The crispiest chicken wings are baked, not fried. No greasy frying mess and it is so easy with this baked chicken wing recipe. You get extra crispy wings by using baking powder, a rack, and a convection oven. Then coat with homemade Buffalo sauce and serve with dipping sauce, carrot, and celery sticks.
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😊Why you will make this recipe
- Much healthier than frying.
- Delicious crispy skin with moist and tender meat.
- The combination of baking powder, two-stage baking, the wire rack, and air movement from the convection oven will give the crispiest skin. But use a conventional oven if you don't have convection.
- Easy to prepare in 5 minutes
- Buffalo wings are an All-American favorite that is perfect for game-day parties.
- Use your favorite sauce and dips.
🐓Ingredients
Chicken wings
Baking powder—aluminum free
Salt
Garlic powder
Buffalo coating
Hot sauce
Butter—melted
Molasses
The inspiration recipes are Cooks Country Oven-Fried Chicken Wings (subscription required), and Serious Eat's very long writeup.
👨🍳How to Make Extra Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
- Dry wings well and coat with dry spices and baking powder.
- Prepare a baking tray with a baking rack.
- Bake on a lower oven rack and temperature, then raise to the middle oven rack, increase the oven temperature, and turn on convection.
- Bake for about 40 minutes and 165° internal temperature.
- Coat with homemade Buffalo sauce.
- Serve with dipping sauce and sides.
🥣The Coating Sauce
I suggest the traditional Buffalo hot sauce. This technique can be used with many flavors of wings other than Buffalo. BBQ seems to be a favorite but chooses a different sauce if you like.
BBQ Sauce
- Skip the Buffalo coating.
- Mix ½ cup of BBQ sauce with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Give the wings a light brushing of the BBQ sauce about 10 minutes before the end of cooking (be sure to flip to get both sides) then a heavier brush when they come out.
- It somewhat depends on the amount of sauce you want on the wing. The light brushing gives a base for the second coat to stick.
❓FYIs
Everybody will have a favorite sauce but are some suggestions.
BBQ Sauce
Honey BBQ Sauce
Ranch Dressing
Blue Cheese Dressing
Homemade Blue Cheese Dip
Baking powder is used in a coating; it will pull water out of the skin and break down some proteins leading to crispier skin. Don't buy baking powder with aluminum in it—the aftertaste will ruin this dish for sensitive people.
Smoking ovens have been an issue for at least one user due to higher-temperature cooking. I haven’t had the problem, BUT it is probably related to multiple factors.
1. If there is trimmable fat, trim it.
2. Use a pan with some side on it to keep any splatter contained.
3. Use the bake mode if your oven has a convection roast and convection bake.
4. You could turn down the oven by 25°-50°. This will increase the cooking time and may be prone to drying out some. Remember to cook to an endpoint, not by time.
5. Of course, the oven should be clean so the smoke isn’t coming from a previous splatter.
6. Some water in the pan under the rack will prevent most of the smoking issues. It will cool the fat when it drips.
📖Crispy Chicken Recipes
Oven Baked Chicken Legs — Quick and Easy
Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings
Crispy Garlic Grilled Split Chicken Breast
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Start by preheating an oven to 250°conventional. Have a lower and a middle oven rack.
Trim about 2 pounds of chicken wings of any loose joint parts. It is OK not to cut the wings apart or just trim off the tip. Pat dry with paper towels, and then pat dry again.
Prep a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and a wire rack. Spray heavily with PAM.
Mix 1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. Add to a 1-gallon ziplock bag. Add chicken wings and shake well to coat.
Arrange the wings on the tray with the biggest pieces in the corner and the thinnest in the middle. Place in the preheated oven on the lower rack and bake for 30 minutes. Then move the tray to the middle rack and increase the oven to 400° convection (preferred) or 425° conventional if you don't have convection.
Prepare the Buffalo sauce to coat the wings. Melt two tablespoons butter and combine with ¼ cup hot sauce and 1 ½ teaspoon molasses.
Bake until golden brown and crispy. About an additional 40 minutes and 165° internal temperature.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then coat with the Buffalo sauce or sauce of your choice.
Serve hot with dip of your choice, celery, and carrot sticks.
