No false promises here – these are seriously crispy Baked Buffalo Wings that are made entirely in the oven! Using a now-world-famous Cooks’ Illustrated technique, the skin is so shatteringly crispy it’s hard to believe they aren’t fried.
Don’t believe me? I don’t blame you! See and hear it for yourself in the recipe video……
Super Crispy BAKED Buffalo Wings!
The great thing about the internet is that there are loads of options for any recipe your heart desires.
The bad thing about the internet is sifting through all those Google search results to find a recipe that actually works as promised and is exactly what you are after.
So here is what I promise you: If you love perfectly seasoned crispy buffalo wings, tossed in a classic spicy, buttery Buffalo Sauce with a tinge of sweetness, and you prefer to avoid the mess and calories of deep frying, this is The One.
These aren’t just “quite crispy but still not like they’ve been deep fried”. These wings are seriously crispy. Read hundreds of testimonials from people who have tried it!
You can’t see how crispy the skin is when I’ve smothered them in that glorious Buffalo Sauce so here’s a photo of them plain, straight out of the oven. And if you have 90 seconds, watch the recipe video below the recipe so you can hear how crispy they are!
The recipe is ridiculously simple, and it’s a genius discovery by the amazing folk over at Cook’s Illustrated who used science to figure out how to make truly crispy wings in the oven.
How to make Ultra Crispy Buffalo Wings in the Oven
The 2 unique steps in this recipe that make all the difference are:
1. baking powder (secret ingredient!) – tossing the wings in baking powder which draws moisture to the surface of the skin and helps make it crispy. Rest assured you can’t taste the baking powder at all; and
2. bake on low then high – usually, the fat under the skin is part of the reason why baked wings don’t get really crispy. In this recipe, we start at a low temp first which melts the fat under the skin, then we crank up the oven which makes the skin super crispy!
What you need for Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings
And here’s a visual for what you need.
1. The crispy baked wings
2. The Buffalo Sauce
That perfect combination of spiciness from Franks hot sauce, buttery goodness and and hint of sweet.
3. Blue Cheese Dip
I know some people aren’t a fan of blue cheese dip – but I’m all in!! In fact, I love blue cheese dip so much, I like to keep mine a bit lumpy so I get little pops of blue cheese. But usually, restaurants serve it completely smooth. Go with what rocks your boat!
Celery?? YES!
Crispy wings + spicy, buttery Buffalo Sauce + earthy, creamy blue cheese dip + fresh, crunchy celery = MAGICAL COMBINATION
I don’t know who discovered it, but they deserve a Nobel Prize. I remember the first time I tried it, I squinted at the celery sticks and thought, “who would bother with them?”. But they work! It’s like the perfect way to reboot your taste buds in between each wing!!
You’ll make a total mess of yourself eating them. It’s just not possible to eat wings elegantly. You’ll get Buffalo Sauce smeared all around your mouth. You’re doing well if your shirt stays clean.
But that’s all part of the Buffalo Wings experience, right?? The dramatic clatter as you toss the naked bones into a bowl. Smack you lips. Suck each finger clean.
Dive in for another.
YES PLEASE. – Nagi x
Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings
Watch how to make it
PUMP UP THE VOLUME so you can hear how crispy they are!!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Truly Crispy Oven Baked Buffalo Wings
Ingredients
Crispy Baked Wings
- 4 lb / 2kg chicken wings, wingettes & drumettes (Note 1)
- 5 teaspoons baking powder (NOT baking soda / bi-carb soda) (Note 2)
- 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt / cooking salt (not table salt, too fine)
Sauce
- 4 tbsp (60g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt / cooking salt
Blue Cheese Dip
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, softened (I use gorgonzola)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise , preferably whole-egg
- 1 clove small garlic , minced
- 1 – 3 tbsp milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt / cooking salt
- Black pepper
To Serve
- Celery sticks
- Lots of beer!
Instructions
Crispy Baked Wings
- Dry overnight (optional) – If you plan ahead, lay the wings on a rack on a rimmed baking tray and let them dry uncovered in the fridge overnight. Alternatively, pat them dry with paper towels.
- Preheat the oven to 250°F/120°C (all oven types). Put one oven shelf in the lower quarter of the oven and one in the top quarter.
- Line the tray with foil. Put a rack on the tray then spray the rack with oil.
- Toss wings – Place the wings in a large bowl. Sprinkle over baking powder and salt. Use hands to toss well (or shake in ziplock bag) to coat wings evenly.
- Bake 30 minutes on low temp – Place the wings skin side up on the rack (ok if snug, they shrink). Bake on the lower shelf in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Bake 40 minutes on high – Move the tray up to the higher shelf and turn the oven up to 425°F / 220°C (all oven types). Bake for a further 40 to 50 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through. The wings do not need to be turned over. They are ready when dark golden brown and the skin is very crispy.
