Sweet & Spicy Thai Chicken Wings

It’s a given that I like to cook. I like to try new recipes and push my food boundaries now and then. But, there are a few things that I avoid cooking like the plague…mostly because picturing every inch of my (unfancy, but clean) kitchen dripping with grease gives me palpitations. Yep, as tasty as fried food is, I’m not very enthused with the idea of deep frying anything in my kitchen. Needless to say, I’ve never fried chicken wings, onion rings, or mozzarella things. The sports bars can have that. They do it so well.

So, to keep things simple (yet still delicious), I made these oven-broiled Sweet & Spicy Thai Chicken Wings. I tweaked a recipe (twice) that I found on Genius Kitchen and came up with these amazing and easy wings. They cook in exactly 13 minutes.

I’ve made chicken wings once before…also in the oven. That time they were Buffalo wings and while they were good, they don’t come close to these. Maybe it’s the sticky, sweet, spicy flavors in these that I enjoyed so much or maybe the fact that these don’t leave an orange puddle on your plate and dripping down your hands. I don’t know. All I know is that I couldn’t stop eating these and I figured that meant I should share them with you.

Here are the ingredients that give these Sweet & Spicy Thai Chicken Wings their amazing flavors – sweet chili sauce (found where the ketchup is at the store), chili garlic sauce (I used this one but you could use Sriracha too), fresh grated ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, and honey. If you don’t like too much spice, not to worry. I like things mild and usually go that route because of my kids. We didn’t find these too spicy at all and my girls devoured them. On the other hand, if you like things spicy, just double the chili garlic sauce. They’re great either way.

Aside from cutting up the wings into 3 parts, there’s nothing difficult or tricky about making chicken wings. If I did it, you can too. If you can buy precut wings, it would save you some time. You could also look for small drumettes. I sometimes see them at my grocery store. If you do buy the regular uncut wings (like I did), cut them where the joints meet to separate the drumette from the flat and then discard the wing tips. My advice – cut them all up a few hours ahead and store them in the fridge until you need them. It makes things much easier at cooking time. Also, use a sharp knife or good kitchen scissors.

The original recipe calls for grilling these, but I wanted an easier, indoor version. The answer was using my oven’s broiler function. It cooked them quickly and browned them beautifully. After mixing up all the sauce ingredients, you just glaze the wings on one side, broil, turn them, glaze the other side, and broil again. In less than 15 minutes, you’ll have these amazing apps at your table and your friends and family will think you’re a rock star.

These Sweet & Spicy Thai Chicken Wings have become my new favorites. They make great appetizers for any get-together and are simple to make. Their amazing, exotic flavors make them  huge crowd-pleasers.

Other appetizers you may like:

Baked Goat Cheese in Tomato Sauce

Warm Cuban Sandwich Dip