CHECK OUT MY BLUE CHEESE DIPPING SAUCE
Recipe
Extra Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken wings
- 1 tablespoon aluminum free baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Buffalo coating
- ¼ cup hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter - melted
- 1 ½ teaspoons molasses
Instructions
- Start by preheating an oven to 250°. Have a lower and a middle rack.
- Trim about 2 pounds of chicken wings of any loose joint parts. It is OK not to cut the wings apart or just trim off the tip. Pat dry with paper towels, and then pat dry again.
- Prep a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and a wire rack. Spray heavily with PAM.
- Mix 1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. Add to a 1-gallon ziplock bag. Add chicken wings and shake well to coat.
- Arrange the wings on the tray with the biggest pieces in the corner and the thinnest in the middle. Place in the preheated oven on the lower rack and bake for 30 minutes. Then move the tray to the middle rack and increase the oven to 400° convection (preferred) or 425° conventional if you don't have convection.
- Prepare the Buffalo sauce to coat the wings. Melt two tablespoons butter and combine with ¼ cup hot sauce and 1 ½ teaspoon molasses.
- Bake until golden brown and crispy. About an additional 40 minutes and 165° internal temperature.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then coat with the Buffalo sauce or sauce of your choice.
- Serve hot with dip of your choice, celery, and carrot sticks.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Trim the joints for bone fragments. You may cut the wings apart, leave them whole, or just trim off the tips.
- The baking powder being aluminum-free is important. It leaves a metallic taste that many can taste. That occurs in lots of dishes.
- Make sure the wings are very dry after trimming.
- Change up the coating if you want.
- I suggest Blue Cheese Dip, but everybody has a favorite.
- Skip the Buffalo coating.
- Mix ½ cup of your favorite BBQ sauce with 1 tablespoon of melted butter.
- Give the wings a light brushing of the BBQ about 10 minutes before done (be sure to flip to get both sides) than a heavier brush when they come out.
- It somewhat depends on the amount of sauce you want on the wing. The light brushing gives a base for the second coat to stick.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor Note: Originally published January 30, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
jon b kraft
the skin on my wings was like a sheet of plastic. your great so I must have done something wrong-I just used whole wings. help!!!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jon,
Welcome to the blog.
I have seen that a on a few wings. I suspect they were a little dehydrated from prolonged freezing in the supply chain. Give then a light spray of PAM cooking spray between the drying and the cooking steps. That should help and it will not change the final results much if you don't need it.
Dan
Kathy Franklin
These wings were excellent! Husband agreed. Best wings I have ever made!
Thank you for such a quick response to my comment this morning. Cooking time was perfect. Wings were so moist inside.
Kathy Franklin
I am going to make these tonight. I’m surprised the wings cook an additional 40 minutes at the higher temperature after 30 minutes on low. Hopefully I interpreted the recipe correctly. I love all your recipes. I have made the White Chicken Chile many times. Always enjoyed!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Kathy,
The recipe is correct. The initial low temp is to help the baking powder dehydrate the skin. Then turn it up to finish cooking and crisping. So, in a way, it is the secret to the "crispy."
Dan
I think I will make some chili this weekend.
Greg B
The baking soda made the wings unbearably salty. My wife couldn’t finish them. I’ve got a “salt tooth” and even I found the salt taste overwhelming.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Greg,
Welcome to the blog.
The recipe calls for baking powder, not baking soda. Baking soda has four times as much sodium as baking powder.
Dan
(Rating removed due to not following instructions)
Jaime
These turned out amazing. Definitely going on the super bowl menu. Thank you!
Erica
This is the best crispy wing recipe I have ever had!
I can't wait to make these again and honestly look at more of your recipes based of how amazing this one was.
I added a McCormick spice packet (honey habanero to be exact) and they were HANDS DOWN the best wings I've ever had in my life
Mollie Harlow
These were amazing! My husband absolutely loves wings, but since I have celiac disease and many times the restaurants share the fryer with breaded items, it makes it tough to go out and find good wings.
We followed the recipe exactly, and the wings turned out perfectly crispy and perfectly doused in the amount of buffalo sauce that we like. Thank you.
Alicia Bland
Delicious and very crispy! My girls loved them! One of my girls likes to get general tso's wings so I made a batch of your general tso's sauce and used that on some of the wings and it was so good! Now we are looking forward to making the general tso's too.