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If you love fall-off-the-bone chicken wings that are both sweet and savory with a touch of spice, these Slow Cooker Honey Soy Chicken Wings are about to become your new favorite crowd-pleaser!
I developed this recipe from real kitchen testing and plenty of family dinner feedback — no chef training required, just tried-and-true techniques that bring big flavor with minimal fuss. Slow cooking lets the honey and soy sauce blend into a sticky, irresistible sauce that hugs every bite, while easy pantry ingredients keep this perfect for weeknight dinners or game day spreads.
Don’t want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
Table of contents
How to Make Sweet and Spicy Honey Soy Slow Cooker Wings
I am not generally a fan of sweet wings- to me, wings need to be spicy and have a ton of flavor. However, I love the sticky, thick texture honey gives to wing sauce when cooked on a low temperature over time. I knew I needed to find some bold, delicious spices to pair with the honey to get the flavor I was looking for… I decided to make my own recipe and put a little bit of an Asian-inspired twist on them with some shoyu (soy sauce), a little chili paste, and some special spices. Thus, these Slow Cooker Honey Soy Chicken Wings were born!
Soy Chicken Wings in Crock Pot Ingredients
To make these wings assemble the following ingredients:
- Honey – honey balances out the spice of the chili paste for a beautifully flavored sweet and spicy wing.
- Soy sauce – soy sauce is a salty vaguely meaty Asian sauce that doesn’t have a good substitute. You can use low sodium or regular.
- Rice vinegar – compared to other vinegars, rice vinegar has a mild sweetness and slightly sour flavor.
- Chili paste – chili paste is a complex combination of fruit zests, chili peppers, and other spices in olive oil. Buy a high-quality chili paste, this is the most important ingredient.
- Onion powder – onion powder is a great way to get that punchy strong onion flavor without adding more moisture to the slow cooker.
- Garlic powder – this powerhouse is a very common addition to Asian food and helps compliment the other spices for a mouthwatering flavor.
- Cumin – cumin has an earthy subtle taste that compliments the other spices.
- Cayenne pepper – cayenne is a great way to kick the heat up a notch. If you don’t want the wings to be spicy, omit this.
- Baking powder – baking powder is used to thicken the sauce for these wings. See FAQs for alternatives.
- Chicken wings – I cut my wings in between drum, wing, and tip but you can leave them whole if you prefer.
- Green onions – diced green onions make an incredible fresh garnish for these succulent wings.
- Sesame seeds – sesame seeds add a crunchy texture to these wings, you can use black or white sesame seeds.
Steps to Make Honey Soy Crockpot Wings
Combine ingredients – combine all of the ingredients except the chicken wings and baking powder, stir them together and set them aside.
Coat Chicken – coat the chicken in the baking powder, I like to shake them together in a plastic bag to coat them well.
Combine and cook- put the chicken wings in the slow cooker followed by the sauce. Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5 hours. Stir about every house to make sure the sauce is even around the wings.
Stir and Serve – When ready to serve stir the wings and sauce well and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions, enjoy!
Tips and Tricks for Slow Cooker Honey Soy Wings
Not all slow cookers are created equal. The type and brand of your slow cooker will partly determine how long the cook time is. To determine doneness, look for when the meat is easily separating from bone, and wings have reduced in size by about half.
Garnish like a pro – Sesame seeds and chopped green onions add fresh crunch and color just before serving.
Keep it practical – If your sauce seems thin at first, don’t worry — the wings release juices as they cook, giving you that rich, caramelized finish.
Don’t sweat the sauce before cooking – It will look like you don’t have enough sauce when you add it to your crock pot, but don’t worry the chicken will release a lot of moisture that will add to the sauce during cooking.
Flavor balance – Honey brings sweet stickiness while soy sauce provides umami depth — adjusting chili paste lets you dial heat up or down.
Honey Soy Chicken Wings in Crock Pot FAQs
If you don’t want to use baking powder, you can use 1 tsp of cornstarch instead.
The spice level here is determined by the amount of cayenne. If you want it less spicy just add less or none.
Yes — dark meat like thighs works well. Just adjust cook time until the meat is tender.
Store cooled wings and sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 days. Reheat gently.
More SLow Cooker Favorites
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Slow Cooker Honey Soy Chicken Wings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp honey
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp chili paste
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 lb chicken wings, I cut them in between drum, wing, and tip but you can leave them whole if you prefer
- To garnish:
- 3-4 green onions, diced
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl, add all ingredients except for the baking powder and chicken wings.
- Stir well to combine, set aside.
- Add chicken wings and baking powder to a ziploc bag, shake well to coat chicken wings evenly.
- Add chicken wings to slow cooker.
- Pour sauce over wings.
- Cook on high for 2-3 hours. If cooking on low, cook for 4-5 hours.
- Stir about once every hour just to make sure sauce is even on all wings.
- When meat is easily separated from bone, and wings have reduced in size by about half, plate wings or serve right out of the slow cooker. Be sure to stir well to make sure all wings have a good amount of sauce on them.
- Top with sesame seeds and freshly chopped green onions.
- Time will vary based on the slow cooker or crock pot you use.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi! Could I potentially sub chicken thighs for this recipe if I’m not into wings?
Yes! If you use bone in chicken thighs make sure you remove the skin first since it won’t get crisp in the slow cooker.
The sauce did not come out like it did in the pic and had to put the wings in the broiler to get the darker color. Overall it tasted good
This recipe is a keeper! I made them last night for dinner, and when asking my family what to make tonight, they said these again! I left out the rice vinegar (didn’t have it) and the cayenne pepper, because my kids won’t eat anything spicy, and broiled them 1 min per side at the end -really just to give a darker colour. Delicious!
You made them for your family and only 1 lb to the recipe? I’m making 1lb right now and it’s like 4 big wings…just want to make sure I understand it correctly. Has anyone made 3lbs and just triple the recipe? What about the cook time? Thanks!
The cook time will be the same if you add more as long as they fit in the slow cooker!