No false promises here – these crispy oven baked wings are SERIOUSLY crispy! You will be gob smacked how easy they are to make. They honestly taste like they’ve been deep fried, with a thin shatteringly crisp golden skin. You can see how easy these are to make and hear how crispy they really are in this cooking video.
These are so good they can be eaten plain. Or toss them in your favourite sauce, or serve it on the side. I’ve provided a selection of sauces for these crispy baked wings in the recipe below!
Truly crispy oven baked wings
This recipe for how to make Crispy Oven Baked Wings is a discovery by the genius folk over at Cook’s Illustrated. Being the food nerd I am, I really enjoy how Cook’s Illustrated explains the science behind why they do things in a particular way.
And I honestly believe this to be one of their most all time most epic recipes, especially because it’s so insanely EASY!!! And today, I’m sharing the secret with you. Are you ready? 🙂
How to make crispy oven baked wings
Crispy oven baked wings in 3 easy steps:
Pat wings dry with paper towels;
Toss wings in baking powder and salt;
Bake at 120°C/250°F for 30 minutes, then at 220°C/425°F for 40 – 50 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
Yes, that’s it. That’s all there is to it. 🙂
Why this recipe works
In those 3 simple steps are 2 very important things to make these truly crispy oven baked wings:
1. Coat in baking powder – yes, you read that right, baking powder! I won’t go into all the technicalities, but in a nutshell, the baking powder draws moisture to the surface of the skin so it can evaporate, thereby making the skin crispier; and
2. Bake for 30 minutes on low to melt the fat before blasting in a very hot oven to crisp up the skin. There’s a lot of scientific explanations around this and I’ll skip it because I’ll bore you! But basically, the wings are first baked on the lowest shelf in the oven at a very low temperature for 30 minutes which causes the fat under the skin to “melt”, then you move the wings up to the top shelf and crank up the heat which crisps up the skin.
The other tip is ensuring that the wings are dry. If you are organised enough, put the wings on the rack and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight. However, I neither have the fridge space nor am I organised enough, so I just dry them using paper towels (see photo below for how I do this).
When these come out of the oven and you tap the skin with your nail, you can instantly “hear” how crispy the skin is. They even look like they’ve been fried! And in case you are concerned, you don’t taste baking powder at all.
Got questions? See FAQ under the recipe card.
You will notice that the wings are smaller than you are used to. That’s because so much of the fat under the skin melts off the wings – you’ll see it all pooled on the tray. So these have the added benefit of reduced calories too!
You can toss the wings in your sauce of choice or serve the sauce on the side. I’ve also shared classic Buffalo Wings using this same method for crispy oven baked wings. For this recipe, I’ve included a few simple sauces that I like to serve wings with: Honey Garlic Sauce, Honey Mustard Sauce, Ranch Dipping Sauce.
Let’s get stuck into these wings! – Nagi x
PS I’ve now published the Buffalo Wings version! Here it is: Truly Crispy Oven Baked BUFFALO Wings.
Watch how to make it
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Truly Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings
Ingredients
Crispy Wings
- 4 lb / 2 kg chicken wings , cut into wingettes and drumettes (Note 1)
- 5 teaspoons baking powder (NOT BAKING SODA / BI-CARB SODA!!)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- Oil spray
Instructions
Crispy Wings
- If you are organised enough, uncover the chicken wings and leave them in the fridge for a few hours to dry out. Otherwise, use a paper towel to pat the wings dry.
- Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions.
- Preheat oven to 250F/120C (all oven types – standard/convection/fan).
- Line a baking tray with foil, then place a rack (like a cooling rack) on the foil. Spray the rack with oil spray.
- Place wings in a large bowl or in a ziplock bag. Add the baking powder and salt, then toss to coat evenly.
- Place the wings on the baking tray in a single layer with the skin side up. They should just fit snugly. They will shrink when they cook because the fat renders out so don’t worry if they look too snug.
- Place wings on the lower middle oven rack and bake for 30 minutes.
