Winger’s Sticky Fingers and Freakin’ Amazing Sauce

5 from 54 votes
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We make these Winger’s Sticky Fingers and Freakin’ Amazing Sauce in less time than it would to take get takeout from Winger’s! Only TWO ingredients in the sauce!

Plate of Winger's Sticky Fingers and Freakin Amazing Sauce with ranch and celery.
Featured with this recipe
  1. Ingredients for the Chicken Fingers
  2. Ingredients for Winger’s Sauce
  3. Make Your Own Homemade Chicken Tenders
  4. Recipe Steps
  5. More Ways to Use Winger’s Sauce
  6. Make it a Meal
  7. Recipe Tips
  8. Frequently Asked Questions
  9. Storing and Reheating
  10. More Copycat Recipes to Try
  11. How to Make Winger’s Sticky Fingers
  12. Winger’s Sticky Fingers and Freakin’ Amazing Sauce Recipe

We are huge fans of Winger’s Sticky Fingers and Freakin’ Amazing Sauce! We used to purchase bottles of sauce frequently, but now there is no need to since we have our own recipe. I can’t tell a difference between the real sauce and this. This has got to be the exact recipe they use in the restaurant! They are SO easy to make!

Every single time I make these, they get devoured in no time flat. They are always the first thing to go if we have a tailgate spread and people always beg me for the recipe. My kids absolutely LOVE them! They request them for dinner all the time. We can make these Winger’s sticky fingers in less time than it would to go to Winger’s and order them.

Ingredients for the Chicken Fingers

The trick to getting restaurant-style chicken fingers is to take some help from the store. Seriously! Here’s all you need for perfectly crisp chicken tenders:

  • Breaded chicken tenders- Tyson frozen crispy chicken or Just Bare lightly breaded chicken strips. Both are in the frozen aisle at Costco or your local grocery store. These are specific brands only because we know for sure they work and make this copycat recipe even better!
  • Oil – If you are choosing the frying method for cooking chicken wings, you will need this oil to fry them in. Air fryer or baking them is just as great and gives them a great crunchy texture with tender and juicy chicken on the inside. You will need oil at the end as well to fry the chicken giving it that crispy delicious outside flavor!

Ingredients for Winger’s Sauce

You’ll never believe this sticky finger sauce comes together with just TWO ingredients (and some water):

  • Franks hot sauce – This is a MUST! This hot sauce is in our refrigerator any time we need it. Add it to your pantry staple list! Make sure to get the original not the buffalo flavor.
  • Brown sugar – Add sweetness to the sauce as well as help balance the spiciness in the sauce.
  • Water – Another agent to balance the sauce but also used for stirring in the brown sugar and helping it to dissolve.
Ingredients to make Winger's Sticky Fingers and Freakin Amazing Sauce including frozen chicken strips, brown sugar, Frank's Red Hot sauce and water.


Make Your Own Homemade Chicken Tenders

You can easily make your own fried chicken tenders from scratch! Here’s all you need:

  • Chicken tenderloins or chicken breast, cut into strips
  • A mixture of flour, salt, black pepper, a teaspoon paprika, and a couple teaspoons garlic powder.
  • Egg – mix an egg with a splash of water and place in a shallow dish.
  • Breadcrumbs – panko bread crumbs work great for crispy chicken tenders.
  • Dip the chicken into the egg, then the flour mixture and finally the breadcrumbs. Fry them in a pan of vegetable oil. Fry in batches over medium-high heat. Drain on some paper towels to get rid of the excess oil. Then toss them into the yummy sauce.

Recipe Steps

  1. Bake chicken – Prepare chicken strips according to package directions. You can either bake or fry. We prefer the fryer method as it tastes more like how Winger’s prepares them.
  2. Making the sauce – Heat up hot sauce, brown sugar, and water in a sauce pot until all the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool at room temperature before adding to chicken strips.
  3. Fry chicken wings – Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees. Fry coated wings in hot oil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until parts of the chicken strips begin to turn brown. 
  4. Combine sauce and chicken – Remove from heat, place chicken strips in serving bowl, add sauce mixture, and stir together.
Hand holding a Winger's Sticky Finger dipped in Ranch.

