecue Baked Chicken Wings – Make the Sweet and Spicy Sauce Everyone Will Love
The sauce for these brown sugar barbecue baked chicken wings recipe is a cinch. There is no cooking needed! All you do is stir a few ingredients together, coat the wings and bake. You can also try our Sweet and Tangy Barbecue Sauce.
You’ll need ketchup (try our homemade ketchup), brown sugar, cumin, soy sauce and a bit of spice from sriracha chili sauce!
Sriracha is in the back of the photo above. That’s what you are looking for, we buy ours at our local grocery store in the international section, but you can find it at Asian or International grocery stores, too.
Get a bottle, you’ll love it! You could even make a double batch of the sacue and save it in the fridge up to one week. Dip fries, veggies or chicken nuggets in it and you’ll be happy.
How to Bake Wings
We’ve seen chicken wings sold two ways. First, everything has been done for us, which means that the drumette and wing are already separated. It’s great to find this, but sometimes we don’t and instead have to do some light butchering before cooking.
Separating the wing and drumette is really easy, just hop on over to our video to see how. It will only add 5 minutes to your prep time, no biggie! Or, leave them unseparated. It’s completely up to you!
WATCH: How to cut a chicken wing.
- Toss the wings with half of the sauce. (Save the rest for later so you can dip!)
- Line them up on a baking sheet. Notice that we inset a baking rack inside our baking sheet — if you have this option, do it. We find that the chicken gets just that little bit crispier. We do this for bacon, too!
- Bake the wings until cooked through, about 30 minutes, and then serve with some of that saved sauce from earlier. (Remember, never use the same sauce that you tossed with raw chicken, once the chicken has cooked).
More Easy Wing Recipes
- Easy Baked Chicken Hot Wings
- Pho-Inspired Grilled Chicken Wings
- Lemon Garlic Grilled Chicken Wings
- Buffalo Wing Sauce (three ingredients!)
- Sweet Chili Baked Wings
- Buffalo Baked Cauliflower Wings (meatless recipe)
Recipe updated, originally posted April 2012. Since posting this in 2012, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Brown Sugar Barbecue Baked Chicken Wings
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Sweet, smokey and just a little spicy, the sauce for these baked chicken wings comes together in 5 minutes and is crazy good. We’ve seen chicken wings sold two ways — with the drumette and wing are already separated and not. It’s up to you whether or not you separate the wings. If you’d like to, separating the wing and drumette is really easy, just hop on over to our video to see how. It will only add 5 minutes to your prep time, no biggie! Or, leave them unseparated. It’s completely up to you!
You Will Need
1 cup ketchup, try our homemade ketchup recipe
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Sriracha chili sauce
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 pounds chicken wings
Directions
1Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. If you have one that fits, lay a cooling rack inside the baking sheet, this helps get the chicken extra crispy – see note below. Spray rack with nonstick cooking spray.
2In a medium bowl, whisk together the ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, Sriracha, cumin, and soy sauce. Taste and adjust with additional soy sauce or sugar. Set aside 1/2 cup of sauce for tossing raw chicken and save the rest for dipping once the chicken has cooked.
3Toss the chicken wings with the reserved 1/2 cup of sauce then add to the prepared baking sheet. Bake the chicken wings, turning once during cooking, until an internal thermometer registers 165 degrees F, 35 to 45 minutes.
4Serve the baked wings with the sauce you set aside earlier, either on the side or tossed with the chicken.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- If you do not have a wire rack that will fit inside a baking sheet (here’s one online), you can still make wings. Arrange them on the baking sheet, without the rack and rotate a few times during baking.
- Nutrition facts: We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. 1 pound of wings will be 8 to 12 wings, depending on size.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Hi this recipe was great! Everybody loved it!! I will definitely be trying out some of your other recipes!
This is the very first recipe I tried, cause it’s the easiest one haha 😀 My son loves it soooo much. Gives me confidence in cooking.. Thank you, Joanne and Adam, can’t wait to try your other recipes.
Doing the ribs once again. Over the years my family truly loves your recipe. We also really love your sweet and spicy chicken sauce used on the finished ribs. Thanks again. Best wishes,Ed
Thank you.
My husband requests these for Superbowl every year and they are always amazing. The sauce is to die for!
I am going to save this recipe right now, even though this recipe is around 6 years old!
Just did it here, tasted super good. My girlfriend loved the sauce and matched good with rice and salad. Thanks!
My son loves chicken wings and I am so excited to try this recipe. Took the time to browse through several of your other recipes and I’m really excited about your site. I plan on tagging you as a favorite and I plan on visiting it often. Thank you so much.
Do I have to follow your ketchup recipe? *If I don’t though, what brand/kind of Ketchup should I use to substitute? Going to make them tomorrow!
Your favorite store-bought ketchup will be fine.
I made them last night.Originally I was looking for a barbecue sauce recipe because that’s usually how I make oven wings,,with store bought barb.sauce and I was all out.I came across your recipe,which was great since it had the whole recipe,sauce and how to cook the wings in them.I never cut my wings but probably will from now on,faster cooking,cooks better,etc.I thought the sauce and the way the chicken tasted was great.I might put more heat next time,red pepper flakes, more of the hot sauce or a bit of another hot sauce but I wouldn’t want to change the taste,just a bit spicier.Maybe I missed something in the recipe,I didn’t see it in the recipe,but I should have known better and sprayed the rack with oil.Was I suppose to do that?I do know better but I was rushing.The rack got baked on sauce on it,very sticky.I am again soaking it in hot water with dawn.Very hard to clean.Also a few wings stuck to the grill insert I put in the baking sheet.Lost a little skin,not too bad but the rack,a mess.I did put a bit more sauce on the wings when they were already on the rack because it didn’t seem the sauce stuck to all the wings and I added a little more on top after I turned them.Do you think that was the problem.Thank you again for a great recipe.I still got wings left for dinner,it was just me eating them.I will definitely make these again.
This recipe sounds great, but I would rather use boneless skinless breast meat, how will that effect the cooking time?
Thanks!
Hi Daniella, I would expect a 25 to 30 minute cooking time. You might want to reduce the oven temperature, though. The oven is set high in this recipe so the skin becomes crisp. Since you would be using skinless chicken, you should be fine with a temperature closer to 375º F – Joanne
My entire family (who can be as picky as Chopped judges) loved, loved, loved this recipe! I also put the sauce on salmon and it was amazing! Thank you!
These are THE BEST most delicious wings I have ever had in my whole life!! Everybody loves them! Finger-lickin’, lip-smackin’ good- literally! My in-laws can’t get enough of them.
Thank you!