Winger’s Sticky Fingers
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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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made tonight… couldn’t image what that much sugar and hot sauce would taste like… we couldn’t stop eating it…. it was heaven on a plate! sweet and spicy, crispy. Will make again and again…
thanks for sharing!!
I relocated to NYC in 2007, but I must admit I miss Wingers and Cafe Rio with a passion!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Outstanding recipe! These were quick, yummy and fast! Probably the only thing I would do different is crush a couple cloves of garlic into the sauce…I love garlic, and think it would go well with the hot & sweet sauce. Thanks for sharing..it’s a keeper that’s for sure!
These were outstanding, and so easy! What fun dinner it was! Probably the only thing I would change is that I would add some crushed garlic to the sauce. The garlic on top of the sweet & hot sauce would be great! Thanks for sharing..it’s a keeper!
Are these super spicy?? I would love to try these but we aren’t big on spicy around here. Can’t wait to taste these…. 🙂
They aren’t burn-your-mouth-spicy but they have a little kick!
This recipe is awesome! The sweetness of the sauce goes SO good with ranch dressing. Its definitely a hit here! I put down foil for easier clean up as well. I also originally heated the sauce up to come to a boil in the microwave and it turned out really good. If you do it that way though, you have to watch it once it gets hot, like every 10-30 seconds so it doesn’t boil over in microwave. But its totally optional, I was just lazy and didn’t wanna clean a cooking pot haha. As other commenters said, after it cooked the breading did wanna come off a bit but I don’t fault that on recipe or anything, I just suspect its the juice from chicken coming out and it unsticks from chicken but it varies on my chicken pieces so its not that big of a deal for me. Anyway, really good recipe! We’ve made it here for the week and every night its great! Two thumbs up
These are awesome!!!!! Chicken CRACK!!!! I also made a second sauce and used Terriyaki in place of Hot Sauce for my milder mouthed fame members. Both were a hit! Thank you so much!!!!!
Ooh that’s genius, teriyaki would be great on these for heat-resistant foodies!!
I’m trying this recipe tonight for the first time. Using Chipotle hot sauce because we couldn’t find Franks. I’m concerned about them being too hot. Will see what happens. Going to have with sticky pasta.
Would love to hear how it turns out with chipotle hot sauce!
This recipe is so good. It is so sweet and just spicy enough. I could eat this all day. And ranch makes it better. I am so glad I found this recipe. I am just a teenager attempting to learn to cook before going away for college and this is really simple. It took me no longer than twenty five minutes to make and most of the time was cooking the chicken. I would totally recommend. The only thing was that I had to use a different brand of buffalo sauce because the store my dad shops at does not have the the Frank’s one. Does this affect the taste? I used TexasPete.
This recipe is perfect!!!!! Just like the restaurant’s. I’ve moved far away from any of the Wingers diners – unintentionally – and was just telling my husband that, ” I wish there was a Wingers near us because their sticky fingers are the most amazing chicken fingers ever……”. A week later this recipe pops up on Pinterest. …… Fate?…… YES! I recognize you. This recipe is the perfect copycat. I’m so happy to share it with my hubby & family. Thank you thank you
Oh Darcy I know that feeling – being able to replicate a family favorite when you can’t get the original anymore… priceless!! So glad you enjoyed these as much as we do!!! 🙂