Pineapple & Mango Sweet Heat Crock Pot Chicken Wings

A different spin on hot wings…

Yes, a paleo friendly sweet & spicy wing sauce exists. If you follow a Paleo or Primal template, you’ve already discovered  most BBQ and wing sauces are awful. Try finding one that doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient and  one without sugar. That’s why you’re here. Today we’re going to make a sauce much better than you can find in stores.  This sauce contains the sweetness of pineapple and mango, slowly followed by the heat of jalapeno and habanero. The wings are pre broiled in an oven, and then added to the crock pot with the sauce to finish cooking. The crock pot helps infuse the sauce with the wings to create a fall off the bone texture.

We are mighty proud of the sauce we created, and will definitely include it in some future recipes.  I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Please leave any comments or suggestions below!

 

What you need:

Tools: Baking sheet, aluminum foil, food processor or blender, medium pan.

  • 3 to 5 pounds of pastured chicken wings. We used almost 5 pounds. Use quality meats when you can afford to folks. I understand.
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 medium mango. 1 cup will be used for the sauce, the remainder for the dipping salsa / sauce.
  • 2 cups of crushed pineapple (don’t be afraid to use some of the juice as well). 1 cup for the sauce, 1 cup for the salsa. I used two 8 ounce cans.
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped.  Seeds and all. (optional, use less if you don’t wan’t heat, or skip the seeds if you’re a baby)
  • 1 habanero pepper, chopped.  Seeds and all. (optional, only for those that want to bring the heat, like we brought it)
  • 4 medium cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 6 ounce can of tomato paste
  • 1 cup of beef stock
  • 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons of paprika
  • 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup coconut milk (for fruit puree dip)

 

Paleo Sweet Heat BBQ Sauce. No sizzurps.

 

How to make the awesome paleo sauce:

  1. Add your tablespoon of coconut oil to your pan and set the heat to medium low. Add your jalapenos, habaneros, and garlic to the oil and get them to sweat a bit (about 5 minutes). The goal is to let the capsaicin (hot stuff) in the peppers combine with the coconut oil and create the spicy primer for the rest of your sauce to absorb.
  2. Add the mango and pineapple to the pan and mix well and let cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Let all the elements of the pot soften slightly.
  3. Add your beef stock, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, and seasonings. Stir well.
  4. Reduce your heat to low and cover. Let cook for about an hour, and stir a few times. There should be no visible liquid separate from the sauce elements. If there is, open the lid and allow the sauce to cook down a bit.
  5. Let your sauce cool slightly and then add to your food processor or blender. It would be ideal to let the sauce chill overnight to let the flavors blend, yet same day cooking will work too.The goal is to puree the peppers and fruit into an even sauce like consistency (see awesome picture above). This should not take much pulsing of your processor or blender, as the cooked fruit and peppers are soft already. Do not over process the sauce, as the fruit and peppers are your sauce’s binders that give it thickness and substance. Regular sauces just use syrup or molasses for this, we’re cooler and smarter than that.

How to wing it all together:

  1. Set your oven to broil, or 400° if your oven lacks such a setting.
  2. If necessary or desired, separate your wings into pieces (wing, drums, tips)
  3. Line a baking sheet or pan with aluminum foil, add your wings, pop in the oven.
  4. Broil for 5 to 10 minutes on each side. Leave your oven door cracked open for ventilation. Don’t go too far, pay attention silly.
  5. The goal is to get the wings to slightly brown on each side. Once you see a light brown color, flip them and repeat.
  6. Line your crock pot with a few wings and then use a spoon to cover them with your sweet heat sauce. Your goal is to coat the wings as evenly as possible with your sauce puree. Make sure you leave enough sauce left to cover the wings on top. Use a spoon, use a spatula, or toss them in a large bowl if you don’t care about cleaning up more stuff in the sink.
  7. Cook on low heat for 4 to 6 hours depending on the strength of your slow cooker. We let them cook the full 6 because they get super tender.

These are HOT, what do I dip them in?

I hope you weren’t thinking about bleu cheese or ranch dressing, because that would be weird, not to mention hard to paleo-fy. If you want something to cool the wings down a bit, simply make a fruit dip out of your left over pineapple and mango. I combined a cup of mango and crushed pineapple (drained) in my food processor. Lightly pulse and add 1/4 cup of coconut milk. The result is fruity puree that tastes something like a pina colada, yet will provide some cooling for those that require it. I straight up sucked the meat off the bones and licked up all the sauce as well. But the fruity puree did taste good after my lips were tingling for a while. Viva capsaicin.

