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These Slow Cooker wings are the kind of supper you make when you want something sticky, saucy, and satisfying without spending more than five minutes in the kitchen. Three ingredients, a crock pot, and a few hours — that’s all it takes.
Why you’ll love it
Only 3 ingredients — frozen wings, barbecue sauce, and grape jelly from the pantry
No thawing required — the wings go straight from the freezer into the Slow Cooker
The jelly is the secret — it gives the sauce that glossy, sticky finish that looks like way more effort than it is
Totally hands-off — set it in the morning and walk away until dinner
Easy to customize — swap the jelly, add heat, or finish under the broiler for caramelized edges
A note on the ingredients
The barbecue sauce: I usually use whatever’s on sale. Honestly. I’ve made this with three or four different brands and the biggest variable is how sweet versus tangy it runs. A smokier sauce gives you a deeper flavor. A sweeter sauce makes it taste a little more like something for kids — which, depending on your situation, might be exactly what you want. The last time I made it I used one that had been in the back of the fridge since a cookout sometime in the fall, and it was fine. Better than fine.
The grape jelly — and I do think grape works better than any other — I’ve tried strawberry once. It was okay. A little brighter. It didn’t have the same depth. Just use what you’ve got. A half cup. Or close to it. I usually just eyeball it from the jar.
Ingredients
3 to 4 pounds frozen chicken wings, flats and drumettes, not thawed — straight from the freezer
1 cup bottled barbecue sauce (whatever you have; I’ve used about six different kinds and they all work)
About half a cup of grape jelly — maybe a little more if the jar’s almost empty and you don’t want to deal with it
How to make them
Dump the frozen wings into your Slow Cooker. Try to spread them out somewhat — I know they’re stiff and awkward, it’s fine, just get them in there without stacking them all in one corner. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
In a bowl, stir together the barbecue sauce and the jelly. The jelly won’t fully combine at first, it’ll look a little lumpy, don’t worry. The heat takes care of it. Pour the whole thing over the wings and kind of push them around a little with a spoon so most surfaces get some sauce on them. Put the lid on.
Cook on LOW for five to six hours, or HIGH for three to four. I almost always do LOW because I usually start them mid-morning and I like having the afternoon free. Stir once or twice if you remember — I often don’t.
Here’s the thing: when the timer goes off, the wings will be done, but the sauce might look a little thin. This is normal. If you want it thicker — and I usually do — take the lid off, turn it to HIGH, and give it another fifteen or twenty minutes. The liquid cooks off and it gets sticky and concentrated and good.
Now, the optional step. You can absolutely stop here. Pile them on a platter, pour the sauce from the crock over the top, eat them. That works. They’re tender and saucy and the family will not complain.
But if you have ten extra minutes and you want them to look like you tried — line a baking sheet with foil, lay the wings out, spoon a little more sauce over each one, and broil them for three to five minutes. Watch them. The line between “nicely caramelized” and “I burned the wings” is shorter than you think, and I have made that mistake at least twice. Maybe three times. The edges get a little charred, the sauce gets glossy and sticky, and they look like wings that came from somewhere intentional. Which, in a way, they did.
Variations — and what didn’t work
A squirt of Sriracha stirred into the sauce before it goes in is actually pretty good. I resisted it for a long time because I’m not really a heat person, but it adds a nice kick without taking over.
If you want something tangier, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar stirred into the sauce helps. I stumbled onto that by accident — I was out of one thing and trying to adjust the flavor and it worked.
I tried peach preserves once, thinking it would be interesting. It was not interesting. The flavor went kind of flat and sweet in a way that didn’t suit the wings. Skip peach.
Leftovers and what to do with them
Leftover wings keep in the fridge for three or four days, covered. They reheat fine in a low oven — 325, covered with foil. I sometimes pull the meat off the bones entirely and mix it with the sauce that’s left in the crock, and then you have a sandwich filling that is absolutely worth making on a day when you don’t feel like cooking anything at all.
One time I forgot a container of them in the back of the fridge for almost a week. Let’s just say the Slow Cooker liner makes cleanup easier and move on.
Some nights you just need supper to handle itself. That’s what this recipe is for — toss everything in, walk away, and come back to something that smells like you put in real effort. The Slow Cooker does the work; you just have to remember to turn it on.