The Best Chicken Wing Marinade
Move over buffalo wings, this is the only Chicken Wing Marinade you’ll ever need because these wings are so juicy and flavorful they’ll melt in your mouth!
Wings are one of the things you absolutely have to have at any football game or party with friends (like New Year’s Eve parties). But in order to make the very best chicken wing marinade there are a few things you need to know. Lucky for you, we’ve got you covered – not only with the best wing marinade, but also all the best chicken wing recipes you could possible want.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
- Video: Making The Best Chicken Wing Marinade
- Why Use A Chicken Wing Marinade?
- What Is A Good Marinade Made Of?
- What Makes A Good Wing Good?
- How Long Should You Marinate Your Chicken Wings?
- What Can You Do With Leftover Marinade?
- More Easy Marinade Recipes
- Podcast Episode: Marinating Chicken Wings
- Best Chicken Wing Marinade Recipe
Video: Making The Best Chicken Wing Marinade
Why Use A Chicken Wing Marinade?
Marinades are a great way to tenderize and add flavor to the meat. It’s especially good to use for tough cuts of meat as it tenderizes them while adding flavor. Even though chicken wings aren’t tough, it’s the perfect way to add flavor to this party food.
What Is A Good Marinade Made Of?
There are many different varieties and flavors of marinade. However, marinades usually consist of some basic ingredients – sweetener, salt, and acid.
Salt and sugar both break down muscle fibers in meat to some degree, but acid does a lot of the hard work. Once we have that covered, we can add a variety of spices and flavor enhancers to get just the taste we’re craving.
What Makes A Good Wing Good?
I have my own opinions, but I figured I’d ask a group of people what they thought a good wing has and we all agreed – the chicken wings need to be tender and fall-off-the-bone, they need to be crispy, and they need a hot and tangy sauce!
How Long Should You Marinate Your Chicken Wings?
- 20+ minutes if you’re in a pinch
- Best results: 2 – 12 hours
- Less than 24 hours – You need to be careful not to marinate the meat too long because the acidity from lemon or vinegars can actually damage the meat by breaking it down too much!
What Can You Do With Leftover Marinade?
The chicken wing marinade recipe below makes about 3/4 cups, which we have found to work great for 12 wings. Cut it down or double it as needed, but don’t worry if you end up with leftover marinade.
If you end up with leftovers, you can use the marinade as a sauce if you like. The important thing to note here is that you must bring it to a boil to kill any pathogens from the raw meat before using it. Then, whisk together a small amount of water and a tablespoon of cornstarch per cup of liquid you are trying to thicken and whisk it into the marinade mixture in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk continuously until thickened.
The next step is cooking the wings. My favorite way to cook marinated wings is to grill them like this. You can also bake them at 450°F until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F, about 40 minutes, flipping them halfway though.
More Easy Marinade Recipes
- Chicken Thigh Marinade
- Greek Chicken Marinade
- Mexican Chicken Marinade
- Best Steak Marinade
- Fajita Marinade for Steak or Chicken
- Tri-Tip Marinade Recipe
Podcast Episode: Marinating Chicken Wings
Listen to our editor, Christine Pittman, explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Best Chicken Wing Marinade Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 3/4 cup 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Marinate
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Move over buffalo wings, this is the only Chicken Wing Marinade you’ll ever need because these wings are so juicy and flavorful they’ll melt in your mouth!
This recipe makes enough marinade for 12 wings.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce*
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp. sriracha/hot sauce
- 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. hoisin
- 2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. fresh minced ginger (or 1/2 tsp. dried ground ginger)
Instructions
- Mix ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl.
- Place chicken wings in a large baggie, pour marinade in and let it marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
- Cook chicken wings with your favorite method.
