These baked chicken wings turn out perfectly crispy every time! Much healthier than fried chicken wings, it’s quick and easy to pop these in the oven, and they taste amazing with my Homemade Buffalo Sauce!
“Thursday is wing night and Friday is pizza.” That’s what my husband told me pretty much right after we got married.
I certainly didn’t argue! I was new to homemaking, didn’t know a thing about budgeting, and I had never heard the words “meal planning” before. For me, his suggestion meant not having to worry about what was for dinner those two nights!
Pizza night evolved over the years, with finally perfecting our homemade pizza dough, super easy homemade pizza sauce, and even replicating Mr. Crumbs’ favorite pizza shop’s buffalo chicken pizza.
Wing night evolved too, and we’ve finally perfected making our chicken wings baked in the oven crispy. They are MUCH healthier than our original version of deep frying, and tastier too!
Just like I have great bread recipes if you’re a beginner – No-Knead Overnight Artisan Bread and Rosemary Sea Salt Flatbread and 90-Minute Man Bread – I have a great recipe for crispy oven baked chicken wings too that will help you become a chicken wing pro in no time!
BAKED CHICKEN WINGS
Have I mentioned that I love that these oven baked chicken wings turn out perfectly crispy? I also love this recipe because it’s:
- Healthier. Much healthier than fried chicken wings, and these wings seriously taste even more amazing!
- Easy. With just a little bit of prep work, you are making crispy, crunchy, and juicy chicken wings in the oven! No babysitting hot oil or cleaning up a messy stove afterward!
- Quick. Prep these easy chicken wings in less than 5 minutes, followed by some hands-off time in the oven, and this baked chicken wings recipe is ready in under an hour!
- AND you can use the bones to make chicken stock!
BAKED CHICKEN WINGS RECIPE INGREDIENTS
You only need 2 ingredients for this baked chicken wings recipe:
- Chicken wings, cut up into drumettes and wings
- Homemade Buffalo Wing Sauce (optional, but highly recommended for serving!)
Note: If you aren’t using the homemade buffalo wing sauce, which I think you should, you’ll still love these chicken baked wings with a seasoning blend of garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper. Other classic sauce flavors include garlic parmesan and honey BBQ!
Psst! Not all salts are made the same! I love Ava Jane’s Kitchen because it doesn’t have microplastics (gross, right?) and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!).
HOMEMADE BUFFALO WING SAUCE FOR CHICKEN WINGS
I’ve talked about our homemade buffalo wing sauce, and if you haven’t made it yet, GO MAKE IT RIGHT NOW. You will not find a better hot wings sauce anywhere else, and it’s the perfect addition to your buffalo chicken wings.
- 12 oz hot sauce (I use Frank’s regular hot sauce, remember, the hotter the sauce the more spicy your wings will be!)
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 8 Tbsp butter, unsalted
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp water
METHOD FOR HOMEMADE BUFFALO SAUCE
- In a small saucepan, combine 12 oz hot sauce + ¼ cup ketchup + 8 Tbsp butter. Bring the sauce to a simmer, stirring often, until the butter is melted.
- Combine 2 Tbsp cornstarch + 1 Tbsp water in a small mug and stir until it is completely dissolved.
- Pour the cornstarch slurry into the sauce and immediately start whisking it into the sauce. Keep whisking, and the sauce will start to thicken.
- Use immediately on hot foods (i.e. chicken wings) or let cool to room temperature to use on cold foods (i.e. salads).
DISCOVERING THE ART OF CRISPY OVEN BAKED CHICKEN WINGS
Making crispy oven baked chicken wings is almost an art, similar to making bread. You can follow a recipe, but it really takes hands-on learning to master it. Just remember:
- If the oven is too cool, your wings will take forever and the fat won’t cook off enough, leaving you with a rubbery chicken wing. Gross!
- If the oven is too hot, your wings will cook too fast and the fat won’t have enough time to cook off, leaving you with a fatty wing with super tough skin.
If I’ve learned anything from cooking thousands of baked chicken wings, it’s that there are two secrets to making them amazing. The first is how the chicken wings are cooked, and the second is the sauce. Luckily I’ve got you covered for both!
