If you hate deep frying foods, try Slow Cooker Buffalo Wings instead! The slow cooker makes the hot wings tender, then popping them in the oven to make the classic crispy skin. Game day just got easier with this crock pot buffalo wings recipe.

Other game day favorites we love to make are Grape Jelly Meatballs, Crockpot Rotel Dip, and a Nacho Bar!

Can I make buffalo wings in crock pot?

Yes! Try making your chicken wings in the crock pot instead of frying them for great results. These wings are super saucy with extra buffalo sauce, nothing is worse than when you order wings, and they are all dried up with no sauce! I add butter to the sauce because this is what restaurants do; the butter mellows out the hot sauce a tad. Try my Honey Mustard Wings or Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Wings next!

Recipe Ingredients

• Chicken Wings – Try to find packaged chicken wings that are not frozen and have the drumsticks and the “flats” separated for you already. If you can’t find them separated, you need to cut them yourself and discard the wing tip. If you buy frozen wings, be sure to thaw them completely and drain any liquid off.
• Buffalo Sauce – I recommend Frank’s Red Hot Original sauce. Note that it doesn’t say “wing sauce” on it. This is the straight hot pepper sauce that you want to buy. You can make a homemade buffalo sauce, if desired, which has a few more seasonings than this store-bought sauce.
• Salted Butter -This is the KEY to good buffalo wings. Restaurants add butter to the buffalo sauce to MELLOW it out. It also is a flavor explosion when paired with the buffalo sauce. Place the butter on top of the wings in pats, or you can use melted butter.

Step-by-Step Directions

Step One – Add the fresh chicken wings (not frozen) to your slow cooker.

Step Two – Pour over the Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

Step Three – Lay over the pats of salted butter.

Step Four – Cook chicken wings on HIGH for 2.5 – 3 hours. Or until cooked through and the meat is fall off the bone tender.

Step Five – Preheat the oven to broil.

Step Six – Add the wings onto a sheet pan. You can use a foil lined baking sheet).

Step Seven – For crispy chicken wings, add the wings under the broiler and let crisp up; flip the wings and do for the other side too.

Step Eight – Remove all but one cup of the buffalo wing sauce from the slow cooker. Add the wings back into the sauce mixture and serve!

Recipe Variations

• Use barbecue sauce for part of the buffalo sauce, sounds like a weird combination, but they balance each other out perfectly.
• Whole chicken drumsticks can be used instead of small wings for a complete dinner. You’ll want to cook longer to ensure the chicken is done.
• You can add a packet of ranch seasoning mix for a punch of ranch flavor right into the slow cooker chicken wings.

How to serve

• Ranch Dressing – Always have ranch dressing available, for many do not like blue cheese dressing.
• Blue Cheese – Serve the crock pot chicken wings with really good blue cheese dressing. Don’t buy the shelf stable blue cheese from the regular salad dressing aisle; instead, get it next to the salad mixes in the refrigerator section; this blue cheese dressing is really good. You can even add blue cheese crumbles on top of the wings.
• Sides – A refreshing side for crock pot buffalo wings is celery sticks and carrot sticks, and they go great with ranch or blue cheese as well.

Recipe FAQs