Baked General Tso’s Sticky Wings

Your favorite sweet and spicy, ginger, caramel General Tso’s sauce now smothering crispy, sticky baked wings –  No breading chicken! 

Baked General Tso's Sticky Wings over rice.


 

The first chicken recipe I ever shared on Carlsbad Cravings (last February 2014) was Skinny General Tso’s Chicken and even title it “AKA my favorite chicken ever” because I think it will forever remain my favorite chicken ever.  And when something is your favorite chicken ever, you want to eat it…

All.

The.

Time.

Baked General Tso's Sticky Wings over rice top view.

The crispy chicken enveloped in sweet caramel like sauce balanced by zingy ginger, Sriracha, garlic and toasted sesame oil is the perfect balance of sweet heat that I can’t seem to get enough of.  Its the kind of sauce you want to douse on everything.

So let’s get dousing.

showing how to make chicken wings by pouring sauce over baked wings

These crispy baked chicken wings are so dousable and naturally crispy by adding baking powder to the rub (see reasoning here) so there is no need for the time consuming process of breading like in the traditional Skinny General Tso’s Chicken version so you get all the flavor of General Tso’s chicken with half the work!

Showing how to make Baked General Tso's Sticky Wings on a baking rack.

The wings are first rubbed (or more accurately shaken in a bag – easy)  with spices such as ginger, garlic, onion, etc., baked, then drenched in the sticky intoxicating sauce. As simple as that.

Baked General Tso's Sticky Wings over rice in a black skillet.

As delicious as this…

showing how to serve baked chicken wings by garnishing with green onions

Baked General Tso’s Sticky Wings.  Undoubtedly dousably delicious.

Baked Sticky General Tso’s Chicken Wings

Servings: 24 wings
Total Time: 1 hour
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients

  • 24 chicken wings with skin, rinsed and patted dry (approx 3 pounds)

Rub

  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons ground ginger sounds like a lot its amazing
  • 1 tsp EACH salt, onion pwdr, garlic pwdr
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Sauce

Caramel Sauce

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons water

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Line baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup. Top baking sheet with baking rack/oven proof cooling rack and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
  • In a medium bowl, mix Rub ingredients together. Add half of the Rub to a large freezer bag. Add half of the wings and shake until coated evenly. Line wings on prepared baking rack so they are not touching. Add remaining Rub ingredients and wings to freezer bag and repeat.
  • Bake on upper middle rack for 45-50 minutes or until golden. Move oven rack approximately 6-8″ from broiler and broil to desired crispiness, watching closely so wings don’t burn. Flip chicken wings over and broil the other side until crispy.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together sauce ingredients (not Caramel Sauce). Set aside.
  • To make the Caramel Sauce, add 2 tablespoons water and ½ cup sugar to large skillet and boil over medium heat for 1 minute – don’t overcook or it will harden! Add reserved sauce and simmer the sauce until thickened, about 2 minutes.
  • Remove the sauce from the heat and allow to cool down slightly. Add cooked chicken to a large bowl and add sauce. Toss until evenly coated with a spatula. There will be a little extra sauce which is amazing on rice. Enjoy!

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42 Comments

  1. Allison says

    I made these for our Bachelor’s girl’s night and they were gone in minutes! Everyone said they were the best wings they had ever had. Thank you so much for the recipe!

    • Jen says

      You are most welcome! What a fun appetizer for girl’s night. I am so happy everyone loved them!!

    • Joy says

      When do you add the caramel sauce?

      • Jen says

        Hi Joy! It is in step 5. Enjoy!

    • Jen says

      Thank you so much Felicia! That is fine with me to use one of my photos and I SO appreciate you including me in your roundup!

    • Jen says

      Hi Karyl, thank you for sharing my recipe on your Round Up! As soon as I made wings for the first time, there was no going back! I think you will be shocked at how easy they actually are! Thanks again!

  2. annie says

    So glad I ran across this recipe!! Wanted something interesting to do with chicken wings besides my usual. This was the bomb! YUM. Thanks

    • Jen says

      Awesome, so happy you loved these Annie, thank you so much!

  3. Lisa Watson says

    These wings look delicious! I plan to make them, but I have a question. Can you make a suggestion for an oil substitute? I know my son will love them, but he has an allergy to sesame oil.