But I thought a sweet sauce would use honey?

We decided to skip the added sugar. The sauce has plenty of sweet from the pineapple and mango, and the heat is just an awesome compliment to it. If you really want to play with some honey in your slow cooker, go ahead and drizzle about a quarter of a cup worth on top of your wings before you add the sweet heat sauce.

 Pretty picture. You get the point. Now get your fingers all covered with sauce and lick them clean.

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19 Comments

  1. JEnnie says:

    Quick question – my oven has a high and low broil option. I don’t use the broil setting often (new to paleo and still getting used to cooking more often) and am not sure of the temp difference. I know to watch the wings but any suggestions on whether to assume high or low? Thanks!

    1. Jason says:

      I’d say put the broiler on high and as you said, keep and eye on them. Just look for some browning and crisp, shouldn’t take too long. I usually do this with the oven door cracked anyways. You don’t want to walk too far away from food under a broiler…

  2. Jay says:

    Hi,
    Quick question, I am trying this recipe for the first time. Acutally, second cause I double the Papriki on accident and started again. Anyway, I have some sauce left over that I think could work for another batch of wings. How long could I save the wing sauce and should it be in fridge or does it stay longer in freezer?
    Thanks,
    Jay

    1. Jason says:

      I’d keep the sauce that didn’t get cooked with the wings in the fridge for up to a week. Freezing a batch would keep it longer, yes.

      1. Jay says:

        Thanks. I actually found that I should have used all the sauce cause it was a bit light on flavor. I ended up heating the rest of sauce and mixed them with wings in a bowl afterwards. They were amazing. Only problem needed more wings! I have to say I struggle with time management with a family and I’m working hard to embrace this lifestyle to battle my weight. This site has given me a tremendous amount of confidence that I can acheive this easily with easy plentiful recipes. Thank you and Keep them coming. I can’t wait to try the sausage and peppers this weekend.

        1. Jason says:

          Right on Jay! Great to hear that the recipes help and thanks for the kind words!

  3. I’ve made paleo ranch dipping sauce which is tasty and easy:
    Begin with making paleo mayo, then add some lemon juice and coconut milk to get desired thinner consistency. Then, you just add some homemade dry ranch seasoning mix (easy to find recipe on the internet). We’ve done this twice with our Buffalo wings and they’re even better than in the restaurants.
    The ranch dressing can also be used for salads.

  4. Jess Begnal says:

    Theres no jalapenos or habenaros on Okinawa right now so I used Sriracha and my sauce came out watery so I put the wings back under the broiler and brought the sauce to a boil! AWESOME!!!!

    1. Jason says:

      Nice! Glad you liked it!

  5. Andrew says:

    For those using a gas stove, keep in mind that some stoves will be much hotter than a typical electric stove top. When I made the sauce it took a much shorter time period for the sauce to reduce (like 20 minutes)

  6. kevin r kelley says:

    i dont understand the recipe on both the mangos and pineapple it says 2 cups but save one each for dipping sauce , so does that mean that for the actual sauce its one cup of each only ?? or do i use two cups ??

  7. Jay says:

    Jason
    Not sure if you will get this before tomorrow. I have made this recipe a few times, but wanted to use the oven to make the wings instead of the crockpot. I want to make another one of your recipes in the crockpot also tomorrow. Can I just toss the wings in the sauce, let it sit about 30 min. Then take them out and cook them through in the over, topping it off with some time being broiled for crispiness. That is how I used to make wings pre-Paleo. What do you thinK? I am also going to boil up the remaining sauce to add on or have as a side to dip in.
    Jay

    1. Jason says:

      yeah I’m sure it will still be good, this sauce is one of my favorite things, so I think you’ll still enjoy it with the broiled wings! let me know how it turns out for you…

      1. Jay says:

        Sweet. Looking forward to it. Now if the Giants can not end up 0-5 tomorrow type day would be complete.

        1. Jay says:

          “The” day

          1. Jason says:

            Well, if they indeed win, you know it was the wing sauce!

  8. Jay says:

    Well we are 0-5, but the wings were awesome. It had a bit more crisp to it with the broiling them at the end.

    -Soaked and tossed wings in the sauce-let sit for about 45 min
    -Filled two trays with them and drenched each wing with left over sauce
    -Baked for about 35/40 min
    -Put a tray 6 inches from the broiler and did that for about 3 minutes, with door open keeping a close eye so they didn’t burn. 2 min would have been fine.

    Came out great and wishing I doubled the recipe for my Giant’s sorrows!!

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