Now you can make famous Winger’s sticky fingers right at home anytime you get a craving. Three easy steps will put these saucy baked chicken strips on the table in just 30 minutes!
Want more appetizers? Try my Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, Instant Pot Chicken Taquitos, and Quinoa Chicken Nuggets next!
I can’t tell you how sad I am that the local Winger’s closed its doors and left town. There are some rumors floating around that say there was some structural damage to the building foundation and that’s why they left.
It happened last year and no one else has moved in so I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed that the Winger’s owner people decide to fix whatever the problem is and move back in.
It can’t have anything to do with going out of business and a lack of profit because I swear that place was always packed. How can anyone resist that inevitable sticky finger temptation??
Not possible.
And can I just say that I am a fan of any restaurant that serves free popcorn for an appetizer? Peanuts, meh, I could do without. Bread, I actually quite like – especially Texas Roadhouse (the best rolls on the planet) and Lonestar (that dark pumpernickel bread, gahhhh) and Iggy’s with the chili dipping sauce!
Woah. Mental carb loading right now.
But popcorn. That’s where it’s at. How can you not have a good meal when it starts with popcorn?? And a nice bonus is the fact that you can get through the whole bucket of popcorn and still have room for your dinner. As much as I love bread (LOVE bread) I rarely have room for even half of my dinner after snarfing down a loaf of honey-buttered french bread.
Is it just me, or is it basically impossible to leave uneaten free bread on the table when you’re waiting for what seems like an eternity for your meal to arrive? You know what I’m talking about. It’s almost unethical. You’ve gotta eat the bread.
I’ve eaten at Winger’s seven hundred times (or somewhere around there, I’ve lost track) and I always get the sticky fingers. I’ve tried bites of a few other things when friends or family ordered something else, and they were good, but I always come back to those dang sticky fingers. They’re so addicting!
But now that we don’t have a Winger’s close by anymore, I’ve had to find a way to get my sticky-finger-fix without going on a road trip and this recipe is the answer people. It’s so so easy and only takes 30 minutes to whip these babies up.
The other day I went a little crazy and dipped them in all sorts of sauces including blue cheese, honey mustard, and green goddess dressing, but I always come back to that classic combo: sticky fingers + ranch.
Plus these are baked, not fried, so they’re healthier than the restaurant version and you can feed the whole family on this meal for a fraction of the price it costs to take everyone out. Do you need any more convincing?? MAKE THESE! You shall thank me later.
What people are saying about Winger’s Sticky Fingers
“Holly COW!! Just made these and they were to DIE for!! Seriously sooooo delicious! My mom broke her diet over these!! Beware! They are the best! Thanks for sharing!!” -Evelyn
“These were delicious. We made them with the Buffalo sauce and they were to die for! I would definitely make them again in a heart beat. We doubled the batch and made potato wedges with it. AMAZING!” – Shelby
“Made this tonight! One of the best dinners we have ever had! Thank you so much for sharing!!! We all loved it.” – Kathy
“I made these last night and two words describe them…YUM-MEEE!!!!! They were fast to make and delicious! I only had blue cheese and they were great with that. A definite repeat!” – Lisa
“These are freaking delicious! One piece of advice: 1.5x’s the sauce! Extra sticky.” – Josh
“I just made these for dinner. I am so happy I have some leftover because they were THAT good, Thanks so much for sharing! ” – Sarah
Winger’s Sticky Fingers
Ingredients
- 3-4 chicken breasts - pounded to ½ inch thickness
- ½ cup flour
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
Sticky Finger Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- ⅓ cup Frank’s hot sauce - (it can be original or buffalo flavor)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 and grease a baking sheet with cooking spray. Slice chicken breasts into strips. Add chicken strips and flour to a large ziplock bag. Seal and toss to coat chicken in flour.
- Place panko crumbs in a bowl. In another bowl whisk together eggs and water. Dip flour-coated chicken strips into egg mixture, then toss in panko crumbs to coat.
- Place coated chicken pieces on greased baking sheet and spray heavily with cooking spray. Bake 15-20 minutes until chicken is browned and cooked through.