More Ways to Use Winger’s Sauce

This is an awesome sauce that is used on grilled chicken, burgers, and kabobs. Pretty much it tastes great on anything that you can grill. We love dipping it in our Homemade Ranch Dressing or making a sticky fingers salad with sticky fingers on top.

Another of our favorites is dipping popcorn in this homemade Freakin’ Amazing Sauce. For us, it’s like being in a restaurant because whenever we go to Winger’s and they give us popcorn we always ask for a side of the sauce just to dip popcorn in as we are waiting. This is an addicting freaking amazing sauce!

Make it a Meal

These Winger’s original ingredients are easy to find and come together quickly! Simply heat the chicken strips, mix together the sauce ingredients, and fry the chicken one last time for a crispy and tender, juicy chicken with the best freaking amazing sauce covering it. Add fries, a side of ranch dressing, and a shake to make this a complete meal. These sticky fingers are also fabulous on a salad with mixed greens, fresh veggies, and ranch dressing.

Salad topped with Winger's Sticky Fingers and Freakin Amazing Sauce. Ranch dressing on the side.

Recipe Tips

Try these tips to make these copycat winger’s sticky fingers dinner even better! Take your breaded chicken to the next level with this freaking amazing sauce overtop. It is a sauce that you will be making over and over again!

  • The sauce – Please make sure you use Frank’s Hot Sauce brand when you make it. Nothing else will taste as good or as close to the original.
  • Make ahead of time – By making the sauce ahead of time, you can store it in the refrigerator in a jar to have on hand and ready to pour over top of the chicken strips. It is best to not pour the sauce when it is warm.
  • Let the chicken cool – Also, make sure that you let the sauce cool to room temperature before you pour it on the chicken otherwise it won’t stick as well. See our instructional video below and get the recipe below that!
  • Garlic powder – One reader suggested adding 1 teaspoon of garlic powder to the sauce mixture to help create more of the copycat meal.
  • Less sugar – You can use a little less sugar and cook longer to reduce the liquid for a less sugary sauce.
  • Dipping sauce- Dip your copycat winger’s wings into homemade ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing.
Pan of Wingers Freakin Amazing sauce. Whisk on the side.

“Thanks for the recipe! My husband and the guests loved it! I cooled the sauce down before I put the chicken and it was perfect.”

-Lith

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I substitute hot sauce for buffalo sauce?

For this recipe, we strongly encourage you to get the Franks Hot Sauce. This is the closest sauce that we have found that tastes similar to Wingers. Other sauces have ingredients that we have not researched or found to have the right taste and texture.

What is winger sauce?

Winger’s sauce is two parts hot sauce, one part butter, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, white vinegar, cayenne pepper, and paprika that make up the sauce. If you order the sweeter wings, they have honey or maple syrup.

What is the difference between chicken tenders strips and fingers?

These are actually both the same in one! Chicken tender, chicken fingers, and strips are said interchangeably. The chicken strips and tenders are cut into strips before they are breaded and fried. This breaded chicken is not always made from chicken breast either.

Read Next:35+ Easy Dinner Ideas

Storing and Reheating

Take your leftovers and storing in an airtight container for five to six days in the refrigerator. These chicken wings are even better the next day after they have been soaking in even more of the freaking amazing sauce. When ready to reheat, place it in the air fryer, microwave, or on a baking sheet in the oven. Warm up until hot!

More Copycat Recipes to Try

How to Make Winger’s Sticky Fingers

Plate of Winger's Sticky Fingers and Freakin Amazing Sauce. Ranch and celery on the side.