- Toss in sauce – Transfer the wings into a large bowl. Pour over sauce and toss to coat. (Alternatively, serve wings plain with Buffalo Sauce for dipping).
- Serve immediately with Blue Cheese Dip (for both wings and celery sticks dunking)!
Buffalo Sauce
- Whisk together the Sauce ingredients until the sugar is melted. Keep warm or reheat just prior to using.
Blue Cheese Dip
- Mash the blue cheese with sour cream until smooth (or to your taste).
- Add remaining ingredients and mix well until combined, using milk to get it to the consistency you want. Store in the fridge until required. Remove from the fridge 15 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes:
* Salt – only a small amount is required, it’s a phenomenon I can’t explain but this small amount perfectly seasons 2kg/4lb of wings using this baking method.
* These shrink when baked because the fat under the skin renders out (melts) which is how these become super crisp. So they can be snug on the rack.
* They are JUICY not dry, despite the long cook time. This is because the first bake at the lower temp barely cooks them, it only melts the fat.
* These bake to a golden brown, not a deep golden brown. You will know they are done because the skin will be lovely and crispy. 5. Source: The recipe for the wings is from Cook’s Illustrated “Meats Book” cookbook. The sauce recipe is my own. 6. To reheat: Allow wings (not tossed in sauce) to cool, then cover and refrigerate. The skin will wrinkle and soften. Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F. Spread wings out on tray, skin side up, and bake for 5 to 8 minutes or until the skin puffs up so the wrinkles smooth out and becomes crisp again. Works 100% perfectly! 7. Make Ahead: These stay crispy for as long as the wings are warm, so around 20 – 30 minutes. 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. 8. Comprehensive FAQ is available in the original Truly Crispy Oven Baked Wings. 9. Nutrition for just plain crispy wings (419 cal) and including the hot sauce (476 cal), both assuming 8 servings. Note that the wings have been adjusted to reflect the amount of fat that is rendered out (I measured the fat I poured off the tray 🙂 ).
Nutrition Information:
Originally posted June 2015. Republished February 2020 with improved video and photos, then updated with tidy ups in 2023. NO CHANGE TO RECIPE. I wouldn’t dare – it’s perfect as is!
Life of Dozer
This is what a Food Coma looks like.
I’ve made these a dozen times and they are always amazing! I love all of your recipes, Nagi! Being of Japanese decent it has truly been a pleasure (a delicious one at that) exploring your recipes. I especially appreciate your detailed notes section. It sets your recipes apart and is extremely helpful!
One thing I found out in the beginning when making these is some brands of baking powder can lend a slightly metallic flavor to the wings. After searching through our local brands I found one that is “aluminum-free”. Problem solved! Been using the aluminum-free baking powder ever since for all my baking needs. 😁
Hi Kinue, Thanks so much for the great feedback, it truly means a lot to hear such positive reviews! That’s such a good tip about the baking powder – I’ve been trying to find it but haven’t had much luck!
Hi Nagi,
My son is a Buffalo Wings connoisseur or a least he thinks he is.
I cooked these for him and he said they are the best he has ever had. He then asked me to make them again for all his friends. They literally went down a treat. Thank you
Woah what a great compliment! 🙌
1. Don’t give chicken bones to a dog! Any vet will tell you this is a bad idea (including wing tips). (Personally, I eat them myself, if they’re crispy).
2. “Any hot sauce will do”? Heck, no! Frank’s is the ONLY hot sauce for me! 😛
3. Thank you for this! I LOVE chicken wings–I eat ’em with just Frank’s, no “buffalo” sauce, and they’re wonderful!
You can give raw chicken wings to cats so not sure why you couldn’t give them to a dog? Apparently they’re good to clean cat’s teeth. When they’re cooked though, not good for pets. I’m with you, if they are crunchy enough, I eat the tips too.
Hi Steve – I’ve always given them to Dozer – I’ve actually had it recommended by the vet 🙂 I totally agree with you on the Franks front – but if it’s not available, any other substitute will do. So glad you love them!
Absolutely spot on. I’ve been craving buffalo wings lately and these are spot on! Thanks
Woot! Thanks for the awesome feedback Costa!
Love your recipes! This one is soooo good. I would like to make it again, however, can I bbq the wings instead of baking? Would I need to do anything different?
I haven’t tried to be honest Amel – as long as you could regulate and monitor the temperature, I’m sure you could!
Hi! When you say place wings on the bottom for the first half and raise up for the second part, what type of oven is that for? I have had ovens with heat coming directly from the top , and also ones with heat coming from below !
Hi Leila, I usually use a fan forced oven, you could use a convection oven as well with this recipe!