- While chicken is cooking, prepare the sauce. Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar and hot sauce and stir over medium-high heat until melted and mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in garlic powder and water until smooth.
- When chicken strips are done cooking, toss in sauce. Serve warm with ranch dressing if desired.
After the mixture come to a boil, do you put it in another bowl or keep it in the pan?
Hi Alyssa, if your pan is big enough to fit the chicken tenders in and toss then you can leave it there. Otherwise you can transfer it to a heat-safe bowl. Either way works!
Since finding this recipe about six weeks ago, it’s been on our dinner rotation at least once a week! My husband loves the “spicy chickens”. We went to Red Lobster and had the chicken fingers and both said, “the spicy chicken is WAY better”. This recipe is a definite winner.
Ha! The spicy chickens – I love it!!!
just curious… Have you ever used thighs instead of breasts for these?…
I actually haven’t, I always use chicken breasts.
Anyone concerned about spraying with cooking spray should try browning the Panko in skillet with 2 tablespoons olive oil before coating the chicken. I did this and chicken was wonderfully crispy. Love this recipe and can’t wait to have again!!
I found your recipe thanks to Pinterest…and I have made them…twice. I am not sure what “Winger’s” was/is, but your recipe is on point! So freaking tasty!!! I did about 2lbs of chicken tenderloins, cut to size, and made almost a double batch of the sticky sauce. I have used this recipe twice and my family LOVES!!!!!! I read the concerns about the cooking spray, and I omit that step completely. I grease my sheets (hehe) with veggie oil and that’s it. I usually am NOT a fan of baked chicken, but this chicken? Ummm, yes please!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe 😀
THIS WAS SO AMAZING!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
I’ve made these twice now and they’re easy and delicious. I made enough to have leftovers for lunch but there were no leftovers! Also, I used an oil sprayer that you fill with your own oil. Mine’s filled with canola and I have another filled with olive oil.
I was looking for an awesome chicken finger recipe that wasn’t fried … THIS IS IT. I made it last Sunday, it took hardly any time at all. The only thing I changed was I added 1 3/4 c dark brown sugar because I live with a bunch of wimps that wouldn’t have been able to handle the spicy sauce. I also made my own super easy bleu cheese dressing to accompany these … Don’t skip out on that, ladies! The combination of these spicy, sweet wings with a cool, tangy bleu cheese dressing is killer. I will probably have to make this weekly now. Awesome recipe!
They sell bottles of the actual stuff and it’s way better. We got it at Costco and it was actually cheaper than when I found Franks. It’s a bit sweeter than the stuff at the restaurant but that could just be in the difference in how they make them. We bought a big bag of chicken wings and a couple bottles of sauce at Costco and almost ate the whole HUGE bag one night. We used to buy the bucket of wings from time to time (like once a year) and this was WAY cheaper than getting that from Wingers. Our local Wingers closed too.
I made these for dinner last night and they were a huge hit! They were tender, sweet and delish!! Hubs commented on how he loved that the breading was still crisp underneath all that gooey goodness.
I have never heard of Winger’s, but can understand how you would be upset that they closed their doors. I am sad this morning that there were no leftovers. I definitely will be blogging about this delectable dish.
This was sooo good!! Hubby and I could not stop eating it. I have never been to Winger’s, but I want to go now! I didn’t know how crispy this would be with oven baking, but it came out perfect. Thanks for a delicious dinner!
i made these last night and they were fantastic. Everyone raved about them. Even my daughter who dislikes any kind of spice liked them. Thanks so much for sharing!!
Is there any way to make these without using the Frank’s for a kid friendly version? Thank you!!
You can just reduce the Franks, the end result is more sweet than hot I think and kids love these! 🙂
Think this recipe would work for boneless country style pork ribs?
Yep – this sauce would be amazing on ribs!
MADE THIS CHICKEN WITH RAVE REVIEWS !! Made for the superbowl and served with twice baked potatoes and a broccoli slaw ! Shared the recipe with 5 people – thank you so much !
It’s super bowl Sunday and I’d like to try this with chicken wings. Any recommendation??