Winger’s Sticky Fingers and Freakin’ Amazing Sauce

5 from 54 votes
We make these Winger’s Sticky Fingers and Freakin’ Amazing Sauce in less time than it would to get takeout from Winger’s! Only TWO ingredients in the sauce!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Video

Ingredients

Sticky Fingers

  • 24 ounces frozen breaded chicken strips, Tyson Frozen Crispy Chicken Strips or Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Strips

Original Amazing Sauce

  • cup Frank's RedHot Original Sauce
  • 1 ½ cups brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

Sticky Fingers

  • Prepare chicken strips according to package directions. If you want to prepare them like Wingers does, deep-fry them. For a healthier method, bake or air-fry.
    Baking dish covered in foil with frozen chicken strips.

Original Amazing Sauce

  • In a small saucepan, heat up all sauce ingredients until all the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.
    Pan of Wingers Freakin Amazing sauce. Whisk on the side.
  • Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature before adding to chicken strips.
    Mixing bowl Winger's Sticky Fingers and Freakin Amazing Sauce. Spatula on the side.

Notes

  • The chicken strips I use are either Tyson frozen Crispy Chicken Strips or Just Bare frozen Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Strips. 
  • The hot sauce has to be Frank’s. No other sauce will taste as good. 
  • You can make the sauce ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator. Warm it slightly in a saucepan until it thins enough to spread on the chicken. 

Nutrition Information

Calories: 344kcalCarbohydrates: 52gProtein: 20gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 421mgPotassium: 399mgFiber: 1gSugar: 40gVitamin A: 25IUVitamin C: 1.1mgCalcium: 41mgIron: 1.4mg

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About the author

Erica Walker

Erica lives in Boise, Idaho with her husband, Jared, an attorney, and her three beautiful girls. Beyond the world of recipes, she loves adventuring with everything from kayaking, to cruising, to snowboarding and taking the family along for the thrill ride.

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    My husband thinks I am the greatest wife in the whole world for recreating his FAVORITE (mine too) meals at home. Thank you so much for taking the time to figure these recipes out for us newlyweds who want to feed our husbands good food on a tight budget!

  2. @Mommamia— I have no idea. It is definitely supposed to be smooth. You need to cook it long enough for the sugar to dissolve, not necessarily bring it to a boil. I don't know what to tell you! Hopefully it will turn out better next time!

    Erica

  3. I have tried this sauce twice, we LOVE the flavor, but it ended up being grainy both times. What am I doing wrong?

  4. 5 stars
    Since I haven't worked all year (injury), I can't afford Wingers, this is the best recipe EVER!!!!!! We make it all the time and laugh when we drive by Wingers…thanks so much!

  5. 5 stars
    I'm not all that familiar with Winger's sauce, but wanted a sweet and spicy wing sauce. This is AWESOME. I make my own boneless wings and this is now always in the sauce line up. 🙂 Thanks!

    Chelle

  6. 5 stars
    You can also bake these in the oven at whatever the bag says to bake them and then dump the sauce over them. Another way is to add half the sauce to them before you bake them and then the rest after… Then you dont have to fry and it taste amazing!

  7. 5 stars
    This is the closest recipe that I have found!! I have made another recipe that I found on the internet for Winger's sauce many times before. It had a bunch of ingredients and was good but this recipe is FAST and FABULOUS. I craved sticky fingers my whole pregnancy and still can't seem to get enough of them. I do make them a little healthier by using chicken tenders coated in crushed ritz crackers. I bake them until they are golden brown and then slather this sauce all over and bake until the sauce thickens a bit on the chicken. YUMMY! I 7x the recipe so I could use a whole bottle at once. (I was cooking for 2 large families.) So I used one whole bottle of Franks sauce, 5 cups of brown sugar (don't think about it.) and then 10 TBS of water. There was ample to cover a large cookie sheet of chicken tenders plus have a bunch for dipping and enough to refill the empty Franks bottle for the next time.
    THANKS FOR A GREAT RECIPE!!

  8. 5 stars
    Yum! We don't have Wingers where I live, but these sounded so good I had to try them. Awesome recipe! Awesome blog! Thanks!