- Move wings up to the upper middle rack and increase the oven temperature to 425F/220C. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through.
- Remove baking tray from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes.
- Toss wings in sauce of choice or serve it on the side to dip / drizzle on the wings, then serve.
Recipe Notes:
* Honey Garlic Sauce: Mix together 4 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp white vinegar (or sub with any other vinegar except balsamic), 2-3 garlic cloves, minced. Use for dipping OR tossing.
* Honey Mustard Sauce: 1/4 cup Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup honey
* Ranch Dipping Sauce: Mix 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1/3 cup sour cream, 2 tbsp milk, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 tsp EACH dried dill, parsley, chives, onion and garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste.
* Spicy Creamy Dipping Sauce: 3/4 cup mayo, 1/2 tso garlic powder, 1/8 tsp paprika, 3-4 tbsp sriracha, salt & pepper
* Pink Sauce: 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 2 tbsp ketchup, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp sriracha (or other hot sauce) 7. Nutrition: The nutrition is per serving, assuming 8 servings. Note that the calories is HIGHER than it actually is because so much fat is rendered out (melted) and discarded which is not reflected in the nutrition below. I measured the discarded fat once and calculated that it should be 60 calories LESS per serving (around 1/4 cup fat in total was discarded).
Nutrition Information:
Originally published in November 2014, updated with fresh new photos and step by step photos!
Frequently asked questions
I don’t have a rack. Does this cause a problem? The skin will still be crispy but the bottom of the wings that is in contact with the tray will be oily. This is because the purpose of the rack is to elevate the wings off the tray and allow the chicken fat to drip down.
One way to get around an oily underside is to take the wings out after around 35 minutes during the high temp cooking. Drain the oil out of the tray then return to the oven to finish crisping/browning. You could also drain the excess oil from the wings on paper towels before serving.
Can I make ahead? These stay crispy for as long as the wings are warm, so around 20 – 30 minutes. After that, the skin starts to wrinkle and soften. However, I was shocked how well they reheat! Just allow the wings to cool (uncovered), then cover and refrigerate. Spread wings out on tray, skin side up, and bake for 5 to 8 minutes at 200C/390F. The skin smooths out and puffs up, just like when they were baked fresh. Other than to you (if you’ve made as many wings as me!) and true hard core Wings experts, the difference in juiciness and crispiness is barely noticeable – my friends never notice when I reheat!
The skin stays crispy for around 10 – 15 minutes after tossing in the sauce, then after that they start to soften but not go soggy, up to around 30 minutes. If you reheat after tossing in sauce, they go soggy.
Please do not toss in baking powder then refrigerate or freeze, this won’t work (makes the wings sweat too much to become crispy).
Can I add seasonings? You sure can! It does marginally reduce the actual skin crispiness but a crust forms from the extra seasonings/spices and adds more crunch. I did a lot of testing around this and I can assure you it works really well!
There was a lot of smoke! Help! A few readers have had this problem and I don’t think it’s from the chicken wings because I’ve made a ridiculous amount of these wings (in my kitchen and others) and never had the problem. The problem may be: a) spillage of chicken fat onto the oven burners when transferring from the lower to the upper shelf or b) there already was fat on the oven burners. I can’t think of anything else. While the smoke point of chicken fat is below that of the high oven temperature used in this recipe, the fat is not in direct contact with the heat because it’s shielded by all the wings and diluted by chicken juices dripping into the fat.
You really don’t need to flip? Really! Even if you don’t use a rack, the underside will get crispy.
Can I make this with other cuts of chicken? Yes BUT the crispiness will only work on the skin. So it works best on wings because they are almost fully enclosed by skin. With drumsticks, thighs and skin on breast, they are not fully encased with skin when raw and the skin shrinks while cooking. But the actual technique works super well! For 1 kg / 2 lb drumsticks or other cut of chicken, using 2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt – less than the recipe for wings because there is less skin surface area.
