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??
Sounds delicious! Making these tomorrow. I see that the wings bake for 70+ minutes. They stay moist and don’t dry out?
Hi Alysa! They definitely do not dry out because the wings are covered in fat / skin which basically self bastes. Actually, it’s pretty hard to over cook and dry out wings! Because they are a “dark” meat and covered in fat.
I don’t understand the rack thing. You talk about cooking them on a rack over a oven pan, but then you say to place them on the tray, not the rack. Please help.
Hi Robert! Sorry for any confusion 🙂 I mean that you need a cookie or any of any kind of rack that fits on a baking tray that you then put into the oven on the oven racks. i.e. the wings sit on a rack on a baking tray that then gets put into the oven on the oven shelves. Hope that helps clarify! 🙂
Think I got it, thank you. I was just brought up calling a rack, a cookie sheet.
Well actually then, thank YOU for telling me that because I just googled and found out that some people do call the rack a cookie sheet so from now on I will be extra clear about oven shelves vs racks!
Hi! Does it have to be wings specifically? I only have drumsticks on hand.
Hi Tay! Such a great timing for this question because I just tried this on the weekend with drumsticks! It definitely works, you just need to add 5 minutes to the cooking on the lower shelf plus 15 minutes (or so) to cooking on the top shelf. If you aren’t 100% confident it is cooked, just make a small incision and take a peek to check 🙂 And I would make 50% more sauce. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! I’m making them now! 🙂
Oh yay!! Love to know what you think!
Nagi, I did the drumstick version for Super Bowl sunday today and they were a smash hit! Next time I’ll take them out a bit sooner – in my concern to make sure it was cooked all the way through I may have dried it out a bit – but it was a hit! And people were surprised it was not fried. Thank you so much!
Hi Rebecca! I’m thrilled you enjoyed it so much! My friends are always surprised that they aren’t fried too 🙂 And that they’re healthier!! Always surprises everyone! 🙂
Can’t wait to try these out – my 3 year old LOVES wings (odd, I know – haha). Always have trouble getting them crispy so I cant wait to test this method out.
Thanks Tara!! I am super impressed your 3 yo loves wings – advanced taste for his years!!
I’m with you, Nagi! I love Cooks Illustrated and all those ‘nerdy’ food things! If you REALLY want to get your ‘nerd-on’, check out, the Science and Cooking free online lecture series from Harvard – super cool stuff!
So I never knew the secret to super crispy oven baked chicken! This is GOLD!!! And the honey garlic sauce looks
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! I want to put that everything!
And I thought I was a food nerd!! But you know what I’m going to spend my relaxation time this evening doing, don’t you?! I love this sauce too! I wonder if it would be weird to use it on my Christmas Ham? Hmm…..thoughts are brewing….
Visiting from Maureen’s blog, and I’m hooked! These are brilliant, I’ve never made wings at home because I didn’t think I could make them great without deep frying, so I’ll definitely be making these! One happy hubby, coming right up 🙂
Thanks so much Anna!! Hope your hubby is please 😉
I also LOVE Cook’s Illustrated (or America’s Test Kitchen). I started watching that cooking show, I call it the ‘first ever cooking show’, YEARS ago and because of THAT, my cooking skills and knowledge took me in a whole new direction. I became a BETTER cook! I also found the best knives from them. I am so glad someone else loves to know why adding one ingredient and not another to a recipe changes things- the science behind the food! I added this recipe to my make next week pile, and I cant wait! I love chicken wings, but not too sweet and this looks perfect. THANK YOU for this chicken wing recipe…. maybe I will make some of your crack bread to go with?! From Portland- Lisa
I wish they aired America’s Test Kitchen here in Australia!! It is SO unfair! But I make do with the cookbooks – and I too believe I became a better cook because of them. I learned SO MUCH!! And I apply the things I learned to other recipes, that’s why I love knowing the science behind the food! I’d love to know what knives you use – my general kitchen knives are just Global Knives which are a great all round brand, but nothing in the fancy category 🙂 The sauce is definitely a bit sweet but not too sweet – my palette is more towards savoury than sweet so hopefully you like the sauce! And YES to the crack bread – I can’t imagine a better meal!! My birthday is coming up – I might request a birthday dinner with these wings and the crack bread, can’t think of a better combination so thanks for the idea!!
