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.
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🌟 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 automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love how easy these are and that they’re baked and not fried. You are so right, the presentation is gorgeous with the pomegranate! I’m sure these will disappear fast and be a real crowd-pleaser!
whoa! these look so tasty! i love wings, i will definitely have to make them soon! pinning this recipe for a rainy day :)
This looks gorgeous with the pomegranate!
What a gorgeous take on wings! I’m sure this would make quite an impression at a football game watch party! And the presentation is just too pretty.
Thanks so much, Catherine!
Yum! I’ve never thought to incorporate pomegranate with chicken wings but this sounds delicious!
The pomegranate adds a great flavor depth. I think you’d like it! Thanks, Ryan!
I”m not really a turkey person.If I were hosting Thanksgiving I would go with an Asian twist and serve these. NOMNOMNOM
I’m really only a turkey person on Thanksgiving, too, Meredith :) Thanks!
This looks really good! I’ll have to try this at home!
One Awesome Momma
Thanks so much, Belle!
I’m going to be craving these all day now! They look amazing!!
:) I admittedly wanted to make another batch when I was editing the photos! Thanks, Rachel!
What a great way to make a party favorite have a holiday twist. These wings look incredible!
Thank you, Amy! :)
The flavor combination in these sticky chicken wings is too good to resist!
It’s soooo tasty. I think you’d enjoy it! Thanks, Ashley! :)
Love chicken wings. Never thought of the combination of chicken and pomegranate, but it really look nice :)
I love wings too! Thanks, Jeanette!
I was sold as soon as i read “wings.” This looks so yummy, I am getting hungry. Can’t wait to try it.
I’m pretty much sold anytime I see “wings” too, Mytha :) Thank you! Hope you get to try it someday!
Oh my. These look heavenly. I bet they would be fantastic with some spice added to them too.
I went easy with the thyme but bet they would be good with some subtle spice too. The cranberry and pomegranate are a pretty strong and solid flavor team though, so if you do try this with some added spice, I’d love to hear what you used and how it tasted! Thanks, Monica!
I never thought of using cranberries for sticky wings! Looks tasty! And you are right, the presentation is gorgeous!
Thank you, Sara!
Oh my goodness! Where has this recipe been hiding all my life?!?! Seriously, this sounds absolutely delicious and I cannot wait to make this for the family in a few days.
Ha ha Ref you are wonderful! Thank you for stopping by :)
Oh these look so delicious! Am so going to try them soon!
Let me know how it goes if you do, Vaishali! Thank you for stopping by!