HOW TO MAKE THIS BAKED CHICKEN WINGS RECIPE
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Place the chicken wing parts on a wire rack in a single layer, over an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
- Meanwhile, prepare the homemade buffalo wing sauce, if using.
- Bake the chicken wings for 20 min. Flip each wing over and continue to cook for another 20 minutes.
- Cool for 5 minutes on the rack, then shake the wings in a sealed glass container with the buffalo sauce. Serve immediately with ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing, carrots, and celery sticks!
Note: If you don’t have a wire rack, you can also cook the chicken wings directly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. However, using the wire rack allows the hot air in the oven to fully circulate the chicken wings, which is part of what gives them crispy skin.
Wings are best served the day of, but they’re also really good reheated the next day! I recommend reheating them in the oven at 300F for 5-10 minutes rather than microwaving so that you don’t lose that crispiness. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
ALTERNATE METHOD FOR BAKED CHICKEN WINGS IN OVEN
I’ve accidentally come across another method for making baked chicken wings in oven!
If you’re making pizza, let’s say for game day…and you’re preheating the oven to the maximum temperature (like we recommend for our homemade pizza recipe), you can put the chicken wings in the oven when you first preheat the oven, set the timer for 20 minutes, flip and then set the timer for another 10 minutes.
Caution: Every oven operates differently. Our current oven takes FOREVER to preheat – literally, 35 minutes to go from 0 to 550F. This works in our favor when it comes to this baked buffalo wings recipe. If your oven preheats quickly, I don’t recommend using this method, but if your oven is similar and you’re making both things anyway, it’s a great trick!
CHICKEN BAKED WINGS FAQS
Do you need to flip chicken wings when baking?
Yes! What we’ve found is that a moderately high oven temperature, plus 40 minutes of cook time (with a flip at the halfway mark) consistently yields great crispy oven baked chicken wings.
Can I cook chicken wings in an air fryer?
My husband saw an air fryer on an infomercial and ever since, he had been talking about air fryers NON-STOP. So, I bought him this exact air fryer for Christmas.
It had extra-large capacity, could cook 4.2 liters of food, and had 4.5 stars out of 1,030+ reviews. Sounds like a winner, right? WRONG.
On Christmas night we traded mashed potatoes for French fries, courtesy of the new air fryer. My husband was SO EXCITED, and he followed the instructions EXACTLY AS WRITTEN. He even weighed the cut potatoes so he wouldn’t go over the limit!
The potatoes were supposed to only take 15-20 minutes, but at the 15-minute mark, only half of the potatoes were cooked – and they weren’t cooked in the middle!
The moral of the story: don’t try to make an air fryer chicken wings recipe, or at least realize you’ll have to make some adjustments to time and temperature!
Do I need baking powder for crispy chicken wings?
Some recipes call for coating your chicken wings in baking powder or flour before baking, but not this one! With the correct oven temperature and flipping the wings halfway through the baking time, these chicken wings turn out perfectly crisp every time!
Do you put sauce on the wings before baking?
Nope! Save the sauce for after the chicken wings are done baking, and give them a 5-minute rest before tossing them with my yummy homemade buffalo sauce.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON CHICKEN WINGS
Wings are super fun to eat, but they don’t give you the best bang for your buck in terms of price per pound and actual food you can eat. They’re usually more than $2 per pound and there’s barely any meat on the bones!
But still, chicken wings are the go-to for gatherings, appetizers, and sporting events, so here’s how you can get the most out of your purchase.
SHOP THE WEEKLY CIRCULAR.
Leading up to big events like New Year’s Eve or the Superbowl, grocery stores will have sales on chicken wings. Look at the circular for the stores in your area (either online, via the store app, via paper circular in the mail, or sign up to have them emailed to you). Buy wings from the store with the best price, even if you don’t think you’ll save much! Chicken wings are mostly bone, which weighs more than the meat, and you want to have plenty to eat.
Buying at the rock bottom price is one of the key elements I teach in Grocery Budget Bootcamp. When you save a little money on the foods you eat most often, that adds up to a lot of money over time! Grocery Budget Bootcamp enrollment is currently closed, but you can join my FREE 5-day Crush Inflation Challenge and start saving money on groceries tomorrow!
