Baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings

This post has been sponsored by 7UP®.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Spicy, sticky Baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings are made with real limes, honey, and 7UP.  Citrus and spicy, with a hint of honey sweetness, these Baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings may change the way you flavor your wings forever. The wings are oven baked, and tossed in a fresh zesty sauce that everyone will love.  

Baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings for Family Game Night

Wow! It's been a crazy winter so far! ❄⛄ With all this snow and cold the kiddos (and yeah, the parents too...) are getting pretty stir crazy.  During the cold months since we're stuck inside, it's a little bit harder to come up with things to do as a family that are budget friendly.  But one of our favorite family activities that we like to stick to every week is a family game night. Family game night is a great tradition to have (or start if you don't have one now!) because it's great for kids of all ages, and grown-ups too!  You can start your young kids off with some easier games, and move to harder games as they get bigger.  And the games are just a small part of it!

One of our favorite parts is the snacks and refreshments.  We like to switch up from week to week with snacks (and I'll be sharing a new favorite with you below!).  Here's how we do it!

Thankfully we have a Dollar General that is literally on the way home from my kids' school. ? So I'll go pick them up on Friday after school, and we'll all head to Dollar General to get supplies.  My kids' favorite drink is 7UP, so we always pick that up while we're there.   They love the fizzy lemon-lime flavor (and I love that it's caffeine free so I'll actually let them drink it!).  We've also been known to pick up ingredients for punch (7UP, a juice of the kids' choosing, and ice cream or sherbet) while we're at Dollar General too.  7Up 12-pack bottles are always on sale at Dollar General, 3 for $10, so it's a good idea to stock up for the rest of the week too, and it makes a perfect addition to a budget-friendly family game night! This past week we picked up some extra 7UP from the beverage aisle for the sticky sweet and spicy baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings that we made.

We also picked up the rest of the ingredients that we needed with our 7UP, like honey, baking powder, and hot sauce. We decided to skip the punch this week because we thought plain 7UP would be refreshing with our baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings.

Making the 7UP Baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings is super easy! The hardest part was waiting for them to bake! Just pat dry your plain chicken wings (thawed if they were frozen).  Throw them all in a gallon baggy with the baking powder and salt.  Shake to coat, and then spread them out on a lined baking sheet.  I placed mine on a metal cooling rack on the baking sheet to crisp better. If you have one with no plastic on it, you could try baking them that way for crispier wings, or if you don't have one, your wings will still be crispy, so don't sweat it.  They may be just a tiny bit less crispy on the side that's touching the foil, but once they're covered in sticky sweet sauce, you'll never know the difference! After your chicken wings are on a large rimmed baking sheet, place it in the oven (on a rack that is in the bottom quarter) at 250°F for 30 minutes.  Then you're going to bring it up to a higher rack (in the top quarter of the oven), turn up the oven to 425°F and cook for an additional 40-50 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through (internal temperature of 165°F and no longer pink on the inside).

While the chicken wings are baking, it's time to whip up the 7UP honey lime sauce. I like to do it when there's about 10 minutes left of the bake time, so that the wings are nice and hot when you toss them in the sauce.  So melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Then stir in hot sauce, 7UP, honey, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, and garlic powder.  Stir it all really well until it's combined.  Then bring it to a light simmer and let it cook that way for about 15 minutes to make sure the flavors really meld together.  This step is optional, but I usually do it because I like a thick wing sauce.  Take 2 tablespoons of 7UP and mix it together with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Mix it until it's a smooth mixture.  Then add the mixture into the sauce, and stir really well until it's totally combined.

When your wings are done and the sauce is done, add them both together in a large bowl and toss or stir until the wings are fully coated in the 7UP honey lime wing sauce. You can eat your wings right away! I love mine with ranch.

Since the snacks were done, we gathered them up to bring them in our living room. We like to play on the floor, but the table works too, if you'd rather.  Anywhere where you're comfortable!

The 7UP Baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings went fast. They were tangy, sticky, spicy, and sweet. So. Yummy.  And we were all thankful for our 7UP for a cool lemon-lime follow-up to our wings. ? The kids also insisted I make a pizza.  Because pizza, wings, and 7UP. What could be better?!

For a sweet treat to finish off your game night, check out the video below the recipe!

To find a Dollar General near you to pick up your 3 for $10 7UP, use this easy store locator.

Baked Honey Lime Chicken Wings Recipe

To find a Dollar General near you to pick up your 3 for $10 7UP, use this easy store locator.

How about some 7UP cupcakes to end your night on a sweet note?