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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Mimi says
Thank you. Good to know.
Mimi says
Just curious, if I'm going to use my favorite BBQ sauce can I omit some of the seasonings and just use baking powder and salt?
Zerrin says
Hi Mimi, the spices are optional. You will have a great result as long as you use baking powder and salt.
Robin Jackson says
Thank you so much for making the video. I'm terrible at the kitchen but when there's a video involved, I always find the courage to try it. Wish me luck!! xx
Shawna says
Did this recipe change recently? I have made it several time, but following these directions, the coating isn't near what it used to be. Also, it didn't have curry before. Do you have a link to the previous/original recipe?
Zerrin says
Hi Shawna, sorry, I made a mistake while updating the recipe. I've corrected it now. Curry powder is optional, so you can just leave it out if you don't like it.
fran says
Good but WAY TOO SALTY!!! Maybe decrease the salt by 1/4...?
Monchil says
Sooo. I followed the directions and the sauce only covered 4 wings...
Josh says
instead of foil, can i bake them on a wire rack so that I do not have to flip them halfway through? Thanks!
Zerrin says
I find it less messy to bake it using foil or baking paper, but I think baking on a wire rack works fine too. And yes, you don't need to flip them this way.
Mala says
Can i put the all the spice and let it sit for couple hour and then bake them?
Gwendolyn Collins says
This sounds so good! Buffalo wings are my favorite and I can ever get them crispy enough without making them like fried chicken! Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to try these 🙂
Kelly says
These were absolutely delicious and tasted fried! This is going in my rotation as the whole family loved it! Thank you!
Marilyn says
Image these wings tonight and the were delicious! The best wings I ever had. They were easy to make, too. I did make a dipping sauce to go with them, with butter, real maple syrup, and Frank's Hot Sauce, which was a great acompliment to the wings. My husband and I plan on having them again. Kudos on this recipe!
Zerrin says
Hi Marily! So happy to hear that you loved the recipe. No need for frying or grilling wings any longer as these are really good yet simple. And your dipping sauce sounds amazing!
Priscilla says
Is the mixture supposed to be watery or kinda dry?
Zerrin says
Hi Priscilla, it is not a watery mixture.
nafezha says
Wow, outstanding thanks
Jenn says
Can you do this with frozen wings? We put frozen wings on the grill and they're great. It's too cold to grill now so I'm just wondering if we could bake these from frozen. Thanks! Sounds delicious!
Zerrin says
Well, never tried it with frozen wings. But I guess you can bake them, maybe at a higher degree. Would love to hear the result if you try.
Rebecca says
trying these right now, in the oven as we speak. Can't wait to eat them!!
Don says
Baking powder!, Who would have thought.. I have been trying to come up with a recipe to bake wings instead of frying and still have them turn out crispy. Trying to cut back a bit on the grease/fat/cals. Will certainly give this a shot the next time I make wings.
Zerrin says
Baking powder is magical, isn't it? You'll be amazed when you try.