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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sherrie says
thank you! my wings came out great. I want them to look like yours but I’m very pleased with the recipe. so delicious
Trent says
Can I use regular paprika instead of smoked paprika?
The Chunky Chef says
You can, it will have a slightly less smoky flavor.
Jamdenn says
Can the wings be on top of each other while cooking in the crockpot
The Chunky Chef says
Yes absolutely, they’ll still cook through. If you want to get them sticky and crispy though, you’ll have to do the optional broiling step where the wings are side by side on a baking sheet.
Clare says
This looks amazing!! But I’m only making this for 2 so I was thinking of halving the recipe….does that work? How long should I leave it in the slow cooker in that case? Thanks so much!
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested this recipe halved, so I can’t say for certain, but I would think the cook time would be pretty close to the same.
Mike harden says
I was looking for a buffalo wing recipe to enter into my churches first buffalo wing contest. I came across this recipe you posted. My wife and i made the slow cooker wings. Entered them into the contest. ( first time making wings and entering any wing contest) When they announced the winners starting at 3rd place. When they came to the first place announcement. They called our nane. So we won first place on the wing contest with youre slow cooker wing recipe. Thank you for posting the recipe
Kaitlin says
Am definitely goin to try these. But what kind of wings did you use? I bought some chicken wings and it looks nothing like yours!! Boneless skinless?
The Chunky Chef says
Mine were standard frozen chicken wings (bone in, skin on).
John says
I tried this recipe with frozen wings. Cooked them on low for 7hrs overnight. I did not thaw them out. For the sauce I substituted the Frank’s original with Frank’s Extra hot. And when it came time to thicken the sauce I removed the wings and then added cornstarch directly into the crock and whisked until it became thick. I’ve omitted the broiler step and the wings came out as expected. It was good and very mild heat. Not what you would think of as Buffalo hot wings but flavorful. Next time I do this recipe I’ll set some more time to broil them as I do prefer a more crispier outside.
mk says
Hi! I tried these last year for the super bowl and everyone loved them. Truly a wonderful recipe, my question for this year though, what cooking mode do you prefer, high or low? Thanks again!
The Chunky Chef says
I think they both turn out the same in terms of taste, but I prefer high just because I get to eat the wings sooner 😉
Bill says
I don’t have any molasses would pancake maple syrup work
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested that, so I can’t say for certain how it would alter the flavor.
Vash says
Bill did you use maple syrup? That’s all i have and i was wondering the same thing
anne glass says
Can I double this recipe? Will it change the time in the slow cooker?
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t doubled this recipe before so I can’t say for certain, but I would think adding an additional hour or so would work.
Reham says
Do you think these will be ok if I cooked them in the crockpot, put them in fridge, then did the sticky glaze step the next day?
The Chunky Chef says
Yes I think that would be okay 🙂
Jessica says
I would like to make this for our NYE party tomorrow night but we rather have boneless chicken wings. Will this recipe work for boneless? Do I need to do anything different for the boneless wings? Thanks.
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested it, but I think it should work just fine for boneless wings, with no changes 🙂
Roxanne says
I’m taking this to a NYE party tomorrow night and I want to keep them hot in the slow cooker at the party. Is the broiling step necessary?
The Chunky Chef says
If you want crispy/sticky wings, it’s a necessary step. But if you want, you can broil them, clean out the slow cooker insert, then add the broiled wings back to the slow cooker and keep on low or warm during the party.
Elizabeth D says
I ended up using frozen wings so as the author described, there was a lot of liquid in the Crock-Pot so I made a second batch of sauce mixed with the water/cornstarch and reserved it until the wings were done (3 hours on high from mostly frozen). Once cooked, I patted the chicken dry and put in foil pans and poured the reserved sauce over them and broiled as described in recipe. They turned out so great and looked just like the picture. I will be making these again soon!
Breana caprara says
Is there a way to make it less spicy I followed the directions and my fiancé said his lips were burning but I don’t want to throw out the sauce it is very tasty to me
The Chunky Chef says
You could reduce the amount of black pepper and chili powder in the rub, and add more honey to the sauce 🙂
Mike says
What kind of molasses did you use? I have never used molasses to cook before.
The Chunky Chef says
I use this brand all the time https://grandmasmolasses.com/
Micaela says
Have mine in the Crock pot now on low !! Do I need to stir them at all??
The Chunky Chef says
Nope, no need to stir 🙂
Estella says
I tried this recipe. The sauce was rather tasty but wings did not look anything like the photo.
Meat from the crockpot really softens on the bone so meat was slightly coming off giving it more of a baked flavor. “Carmelized” end up being more like crisp due to the broil setting.
Photo is rather misleading compared to the outcome.
The Chunky Chef says
I assure you the photos I put here on my site are taken from the recipe. I would never mislead people that way. Maybe your crockpot cooks at a higher temperature than mine does… unfortunately there are a bunch of different variables here.
diane says
These were FABULOUS!! Loved the sweet and hot combination. So much better than traditional buffalo wings
Patricia says
They look delicious! Could you also put the wings on the barbecue after cooking them in the slowcooker?
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Patricia 🙂 Oh yes, that would be an excellent way to crisp them up!