  9. 5 stars
    Just made these for dinner tonight! AMAZING! I can't get enough of your blog! You're awesome! I posted the recipe with link to your blog on my food blog.

    gourmified.blogspot.com

  10. Drew,
    try dipping the wings in 1/4 C. Corn starch, 1 egg (lightly beaten) and between 1/4 and 1/2 C. water. The batter will be a little lumpy, dont over mix it. Fry in a little oil until heated and crispy! This batter is light and works perfect for wings:) Add the sauce and dip them in ranch and you dont need to pay $10 for wingers anymore!

  11. So I have tried using a flour/cornstarch rub and a flour/baking powder, and a flour/baking soda rub and none of them work very well. The one with baking soda was the best but each time I still cannot get them very crispy, it turns our more like the KFC breading. If someone could give some light on how to make crispy wings that would great, the sauce recipe on here is just fine so I dont need any tips on that, in fact I have tried the Wingers sauce and this recipe and cant even really tell a difference between the two. So my continued quest is to make crispy wings, because once I have that I know how to do the rest. I have searched lal over the internet and most people just say to cook them long enough but when I do they either get too dry, or too burnt. I'm getting frustrated here, so any help would be much appreciated. Thanks all!

    1. I’m pretty sure the frozen wings are the problem, especially if they are the big bags of flash frozen wings with a “glaze” on them. If you get fresh ones from the meat dept. you should be fine with what ever you do (you can even freeze them) but the big bags of wings have never really dried out enough for me to get them crispy, no matter how many times I’ve dabbed with paper towels, etc…

      You are probably already doing this, but just in case…make sure your oil is good and hot!

  12. Try adding 1 tsp of salt into the sauce, and it will go from 97% to 100% tasting like Wingers. Also another tip is to bring the sauce to a rolling boil, and add the chicken right into it, it will coat perfectly. Remove and place directly on serving plate or platter.

  13. I tried making the wings with this sauce. I used the store bought wings, let them defrost, pat dry, then fried them in a pan with vegetable oil. I cooked them for about 18 minutes but could never get them crispy, so I put the sauce on and baked them for about 10 minutes but that only made them a little dry, and still not crispy. I talked to a girl at Wingers and she said they put a batter on them, but if they do it has to be very thin because they don't seem like they are battered. I will try it again with using a little flour and baking soda rub on them, a very thin one and see how that goes. Any suggestions would be great. I will say this recipe is great, I made this one night then went to Wingers a few days later I can say they taste exactly the same, our family eats at wingers at least once a month and I cant tell a difference in this sauce and the restaurants. I just need to get the wings down, and I'll save myself some money.

    1. Here ya go Drew. When prepping the wings, thaw completely, rinse and SHAKE dry. Do NOT Pat dry. While they are thawing, mix 2 cups AP Flour, 1tsp each Garlic Powder, Paprika, Cayenne Pepper and 2 TBSP Corn Starch in a gallon-size resealable Ziploc bag. Using 4-5 wings at a time, put them in and shake well to make sue they are evenly coated. Remove and place the wings intro a parchment/was paper covered trayand refrigerate for 60-90 minutes. When ready, deep fry at 340*F for about 11 minutes. Seriously, this Will give you the BEST restaurant-quality wings EVER with a perfect crunchiness. Tip… After removing wing from oil, let them sit for a minute or two so the oil soaks backinto the wings before rousing in sauce. The sauce Will struck better without oily aftertaste.

  14. I know that my brother just buys the store-bought bag of frozen wings at the store, fries them, then puts the sauce on em. I haven't tried using any rubs on fresh wings for this. If you do it, let me know how it turns out!

  15. Have you ever tried to duplicate the wings? I wonder if they are batter dipped, or just fried, or maybe a store bought variety could be slathered in this amazing sauce…… any ideas?

  16. 5 stars
    Thank you so much for posting this…we have looked for a recipe for this for years, but always just paid for the bottles from Winger's. This is perfect and so easy to make! My husband even surprised me one day by making it himself 🙂 We love it on our salads with breaded chicken and ranch. Thank you, thank you!