Fall means holiday entertaining AND tailgating parties. Here's a cranberry pomegranate sticky chicken wings recipe that is elegant, delicious, and satisfying enough for all fall/winter occasions!
These Cranberry Pomegranate Sticky Wings are definitely Next Level chicken wings! Who knew chicken wings could be so elevated?
With a sexy glaze of tart cranberries, pomegranate, and balsamic vinegar, these wings are easy enough for Game Day appetizers. But also fancy enough to impress guests at your holiday meal.
Jump to:
🌟 Why you'll love these sticky wings
You and your guests will LOVE these sticky wings!
- The cranberry and pomegranate add a festive, tart touch to the wings, making them perfect to serve at the holidays.
- They're easy to make -- most of the time is hands-off time in the oven.
- You can easily double the glaze to double the batch of chicken wings.
🍗 Ingredients
For the chicken, you need:
- chicken wings
- all-purpose flour
- garlic powder
- salt
- ground black pepper
- paprika
For the glaze
- pomegranate juice
- cranberries - fresh or frozen
- honey
- balsamic vinegar
- onion
- garlic cloves
- teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
For garnish, you can use pomegranate seeds, sliced green onions, and other green herbs.
✅ Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F degrees. Grease a roasting rack over a shallow baking pan; set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Add the chicken to the bowl and coat with the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour mixture and place chicken skin-side up on the rack.
- Bake for about 45-55 minutes, just until the chicken is cooked and skin should be slightly crispy.
While the chicken is baking up to a crisp in the oven, make the glaze.
To make the glaze
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together pomegranate juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, then add the cranberries, onion, and garlic. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened into a nice glaze.
- Strain the liquid out into a bowl; discard the onion, garlic, and cranberries.
Assemble the wings
- Toss the cooked chicken into the glaze, coating each chicken wing completely. I usually do 2-3 coats of glaze; I allow one "coat" to set for a minute before adding another layer of glaze. This helps add richness to the flavor of the sticky chicken wings and also adds a richer color.
- Plate chicken and sprinkle a garnish of pomegranate seeds and sliced green onions.
Serve and enjoy immediately, or keep warm in a 225 degree oven until ready to serve.
Doesn't it make such a gorgeous presentation? It LOOKS so fancy, but you'll know how easy it was to make!
🍽 Serving ideas
You can serve this at any Game Day party, at Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, Christmas, or any weeknight family meal.
Serve these sticky wings along side dishes like Air Fryer Broccoli, Garlic Rosemary Focaccia bread, or Garlic Lemon Asparagus.
👩🏻🍳 Recipe Substitutions and FAQs
You can substitute regular cranberry juice.
Yes! Cover a sheet pan with aluminum foil and coat the foil with cooking spray.
Have you made sticky chicken wings before? What flavors did you use?
More dinner recipes to try
Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you really loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!
Cranberry Pomegranate Sticky Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 4 pounds chicken wings
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
For the glaze
- 3 cups pomegranate juice
- ½ cup cranberries
- 1 ½ cups honey
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- ½ onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- Garnish: pomegranate seeds thinly sliced green onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Grease a roasting rack over a shallow baking pan; set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Add chicken and coat with the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour mixture and place chicken skin-side up on the rack.
- Bake for about 45-55 minutes, just until the chicken is cooked and skin should be slightly crispy.
To make the glaze
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together pomegranate juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, then add the cranberries, onion, and garlic. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened into a nice glaze.
- Strain the liquid out into a bowl; discard the onion, garlic, and cranberries. Toss the cooked chicken into the glaze, coating each chicken wing completely.
- Plate chicken and sprinkle a garnish of pomegranate seeds and sliced green onions.
- Serve and enjoy immediately, or keep warm in a 225 degree oven until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is a general estimate. Actual nutrition details may vary depending on the exact foods & brands you use to make this recipe. It does not take into account any substitutions, toppings, or optional ingredients.
Sarah Walker Caron (Sarah's Cucina Bella) says
These look delightful! I love serving wings since they're always a party favorite.
Renee @ The Good Hearted Woman says
Oh my gosh! I just want to run right over to your house and steal a plate of these when your aren't looking! (Pomegranates make everything pretty!)
Lindsay says
What a festive recipe! I have actually never cooked wings. I'm not the biggest fan (I know, I'm a weirdo) but I would try these. I love the idea of using pomegranate on chicken dishes.
andrea says
These look so festive! What a wonderful app for our next holiday party.
Cait Weingartner says
This recipe certainly looks delicious, and the combination of flavors sound wonderful. However, when I try this, I'm going to swap, (as I do with EVERY "wing" recipe), the wings for drumsticks. I've always found wings to be too much work for way too little meat.
Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
Love these flavors! These wings would disappear in a hurry at our house!
Erin says
While I'm not eating chicken anymore, I'm thinking this could be one really tasty glaze for tempeh! (Don't be too mad I'm making vegetarian substitutions here :) ) Plus my work is giving out free pomegranates lately, so this would be a great use for them! Ha!