Baked Jerk Chicken Wings 🍗🔥🌶️ are the homemade answer to your favorite restaurant wings! The wings are baked until crispy and then tossed in a bold barbecue jerk sauce for the perfect crispy yet saucy party wings! This easy chicken wings recipe is great for casual entertaining, backyard get-togethers, and game days! 🏈 🏀
Easy Baked Jerk Chicken Wings Recipe
- Crispy skin with a sticky, saucy finish. These jerk-seasoned wings are first baked until the skin is crispy and then a coated with jerk-seasoned barbecue sauce for all the flavor and texture you want in your wings!
- A saucy baked wing beyond buffalo or BBQ. If you love my Baked Spicy Barbecue Chicken Wings, this is the same easy oven method with a bolder Jamaican jerk chicken wings flavor profile that gives your wing lineup something new.
- Big jerk flavor without firing up the grill. You get the warm, spicy, slightly sweet character of jerk seasoning, no grill required. If you love jerk seasoning and flavors, don’t miss my Sweet and Tangy Jerk Chicken and Grilled Jerk Shrimp in case you like seafood. Both of those recipes lean into that Caribbean and Jamaica mojo.
- The perfect crowd-pleasing appetizer or dinner. Whether it’s game day, birthday party, or just a Friday night, these wings are everyone’s favorite. Or if you feel like wings for dinner one night, make them! They’re easy enough because the oven does the work for you and you’re just there to flip them and brush them with sauce.
Ingredients in Baked Jerk Chicken Wings
For the wings:
- Chicken wings. Use fresh wings or a 3-pound bag of frozen wings that you thaw fully. I like to pick out wings that are already disjointed, but if they’re not, you can cut them at the wing tip joint. It’s a little messy, so I prefer to find them already cut when I can.
- Oil. I prefer avocado oil because of its high smoke point, but you can also use olive oil or another preferred oil.
- Baking powder. This is the secret to crispy oven-baked wing skin, so don’t skip it.
- Jerk seasoning. Any brand of jerk seasoning works. Also the small jerk seasoning packets found near the taco seasonings are a handy shortcut. Use two one-ounce packets.
- Garlic powder and onion powder. They add extra flavor for your wings.
Is Jerk Seasoning Spicy?
First, I want to make a distinction between Jamaican Jerk Seasoning and Caribbean jerk seasoning because jerk seasoning is often labeled or sold as one or the other.
Those labeled as Jamaican jerk may have a heavier use of Scotch bonnet peppers (spicy!) and then the usual warming spices like allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Although this Jamaican jerk is labeled as mild.
Conversely, Caribbean jerk seasoning, may be less spicy, in theory, while using similar warming spices, just minus the hot peppers.
TLDR: Make sure whatever exact type of jerk seasoning you select that you know what you’re working with beforehand in terms of the heat level. And if it says spicy vs. mild, or ‘bold spicy flavor’ that should be a big tipoff.
For the jerk barbecue sauce:
- Barbecue sauce. Use any brand of barbecue sauce and heat intensity you love. Choose one whose flavor you already like on its own. I always have Trader Joe’s Sriracha Garlic BBQ Sauce or Sweet Baby Ray’s on hand and they both work great.
- Chicken stock. If you don’t have chicken stock on hand, you can use water and the sauce will still come together beautifully.
- Unsalted butter. I prefer unsalted butter here because there’s already plenty of salt in the barbecue sauce and jerk seasoning, and unsalted lets you stay in control.
- Jerk seasoning. The same jerk seasoning you used on the wings goes into the sauce for a double dose of that warm, slightly spicy jerk flavor.
- Cornstarch and water. Whisked into a quick slurry, the cornstarch is what thickens the sauce into a glossy glaze that clings to the wings.
- Fresh parsley. Optionally, for garnishing. Sliced green onions or cilantro would also work.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Jerk Wings In the Oven
- Pat dry. This is the single biggest factor in crispy oven-baked skin, because any surface moisture turns into steam and steams the skin instead of crisping it so get out those paper towels and get to work.
- Coat. Place the wings in a gallon-sized zip-top bag with the oil, then all the seasonings, seal, and toss to coat evenly.
- Bake. Bake for 30 minutes, flip, and bake for another 20. I like to use a baking sheet with a wire rack on top because it helps the wings crisp up better thanks to air being able to circulate. If you don’t have a wire rack, you can bake directly on a baking sheet. Lining your baking sheet with either parchment paper or foil helps with cleanup.