To Bake:
Bake at 450°F until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F, about 40 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
To Grill:
Prepare grill for direct grilling over medium heat, around 350°F. Cook about 20-25 minutes total, flipping and adjusting placement as needed.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
Notes
*You may notice that the nutritional info for this recipe shows the sodium as being quite high. That’s because the dietary numbers for this website are calculated under the assumption that you will consume the full serving of food. For marinades though, you don’t actually consume the full portion. We’re not sure how to calculate the numbers differently. However, we estimate that about one quarter of the marinade is actually absorbed by the chicken and consumed. You can therefore reduce the amounts with that in mind.
This post originally appeared in January 2019 and was revised and republished in March 2023.
Can you use a substitute for the hoisin? I don’t have that and am not sure what it even is.
Since it’s a small amount, you can use regular American BBQ sauce in place of the hoisin. Enjoy, Lloyd!
Jennifer, did you use low-sodium soy sauce? If you did and you still found it salty, you could try low-sodium tamari. Tamari is very similar to soy sauce but it often has a less salty flavor. Note that the marinade is not meant to be eaten on its own. It is to soak the wings prior to cooking. You take the wings out of the marinade before cooking them, so it really should just be salting the outside of the chicken. The reason it is a bit salty is that the inside of the chicken meat doesn’t get seasoned, so you want the salt flavor to be more robust to make up for that.
how much marinade would i need for 1kg of wings
This marinade recipe makes enough for 12 wings, so you’ll probably be okay following the recipe, but you could always make a 1.5x batch to make sure you’re covered. Enjoy, Jacob!
Can you deep fry these marinated wings?
I don’t ever deep fry anything that’s damp, Cecil. If you want to fry marinated wings, you should wipe them off very well and possibly also dry them in the fridge for an hour or two before frying. We like to grill or bake these marinated wings.
How long do you bake the chicken wings?
For baking, follow along the baking instructions in this post – https://thecookful.com/jerk-chicken-wings/ We also added more info above for grilling and baking instructions for wings with this marinade. Enjoy, Pat!
Can I use this recipe on chicken thighs and chicken breasts
You could, we’ve got another marinade we love to use on chicken thighs – https://thecookful.com/the-best-chicken-thigh-marinade/ For chicken breasts, you could also brine – https://cookthestory.com/how-to-brine/ Enjoy experimenting and discovering your favorite!
Can i air fry this recipe and can I double it
This recipe is just for the marinade and you can absolutely double it if needed. From there, you can cook them however you’d like! https://thecookful.com/how-to-cook-chicken-wings/ We really like to grill them after using this marinade, but you could air fry as well. You may need to work in batches in the air fryer, you don’t want them crowded.
Made this today and only marinaded for 7 hours. Everyone loved them, salted perfectly and just enough sweetness from the brown sugar to balance it out!
Even my mum complimented them!!
Fabulous, Rose! So glad to hear it was a hit.
Family goes crazy over this
I’m so glad to hear that, Dawn!
Hi just wondering why you would let someone eat a recipe of yours with 218%sodium
The way the nutrition information was entered was the marinade as a single serving, Maurice. I’ve updated it, thanks for pointing that out.
I only have ground ginger (the dry powdered kind you find in the spice section of the store) Will that work, if so how much should I use?
Shannon, yes, you can use dried ground ginger. Use 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger in place of the 1 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger.
Wing marinade was excellent. Traded off srirachi sauce with Franks hot sauce and added a third cup of natural honey. Marinaded for 20 hours. Will remember this one. No complaints from thr crew.
Great! Thanks for sharing with us, Don!
I just made it last night and was perfect for a dozen.
Thanks for your feedback, Oz! Hope you enjoyed.
How many wings is this marinade for ?
This marinade is for 12 wings, Navinesh. Enjoy!
Where is the recipe to cooking the wings after this?? I started this process and now…
We’ve got multiple methods for how to cook wings, D! Grilled, baked, Instant Pot… https://thecookful.com/how-to-cook-chicken-wings/
How how they actual recipe to cook – yeah. They might be helpful
The recipe for the marinade is included in the above post. If you’re looking for cooking instructions for wings, we’ve got plenty of options for you here – https://thecookful.com/category/chicken-wings/ !