BUY IN BULK.
Consider shopping at bulk warehouse stores like Costco. They consistently have low prices on quality meat, and wings are no exception! We normally buy our wings from Costco and only buy them elsewhere when they’re on sale.
SAVE THE BONES!
This might gross you out, but my family saves all chicken bones to make homemade chicken broth…even the ones we eat off of! Whether you want to go this extra mile or not is up to you, but those wings sure do make a lot of bones, which can make a lot of broth!
Note: When I’ve talked about this in the past, readers have suggested keeping the bones their family eats off of, but not the ones the company eats off of. You do whatever you think is best. I know it sounds weird to keep the bones you’ve eaten off of, but when you have a very, very limited grocery budget, you learn to be creative.
ONE MORE SUGGESTION…
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The search for high-quality meat ends here. Amazing taste. Humanely raised and delivered to your door. Sign up today! Click this link to claim the current offer!
NEED MORE PARTY FOOD BESIDES BAKED CHICKEN WINGS?
Try some of our easy party recipes, sure to knock the socks off your party guests while keeping your grocery budget in check!
Party Food / Appetizers:
- Ridiculously Easy Potato Skins
- Homemade Chicken Nuggets
- 15-Minute Italian Meatballs
- Homemade Pizza
- Parmesan Cheese Crisps
- Homemade Candied Pecans
- Carrot Sweet Potato Fritters
- Crispy Potato Wedges
- Oven Cooked Bacon
Dipping Sauces:
- 5 Minute Simple Guacamole
- 5 Minute Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
- Thai Peanut Sauce
- Homemade BBQ Sauce
- Salsa
- Homemade Buffalo Sauce
Fight Inflation Workshop!
Sign up for my FREE Fight Inflation Workshop and learn simple strategies to save money, even with rising food costs!WATCH HOW TO MAKE CRISPY BAKED CHICKEN WINGS
Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
These crispy baked chicken wings turn out perfectly crispy every time! Much healthier than fried chicken wings, it’s quick and easy to pop these in the oven, and they taste amazing with my Homemade Buffalo Sauce!
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 47 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2–3 lbs chicken wings, cut up into drumettes and wings*
- Homemade Buffalo Wing Sauce (optional, for serving!)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F.**
- Line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and then place a wire rack on top of the foil.
- Place the chicken wing parts on the wire rack in a single layer, leaving ½” to 1” of space between them so air can circulate.
- Cook for 20 min. Using a pair of tongs, flip each wing over and continue to cook for another 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the homemade buffalo wing sauce:***
- In a small saucepan, combine 12 oz hot sauce + ¼ cup ketchup + 8 Tbsp butter. Bring the sauce to a simmer, stirring often, until the butter is melted.
- Combine 2 Tbsp cornstarch + 1 Tbsp water in a small mug and stir until it is completely dissolved.
- Pour the cornstarch slurry into the sauce and immediately start whisking it into the sauce. Keep whisking, and the sauce will start to thicken. Set aside.
- Remove the wings from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes on the rack.
- Put the wings in a glass container with a lid and add half of the homemade buffalo wing sauce. Place the lid on securely and shake vigorously. Add more sauce if needed and shake again.
- Serve immediately. Wings are best served the day of, but they’re also really good re-heated the next day!
Notes
*If you have them, save the wing tips for chicken stock for sure!
**You can bake these wings at 400F as well, but you’ll want to bake for 22-23 minutes on each side. Personally, I think baking at 425F gives a better crispy skin!
***Use the buffalo sauce on foods that are hot (i.e. chicken wings) or let cool to room temperature to use on foods that are cold (i.e. salads). Best enjoyed the day it’s made, but leftovers will last for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 406
Your comment about the air fryer was interesting. I cook French Fries in my air fryer, starting from frozen, all the time and they are great. I air fry at 400 for 10 minutes, flipping halfway, and they are perfectly crisp and cooked through. Sounds like your air fryer is defective.
Excellent recipe Easy and delicious. The sauce is spot on
Are you using frozen wings?
The wings we buy are usually fresh, at one time frozen… you’d buy them in the meat case, not the freezer case. Does that help?