- Simmer the sauce. While the wings finish baking, create the sauce, simmer it, whisk in the cornstarch slurry to thicken it and it will continue to thicken a bit off the heat. The cornstarch slurry gives the sauce body so that clings to the wings instead of running off so make sure to add it.
- Brush, bake, garnish, and serve. Brush the wings with sauce and then a 10 minute short bake sets the glaze onto the crispy skin so it’s tacky rather than runny and lets the jerk flavor meld into every bite. Finish with fresh herbs and serve right away while the skin is at its crispiest.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
Wondering About Air Frying Wings?
You definitely can make these wings in an air fryer but make sure to work in batches and don’t overcrowd.
Follow my basic air frying technique that I use with my Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings. Air fry them for 10 minutes at 400F, flip, another 10 minutes, add sauce, devour!
what to serve with wings
Baked Jerk Chicken Wings
🍗🔥🌶️ The homemade answer to your favorite restaurant wings! The wings are baked until crispy and then tossed in a bold barbecue jerk sauce for the perfect crispy yet saucy party wings! This easy chicken wings recipe is great for casual entertaining, backyard get-togethers, and game days! 🏈 🏀
Ingredients
Wings
- 3 pounds chicken wings, disjointed (use fresh or a bag of frozen that’s fully thawed)
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil, (or olive oil, or your favorite oil)
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 2-3 tablespoons jerk seasoning, (use mild or spicy as desired, may be labeled as Jamaican jerk or Caribbean jerk seasoning)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- Salt and pepper, if desired, to taste
Jerk Wing Sauce
- 2 cups barbecue sauce, (use your favorite; spicy, mild, garlicky, honey, etc.)
- ¼ cup chicken broth, (water may be substituted)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, (salted butter may be substituted for a saltier finish)
- 2-3 tablespoons jerk seasoning
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- Fresh parsley, finely minced; optional for garnishing (minced fresh cilantro or thinly sliced green onions may be substituted)
Instructions
- Wings: Preheat oven to 450F and line a baking sheet with a wire rack with aluminum foil or parchment for easier cleanup. Tip – I like to use a baking sheet with a wire rack because it helps allow air to circulate under the wings so they get crispier. If you don't have a baking sheet with a rack, you can use the baking sheet you have noting they may not get quite as crispy.
- Pat the chicken wings dry using paper towels. Tip – Make sure the wings are completely dry before moving on and take your time to make sure they're blotted dry because this is going to help the skin get crispy in the oven.
- To a large gallon-sized ziptop bag, add the dry wings, oil, seal the bag, and massage to evenly coat the wings. While you could do this in a bowl, I get the best results from using a bag.
- Open the bag, add the baking powder, jerk seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, optional salt and pepper to taste, seal, and massage to evenly coat the wings.
- Place the wings on the prepared baking sheet with wire rack. Make sure they're not touching each other and that air can circulate.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Stop, flip the wings over.
- Bake for approximately 20 more minutes, or until the wings have crispy skin and cooked through to 165F as measured with a digital thermometer.Tip – While wings are baking this time around, make the Jerk Wing Sauce.
- Jerk Wing Sauce – To a saucepan, add the barbecue sauce, chicken broth or water, butter, jerk seasoning, and simmer over medium-low for about 10-15 minutes; stir intermittently.
- To a small bowl, add the cornstarch, water, mix to dissolve the cornstarch and make a slurry. Add the slurry to the barbecue sauce mixture, and stir continuously for about 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
- Note that the sauce will continue to thicken off the heat.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the wings with the sauce all over, getting all sides and nooks and crannies the best you can. If you have extra sauce, reserve it for serving or dipping.
- Return the baking sheet to the oven for about 10 minutes to help set the sauce into a glaze. Tip – Watch them closely so they don't burn because this is a hot oven and there's a fair amount of sugar in barbecue sauce which is prone to burning.
- Optionally and as desired, evenly sprinkle with fresh herbs or green onions, and serve immediately. If desired, you can serve with any extra jerk barbecue sauce.
Notes
Storage: Wings are best served hot and freshly made. Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. To reheat, if you have an air fryer reheat at 350F for a couple minutes or as needed; or reheat as needed in your microwave.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 412cal, Carbohydrates: 33g, Protein: 18g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 0.4g, Cholesterol: 86mg, Sodium: 1216mg, Potassium: 398mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 24g, Vitamin A: 1656IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 227mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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