Crock Pot chicken wings eliminate the mess and oil of deep fried chicken wings while creating the perfect game day snack!
Using a slow cooker means these Buffalo wings come out perfectly tender, fall off the bone and are loaded with flavor!
Served up with carrots and celery sticks and cooling ranch dressing, these will be the first thing gone at your party!
Repin these Buffalo Wings Here
I am so excited to have partnered with Litehouse to bring you this belly warming recipe.
No game would be complete without a plate of Buffalo wings!
Hot wings are pretty much a game day staple and we always serve them up with celery, carrot sticks and plenty of Litehouse Homestyle Ranch dressing to cool our taste buds!
To start, these Crock Pot chicken wings are tossed with a flavorful Buffalo sauce and cooked low and slow.
Once tender, a quick broil before serving helps to crisp the outside and caramelize the sauce.
I love a good chicken wing recipe but what I don’t love is deep frying and the smell and mess that oil leaves!
I find cooking wings in the slow cooker is SO much easier than traditional deep frying (and no splatter or oil to deal with), especially if I’m serving a few other appetizers (like our favorite Jalapeno Popper Dip) during parties or on game day!
Buffalo wings are typically served with a dip for added flavor or to cool your mouth from the spice! We love the flavor and consistency of Litehouse Homestyle Ranch Dressing (although I do love their Chunky Blue Cheese dressing too).
Litehouse Homestyle Ranch dressing has a great fresh flavor and is loaded with fresh herbs and vegetable flavors, making it the perfect dip. It has a nice thick consistency, we use it to dip everything from hot wings to veggies (and even pizza crust)!
You can find it in the refrigerated produce section of your local grocery store.
Not only does it taste delish, it helps cool the heat of these slow cooker chicken wings and contains no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. I love making appetizers smothered in Buffalo sauce but always serve them with ranch to keep the heat at the perfect level!
When you dine out, Buffalo chicken wings are traditionally deep fried then tossed in a sauce to coat them. This recipe takes all of the deep frying out of the equation, which means less oil and less mess!
I normally just purchase a premade Buffalo sauce but you can easily create your own Buffalo sauce at home with just two ingredients. Simply combine 2 parts hot sauce to 1 part melted butter. Stir to combine (easy right?).
You can add whatever sauces or marinades you’d like to create things like slow cooker teriyaki chicken wings, but my all time favorite are definitely these buffalo hot wings.
How long does it take to cook chicken wings in a crock pot?
Chicken wings take a bit longer to cook in a Crock Pot than they would if you were to deep fry them, but you will end up with the most tender wings. These chicken wings take about 2.5-3 hours on high (cooked from frozen) making them perfect to put into the slow cooker before your guests arrive.
I would suggest using a meat thermometer inserted into the meaty section of the wing. Once it reads a temperature of 165 degrees, your wings are done and ready. Make sure your thermometer does not hit the bone when checking the temperature, as your thermometer will not read correctly.
Can you cook frozen chicken wings in a slow cooker?
The short answer is yes, a slow cooker is an easy and great way to cook chicken wings from frozen! I almost always cook them from frozen (but you can use fresh in this recipe as well).
Cooking your chicken wings from frozen will create more liquid in your slow cooker. Once cooked, I remove them from the cooking liquid (which I discard), brush with a little bit more marinade and give them a quick broil.
After broiling, I place these crock pot chicken wings back into the slow cooker to keep warm so my guests can enjoy them throughout my party! (This is a perfect way to keep wings hot if you’re taking them to a potluck as well)!
These crock pot chicken wings are always gone so quickly, my family and friends couldn’t believe that they were this easy to make!
I always have trouble not eating the whole batch, they are so deliciously tangy and melt-in-your-mouth tender. Don’t forget the ranch dip!
Crock Pot Chicken Wings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 pounds chicken wings fresh or frozen
Buffalo Wing Sauce
- 1 ½ cups Buffalo sauce plus additional for finishing
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
For Serving
- Carrot Sticks
- Celery Sticks
- Litehouse Homestyle Ranch Dressing and Dip
- Chives for garnish
Instructions
- Combine Buffalo wing sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Place wings in a 6qt slow cooker and cover with Buffalo wing sauce. Stir to combine.
- Cook on high for 2 ½ - 3 hours for FROZEN wings or on low 3 hours for FRESH wings.
- Once cooked and wings have reached 165°F, remove from the slow cooker and place on a foil lined pan (discard liquid).
- Preheat broiler to high. Brush with additional Buffalo sauce and broil until lightly browned/crisp about 5 minutes per side.
- Serve with celery, carrots, extra buffalo sauce and Litehouse Homestyle Ranch for dipping.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Snack
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I am excited to have partnered with Litehouse to bring you this belly warming recipe. While I was compensated for this post, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Working with great brands I love allows me to keep bringing you the great recipes you love!
I made this recipe as us and holy moly I was blown away! The meat falls off the bone and is so juicy! I was a little worried about how much sugar is in it but you can’t taste it at all. The only thing I would change for next time has broiling for a bit longer to get the skin crispy. I will definitely be making again and can’t wait to get creative with different sauces! Thanks for a great recipe!
So happy you enjoyed it, Jackie! We love this recipe too.
Hi Holly, I’m making this recipe on the weekend in my new slow cooker. I’ve made several of your recipes with rave reviews!
My question is: Do the wings get totally immersed in sauce, or simply each wing covered in sauce while slow cooking?
