The first flavor that comes to mind when you think of chicken wings might be buffalo — and it’s a classic for a reason. However, there are plenty of other sauces and rubs to try, whether baking, frying, or grilling your wings. Smoked chicken wings with ranch dressing, crispy garlic-glazed chicken wings, or even limoncello-marinated chicken wings with pepperoni sauce (pepperoni! sauce!) will take your game day and Super Bowl spreads to the next level. With dozens of chicken wing recipes to choose from, you’re sure to appreciate some old favorites and add a few new varieties to your game day repertoire.
Classic Hot Wings
Fred Hardy / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Josh Hoggle
These classic hot wings couldn’t be easier — they take only two steps to make and require just five ingredients (three, if you don’t count flour or salt). They’re best paired with a crisp, malty lager.
Baked Chicken Wings
Fred Hardy / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Josh Hoggle
These baked wings have a simple ingredient list — canola oil, salt, pepper, hot sauce, butter, and grated garlic, plus chopped parsley, blue cheese dressing, and lemon wedges for serving — making them ideal for game day.
Classic Buffalo Wings
Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Amelia Rampe
Buffalo wings go hand in hand with watching sports. Use your air fryer or pan-fry the wings on the stove until golden brown, then coat them in melted butter and hot sauce. Crunchy, cool celery balances the heat, while blue cheese dressing is a must for dipping.
Crispy Chicken Wings
Diana Chistruga
For the crispiest fried wings, be sure to follow the recipe’s very first step: Thoroughly pat your wings dry, which also ensures the seasoning adheres to the skin.
Charcoal-Grilled Chicken Wings
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Julia Bayless
F&W editor in chief Hunter Lewis grills chicken wings over charcoal briquettes for a slightly smoky flavor and to slowly render the fat for ultra-crispy skin. Enjoy them as they are or toss them in your favorite wing sauce.
Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings with Hot Honey Glaze
Antonis Achilleos / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
These sweet-and-spicy wings are glazed with buttery hot honey and seasoned with lemon pepper. Better yet, they bake up to crisp perfection in the air fryer.
Adobo Chicken Wings
Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Kay E. Clarke
The marinade for these Filipino-inspired wings pulls double duty — after the soak, it’s reserved and reduced to sticky deliciousness on the stove before being tossed with the baked chicken. Sprinkle the wings with fried garlic and garnish with scallions, cilantro, and serrano chile for pops of color and flavor.
Spicy Guava-Glazed Wings
Cedric Angeles
2017 F&W Best New Chef Nina Compton roasts these delectable wings in the oven, then tosses them in a spicy, fruity, and sticky glaze made with guava paste, crushed red pepper, and smoked paprika.
Dakgangjeong (Korean Fried Chicken with Soy Sauce)
These Korean fried chicken wings are especially crunchy thanks to their potato starch coating. Jalapeños bring a spicy bite to the sweet-savory finishing sauce; garnish with additional slices along with chrysanthemum greens for a vibrant presentation on game day.
Honey Mustard Chicken Wings
Food & Wine / Photo by Brie Goldman / Food Styling by Holly Dreesman / Prop Styling by Alexandria Juhl
Sweet honey and tangy mustard make these classic chicken wings extraordinary. This simple recipe is a snap to make and can be ready to wow your taste buds in just 45 minutes.
Crispy Garlic-Glazed Chicken Wings
These wings develop bold, savory flavor and a sticky finish from a quick stir-fry of fish sauce, lime juice, and soy sauce, then get topped with crunchy fried garlic and fresh scallions. They look impressively involved, but come together in about an hour — well before the Super Bowl coin toss.
Limoncello-Marinated Chicken Wings with Pepperoni Sauce
Pepperoni sauce and zesty baked chicken wings! Need we say more? If pizza, sandwiches, or dips are part of your game day spread, allow the leftover sauce to pull double duty.
Huli Huli Chicken Wings
Pineapple juice and grilled slices bring the sweet; ginger delivers on the spice; and homemade huli huli sauce balances the smoky, caramelized Hawaiian-style chicken in this recipe from chef Sheldon Simeon.
Sticky Baked Chicken Wings
Marcus Nilsson
To give these flavorful wings their crispy exterior, chef Matt Jennings bakes them until lightly browned, just before finishing with a gochujang glaze and more time in the oven until they’re slightly charred and deliciously sticky.
Spicy Sriracha Chicken Wings
These wings are first marinated with crushed coriander and cumin, cinnamon, salt, and olive oil, then roasted until firm before being fried until golden. They’re finished by tossing in a punchy Sriracha–melted butter sauce brightened with cilantro and plenty of lime zest and juice. Pair with lager to tamp down the heat of the Thai chile sauce.
Chicken Wings with Angry Sauce
Con Poulos
Two Korean-based ingredients, gochujang (chile paste) and gochugaru (chile powder), create the perfect balance between fiery and sweet. If you’d like, you can make the sauce one day ahead of time and refrigerate it overnight. (Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before you toss it with the wings.)
