Fish Sauce Chicken Wings with Chilli & Pineapple

These fish sauce chicken wings with chilli and pineapple are built from the Andalucían pantry — pimentón picante, sherry vinegar, garlic, and tinned pineapple juice in place of palm sugar, with Tropical Sunset fermented habanero chilli sauce doing the heavy lifting on heat. Sticky, smoky, and genuinely addictive. Corn-fed free-range alitas only. This fish sauce chicken wings recipe takes about 40 minutes from marinade to table.

This fish sauce chicken wings recipe swaps palm sugar for tinned pineapple juice.

Ingredients

• 300g corn-fed free-range chicken wings (alitas)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 2 tbsp tinned pineapple juice (from the tin)
• 1 tsp pimentón picante
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp Tropical Sunset fermented habanero chilli sauce
• 1 tsp honey (for caramelisation)
• 1 lime, cut into wedges to serve

Method

Make the marinade: Whisk together the fish sauce, sherry vinegar, pineapple juice, pimentón picante, garlic, Tropical Sunset, and honey in a bowl until combined.

Marinate the wings: Add the wings to the marinade, turn to coat, cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven: Heat oven to 220°C. Set a wire rack over a baking tray.

First roast: Lift the wings from the marinade — reserve the marinade — and arrange on the rack. Roast at 220°C for 20 minutes.

Reduce the glaze: While the wings roast, pour the reserved marinade into a small pan and simmer over medium heat until reduced and syrupy, about 5–6 minutes. Watch it — it catches quickly.

Glaze and finish: Brush the wings generously with the reduced glaze. Return to the oven and roast for a further 10–15 minutes until sticky, caramelised, and cooked through.

Rest and serve: Rest for 5 minutes, then serve with lime wedges squeezed over.

Notes

Heat level: The Tropical Sunset habanero sauce brings real fire. If you want less, swap to pimentón dulce and reduce the Tropical Sunset to half a teaspoon. If you want more, you know what to do.

Honey: The 1 tsp honey is there purely for caramelisation — it's not enough to taste sweet. Drop it if you prefer, but the glaze won't colour as well.

Fish sauce chicken wings recipe — what makes this version different

The standard fish sauce wing formula is fish sauce, sugar, garlic, chilli, lime. It works. But if your pantry is Andalucían, you have better tools. Pimentón picante de la Vera brings a smokiness that fish sauce actually likes. Sherry vinegar cuts through where lime would be too sharp. And tinned pineapple juice — yes, from the tin sitting in the back of the cupboard — replaces the palm sugar entirely, bringing natural sweetness plus an acidity of its own that keeps the glaze from tipping cloying.

The Tropical Sunset is the wildcard. A fermented habanero and pineapple chilli sauce with serious heat and genuine fruit depth, it threads through the marinade and amplifies the pineapple note without announcing itself. If you haven't made it, it's worth the effort before you cook these wings.

Fish sauce works the same background magic in the Fish Sauce Chicken Drumsticks with Chilli & Pineapple, the Mango Habanero Chicken Wings with Chilli & Pineapple, and the Spicy Stir-Fried Pork Mince with Fish Sauce — background depth rather than fishiness. Nobody will know it's there. They'll just wonder why the chicken tastes so good.

This fish sauce chicken wings recipe with chilli and pineapple is featured in my Chicken Wings Recipes and Easy Chicken Dinner Ideas, collections covering everything from quick weeknight dinners to slow-cooked comfort food.

The heat comes from Tropical Sunset: Fermented Habanero & Pineapple Chilli Sauce — make it before you cook these wings.

Find more recipes and food adventures here.

Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef