This Baking Powder Chicken Wings Recipe is the best way to make crispy chicken wings in the oven. No need for deep frying! Use our simple method below to make homemade wings with a crispy skin.
Are you looking for an appetizer that is a crowd-pleaser? Make these crispy oven baked chicken wings! They are super easy to make!
Serve them either naked or coat them with a hot buffalo sauce. And they are perfect for any occasion, especially for game days! Everyone will love them so much and ask for more.
This is the best recipe for baked chicken wings we have tried so far thanks to a secret ingredient: Baking powder. It helps the wings get wonderfully crispy, just like in our air fryer chicken wings recipe with baking powder.
Baking Powder On Chicken Wings?
Yes! Baking powder is the ingredient that helps you get extra crispy chicken wings when deep-frying is not an option.
We often use baking powder when making cakes or cookies, but this time let's sprinkle some on chicken wings! It is known as a leavening agent when used in baking pastries, but it has a different function this time.
So what does baking powder do on wings? According to this article, as it is slighlty alkaline, baking powder increases the pH level in the skin of chicken. This helps the proteins to break down, which results in better browning and crispness. Also, when baking powder meets the moisture in chicken, it creates bubbles in the chicken skin. This means the surface area expands and has even more crispy wings.
Also, remember that baking soda and baking powder are NOT the same. So don't use baking soda as a substitute. If you use that much baking soda on chicken wings, you feel an undesired metallic taste.
Finally, use aluminum-free baking powder. Check the label of the baking powder brand you use. Some brands might contain sodium aluminum sulfate, which causes bitter taste.
About The Ingredients
We use two sets of ingredients here: For the chicken wings and for the hot sauce.
For The Crispy Baked Wings
- Chicken wings: If you buy whole wings, cut them at joints using a sharp knife. So you have drumettes and wingettes (flats). If they have wingtips too, just discard them. See our guide teaching how to cut chicken wings if you need.
- Baking powder: We use baking powder on chicken wings to get them crispy without frying. It helps the skin of chicken wings dry out and then get crispy and nicely brown. A good substitute for baking powder in this recipe could be cornstarch.
- Spices: We use kosher salt, paprika and garlic powder. You can even add black pepper, onion powder and dried thyme too if you are after more flavors. We sometimes use our homemade chicken seasoning.
For The Buffalo Wing Hot Sauce
- Red hot chili sauce: Use your favorite store-bought hot sauce. The most popular hot sauce on buffalo wings is Frank’s Hot Sauce, but we are not very strict on this. You can choose any hot sauce that you like to make the buffalo sauce.
- Butter: This is optional but we recommend it. 1-2 tablespoons melted butter gives the sauce a nice richness and smoothness. If you want to reduce the calories, you can leave it out. The sauce still tastes so good.
- Honey: It complements the spicy and hot flavors wonderfully with its sweetness. You can use another sweetener like molasses, maple syrup or brown sugar.
How To Bake Crispy Chicken Wings
- Dry the chicken wings with paper towels. Work hard on this to make them as dry as possible. This step is very important to get chicken wings crispy, so don't skip it.
- Combine the spices. In a large bowl, combine the baking powder, salt, garlic powder and paprika.
- Coat the wings with dry rub: Add the chicken wings into the dry mixture and coat each piece evenly. If you have time, let them rest for 30 minutes in the fridge. No worries if you are in a hurry.
- Bake the wings. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place an oven rack on it. Spray the rack with a cooking spray. Arrange the wings on it in a single layer, skin side up. And bake them for 30 minutes. Remove them from the oven, flip each piece and bake them for another 10 minutes or golden brown.
- Serve. After removing from the oven, let them rest for 5 minutes. Then you can serve your crispy baked chicken wings as they are with a dip sauce on the side. Alternatively, make your own hot buffalo sauce and toss the wings with this sauce.
Make An Easy Buffalo Wing Sauce
If you are a fan of buffalo hot wings, you will probably want to toss your homemade wings into that amazing buffalo sauce. It might be better to make the sauce ahead of time.
To make the hot sauce, melt unsalted butter in a saucepan. Add in the hot sauce, give it a stir and heat for a few minutes. Remove from the heat, add in honey and stir well. Let it cool to room temperature and then toss the baked wings into the sauce to fully coat.
Expert Tips
- The cooking time for chicken wings is about 40-50 minutes depending on their size. If you have larger wings, follow our times for the best results. If you have smaller wings, it is best to bake them for a slightly shorter amount of time to prevent them from burning.
- If you don't have a baking rack, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the wings on it. We bake them both this way and on a baking rack. Although we are happy with the results of both methods, we find the chicken wings are crispier when baked on a baking rack.
- To Reheat: Store them without the sauce if you are planning to reheat them. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and place the wings on a lined baking tray. Bake them for about 5-10 minutes. You can then coat those in the sauce and eat immediately. Remember, you cannot reheat food more than once, especially chicken!
- To make these baked chicken wings with baking powder ahead of time, you can partially bake them for 30 minutes. Follow the steps exactly as the recipe states, but after the initial 30 minutes have elapsed, remove them from the oven. Once you're ready to eat them, bake them for about 10 minutes to ensure they are crispy all around. Then cover them with sauce and serve immediately.
How To Serve
What goes good with crispy baked chicken wings? There are hundreds of sides for them. You can serve these with blue cheese dressing, ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, ketchup and mayo combo or honey garlic butter sauce.
Some fresh vegetables like cucumber, carrot and celery sticks will also compliment the wings. An easy addition to the game-day platter.
You can also choose a more elaborate sides like coleslaw, zucchini chips or deviled eggs. We would also highly recommend serving these baking powder wings with an ice-cold glass of beer!
You have some vegetarian guests for the party? Make oyster mushroom fried chicken for them!
FAQs
Yes! The wings should be flipped after 30 minutes of baking. This allows the other side of the wing to also bake and become crispy.
We recommend coating the crispy buffalo wings with the sauce right before serving. If you keep them in the sauce for a long time, they lose their crispness and get soggy.
Baking powder helps the skin on chicken wings dry out. Thus they get crispy when baked.
No, we don't recommend baking soda in this recipe. If you use that much baking soda, you will feel the bitter taste of it on the wings.
Yes, you can. Cornstarch gives a similar crispy effect on chicken wings.
More Game Day Recipes
- Easy Spicy Popcorn
- Spicy Chickpea Chips
- Green Olive Tapenade
- Red Lentil Hummus Dip
- Roasted Oyster Mushrooms
More Chicken Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Baking Powder Chicken Wings Baked In The Oven
INGREDIENTS
- 2 lbs chicken wings
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder optional
For the Hot Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- ½ cup hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon honey
INSTRUCTIONS
- If you are planning to serve the baked chicken wings with a buffalo sauce, make the sauce first as it needs to cool completely before tossing the wings with it. Please find it below.
To Bake Chicken Wings:
- Pat the chicken wings dry with paper towel.
- In a large bowl, combine baking powder, paprika, salt and garlic powder until blended and whisk to combine well.
- Add the chicken wings into this mixture and coat each evenly with the mixture.
- If you have time, let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. If you are in a hurry, move on to the next step.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C) and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
- Place a baking rack (or oven-proof cooling rack) on the prepared baking sheet. Spray the rack with cooking spray.
- Place chicken wings on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove them from oven. Turn each wing over and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
To Make The Buffalo Sauce:
- In a saucepan, melt butter, add in hot sauce. Give it a stir and remove from the heat. Add in honey and mix well. Let it cool completely.
Assemble:
- Put the sauce in a large bowl, place the chicken wings in the sauce and toss to coat.
- Garnish with chopped parsley if you want.
Video
NOTES
- If you don't have a baking rack, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the wings on it. We bake them both this way and on a baking rack. We are happy with the results of both methods, but we find the chicken wings are crispier when baked on a baking rack.
- How long to bake chicken wings? The cooking time for chicken wings is about 40-50 minutes depending on their size. If you have larger wings, follow our times for the best results. If you have smaller wings, it is best to bake them for a slightly shorter amount of time to prevent them from burning.
- Coat the crispy buffalo wings with the sauce right before serving. If you keep them in the sauce for a long time, they lose their crispness and get soggy.
- To Reheat: Store them without the sauce if you are planning to reheat them. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and place the wings on a lined baking tray. Bake them for about 5-10 minutes. You can then coat those in the sauce and eat immediately. Remember, you cannot reheat food more than once, especially chicken!
- To make these baked chicken wings with baking powder ahead of time, you can partially bake them for 30 minutes. Follow the steps exactly as the recipe states, but after the initial 30 minutes have elapsed, remove them from the oven. Once you're ready to eat them, bake them for about 10 minutes to ensure they are crispy all around.
- If you want, you can add a little soy sauce in your hot sauce. But remember to decrease the amount of the salt in the seasoning mixture you use on the wings.
- A note about the video below: We used a little olive oil in the video, but after making this recipe several times, we see that the chicken wings become even crispier when we don't use olive oil. So we leave it out in the recipe here.
NUTRITION
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
ADDITIONAL INFO
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Megan says
Hi. What is the "hot sauce' you use? Do you mean a chilli sauce?