I’ve been using this method ever since CI published it… Best. Wings. Ever. I usually do a version of the low-carb “Heroin Wings” (butter, garlic and parm cheese) but will definitely need to try your honey garlic sauce!
Thanks Sherry!! I’m with you on the best wings ever! Heroin Wings are soooo good too!! Heroin is the right name for it!! 🙂
Nagi, I love your recipes. Just so happens I have company for the holidays and will be making your wings on Friday. Can hardly wait. I like that you respond to the comments. Hope enough other people latch onto your site so that you can’t possibly respond to all of them though.
Thank you so much for this lovely comment! It’s morning here in Sydney and I can’t think of a better way to start each day than responding to messages like this. I hope you like the wings!! Love to hear what you think!
Whoah, totally trying this next time!
Hope you do! I really want to try to recreate a seasoning to make these taste like the Spice Temple wings – you know the ones I mean Helen!!
Oh my God!! The chicken wings are amazing!! My husband is sitting next to me as i write this comment and he requested me to make this wings for him tonight…love it!!! 🙂
Well, you can’t deprive the man! Go forth and do as he commands!! 🙂
I love the honey garlic sauce idea! Plus the fact that the fat melted out means I can eat double the amount, right? What a delicious appetizer! (or in my case…dinner:)
Honestly Sarah, I think I ate double the amount!! It really is amazing how much of the chicken fat ends up on the tray – it makes you feel so much less guilt about indulging in these!
Wow, Nagi, another masterpiece recipe … but one that can be made super easily – sooo my cup of tea, as you know! I love this classic soy, chili and sweetness type recipe and feel very excited that you’ve just presented me with a way of making ‘fried’-style chicken but without needing to mess around frying it. I think I see this in my dinner-time future! 🙂
Love to hear what you think if you try it!!
Nagi…as always gorgeous pictures! I made a similar style with baking soda salt and EGG WHITES! Apparently it’s very Korean,.. But I made them for Chinese New Year..I’m a rebel 🙂 Thanks for reminding me to make them again !
Egg whites? My gosh, that makes sense! Do you have this recipe on your blog? I’m popping over now to find out!
I am so excited that I found your website! I have already pinned 4 recipes just from the first page!
I am super excited to try these wings. My oldest son loves wings but with how many he would have to eat to fill him up at a restaurant we almost never let him order them. His birthday is in January and I pinned this recipe so that I could make them for his birthday dinner!
Thank you again! I’m off to pin more!
Oh wow, thank you so much Melissa! Seeing this enthusiastic comment of yours has made my morning! And baked wings are perfect for your son because these are much lower in calories because the fat is melted off so he can eat double the amount!!
Well you know that I am LOVING this!! Wings are so festive, but I hate deep frying in my own kitchen. I’m so intrigued by being able to bake them and still have them turn out crispy!! I am definitely going to try this…
I’m exactly the same!! I leave deep frying to others – I hate the smell, cleaning up and also I feel like it is such a waste of oil!
I am a food nerd too so I’m loving the science behind it! And I’ve been disappointed far too many times by oven baked wings recipes that promise to be crisp. I’ll definitely be trying this method next time; thanks for sharing!
I KNEW you would love the science behind this being the expert baker that you are! Baking is all about the science 🙂 I pinky swear these are truly crispy. You are going to be shocked!!
Oh my GOD Nagi this chicken looks beyond delicious. Wish I had a massive bowlful of it to devour (and dunk in that sauce) right now!!
I’m with you Thalia! And it’s not even 8am here 🙂
Me too, I will never cook fried chicken again! Awesome idea and I need to cook it TONIGHT!
You know I have the thing for all sorts of chicken, but I always love fried chicken. But these look even better!
Love the sentence of “tap the wings”. Yep, I can hear loud and clear how crispy they are 🙂
Tapping the wings is how I tested how crispy they were!! I was thrilled with the outcome 🙂
These look perfectly cooked crispy! I wish I could have some right now 🙂 Thanks for the genius tips and tricks on cooking these wings, I always learn a lot from your blog Nagi! Pinned !
Thanks Mira! Though really, it’s all thanks to the Cook’s Illustrated test kitchen!