Sticky Chicken Wings & Sweet Potato Wedges

9th October 2026
Ankie Niesing

Sticky Chicken Wings & Sweet Potato Wedges: A Winner Chicken Dinner!

There’s something about sticky chicken wings that makes everyone happy. They’re easy to make, full of flavour and, best of all, they’re a recipe that even younger children can manage with a little help.

This was one of the recipes we made in our Cooking Club last term, and it turned out to be a great lesson in more than just cooking a delicious dinner. We learned about chicken cuts, flavour, food preparation, and even a little food science along the way.

And the best part? You can make the whole recipe in an air fryer!

What exactly is a drumette?

One of the things we learned in this lesson was all about drumettes.

Chicken wings are actually made up of different sections, and the drumette is the part that looks a little like a small chicken drumstick. You can buy chicken wings whole and cut them into sections yourself.

Why would you bother?

Well, cutting the wings into smaller pieces increases the surface area, which means more delicious sauce can coat the chicken. And when you’re making sticky wings, more sauce is definitely a good thing!

It’s also a useful skill to learn because understanding different cuts of meat helps you become more confident when cooking.

Experimenting with Oriental flavours

We also played around with flavours in this lesson, using ingredients inspired by Oriental cooking to create a delicious sticky coating for the chicken.

This is something I love about our Cooking Club. We don’t just follow a recipe. We talk about why ingredients work together and encourage the children to experiment with different flavours.

A little sweet, a little salty, a little savoury and a touch of spice makes these wings incredibly moreish.

The secret to crispy sweet potatoes

Alongside the chicken wings, we made sweet potato wedges with a little smoked paprika and cayenne pepper.

And we learned an important lesson when roasting potatoes and sweet potatoes:

Dry them first!

If your sweet potatoes are wet, they are more likely to steam rather than roast, which means you won’t get those lovely crispy edges.

So after cutting your sweet potatoes into wedges, rinse them to get rid of the extra starch and give them a good dry with a clean tea towel or some kitchen paper before adding your oil and spices.

It’s a small step, but it can make a big difference to the finished result.

An easy recipe for younger cooks

This is one of those recipes that I think is perfect for building confidence in the kitchen. There are several skills to practise, but the recipe itself is simple enough for younger children to make with some supervision.

They can help prepare the chicken, mix the sauce, season the sweet potatoes and assemble everything for cooking.

And, of course, there’s the very important job of tasting!

If you’re looking for an easy family dinner that gets the kids involved in cooking, give this one a try.

We cook delicious recipes every week in our online Cooking Club, it is a win for the whole family. A night off for mom to think what is for dinner, families cook together, children learn new skills and build their recipe folders. There are live classes every week but you can also join the online hub to work through lessons and print out recipes at your own pace.