Hi Neil, each wing is just covered in the sauce while cooking they don’t need to be fully immersed in the sauce.
First clue regarding these wings are that the are called “Buffalo wings.” True “wings” from Buffalo are with hot sauce (Franks) mixed with butter, amount depending on how hot you want them. It is not a barbecue sauce as others have called it because of the onion and brown sugar. Also, I bake mine and broil at end to crisp up, one pan, lined with foil with baking rack, Pam sprayed on it. Clean up is easier and always come out just the way they are served in Buffalo, crispy, with blue cheese, never ranch. Sorry but anyone in Western NY wouldn’t mind eating these but wouldn’t call them “wings”.
Thanks for sharing, Jo Ann! We do love dipping them in a nice blue cheese dip as well, yum! We hope you enjoyed our crockpot chicken wings version too!
I made these wings two weeks ago, and tweaked the barbecue sauce to be a little hotter and spicier.
They were fantastic!!
I am getting ready to make them again for my Christmas Eve meal with a side vegetable. Thank you for sharing this recipe. My wings were actually done in 90 mins, one of cookers cooks everything faster than the other.
The flavor was so infused into the meat, the meat was so moist and tender, and fell off the bones.
Followed the recipe. Came out absolutely perfect. Tried so many wing recipes lately. This one knocked it outta the park! The glaze wasn’t too soy saucy. Really lively, sticky and crispy. Did the dry brine in the fridge first and was definitely helpful in crisping up the wings. Thank you!!!
This sounds good but you got the “serve with” wrong. It should be carrots, celery, and BLUE CHEESE dressing, NOT ranch. :)
I have always been served it with Bleu Cheese when ordering out. I love blue cheese, but some people do not. When I serve it to company, I have both dressings, and both are used. When I served it at a place I worked, some people asked for Ranch instead of Bleu Cheese. To each his own.
Some people like ketchup on their fries, some like mayonnaise?
Who are we to tell them what to put on their food?
Hey there! I am very curious to try these! What Buffalo sauce do you use? I know you put a recipe for one, but is brown sugar allowed on keto/ low carb?
We use a store-bought buffalo sauce, any kind will work in this recipe. Brown sugar isn’t a keto friendly ingredient but you can find low carb/keto versions of it in stores. You can also omit it from the recipe if you would like!
Can these be “broiled” in a bbq? I don’t have an oven at camp and would like to try these?
Hi Jill, we have never tried broiling these on a BBQ but I would love to hear how they turn out! It may give them a slightly different flavor but still sounds delicious to me.
No one eats wings with Ranch are you nuts????????
Hey Joe, I love dipping my wings in ranch! Especially when the wings are on the spicier side. But you can serve wings with a variety of other dipping sauces or on their own as well. Enjoy!
Many, many people eat ranch with wings.
Do your wings still have skin on them or are they skinless??
For this recipe, we used chicken wings with the skin on.
These came out so awesome! I got a deal on whole wings and didn’t even separate them or cut off the tips, I put them in whole. Big winner! It’s too hot here to turn on the oven for more than a few minutes or stand at the grill. I use my crockpot a lot, but get sick of soups, roasts, or heavy stuff. This was perfect. Thank you!
You’re so welcome! Love the slow cooker even in the summer!
Minor in the Crock-Pot right now and they just look like naked wings with watery sauce in the bottom. I feel like I just wasted my wing sauce…. Is that normal?
Cooking your chicken wings from frozen will create more liquid in your slow cooker. Once cooked, I remove them from the cooking liquid (which I discard), brush with a little bit more marinade and give them a quick broil. It’s totally normal. Take a look at the video to see how I make them!
Great reciepie
No one could believe how amazing these wings cane out!! So much flavor. So easy! Thank you!!!
If using fresh wings do you still have to discard the liquid?
Yes, the liquid should be discarded.
I’m learning how to cook different kind of chicken in a slow cooker and ingredients and time
One BIG change NO, no, no Ranch dressing!!!! BLUE CHEESE is the only way we roll here in Buffalo. :)
But thanks for the crock pot cooking instructions.
I LOVE this recipe! Quick question- if you make these in advance and freeze them, how would you warm them up?
I would suggest warming them in a hot oven (425°F) to help them crisp up.
I love me some buffalo wings. but i like the skin crispy not rubbery. then i saw your broiling step at the end and you’ve piqued my interest as i really do dislike the smell in the house after using the deep fryer…and it lingers for hours yuck. As a lover of ranch, i’m also a true sucker for a delicious CHUNKY bleu cheese dip. do you have a suggestion for your fave? I’d like to say you are a great blogger with the patience of a saint and I myself love your stories before every recipe, and how friendly you are even with the questions that are truly stupid lol. you’re a pro, thanks for all your hard work.
Thanks Jonnytx, we love a good blue cheese dip with chicken wings as well!
Hi,
I have a question. My broiler is part of my oven, so I am wondering how far away from the heating element should I broil the chicken wings? (My top rack is 3 or 4 inches away from the heating element, while the next rack down is 6-7 inches away.) TIA!
Either should work, when broiling I often use the top rack in my oven. Just watch carefully until lightly browned/crisp about 5 minutes per side.
Is the recipe and cooking time the same if I used drumsticks instead of the wings?
You will need to increase the cooking time. Check to make sure your drumsticks reach 165F to ensure they are fully cooked!