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!
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.
I’ve never tried the sticky fingers before, but anything with franks red hot is a winner for me. Pinned!
These look amazing! And right up my husband’s alley. I will definitely be making them for him! YUM!
These tenders look absolutely delicious! I just have one problem. My husband doesn’t like any kind of “sweetness” in his meat! I’ve made chicken before with brown sugar, I loved it, he didn’t does this chicken have a sweet taste to it? Any suggestions to not have a sweet taste? (IF it helps we love spicy) Thanks!
Hi Luba, The sauce on this chicken is sooo yummy but it does have some sweetness to it, you could try cutting down the brown sugar a little but I wouldn’t get rid of all of it, it’s pretty integral to the flavor of the dish!
I was into trying this until I read “4.Place coated chicken pieces on greased baking sheet and spray heavily with cooking spray.” Why would you coat them with chemicals? I may try this recipe anyway, but I certainly wouldn’t do that…..sounds disgusting.
Hi Laurie! I should update that part of the recipe, it’s totally optional to coat the chicken in oil – it just helps to make them more crispy! But like I said, totally optional and these would still be great without the added oil 🙂
Putting a little oil on them wouldn’t gross me out….it was the cooking spray. Glad to know they will still work without it, now I really will try them because they do look awesome. Thanks for getting back to me, have a great weekend!
I avoid cooking spray because of the chemicals, but I have noticed more “healthy” and “organic” sprays lately. I have yet to try Trader Joe’s coconut oil spray, but it should have the same effect. I’ve seen the homemade version of cooking spray too, but I think that since it’s at least 3/4 water, for this recipe it would make the chicken soggy and not crispy.
I don’t have Panko bread crumbs but I have regular bread crumbs and corn flake crumbs…would one of Those wk ok?
Either one will work! You could even try a mixture of both. 🙂
Well I used premade chicken strips (excellent ingredients) with the sauce. Fantastic. Will do it again for sure, in fact I’m drooling just thinking about it again….and I just ate them an hour ago. Next time I will use fresh chicken and bread it myself, was in a hurry tonight. Thanks for the awesome recipe.
I used butter that I melted in my microwave I speak it on the bottom of the pan and then drizzled heavily over the top. Lol. Worked great.
I have a sprayer I bought at costco. You fill it with whatever you want & there you have “homemade” cooking spray. I just put olive oil in mine.
Hey Laurie, I’m with you. I’ve made them twice now without the spray and honestly they are great.
Oh my! These look amazing. I’ve never been to Winger’s but wish I had! Definitely going to give them a try. I’m hoping the brown sugar cuts some of the heat, as I’m a bit of a wimp. 🙂
And I totally agree with you about leaving free bread uneaten…seriously..would never happen. I’m usually the one asking the waitress to slip us another basket of rolls. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Next time I’m in Utah I’ll have to make it a priority to find a Winger’s and eat there! I have family in Utah, and my #1 when I visit is always Cafe Rio. These sound amazing, and I’m even more excited to make them knowing that they use Franks (it’s the best!!).
Oh Cafe Rio is a must, I can’t blame ya there. But yes, put Wingers on your list because you will love these sticky fingers so much that you’ll be dying to try the originals!
People are now mentioning Cafe Rio now??? I’m missing Utah so badly now!
I live a hop and skip from Cafe Rio…… Love their food……. My grandson and I went in at closing time……. placed our order and was going to pay…… no, they gave it to us. That was so kind of them.