Soy Sauce Chicken Wings
Todd Porter & Diane Cu
Salty and sweet, these chicken wings are the perfect Super Bowl snack. The sauce comes together in just 10 minutes from ingredients you probably already have on hand: butter, fresh garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, and brown sugar.
Spicy Apricot Wings
Marcus Nilsson
Short on time to marinate wings before grilling? No worries. Brushing on an apricot-based sauce provides the same tender, savory results without compromising flavor. A refreshing wheat beer or fruity Pinot Gris would be a superb complement here.
Tomato-Glazed Chicken Wings
Evi Abeler
Opt for spicier baked buffalo-style chicken wings by adding a few drops of hot sauce to the tomato sauce, which is made by pureeing roasted tomatoes with olive oil and mild goat cheese.
Smokin’ Sweet Chicken Wings with Cherry Barbecue Glaze
Lucy Schaeffer
If you want a little sweetness with your heat, cherry preserves combine nicely with habanero chile to make a barbecue glaze ideal for slathering onto grilled chicken wings. The glaze can be prepared up to three days in advance; be sure to bring it to room temperature and coat the wings just before serving so the sugars don’t burn.
Maple-Bacon Chicken Wings
Todd Porter & Diane Cu
Here, a bacon and maple syrup glaze is poured over fried chicken wings. What’s not to like?
Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings
Wendell T. Webber
Chef Andy Ricker based this recipe on the first fish-sauce wings he tried at a roadside stand in Saigon. They are marinated in fish sauce, sugar, and crushed garlic, then dredged in cornstarch and fried until golden. Reduce the reserved marinade to make a glossy, salty-sweet syrup that the wings are tossed in just before serving.
Pineapple-Teriyaki Chicken Wings
Todd Porter & Diane Cu
Any excuse we can find to use pineapple-teriyaki glaze, we’ll take it. Even better than tossing wings in the homemade sweet and savory sauce is using it as a dip on the side.
One-Pot Sticky Chicken Wings
Stephanie Meyer
Fortunately, you don’t have to travel to Malaysia to get a taste of these chicken wings, thanks to Andrew Zimmern. All it takes to achieve this Chinese-style dish is one pot and a few ingredients. Voilà! Sticky wings to add to your Super Bowl spread in 40 minutes.
Hill Country Smoked Chicken Wings with Texas Ranch Dressing
Peden + Munk
Double the flavor of these wings with a sweet and spicy rub before smoking over hickory or applewood chips. Serve with jalapeño-studded buttermilk ranch dressing and a nice smoky lager.
Coconut-Curry Chicken Wings
Abby Hocking
You’ll only need a few ingredients to bring this chicken marinade to life: coconut milk, Thai red curry paste, and lime.
Ginger and Honey Chicken Wings
Con Poulos
Salty roasted peanuts and squeezes of fresh lime juice cut through the sweetness of these wings’ ginger-honey glaze.
Lampe’s Chicken Wings with Sweet-and-Spicy Pantry Sauce
Reed Davis
National barbecue champion Ray Lampe’s method for flavorsome chicken is slashing the inside of the joints so the seasoning has direct access. Nothing’s better with a platter of spicy wings — buffalo or not — than beer. Reach for a malty, flavorful ale like Old Speckled Hen.
Jalapeño Chicken Wings
Todd Porter & Diane Cu
Two major ingredients in this hot wings recipe ensure a spicy bite: pickled jalapeños and Tapatio hot sauce. The rest is just fried perfection.
Thai Green Curry Hot Wings
Tina Rupp
Vibrant green curry paste coupled with umami-rich fish sauce lends flavor to golden, crispy roasted hot wings.
Old Bay Hot Wings
These easy wings are seasoned with Old Bay and roasted in the oven until browned and crispy, then tossed in a simple combination of butter, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.
Green Jalapeño Hot Wings
Rick Poon
Served with a cool blue cheese dipping sauce, these roasted chicken wings covered in a spicy green jalapeño sauce are especially tasty when paired with a classic German doppelbock.
Chicken Wings with Fragrant Herb Sauce
Con Poulos
A variety of fresh herbs and spices round out the fiery pepper-based and honey-infused sauce, including parsley, ginger, thyme, garlic, orange zest, and a touch of nutmeg. Make the sauce up to three hours ahead.
Sweet and Sticky Hot Wings
Todd Porter & Diane Cu
These wings get their flavor from plenty of spices and seasonings — smoked paprika, dried garlic, salt, and dried onion — along with red hot sauce and melted hot pepper jelly. They’re oven-roasted until perfectly browned and crispy.
Grilled Chicken Wings with Nine-Spice Dry Rub
Con Poulos
Chef Timothy Hollingsworth’s rub blends nine sweet-and-spicy ingredients. His secret to tender wings lies in the brine — and letting the chicken rest in it for three hours before coating in the signature blend.
