Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings
These Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings are incredibly easy, use only five ingredients, no wire rack necessary, and are unbelievably crispy just from the oven. Put them on a platter with some carrots, celery, and all the dipping sauces you want!
THESE ARE THE REAL DEAL. And so so easy. The wings come out as if they were cooked in the deep fryer, but much less mess. There isn’t even a need for a wire rack! And we know those can be such a time suck to wash.
These Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings are so delicious that they can be eaten as is. However, we’re saucy people in this household, so we love having different sauces to do dips-dips in. I love having little saucers of hot sauce, sweet chili sauce, blue cheese dressing, and drizzling Mike’s Hot Honey on a few pieces too (great chicken & waffles idea). Matt and I always order our wings with sauce on the side, that way our wings are super crispy when they’re served to us. Anyone else do this?
THE SECRETS TO THE CRISP
Baking Powder: Make sure you’re using baking powder and not baking soda. Baking powder is alkaline and when mixed with chicken, it raises the pH level in the chicken. This breaks down the peptide bonds in the skin, which lets the skin brown and crisp up.
Drying the chicken: Removing as much moisture from the chicken will help the baking powder do its job efficiently and ensure that crispy skin. I like to place the wing in the paper towel and squeeze the paper towel closed, wrapping my hand around the wing (as if I’m squeezing a stress ball). Check out the quick video below to see how I dry them.
Baking skin side down for 30 minutes: When the chicken wing is skin side down, the fat will be able to get rendered properly as it cooks against the hot baking sheet. This also eliminates the use of a wire rack since we’re using the fat to get that crisp, instead of that fat dripping down and around the chicken, which can cause a soggy wing.
HOW DO I CUT CHICKEN WINGS INTO WINGETTES?
If you can only find whole chicken wings, you can easily do this at home. Buying whole chicken wings is also cheaper than wingettes. To make them wingettes, you just need to cut them apart at the joint and remove the wing tip (I like to save these in a freezer bag full of bone and veggie scraps in the freezer to use in making a bone broth). For more information and visual step-by-step, this is a great resource.
I’M DOING WHOLE 30/PALEO. WHAT CAN I USE TO SUB THE BAKING POWDER?
You can make a grain free version, which is 2 parts cream of tartar, 1 part baking soda, and 1 part arrowroot powder. I’ve personally never tried it before so I can’t say how well it works and/or if there is a weird after taste.
What are you waiting for? Make Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings today, you won’t regret it!
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CRISPY OVEN BAKED CHICKEN WINGS
recipe for later
Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken wingettes or use whole wings and prep them by cutting them apart at the joint / see notes
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder see notes for grain free version
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and parchment paper.
- If using whole chicken wings, prep them into wingettes by cutting them apart at the joint (see notes below for a site reference with steps).
- Dry each wing really, really well with a paper towel. I like to place the wing in the paper towel and squeeze the paper towel closed, wrapping my hand around the wing (as if I'm squeezing a stress ball).
- Place wings in a big bowl. Add baking powder, salt, ground black pepper, and garlic power. Mix well to evenly coat the wings.
- Place each wing, skin side down, on the baking sheet, ensuring there is enough room between each wing. Don't crowd them or the wings will end up steaming.
- Place in the oven (middle rack) and cook for 30 minutes. After, flip the wings over, and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes until the crispy.
Video
Notes
- If you're using whole wings and need to make them into wingettes, this article by thecookful.com is a great step-by-step resource (https://thecookful.com/how-to-cut-chicken-wings/)
- To make it Whole 30/Paleo friendly, make a grain free version of baking powder. It is 2 parts cream of tartar, 1 part baking soda, and 1 part arrowroot powder. I've personally never tried it before so I can't say how well it works and/or if there is a weird after taste.