Asian Honey BBQ Oven-Baked Chicken Wings

I don't like sports.  I love sports.  I can't get enough.  Imagine my love for March Madness!  I watched a ton of basketball in the past weeks, and I already can't wait for the Sweet Sixteen to start tomorrow.  Other than my beloved K-State wildcats being knocked out of the tournament on Saturday, it has been a great month of basketball!  And I don't like wings.  I love wings.  Put wings and sports together, and I am one happy gal!  Perhaps I have been brainwashed by too many Buffalo Wild Wings commercials, but there is something magical about watching a big game while chowing down on wings.  

I do have many fond memories of watching March Madness games at Buffalo Wild Wings (including an overtime thriller where K-State defeated Xavier) and Hooters in Topeka with my husband's law school friends.  Good times!  Unfortunately, those days are a thing of the past.  With no Buffalo Wild Wings or Hooters nearby, we have been watching games at home.  Fortunately, I now know how to make my own wings.  And I love them!

Wings are actually really easy to make at home.  I, of course, choose to bake my wings instead of frying them.  I shared my first experiment with baked wings in my post on oven baked Buffalo wings.  I have made my own Buffalo wings several times, and have always enjoyed them.  But I thought it was time to try barbeque flavored wings.  To make my own barbeque wings, I turned to a recipe I had saved long ago for Asian honey BBQ wings.  The sauce simply combined honey barbeque sauce, some soy sauce, garlic powder, and ginger to make a sweet and tangy combination that was amazingly delicious!  I may or may not have licked the bowl I used to make this sauce as if it were something like brownie batter.  I'll never tell!

To make my own Asian honey BBQ wings, I basically just used the same recipe for my oven baked Buffalo wings, but changed the sauce.  Here's a refresher on oven-baked wings:  Make a coating for the wings by mixing together cornstarch, salt, and black pepper.  When looking at these pictures, keep in mind that I made a small batch!

Pat dry your chicken wings and toss them with the cornstarch mix.  Place them on a greased baking sheet. 

And bake the wings for about 20 minutes.  I recommend using a thermometer to make sure they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.  Now, these wings look plain yucky.  They desperately need a delicious barbeque sauce to liven them up!

All you do to make the sauce is mix the ingredients together and heat it slightly.  You don't want cold sauce on your hot wings!  I just nuked my sauce for about 30 seconds.  Then toss your wings and sauce together.  

Grab a pile of napkins and eat up! 

Asian Honey BBQ Oven-Baked Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

Wings

1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt

1/4 cup cornstarch 

3 lbs chicken wings

Sauce

1 cup honey BBQ sauce*

4 1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

Mix together black pepper, salt, and cornstarch.  Dry chicken with paper towels and place pieces in large mixing bowl.  Sprinkle spice mixture over chicken and toss with plastic spatula to coat evenly.  Place wings on baking sheet, spray lightly with cooking spray, and bake about 20 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

While wings are baking, whisk together all sauce ingredients and heat on stove top or in microwave just until warmed.  Put sauce in a large bowl.

When chicken is done baking, add to sauce bowl and toss to coat wings evenly.  Serve immediately. 
*If you don't have honey BBQ sauce on hand, you can use regular BBQ sauce and add 1-2 tablespoons of honey, to taste!

Recipe adapted from Kraft and Cook's Illustrated