    • Jen says

      Thank you Lisa! You can just leave it out and they will still taste great! Enjoy!

  4. Jennifer @ Because Food Is Love says

    These wings look and sound amazing! I make homemade baked chicken wings but I usually go traditional wing sauce or barbecue for the kids. However, now I must make these! General’s chicken has always been my favorite Asian dish. To combo it with wings sounds so delicious! Thanks for the recipe.

    • Jen says

      You are so welcome Jennifer, I hope you love these wings! Can’t go wrong combining two favorites!

    • Christine says

      This recipe sounds amazing. Instead of sugar for the caramel sauce, can honey or maple syrup be substituted?

      • Jen says

        Hi Christine, unfortunately caramel has to be made with sugar.

  5. angelica says

    hello. i do not have rice wine vinegar. an i use regular white vinegar

    • Jen says

      Hi Angelica, the best substitute would be apple cider vinegar, hope that helps!

  6. Cyndi says

    Is there a place to get the nutritional info for this recipe?

  7. Cheryl says

    These are my new favorite wings. Made them exactly like the recipe and they were perfectly spicy we love spicy. Thanks for a wonderful new wing.

    • Jen says

      yay! I’m so happy they are your new favorite wing recipe!!! Thanks Cheryl!

  8. Pia says

    As with many of your recipes, this one is a WINNER in our home! Thank you!

    • Jen says

      You are so welcome Pia, I’m so happy it was a hit, thank you!

  9. Kim says

    YUM!!! First time trying this & can’t wait to try it with chicken breasts for my husband. Recipe worked perfectly. Will definitely be cooking this one again. No alterations to recipe required.

    • Jen says

      Awesome! I am so happy you loved the chicken and I hope your husband loves it too! Thanks Kim!

  10. Bethany says

    I have made so many different versions of wings. All cooked different ways with different sauces. This is by far the BEST recipe and cooking method I have ever used. We loved them!

    • Jen says

      You made my day, thank you so so much Bethany!

  11. cecilia says

    Would like to take to potl;uck, its going to b in shade for 1 hr before eaten. Is that safe, any suggestions would b appreciated.

  12. Danielle says

    I found your recipe for New Years and my family is thrilled every time I make it. I’m not usually the kind of person to leave review/comments on personal food blogs but this recipe is so fantastic from start to finish that I couldn’t not say something. I usually refuse to make oven fried chicken because it’s messy and can be complicated with many steps and we are a family of 8. I’m sure you can imagine the work it would take to make oven fried chicken nuggets for 8 people 😀 This baking powder and ginger breading for the chicken is brilliant, I never would have thought of it. I appreciate the simplicity as well. As I mentioned, my family is ecstatic every time it’s on the menu. It’s a crowd pleaser for our entire age range, 42-2. (Wife bonus, my husband absolutely loves anything ginger so the level of gingeryness was perfect for him) Thank you for your hard work and for sharing this recipe.
    Only modification made was that I used chicken drumsticks instead of wings, baking time was the same from what I recall.

    • Jen says

      Hi Danielle, thank you so much for taking the time to leave your awesome comment! I’m thrilled your entire family loves these wings/drumsticks and that their easy to make! Thanks for making my day!

  13. Robyn Martinez says

    Made these tonight and seriously delicious!! Best wings ever and sooooo flavorful!! I did add scallions after. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!

    • Jen says

      Thank you for your awesome comment Robyn! I’m thrilled these were the best wings!

  14. Alex says

    Super great! I added a little garlic hoisin to the sauce since I had it on hand, and crushed sichuan peppercorns to the dry rub/baking powder mix on the wings. I also baked with the sauce on afterwards, which isn’t necessasry I just like the flavour and texture that way!

    • Jen says

      Mmmmmm, I am loving your additions Alex, especially the crushed sichuan peppercorns, I’m going to have to try that next time!

  15. Tom says

    I thought the recipe called for rice wine not vinegar????

    • Jen says

      That’s correct, it is rice wine in the ingredients.

  16. cheryl says

    Where do you use vinegar?

    • Jen says

      There is no vinegar in this recipe, just Japanese rice wine.

  17. cheryl says

    Thats what I thought, I used sherry and it was great! Thanks

    • Jen says

      So happy you enjoyed them!