Make buffalo wings the easy way, by cooking them in the slow cooker! Made stress-free and loaded with mouthwatering finger-licking flavors, this recipe is perfect for home-gating with the Crock-Pot® brand!
Are you ready for some serious home-gating? Try your buffalo wings in the slow cooker and watch how quickly they disappear! Plus, they’re hands-off, so you can enjoy the game and your guests!
These Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Wings are sponsored by the Crock-Pot® brand. All opinions are mine alone.
When I think of great game day food, there’s one quintessential food that everyone loves and asks for… buffalo wings!
There’s something so tempting about those little bites of crispy, sticky, juiciness… so deliciously spicy and just waiting to be dipped in some ranch or blue cheese dressing! Today I’ve partnered with Crock-Pot® brand to bring you this incredibly appetizer recipe!
True, there’s no dainty way to eat buffalo wings; at least not that I’ve seen or tried. You just have to go for it, with sticky hands and usually some sauce on your face. It’s so worth it though!
I know there are a LOT of chicken wing flavor combos out there, but my all-time favorite is the honey buffalo flavor.
I love buffalo sauce, but sometimes it can be overpowering, and a bit too spicy. The honey comes in and just mellows it out, not to mention it helps the sauce caramelize beautifully when you broil them!
Just as there are a lot of sauce flavors out there, there are also quite a few cooking methods. There’s the classic fried, there’s broiled, baked, and my new favorite, the slow cooked method!
Who knew making chicken wings could be SO easy!! I love a great appetizer that I can pop in the slow cooker and forget about for a couple of hours.
I can serve food right out of this slow cooker during a party… which means less dishes to wash… and it looks beautiful! It has all the great Crock-Pot® Slow Cooker quality you’ve come to expect from their products, plus I LOVE the NFL logo (go Bengals!).
For a true saucy consistency to the buffalo wings, just cook in the slow cooker and serve; but if you want a truly sticky glaze, there’s a little work at the end.
No worries though, it’s not super time consuming, and once it’s done, you can pop the glazed wings back in the slow cooker on warm for the party!
As far as what to serve these honey buffalo wings with, the sky is the limit! Traditional carrot and celery sticks, blue cheese sauce, ranch dressing, lime wedges, green onion garnish… you really can’t go wrong!
My personal favorite is blue cheese sauce, but my family is hooked on ranch dressing, so we usually end up with both.
The next time you’re hosting a game day party (home-gating for the win!), give these easy slow cooker honey buffalo wings a try! You’ll love how easy they are, plus how amazing they taste!
HELPFUL TOOLS:
- Crock-Pot® Slow Cooker – There are so many types and sizes to choose from… but a locking lid is my “must have”
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
SPICE RUB:
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp onion powder or dried minced onion
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried parsley
HONEY BUFFALO SAUCE:
- 3/4 cup hot sauce (Frank's Original is what I always use)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 Tbsp melted butter
- 1 Tbsp molasses (optional but recommended)
WINGS:
- 4 lbs fresh chicken wings, patted dry
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, add rub ingredients and stir to combine thoroughly. Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray and add chicken wings. Sprinkle rub over the top and use hands to massage the rub into all the chicken wings. I like to use nitrile gloves for this - easy clean up!
- In the empty rub mixing bowl, add sauce ingredients and whisk to combine well. Pour over spiced wings and toss gently to coat.
- Cover slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 2 hours, or on LOW for 3-4 hours.
FOR STICKY GLAZE:
- Cook slow cooker recipe as directed above. Line a baking sheet with 2 sheets of aluminum foil, then place an oven safe wire cooling rack on top. Place cooked wings on cooling rack, then pour sauce from the slow cooker into a saucepan. Add 2 Tbsp cornstarch and 2 Tbsp of water to a small bowl and whisk to combine well, then pour into sauce and whisk. Cook over MED-HIGH heat until boiling, then reduce heat to MED-LOW and whisk as it cooks. Cook about 5 minutes, or until thickened to desired consistency.
- Brush wings with thickened sauce, then broil on HIGH for 2-3 minutes, until the sauce caramelizes a little. Brush with more glaze and broil another 2 minutes. Repeat this one more time and you should have perfectly sticky wings!
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Chef Tips
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
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Matt Hanson says
Delicious, but the prep took a solid 30 minutes, not 10, if you could update that.
The Chunky Chef says
I’m glad you enjoyed these wings! As for the prep time, that can vary widely from person to person, so I simply input how long it took me and my recipe testers.
Kk says
My husband loved these.
