Sticky Chicken Wings and Harissa Carrots (Honey Harissa Roasted)

The spices and other ingredients used to coat these chicken wings are so delicious it made sense to include carrots in the mix! Wings are a great appetizer or snack but this combo of honey harissa roasted carrots and sticky harissa chicken wings makes a great meal as well. The result is a plate of sticky wings and succulent carrots that are sweet, smokey, spicy, and nutty.

make optional harissa spice blend: 15 mins

What makes these roasted wings and carrots sticky is the combination of honey, tomato paste, dried spices and olive oil. It’s a simple mixture that works really well with both the chicken and the carrots. I’m finding a lot of great uses for my Easy Homemade Harissa Spice Blend, and this recipe shows how versatile the dried spice mix is when combined with other ingredients. Rather than buying an expensive jar of harissa paste that lasts a few weeks, you can keep a batch of the dried spice mix on hand and turn it into a harissa paste to coat meats and veggies at a moment’s notice. The flavor is more smokey, nutty and sweet than it is spicy, and that’s by design. You can take it up a notch easily if you like more heat.

Above: Roasting both chicken wings and carrots adds dimension to the humble chicken wing idea, and serving it alongside my soon to be published potato salad recipe, dressed with my Creme Fraiche Dressing with roasted garlic and feta, takes it up one more notch!

Why this recipe works

• Roundness of flavor– the number one reason to make this recipe is for the delectable flavors. The crispy sticky wings coated with a harissa paste style marinade will satisfy people like my husband who don’t like spiciness, as well as the person who appreciates a little heat. It’s a subtle heat. The carrots take the paste marinade and turn it into a sticky sweet yummy coating, where the oil helps develop the coating.
• Protein and vegetable- I love mixing both of these elements in one recipe to “kill two birds with one stone” as they say. They both take the flavor wonderfully and cook in the same amount of time.
• Simplicity- Make the paste/marinade, coat the chicken and carrots and throw it on a sheet pan to roast for about 45 minutes. If you aren’t interested or don’t have the time to make a batch of my harissa spice blend, see the recipe notes section, where I suggest you can substitute the blend with 5 ground spices you likely have on hand: cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and chili powder. These give the essential flavors of harissa.

Ingredient notes

• Harissa spice blend- as discussed, you can opt out of making this blend and substitute 5 ground spices you likely have on hand (see recipe notes). If you do make a batch, you’ll have it on hand to make other recipes such as my Whole Cauliflower Sheet Pan Dinner, my Harissa Mushroom Bacon, to make your own harissa paste at a moment’s notice or make these wings again, among other uses for my harissa spice blend.
• Chicken wings- I’m showing whole wings but of course you can use individual wingettes or drumettes. Using the wings whole makes a nice presentation for a meal, where as the separated wings are easier when serving as an appetizer.
• Carrots- Note that I’ve used medium carrots which are the perfect size. I just cut them in half lengthwise. No worries if yours are large and fat, just size them down to be about 6″ length and halve those lengths, or quarter them if the fat end is an inch in diameter. The reason for paying attention to this is so they don’t over or under cook in the 45 minutes needed to cook the wings.

Step-by-step instructions

If I haven’t convinced you by now, to whip up my Easy Harissa Spice Blend, then you have my permission 😉 to toss together these 5 ground spices you likely have on hand: cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and chili powder (1 tsp ea).

Once you’ve done that, whisk together the ingredients for the harissa paste/marinade in a bowl.

At this point, you’ll preheat the oven to 425, and prep the carrots, by washing them, trimming off the tip and root ends (as little as possible), halving them, and placing in bowl to toss with 1/2 of the marinade.

Use a silicone spatula (or a spoon or other spreading utensil) to spread the other half of the marinade on the wings that you’ve placed on parchment on the sheet pan. Take care to evenly distribute the pasty marinade, and if you need to use your fingers to spread it around evenly, that’s ok, but you risk losing much of the marinade on your hands, which is such a waste.

Use tongs to place the carrots in amongst the wings and place the sheet pan in the middle of the oven to roast for 45-50 minutes, flipping halfway through. If you use the individual split wings, it will only take 35-40 minutes. If you have the convection option on your oven, by all means use it!

Above: I’ve been loving using my chive plant blossoms as garnish in May/June. The blossoms are edible and taste like the chives!

Tips for making this recipe

• Whole Wings make a great choice when serving this recipe as a meal, if not just for how they seem more substantial. You could also make this meal using thighs and drumsticks. If you do that, they will take over an hour to cook and get the same sticky crispy bits, so add the carrots in half way through. Thighs would likely release more fat, so you might not want to cook the carrots on the same sheet pan.
• Using the marinade paste- I suggest being very intentional when spreading the paste on the chicken as described above and in the recipe card. Also, once the wings are coated and placed on the pan, I recommend sprinkling some of the dry spices over the top of the wings. It is inherently difficult to keep marinades (even pastes) from sliding off of the chicken, to some degree and sprinkling the extra spices makes these wings so flavorful and wonderful.
• Harissa spice blend substitution- as mentioned, don’t be discouraged from making this recipe if you don’t want to make the spice blend or have all the spices on hand. You can sub a teaspoon of each of these five ground spices you likely have: cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and chili powder.