8 Pizza Hut Wings, Ranked

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess what people usually order at Pizza Hut. Nonetheless, this pizza chain offers items beyond standard pizza with offerings ranging from cheesy breads to melts and wings — we even ranked some of the most popular Pizza Hut menu items. Apparently, pizza lovers want something other than cheese-covered bread to go with their pies, and wings seem to be quite popular as Pizza Hut currently offers an impressive range of boneless or traditional wings with a slew of flavor options.

Of course, just because you can get wings at Pizza Hut doesn't mean you necessarily should, or that each flavor is worth buying. To save you the disappointment of ordering lackluster wings from Pizza Hut, I tried eight wing flavors to determine which ones are a suitable pairing alongside a slice of pizza, and which ones aren't worth the sticky fingers. 

Since we're talking wings here, I went with bone-in, traditional wings as opposed to boneless (since there is a great debate over whether or not there's even a difference between boneless wings and chicken nuggets). When ranking the wings, I focused mostly on the flavor of the sauce or coating rather than the texture (since, ultimately, they were all the same in that regard). Some sauce specifics I looked out for included exceptional flavor, a balance between sweet, spicy, and savory elements, and pairing well with chicken meat.

Nashville hot chicken is unique and relatively new to the national culinary scene, but it's become incredibly popular over the years. While there's no specific recipe for Nashville hot chicken, the seasoning is meant to pack some heat, often featuring spices like chili powder or cayenne for a real kick — these also impart a distinctive red hue. Pizza Hut hopped on the Nashville hot trend with its Nashville Hot Seasoning, one that boasts a Flamin' Hot Cheetos shade of red, and one that ultimately wasn't very good.

For starters, the seasoning on these wings didn't taste all that much like Nashville hot chicken that I've had in the past, so I was disappointed on that front. Now, that's not to say that Pizza Hut explicitly got it wrong, because there definitely was some spice at play here. In fact, I'd argue that these were the spiciest of all the wings on this list, but that spice couldn't shine because of a contrasting flavor that reminded me of cheese powder — that artificial cheese flavor found in snacks like cheese puffs. So, in a sense, these wings were akin to Flamin' Hot Cheetos in more than just color, and after some deep pondering, I've concluded that is not a good thing. I think this flavor could have worked better as a sauce or without that strange cheesiness, alas, something had to come in last.

As an avid garlic Parmesan wing lover (to the point where I'd say garlic Parm is my absolute favorite wing flavor of them all), it truly pains me to be ranking Pizza Hut's Garlic Parmesan wings so low on this list. But these were some disappointing wings through and through, not in the sense that they tasted bad, but in the sense that they really didn't taste like much of anything at all.

Something I love about well executed garlic Parmesan wing sauce is that it manages to touch on a rich, deeply savory flavor profile that spicy wing sauces typically can't achieve. Add some pungent garlic flavor to the mix, and you've got a positively irresistible wing. But these wings didn't have any of these flavor notes, or at least, they didn't come through. I was struggling to taste any garlic at all on these wings, which seems nearly impossible given how strong and overpowering garlic can be. Sure, there was some savoriness at play and maybe a hint of Parmesan, but it was so weak and subdued that it didn't even feel worth finishing the wing. So, much to my dismay, Garlic Parmesan is ranking pretty low on this list; I will always love the flavor as a whole, just not this option from Pizza Hut.

As someone who has ranked store-bought wing sauces (most of them being Buffalo sauces) in the past, I feel pretty well-versed in the world of all things Buffalo. And, truthfully, it's pretty hard to mess up such a simple formula, and Pizza Hut at the very least got the Buffalo part right in its Buffalo Burnin' Hot wing flavor. But the burning hot part was missing. These wings may have been a little bit spicy, but they were absolutely, positively nowhere near burning hot.

I was disappointed by the lack of spice in this flavor for two reasons. One, I don't like when the name of a food item is deceiving, promising one thing (in this case, intense spice) and not delivering on that one thing. Second, aside from the Nashville hot seasoning, this was the only flavor in Pizza Hut's offerings that would seemingly pack in any meaningful heat — and to turn out to be not-very-spicy is a true disappointment no matter which way you spin it.

To focus on the positives for a bit, these wings didn't taste bad at all. The Buffalo flavor was on point, and there certainly was spiciness at play. But I wanted my mouth to be on fire, and I wanted to be reaching for a gallon of milk after eating one of these wings, not shrugging and feeling let-down. So, Burnin' Hot could realistically only rank so high on this list.

Out of all wing flavors that exist, the ones named mild don't exactly instill hopes of something incredibly delicious or exciting. That said, classic mild Buffalo wings have a steadfast place in the world. They're approachable and crowd-pleasing, and it's easy to lose count of just how many you've eaten because they just go down easily, unlike those pesky spicy wings that force you to pace yourself. I can't say that mild is the flavor I'm going for when ordering wings, but I can at least appreciate mild in the greater context of wings and wing fans everywhere.

As it turns out, my take on Pizza Hut's Buffalo Mild wings is quite similar to my take on mild wings in general: They're good and classic, but they're not necessarily my favorite option. I definitely enjoyed this flavor, and I appreciated how the rich, buttery flavor of the Buffalo sauce could shine through without so much heat getting in the way. These wings still did have a slight kick to them, so they weren't completely devoid of spice, but it was nicely balanced and not overbearing (how could it be, considering the lack of spice in the Burnin' Hot flavor). So, sure, I enjoyed these mild wings enough, but I wouldn't necessarily order them again or return to the flavor if I had the whole Pizza Hut lineup in front of me.