Life of Dozer
No wings for Dozer – cooked chicken bones are dangerous for dogs! How about a Honey Prawn instead??
hi…what happens when i putmore than 2 tblspn of baking powder? also, can i add garlic powder and how much? wanted to make this on friday for my daughters bday? so its 1 tblspn for each kl of wings? tnxs.
tnxs for you reply nagi…can i add garlic powder? how many tblspn would i add? tnxs again.
Hi Jim! Do you only want to use garlic powder? I feel like it could do with other seasonings 🙂
what i mean is that aside from salt and baking powder, can i add garlic on the recipe, really like the smell of the garlic. tnxs
I don’t recommend raw garlic because it is wet so it will affect the crispiness of how this turns out. But you can add some garlic powder if you wish, but I find that adding just garlic powder is a bit bland so my spice mixes for wings have more than just garlic – like paprika, onion, dried herbs, cayenne pepper etc 🙂
Hi Jim! Please don’t use more than 2 tbsp of baking powder, otherwise you will taste it! Yes it is 1 tbsp per 1 kg of wings 🙂
tnxs for the reply nagi…what about the garlic powder…how many tsp or tblsp can i add per kl gram og chicken wings? tnxs again.
HI Jim! Just garlic powder? Or will you use other seasonings??
Wow amazingly crispy wings as good as fried with no oil or standing over the stove perfect!
That’s so great Elizabeth! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!! 🙂
Oh..my..God. I am on the verge of tears because i have never cooked chicken so good! I followe your recipe, added some spices, and ended up letting them cook for 30 more min. I made a butter garlic and parsley sauce to coat the wings at the end and sprinkled with grated parmesean. Tasted just like wing stop! Thanks for this awesome recipe!!
Hi Desiree! You and me both, I honestly think I teared up the first time I discovered this recipe!!! So glad you enjoyed it – N x
Hi, I’ve used this recipe loads, baking is definitely key to making them real authentic wings- thanks for that! No oil needed which is great!
I find the baking powder is quite overpowering so I used corn flour which worked a treat.
Thanks for the recipe ????
Hi James! Are you definitely using baking powder, not baking soda?? You should not be able to taste it and I promise it is many times more crispy than using corn flour!!! 🙂
When I looked at this recipe I thought that there had to be a misprint. Cook a wing for more than an hour…..CRAZY. I followed the direction as written and they were perfect. Crispy and tasty!!
Thanks for trusting me Debbie!!! I know it sounds nuts – I remember the first time I tried this, I was so amazed!! 🙂
This recipe is truly amazing. Have made these countless times and will be making them again tomorrow night. 🙂
Thanks Ashley! I’m so glad you enjoy them!! 🙂
Please recheck the nutrition (protein specifically). That seems VERY high (66g) & is equal to about 9 or 10 eggs. BTW, thanks for the recipe! Trying this one out on Friday!
Hi Lisa! Thanks for picking that up 🙂 The nutrition calculator is taking into account the BONE – isn’t that ridiculous?? I’m sorry but I don’t know how to take the bone out. I will try to remember to weigh the bone and meat separately next time I make these then try to adjust the nutrition. Assuming a meat to bone ratio of 3:2, the protein is 37.3g per serving. I hope that helps!
Was so impressed with these wings! Fantastic recipe!
So glad you liked it Marco, thank you for letting me know!
I tried this recipe for super bowl Sunday and it was absolutely amazing!!! My husband LOVED these oven baked wings! I’m wondering if this same method would work for thighs or legs? Thanks!
So glad you loved it Shyla! It works on any chicken with skin but I find that the skin on drumsticks shrinks so you don’t end up with much skin. Thigh cutlets work well. I just think wings are best because there is skin almost all the way around! 🙂
Great cooking method. they came out super crispy. Only cooked them for 25mins on high heat 475.
thank you!
Great cooking method. they came out super crispy. Only cooked them for 25mins on high heat 475.
thank you
Fantastic! I’m so glad to hear that Tom, thank you so much for coming back to let me know! N x
These look delicious! I’ve been trying to find a chicken wing appetizer recipe like the ones served in the Boston and surrounding area restaurants. Looks like this could be it! I can tell they have garlic in them beyond that? I have no clue.. and they’re not sticky. lol… But, they are delish!
