I’ve made no secret about the fact that I love chicken wings. I love them baked or fried, I love them hot or sweet, or even hot and sweet. The point is that I love chicken wings. And so today I thought I would take advantage of the fact that I write a food blog, and can use it as an excuse to make five different flavours of wings that I then get to eat. Yes, I’m excited to share this with you, but if I’m honest this was much more about me just wanting to eat a big pile of wings.
Let’s take a look.
Honey Garlic
The first wing sauce we are going to look at today is classic honey garlic. Now, I know that you can get this out of a bottle, and it’s pretty good. But, you can make it at home from ingredients you probably already have in under 10 minutes. Oh, and it is way better than the store-bought stuff.
To make it I chopped up 4 cloves of garlic and sautéed them in sesame oil over medium heat until they were brown. Then I added in 1/4 tsp chilli flakes, 1/4 cup of honey, and 1/4 tsp Chinese Five-Spice. I boiled this for a few minutes until the honey started to turn a dark amber colour. Then I added in 1/4 cup soy sauce (I used Gluten-Free Tamari). I mixed 1 tsp of cornstarch with 2 tsp of water and mixed that in then let the mixture boil for 2-3 minutes until thick.
Ingredients
- 4 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup Honey
- 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
- 1/4 tsp Chili Flakes
- 2 tsp Water
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1/4 tsp Chinese five-spice
Instructions
- Heat a small pot over medium heat.
- Add the sesame oil and sliced garlic and cook until the garlic is a dark caramel brown.
- Add in the chili flakes, honey, and five-spice, and soy sauce.
- Cook this mixture for 3-4 minutes.
- Mix the cornstarch and water then stir it into the honey and soy mixture.
- Cook for another 2-3 minutes then toss with wings.
Orange Ginger Sauce
Next up I made some orange ginger sauce. This sauce is similar to what you might find on the Orange Chicken at a mall Chinese Food place. Truth be told I had a bad craving for very low-end Chinese Food (which I can’t eat because of the damn gluten) which is partly why I made this. The other reason is that it is really delicious on wings.
To make the orange ginger sauce I chopped up 2 cloves of garlic and half a small onion (about 1/4 cup) I sauteed this in canola oil for three minutes over medium heat. I cooked it just long enough for the onions to soften. Then I added in just about 1 tbsp of grated ginger and 4 dried Thai red chilis. I cooked all of this for another 2-3 minutes before adding in the zest and juice from a large naval orange. Next up I added in 2 tbsp soy sauce (tamari again) 2 tbsp of honey and 1/4 tsp of Chinese 5-Spice. I boiled all of this for about 3-4 minutes then finished it with a cornstarch slurry just like I did with the honey garlic sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 lg Naval Orange, Juiced and Zested
- 1 tbsp Grated Ginger
- 2 cloves Chopped Garlic
- 1/4 cup Minced Onion
- 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 6 Thai Red Chilies
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
- 2 tsp Water
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
Instructions
- Heat a small pot over medium heat.
- Add in the sesame oil along with the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add in the chillies, orange zest, and ginger and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the soy sauce, orange juice and bring to a boil.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Mix the corn starch and water then add it into the orange soy mixture.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes or until thick.
- Toss with wings and serve.
Hot sauce and Honey
This hot sauce and honey wing sauce isn’t what I would call complicated. Literally all I did was mix 1/4 cup of Franks Red Hot with 1/4 cup Honey. That’s it. Usually, I boil this together then finish it with a teaspoon or two of butter, and you can do that, but I want to show how simple a really good wing sauce could be.
I do know that Franks on its own is a wing sauce, but when mixed with honey, boiled or not, it is even better.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Hot sauce of your choice I used Franks Red Hot
- 1/4 cup Honey
Instructions
- Mix the honey and hot sauce and toss with wings.
- Alternatively, the sauce can be boiled for 4-5 minutes or until thick.
Whiskey BBQ
This Whiskey BBQ Sauce is great on more than just wings. You can put it on any kind of chicken, turkey, pork, or even salmon. You just can’t go wrong.
To make this Whisky BBQ Wing Sauce I mixed 1/4 cup of ketchup with 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp each onion and garlic powder, 2 tbsp Whisky (I used Forty Creek), 1/4 tsp chilli flakes, and 1-2 tbsp cider vinegar. I whisked this all together and tossed some wings in it.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Ketchup
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 tbsp Whiskey
- 1/4 tsp Chili Flakes
- 1 tbsp Cider Vinegar
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients well and toss with wings.
The 5th Sauce
Keener eyed readers may have noticed that we’ve only covered four wing sauces so far. But the post is 5 DIY wing sauces. What gives? Where’s the fifth sauce? What if I told you it was here all along? What??
To make the fifth and actually the tastiest sauce I combined the honey garlic sauce with the orange ginger sauce. I’ve got to tell you, these two combined made something truly special.
Conclusion
There you have it. Not one, not two, not even three, but five delicious DIY wing sauces. The next time you get a craving for wings or have some friends coming over, mix up a batch of one or all of these sauces. I bet you’ll be happy you did.
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