Charlene says
I made these for a concessions stand at a High School Football Game. Was a bit nervous because I doubled the recipe and wasn’t sure how they would turn out. Well, they were AMAZING!! Like everyone else, I followed the recipe to a T and seriously, they are delicious. Sold out in 10 minutes!! Highly recommend this!
Lisa says
Did you put all the chicken in at once? I’m going this tomorrow.
Abbey says
If I make these the night before and then reheat them in the crockpot the next day will they still be good and sticky? And not super saucy?
The Chunky Chef says
I don’t think they’d stay nice and sticky. You could make them the night before, but don’t broil them. Then reheat them and broil them the day of 🙂
Amy says
How spicy are they? I’m a bit of a wimp, so just trying to figure out if this will have too much of a kick
The Chunky Chef says
I feel they’re between a mild and medium heat level, but you can always adjust things to your tastes 🙂
Jennifer says
If you follow these directions exactly, you will have amazing wings! I halved the recipe and they still came out incredible! Thanks so much for the delicious recipe!
Rabecca says
If you make this without doing the broiling option are they saucy? If so how do I make them more sticky if my broiler doesn’t work? I really want to try these but my husband isn’t the biggest fan of super saucy wings.
Amanda says
They’re definitely saucy without broiling them. If you have access to a grill, you could add them to the grill to get them sticky and a little charred.
Kara D says
Perfect I followed the directions like you stated and it’s amazing. Falling off the bone. So tender and juicy. Thank you so much. I appreciate you and this recipe.
Ana says
For sticky wings.. how high should I set broil??
Amanda says
I set mine on high 🙂
Jeff says
Have made these multiple times with drumsticks. Always excellent!
Deborah Anderson says
Loved these! I didn’t read the recipe correctly and I made it more difficult than necessary by “NOT” adding the sauce over the wings before cooking. I salvaged it and they were the right blend of sweet and spicy. As Amanda says, Finger Lickin’ Good. It’s a keeper. I was going to upload a picture of a plate of ‘bones’ but I don’t see where to do that. :-}
Valerie says
Followed recipe only difference is I have a great crockpot that has stove top feature so while wings are on rack im thickening sauce right in the crockpot. Best wings recipe I’ve used in 25 +years of cooking!!!! And thats saying a lot im not a wing fan 🤗
Sheila Hurley says
Great recipe! Followed recipe, using frozen wings, and turned out perfectly. Lots of flavor.
Barb Kerr says
The wings were partially frozen when put in crock pot. Very watery. How do I thicken the sticky glaze?
The Chunky Chef says
Frozen chicken wings are usually ice-glazed so they don’t stick together as much, so there’s always much more water when you cook, even if partially thawed. Just follow the directions listed under the heading “For a Sticky Glaze” in the recipe card and it’ll turn out just fine. Yours might need a bit longer to simmer since it’s more watery though.
Katie Ryan says
First time ever making wings and I gotta say, if you make these, people won’t believe you’ve never made them before. Holy delicious! I followed this recipe for the T, down to the scallion garnish and they came out looking exactly like the gorgeous pictures here and with very little fuss. The most challenging part was pouring the sauce from my awkwardly shaped and huge crockpot into the saucepan. Just be careful of hot splatter and the hot crockpot. It worked best with two people. The flavor of the sauce was phenomenal and if you dip in ranch, do the tiny bit of extra work and get one of the dry hidden valley ranch packages and use buttermilk and Mayo to mix into it and chill in the fridge for at least an hour before using. Wow wow wow, these will be going on my list of recipes to make again and again and again!!!!
Nadria Hartnest says
My trick is to use a slow cooker bag. After I removed the wings, I simply grabbed the bag out and snipped a hole in the bottom and let it run into the saucepan. So much easier. Hope this helps
Paula salud says
Can you make ahead? Or has anyone made ahead? What would the instructions for making the night before to heat them up again?
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested the recipe that way so I can’t say for certain, unfortunately. Since this is sort of a dump and let it cook recipe, I’ve never needed to make them ahead of time.
Sharyn Garcia says
Planned on making these but forgot to set up the crockpot. So instead I followed the ingredients exactly and cooked them in a 425 oven for 50-60 minutes. They came out crispy and fall off the bone delicious! I’m making them again tonight 😋
Sharon says
Excellent! Easy too! Very tasty. I followed the recipe as it was written. Perfect wings. They are not crispy, if that’s what you like! But they’re delicious!
Toni says
Oh my goodness….This glaze is so good! I found the recipe AFTER I crock “potted” my wings and decided to go ahead and try the sauce. It’s amazing! So good, I plan to use it to glaze some pork chops! Thanks for sharing.
carol villarreal says
great wings….going to take to work