I do hope you try this Annie! This really is an amazing recipe – and the fact that it’s baked is just genius!!! 🙂
The idea for baking powder and cooking on a rack was brilliant. I cooked them 10 min shy of directions, they came out perfect! I mixed Walkerswood Jerk with soy sauce and brushed on top. To die for…
WOO HOO! So glad you loved it Mandy!! ? N x
Hi Nagi! My son has been asking me to make oven baked Frank’s Hot Wings a lot lately for dinner. Tonight I thought I would look up an oven fried chicken recipe. I found yours. We didn’t really want breading, just crispiness. Your recipe worked perfect! They were very crispy and my son loved them! Thank you so much! It was super easy too! I used Frank’s Hot Sauce as usual, but I think next time I am going to try your Honey Garlic Sauce. I know he will love that too! Thank you so much! I don’t eat chicken. I’m vegetarian, but Kyle said they were perfect and very crispy!
Gosh you’re nice, making this for your son when you’re a vegetarian!! 🙂 Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Julie!! I also have a buffalo wings recipe on my site using Frank’s 🙂 Very classic recipe!
I just tried it. Gosh, I’ve just muched on the best evening snack in a long time. Considering that it’s simple and fast – and tasty of course, I will give it a 5 star rating. Thanks a ton for sharing! Please throw in more such recipes. Cheers!
YAY! So glad you enjoyed it Edgar!! 🙂
I was so disappointed with these wings – I followed the recipe exactly (YES I used baking powder not baking soda) and the baking powder never browned. I finally brushed them with olive oil and put them back in the oven for 6 more minutes and this helped some. The meat was cooked fine but the skin was awful.
Hi Barbara – I’m sorry you were disappointed. However….if you could see baking powder on it such that you could brush it off, I’m wondering if you used too much?? The dusting is so light, there is definitely not enough to be able to brush off! Also if it never browned, it sounds to me like your oven temperature was not high enough? It seems terribly odd that the wings would never brown!
I’ll admit I was skeptical but I was happily surprised. I did half a tray your way and half with seasoned flour. The baking powder was better. My stepmom used to do something similar but she used pancake mix instead of baking powder. As long as I pre-bake the wings, I think I can reduce the high heat time to about 35-45 minutes as the wings I usually get must be a bit smaller than the ones you use.
Over all quite impressed.
Cheers.
So glad I didn’t disappoint Tami! 🙂
Would it work to do the first step of cooking the chicken on low, and then coating in a dry rub before fully cooking? If not how should I incorporate the B powder into the dry rub?
Hi Sam! What I do is toss the wings in the baking powder and salt per recipe, then toss in dry rub. 🙂 I did a whole stack of rub seasoned wings in the wings cookbook, and that’s the technique I used. It’s just slightly less crispy. Still very VERY crispy!
So are you saying you did the rub before you put them in the oven or did you cook them in low 1st then toss them in the rub? Sorry I dont understand.
Hi Nykki, I toss in baking powder + salt, THEN rub, then follow the recipe to bake 🙂
Didn’t have all the ingredients for the sauce but substituted soy sauce with teriyaki added a some red peppers and brown sugar. Thank you for the recipe and have shared this link with others.
Thanks Samuel! I’m so glad you enjoyed this!!!
These were really good! A+++. My hubby loved them. I baked them today, he came into the kitchen & said, “Oh, no…not those soggy baked wings of yours again.” Then he tried one right off the rack. He grinned, gave me a thumbs up sign, then said, “Holy cow, these are crispy! They taste like their fried.” Thank you for the recipe!
WOO HOO!!!! So glad hubby approved!!!?
I’m amazed at how well these chicken wings came out. It tasted just like deep fried chicken. Definitely keeping this in the arsenal.
Thanks Jasmere! I remember the first time I tried this and how amazed I was too!! 🙂