Sweet chili is one of those classic wing flavors that promises two distinct profiles at once. On one hand, the word sweet is quite literally in the name, so you can expect some sweetness to it. The word chili is also added to the mix, hinting that there is some heat in the dish. However, you never know much heat you'll ultimately get, as this depends on the recipe and the restaurant.

In the case of Pizza Hut's Sweet Chili wings, I found the sweet and chili elements to be nicely balanced, though I would have appreciated a little more heat. This flavor is ideal for those who like their wings on the sweeter side, but don't necessarily just want sweetness. The flavor also reminded me of that bottled red sweet chili sauce you can find at stores, so if that's something that appeals to you, then you'll enjoy the flavor of these wings. I could only rank Sweet Chili so high, since I did want a little more chili at play, but I still found this flavor mostly balanced and enjoyable, and it's one of the only options on this list that hits on that irresistible sweet-spicy profile.

Out of all Buffalo sauces that Pizza Hut offers (three total, of varying degrees of spiciness), I found the Buffalo Medium to be the most successful iteration. While I was disappointed with Buffalo Burnin' Hot's lack of intense spice, and enjoyed Buffalo Mild but found it to be a bit forgettable, Buffalo Medium really stuck out as the best option of the entire Buffalo spectrum.

For starters, these wings packed just the right amount of spice. They were not too spicy by any means, but no one would expect that (or even want it) from this order. They weren't devoid of spice either, and they truly hit that medium-spiced flavor profile. These wings lived up to their name, and I was pleased for that reason alone. Next, the actual Buffalo flavor shined through really nicely in these wings. Perhaps I was just blessed with more sauce in this particular six-pack than I was in the Burnin' Hot or mild ones, but these Buffalo Medium wings were perfectly saucy. Therefore, the rich, buttery, nicely-spiced flavor came through really well. 

Although Buffalo isn't necessarily the flavor I go to when I order wings (I tend to gravitate more towards those garlicky or sweet-spicy flavors), I have to give Buffalo Medium credit where its due. If you are a Buffalo wing fan and you like a little bit of spice, go ahead and skip Burnin' Hot and opt for Buffalo Medium.

Although the other (supposedly) garlic-forward flavor on this list let me down sorely, the same can not be said for Pizza Hut's Spicy Garlic. Unlike the Garlic Parmesan, I could actually taste the garlic in this wing sauce, and that made it stand out as a real contender in the ranking. Essentially, this spicy garlic flavor ended up being quite delicious, balancing those pungent garlic notes with a nice hit of spice that kept me going back for more.

What really struck me about this wing sauce wasn't necessarily any exceptional or unique flavor profile, but simply the way the sauce balanced all those garlicky and spicy elements. The name of the sauce perfectly describes what you're going to get, so there's no guessing game there. Plus, the spiciness didn't disappoint, which I've learned can be an issue with Pizza Hut wings. These wings were nice and spicy, but not overly so, and certainly not to the point where you couldn't taste the garlic. Speaking of which, I picked up on garlicky notes in each and every bite that I took, so for all those garlic lovers out there, don't let the Garlic Parmesan flavor pull you in. Opt for the Spicy Garlic instead — but only if you enjoy spice — and you'll be in for a finger-licking good time.

Back when I was a kid, honey BBQ would be my go-to wing sauce no matter where they were coming from. As an adult, I've gravitated away from honey BBQ, largely because I've realized just how sweet the sauce can be, often with little other dimension or complexity. So, I was very pleasantly surprised to try Pizza Hut's Honey BBQ wing flavor, not only because it was so delicious, but because it also managed to nab the top spot in this ranking.

While there's no denying that this sauce had some sweetness to it, I was very impressed by the sheer complexity and depth of flavor. There was a distinct smokiness to the sauce that balanced the sweetness nicely, and it worked well with the general tanginess that one might expect from a barbecue sauce. I loved the contrast between pleasantly sweet honey notes and smoky barbecue, and both paired exceptionally well with chicken. I was surprised that this was the only option that featured barbecue, compared to three Buffalo variations, but Pizza Hut got this one right, so I guess other barbecue flavors weren't necessary next to such a solid, stand-alone representative.

To sample these eight Pizza Hut wing flavors, I ordered individual six-packs of each one to get a fair impression (after all, it's hard to judge a flavor just by eating a single wing). When I first got the portions, I made sure to taste each one right away when the wings were at their freshest. This first impression helped me form a general sense of how I felt about each one. I made sure to revisit the wings later in the day. I heated them up and tried each flavor again to get a clear-cut picture of what each flavor has to offer. 

Overall, I found that Pizza Hut had some solid wing flavors, and only a couple left me downright disappointed. I based my ranking partially on personal preference, but I also tried to pay close attention to those flavors that offered a little more, be it in the form of a well-balanced sweet and smoky honey BBQ sauce or a perfectly-spiced medium Buffalo sauce. Since I sampled the flavors on standard, bone-in traditional wings, I didn't make note of texture, flavor, and quality of the chicken, since that was same across the board.