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Megan! The hot sauce we use is not the same as chili sauce. Hot sauce is typically a vinegar-based, liquidy sauce made with chili peppers, while chili sauce is usually thicker and sometimes slightly sweet. The most popular hot sauces are Frank’s Hot Sauce and Tabasco, but you can use whichever you prefer. Hope that helps! 😊
Lynne Roe says
Nice and easy recipe to follow, results more than tasty enough to satisfy my craving for spicy wings without deep frying or ordering in. Thanks for the detailed instructions for reheating. I live alone, so 2 pounds / 0.85 kgs of wings are enough for 3 or 4 meals. As my new oven has an "air fryer" cycle, I'll have to test that out when I make the next new batch, and I will definitely be using this recipe again. Thanks Zerrin and Yusuf.
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Lynne,
We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for letting us know and for the 5-star rating! We love to make wings in our air fryer as well. You can check our air fryer wings recipe too. It might help you when trying your oven's air fryer cycle.
James says
I’m very interested in this recipe. I will try out this theory. The combination of the ingredients doesn’t seem to make sense to get the result you are claiming. I am a chef and have obviously taken food chemistry. While I t is an alkaline, the presence of moisture is necessary for baking powder to activate. Did you find the fat from the meat was enough for the reaction?
Thanks for sharing!
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi James,
Yes, the moisture of the meat is enough for baking powder to activate. Would love to hear what you think when you try it.
Aidan says
LOVE the old recipe with garlic powder, curry powder, and chili powder. Not sure why it had to change. Can you please post the measurements from that recipe so I can continue making it? Thanks!
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Aidan,
Please find them below:
2 lbs chicken wings
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 and ½ teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder, optional
½ tablespoon curry powder, optional
1 teaspoon olive oil
Darcy Sachs says
Can you post the recipe that included curry for 2 pounds of wings please?
ThanK you!
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Darcy,
Please find the ingredients of the old version below:
2 lbs chicken wings
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 and ½ teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder, optional
½ tablespoon curry powder, optional
1 teaspoon olive oil
Chris says
To make buffalo wings without a wet sauce can you add chili powder to the dry ingredients and get the same effect
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Chris,
You will have nice crispy and spicy chicken wings but we wouldn't call them buffalo wings. What makes buffalo wings special is that wet buffalo sauce.
Erica says
Loved the recipe felt like there was still a strong taste of baking powder, would changing it to less affect the wings’ taste!?
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Well, baking powder is for crispiness in this recipe. Not sure why you felt a strong taste. Was the amount of wings less than the given measurement in the recipe? You can definitely try reducing baking powder but the wings won't be as crispy.
rob says
These are good, But I used cornstarch. I don’t like te bitterness of baking powder. However, if you don't dry off the wings as stated in the recipe, the baking powder (and cornstarch too) will get too thick, and then you can taste the baking powder. You need a really light coating to GE the skin crisp…and some setting time to let the powder do it’s work. 😋
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Rob,
Glad you liked them. Cornstarch is a nice substitute for baking powder.
And yes, drying the wings is another key for wonderful crispy wings. Thanks for the comment!
Cheers!
Jess says
How did you make the sauce at the end? I can’t teel what anything is besides the honey
Zerrin says
Hi Jess! As it's included in the notes section, you can make the sauce by mixing 1/2 cup chili sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1 tablespoon honey. Toss in the oven baked wings.
Pat says
Dear friends! This recipe is amazing! Thank you so much! I live in Iganda and just made two new friends from Turkey! The younger man was Murat and he loved to eat! Even my hair stylist in Uganda is Turkish! I do Long to visit Turkey! But I will vicariously enjoy your recipes now in anticipation of one day visiting your fair country! Cheers and many thanks! Pat
Christine says
I understand that you revised the recipe to optionally include curry powder, however, have the measurements for the other ingredients changed as well?
Most notably the amount /weight of chicken wings.
I had written out the original recipe and this is what I have:
1 pound of chicken wings , the recipe now says 4 pounds
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp olive oil
Please advise if this was the original recipe.
Thank you,
Christine
Zerrin says
Hi Christine,
Thank you so much for writing down the original recipe here! I just lost it after I changed the amounts to make this one.
Cheers!
Erica says
This recipe changed! It used to be an awesome recipe. Now it has too much baking powder and curry was added. What happened to the old recipe?
Zerrin says
Hi Erica,
Thanks for this comment. I've noticed that I made a mistake about the measurements while updating the recipe. I've corrected it now. As for the curry powder, I just wanted to give the wings some nice flavour but it's completely optional.
Cajungolfergurl says
I began searching for crispy, baked wings for the Super Bowl and this is the first recipe I saw. Perfect! I am going to make this recipe. Thank you! Go Dirty Birds! (Atlanta Falcons) no pun intended..... 🙂