Cajun Honey Pickle Wings
These cajun honey pickle wings are everything you want in a wing – sweet, spicy, tangy, and salty with lots of fatty umami to make those flavors linger on your tongue! I have been on a wing journey my whole life but wince moving to Atlanta two years ago, I can’t stop eating them! I needed to up my game at home without always relying on frying the wings, so I tried a new method this time with the air fryer and was really happy with the result.
The inspiration for this recipe
I haven’t made wings in a while and wanted to do a unique flavor so I started thinking about what I love about wings. Sticky sweet, spicy, salty, and tangy. These pillars of flavor are why Asian flavored wings have become so popular lately. I wanted to try and get there using pickles as the base. Honey was an obvious choice, and then I realized that cajun seasoning could be on the wings themselves before adding the sauce! I had all the pillars of flavor I needed so I set out to make the cajun honey pickle wings!
Make the cajun honey pickle sauce
Add to the food processor some pickles, pickle juice, dill, honey, hot sauce, mustard, and sugar.
Blend it very smooth and then cook it for a bit. I blended it a second time after cooking, then added butter to the cajun honey pickle sauce to bring some much needed fat into the wing sauce.
Prepare the wings
I tossed the wings with some salt and baking powder and let them sit on the rack in the fridge overnight. This is technically called “dry brine” but I don’t really like that term. Then when it is time to cook them, take them out of the fridge and lightly coat with a mixture of cornstarch, flour, powdered sugar, and cajun seasoning.
Toss the wings with the cajun honey pickle sauce
You could do the wings in the oven or air fryer at this point. I used the air fryer and they were the best wings I have ever made at home, fried or baked! Add them to the sauce, along with any of the collected juices. Toss to combine, and add a splash of pickle juice if it feels too thick.
Sour cream dipping sauce
A cool and creamy sour cream based sauce is the perfect balance for your cajun honey pickle wings! Just sour cream, mayo, dill, garlic, lemon, and pickle juice.
Serve the cajun honey pickle wings
Any wing connoisseur knows that the quicker you eat the wings the better they will be! After tossing them with the sauce, serve them up quick! I like to pile them with some pickle chips, and serve with the sauce and some customary veggies. Adding the pickles and some fresh dill will drive home the pickle flavors on these honey cajun pickle wings.
I was thrilled with how these came out all around. The sauce worried me out a bit as it was cooking but in the end it was perfect. I thought it would be more green but the red color worked well. The sticky honey was just what the cajun pickle wings needed to bring all the flavors together! The cooking method is one I will always use with wings now!
Twists on this recipe
Of course you could fry the wings or use your preferred cooking method. This is a great recipe for super crispy fried wings! You could serve the honey pickle sauce on the side of the cajun wings if you want them to stay extra crispy.
For more great wing ideas, check out my mango lassi wings, carbonara wings, or these negroni glazed wings!
Cajun Honey Pickle Wings
Ingredients
Wings
- 20 chicken wing segments
- 1 tespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
- pinch of salt
- cooking spray or oil
Wing Sauce
- 5 small to medium sized pickles
- 3/4 cup pickle juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 1 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce (I used valentina)
- 1/4 cup mustard
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
Dip
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 2 tablespoons chopped dill
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 1 lemon (juice of)
- 1 teaspoon pickle juice
- salt and pepper
Serving
- pickle chips
- chopped fresh dill
- carrots and celery
Instructions
The day before
- Dry the wings with a paper towel and add them to a bowl
- Mix the baking powder and salt in a small bowl and sprinkle it over the wings. Toss the wings in the bowl to evenly coat all over.
- Place the wings on a wire rack over a baking sheet in the fridge uncovered and allow them to dry out overnight.
Day of
- Add all the wing sauce ingredients except for the butter to a blender or food processor and blend until mostly smooth.
- Cook about 20 minutes on low heat to lightly simmer. Transfer to the blender again, or a deep bowl you can use a hand blender with, and blend again until very smooth.
- Return to the pan along with the butter and cook another 10 minutes until it is sticky and thick.
- Preheat oven to 500 or as high as it can go with convection. Alternatively preheat an air fryer on high.
- Mix the flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, salt, and cajun seasoning in a bowl.
- Sprinkle the cornstarch mixture over the wings using a flour sifter or a mesh strainer to make sure there are no clumps and the wings are lightly and evenly coated. Flip the wings and repeat.
- Spray the wings with cooking spray, or brush lightly with oil.
- Add the wings to the oven on a wire rack, or to the air fryer. Cook 10 – 15 minutes, then flip and cook another 10-15 minutes until crispy, golden, and fully cooked.
- While the wings are cooking, mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Stir well to combine.
- Add the wings to the pan with the sauce, making sure any juices from the chicken is also added. Toss the wings in the pan.
- Serve the wings with pickle chips and fresh dill.