These paleo and keto sesame chicken wings are easy peasy to whip up! Plus, think extra flavorful (and sticky!) results.
Paleo & Keto Sesame Chicken Wings
Nice ‘N Sticky 🍯
Tender, flavorful, sticky… absolutely wonderful. Too many adjectives to describe these finger-lickinly-good paleo and keto sesame chicken wings. Deliciously simple and easy to whip up!
To make them keto and paleo a couple adjustments were needed. You’ll need to use liquid aminos (love Bragg’s!) to replace the soy, and (if keto) xylitol to replace the honey. Though if paleo, you can of course simply go ahead and use some raw honey.
Now, given that xylitol isn’t a reducing sugar, you’ll need to throw in a thickener into the glaze to get that nice and sticky consistency. Either arrowroot or konjac root (i.e. glucomannan powder) work great for this.
Just be sure to make a slurry (i.e. mix thoroughly with water) before adding them to the glaze to avoid any clumping. And if you’re paleo, you can simply go ahead and leave out the thickener as the honey will reduce to give the glaze the naturally sticky consistency.
Oh, and if you can marinate the wings overnight all the better! Flavors truly will be at their peak. But, if needed, just a couple hours will do the trick.
Paleo & Keto Sesame Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 kg chicken wingettes preferably higher-welfare or organic
- 4 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 4 tablespoons xylitol or Sukrin gold (and skip the molasses) and if paleo use honey
- 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses optional
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 large cloves garlic ran through a press or grated
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2-3 teaspoons rice vinegar to taste
- dash cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon arrowroot starch or 1/4 teaspoon glucomannan powder for glaze
To serve
- 1 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds lightly toasted
- 1-2 scallions finely chopped
Instructions
- Rinse, pat dry chicken wingettes and place in a single layer in a rimmed tray (suitable for marinating). Set aside.
- Mix coconut aminos, sweetener, molasses (optional), ginger, garlic, sesame oil, rice vinegar and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl. Taste for seasoning and if need be add a pinch of kosher salt and adjust acidity with rice vinegar. Pour half of the sesame seasoning over the chicken and reserve the rest. Cover chicken, refrigerate, and marinate for at least two hours (preferably overnight!).
- Place oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 425°F/220°C. Line a rimmed baking tray with aluminum foil and lightly oil it.
- Place marinated chicken, along with the juices, in the prepared tray. Roast until cooked through, 35-40 minutes, flipping the wings half way through.
- Make the glaze while the wings are cooking. Place reserved marinade in a saucepan with 1/4 cup water and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Sieve out the ginger and garlic pieces and return to saucepan. If paleo and using honey, you can go ahead and skip the next step as your glaze will have reduced already. Once the glaze is simmering again, dissolve the arrowroot (or thickener of choice) in a couple tablespoons of water (i.e. make a slurry!). Pour the slurry into the sauce and mix until thoroughly combined. Continue to simmer until just thickened (the arrowroot will break down if overcooked). Keep in mind that the glaze will continue to thicken once off the heat.
- Pour the sesame glaze over the wings once they're cooked through and deep golden. Serve right away topped with sesame seeds and scallions.
Notes
Nutrition
Can I use xanthan gum powder as a thickening agent instead of arrowroot?
Xanthan gum worked perfectly for me m. I didn’t really measure it, just eyeballed and adjusted. Recipe is AMAZING and simple. Eating them as I speak.
Easy peasy and absolutely delicious! I’ve got to make these again, real soon.
Used this method to make BBQ wings with your 15-min BBQ sauce only to discover you actually have a BBQ wing recipe on the site 🤯 There’s nothing you haven’t already thought of, is there Paola??? Well, they’re in the oven roasting as I type this message 😋
Looks like I wasn’t so far off in my preparation. So it seems you’ve trained me well Keto Coach 😉 Thanks! XO
Oh Lisa thanks so much for all your comments (and sorry I haven’t been responding to most- but know that I do read and appreciate every single one of them!). Big kiss and so happy to hear you’re enjoying :)!!!!!
Another Winner Chicken Dinner!!!
I don’t know why I doubt you sometimes… We Grubbed on these wings… The Glaze!!! OMGOOOOOD… Better than eating at a restaurant and much less calories and zero sugar! I will use the glaze on other things as well. This is Perfect for when I’m in the mood for Asian. I should have taken a pic… But after tasting the glaze, when everything was ready, I couldn’t stop eating the wings enough to take a pic. I made spicy garlic green beans… My husband son and I were blown away at the deliciousness.
Thank you so much for your test kitchen and your skill and time.
This was absolutely delicious, and for that I cannot leave you less than 5 stars!! However, I did find that there wasn’t near enough glaze, so I’ll have to remember that for next time. Probably make at least a double batch 😉
What would the difference in macros be if we used chicken legs instead?
Fairly similar as with wings (a bit less fat/more protein). I hope you understand, but unfortunately I don’t have the time to calculate individual macro requests xo!
These were THE BEST wings I have made a la “keto”. I only used 1/4 the Sukrin called for (I doubled the whole recipe and just used a scant 1T for the whole thing) and that was perfect. They were fabulous. We eat wings a lot. My family told me to “just use this recipe for now on”. Thank you so much for your wonderful blog and for sharing these delicious recipes with us. 🙂
Tara that’s absolutely wonderful to hear! So happy you and your family enjoyed them so much and thanks so much for reporting back in detail 🙂 xo!
I’ve been craving sticky chicken lately, but cringe at the ridiculous prices for wings…would this work on other chicken pieces? Thanks…I am SUCH a fan! 🙂
Hi Kate! So happy you’re enjoying the site! And yup, drumsticks particularly will work great too 🙂 xo!
Does the nutrition information include the molasses?
Hi Alex! Yes it does, but I had accidentally calculated it for 6 servings (as an entree) rather than the 4 as a main. So it’s 1.5 net carbs rather than 1g! Thanks for the heads up 🙂