I tried the baking powder trick on chicken drumsticks. They turned out fantastic. I changed things around a bit. I put hot sauce,garlic powder,smoked paprika and baking powder in a zip bag and put the drumsticks in. I marinated overnight in the fridge. To bake I put them on a rack in a 250 oven for 20 min. Then I raised the temp to 450 degrees and baked for 1/2 hour. The internal temp went up to 180 degrees so I pulled them out. The skin was very crispy and the meat was tender and juicy. Looking to trying thighs next time. Should work just fine.
Thanks for the tip about the baking powder.
Jim.
Hi Jim, I’m so glad you loved them!!!
Do you think corn starch can be subbed for the baking powder?
Seriously.. The best as easiest wings.. So delicious thanks for sharing.
I have an air fryer, known for making great wings and french fries. I used your technique, baking powder and low temperature followed by higher temp and they were BY FAR, the best wings we have ever had. I will NEVER order wings out again.
The bonus is they didn’t sit like a brick in your stomach. They weren’t as messy either because most of the fat was missing from the fryer and the greasy skin.
You hit a homer again with this recipe!
What time and temperature, please?
This method is outstanding. The skin was crispy, and the meat so moist and falling off the bone! This is my go to method for oven bakes wings! Thanks for posting it.
Terrific to hear Stacy!! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback – N x
Hi there, can the wings be substituted for drumsticks? I love the idea of this, but have lots of drumsticks I need to get through!
These wings are so much better than what the restaurants here in Sweden offer. Thank you so much sharing this recipe, I have used it many times this past year!
Glad you enjoyed this one Anton!! N x
Nagi, I’m not sure what happened, but these came out tasting “fishy”. I used the measurements as recorded, and the wings smelled and tasted very, very bad, and I believe it was the baking powder. Just to be sure, I followed up by doing some the next day without baking powder, and they tasted great.
Any ideas on what went wrong? Would baking powder cause a fishy taste if there’s too much?
Haha, Nagi, you can disregard this. I went back and double-checked the boxes, and in my semi-drunken stupor, I managed to use baking SODA instead of baking POWDER, even though I had specifically gone and placed the baking powder with the rest of the prep items ahead of time.
Blame the wine. I’ll be trying this again with baking POWDER, the right way!
😂😂😂 We’ve all been there, I’ve used SALT in a cake instead of sugar 😩
I recently posted to your Sticky Chinese Chicken Wing recipe that they were the best we’d ever tasted and they were until we tried these ones! I cooked both up for the AFL (Australian Football League) grand final. You beauty West Coast Eagles!! 🦅😁 My partner, Lloyd and I both rate things I cook out of 10 to see if I will cook them again. Occasionally Lloyd will give an 11 or 12 out of 10 (including to some of your other recipes) but he declares that these broke his measurement stick coming in at a massive 20 out of 10 and that he now needs to recalibrate all other recipes!! 🤣 He says to tell you that these wings combined with the blue cheese dip taste so sublime they should almost be forbidden!! 🤣🤣 Needless to say this recipe is definitely a keeper for us. 😆I only made half quantities because I was needlessly cautious of the Frank’s Hot Sauce which we’d never tried and ended up mistakenly using double the baking powder and sugar quantities but they were still amazing despite the cook!. 😂 I just saw your comment above about using the sliding scale and will definitely use that ingenious little tool next time because I’m going to have to double it! Thanks so much for this and all your other delicious recipes, Nagi. It’s clear you do a lot of research and note taking to bring us the very best version of any recipe you provide and I admire you for that. If we are eating something delicious Lloyd will ask “Is this a Nagi recipe?” 😁 Hugs to Dozer from us because we are also dog lovers. 🐕🐾
Donna, how very Yank of you to make Buffalo Wings for an AFL Final!!!! BA HA HA!!! I’m so pleased you enjoyed this Donna. And tell Lloyd I’m glad he is enjoying my recipes too! N x
Actually your reference to buffalo wings at the Super Bowl is what prompted me to think of them for the AFL finals! 😂
These were excellent. As an avid recipe searcher and review reader – to make sure the recipes are legit – I have never felt compelled to write a review. But I just made these and they were excellent. The wings were crispy and perfect. Thank you!
Hi ,
Can you advise on rack placement. Tounkndocate top and lower quarter bit this could mean different things. Is it the very bottom rack and very top rack OR the second rack up from the bottom and second rack down from the top?
Thanks so much 😀
HI Michelle! Just as long as the wings are in the lowest quarter or third of the oven for the lower temp cooking part, then in the top 3rrd or 1/4 of the oven for the high temp part it will be fine! 🙂
I LOVE these wings. Perfectly crispy and delicious!
Glad to hear you enjoyed this Sarah! Thanks for letting me know – N x
Perfect!
I doubted these would be as good as buffalo wings I’ve had but I was wrong. These were crispy and the hot sauce just perfect. Thanks for the recipe.
Glad you enjoyed it Scott! Thanks for letting me know – N x