These crispy baked chicken wings are oven baked until golden brown with crispy skin! Toss with your favorite wing sauce for easy, delicious baked wings!
This easy recipe will show you how to get crispy baked chicken wings with a thin, crackly skin that's golden brown and delicious!
These oven baked wings are great as an appetizer, side, or game day meal! Serve them with your favorite wing sauce!
Tips for crispy baked chicken wings:
- Thoroughly dry the wings - Pat the wings dry with a paper towel and get the front, back, and crevices. Be sure the wings are completely thawed if using frozen wings as they can leak moisture as it continues to thaw.
- Baking powder - Baking powder is an alkaline which raises the pH of the chicken wings, thus giving the wings a golden brown color when cooked. For more info, read this article by Serious Eats.
- Salt - Salt helps flavor and draw out extra moisture from the wings, which helps them get that crispy skin.
- Air dry in fridge - This is optional but you can let the wings further dry out in the fridge uncovered for up to overnight. This also helps the baking powder and salt absorb into the skin.
- Convection or air fry: Turn on convection mode if your oven has it or you can use an air fryer.
- Bake on a wire rack: This facilitates air flow under the wings which helps render out the fat from the both the top of bottom sides of the wings, thus giving it that thin, crispy, crackly skin.
How to get crispy baked chicken wings
- Pat the chicken wings dry with a paper towel then mix with salt and aluminum free baking powder.
- Lay them on a wire rack placed on top of a baking pan. You can further dehydrate the wings by letting them air dry in the fridge up to overnight.
- Bake in a preheated 425 degree F oven for 50 minutes, flipping half way through. Increase the bake time if your wings are on the larger side.
- The skin should be golden brown and crispy after rendering out the fat. You can tell by the thin, crackly skin.
- Toss in a bowl with your favorite wings sauce and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Yes, flipping the wings helps crisp up and brown both sides of the wings. Baking them on wire racks helps facilitate air flow as well.
Wait to add sauce until right before serving. Keep them in a single layer as crowding them can cause the wings to steam and get soggy.
Baking powder is an alkaline which raises the pH of the chicken wings, thus giving the wings a golden brown color.
Chicken wings are fully cooked at 165 degrees F. The temperature should be checked at the thickest part of the wing, avoiding the bone.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Please share, rate, or comment below. I'd love to hear from you!
Come find me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram! Share your recipes by tagging @drivemehungry. I love seeing your creations!
Thanks so much for stopping by! 🧡 -Jamie
More appetizers & sides:
Chicken wing sauces:
Recipe
Baked Chicken Wings - Crispy & Crunchy
☑ Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken wings - about 16 wings and drumettes
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder - aluminum free; see Note 1
- ½ cup wing sauce
Instructions
- Thoroughly dry the wings by patting with paper towels. Make sure there's no excess moisture. Add the chicken wings, sea salt, and aluminum free baking powder to a large bowl and mix together well.2 lbs chicken wings, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- Line a baking sheet with a wire rack and lay the wings on top. The wire rack facilitates air flow under the wings to crisp them up. Optional: For best results, let the wings further air dry in the fridge uncovered for at least 1 hour up to overnight.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 425°F for about 40 to 50 minutes, flipping half way through. Turn on convection if available. If your wings are larger, increase the bake time until internal temperature reaches 165°F and the skin is golden brown and crispy. Optional: For the last 2 minutes, increase heat to broil for extra crispness; watch carefully as they can quickly burn.
- Toss with your favorite wings sauce and serve immediately. Enjoy!
✎ Recipe Notes
- Baking powder: Baking powder is an alkaline which raises the pH of the chicken wings, thus giving the wings a golden brown color. Use aluminum free baking powder.
- Be sure to thoroughly dry the wings as that will help crisp them up.
- If you are sensitive to the taste of baking powder, you can rinse the wings with water after 12 hours of it air drying in the fridge with the baking powder and salt mixture. Be sure to thoroughly pat the wings dry before you bake them.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is an estimate, calculated using online tools.
Jessica
This is my favorite wings recipe! I make them all the time and they always turn out so crispy!
Sharon
I always have a hard time with making chicken wings in the oven. They never turn out as crispy as I would like but your tip about using baking powder did the trick. I finally got crispy wings in the oven. Thank you!
Mary
Great recipe! Easy to follow and made perfect appetizers for a get together!
Jess
These are perfectly crispy! We love making these for Sunday football game watching!
Jackie
This is the only recipe I use for chicken wings now! They are absolutely perfect - the baking powder and salt really do combine to provide such a crispy texture on the chicken skin. I add a little smoked paprika and cayenne pepper to the mix, but otherwise, follow the recipe as written. Delicious!
Sonya
Delicious and crispy and I didn't have to take out the fryer!
Sean
Bake these up every week for 25 minutes and then brush on some bbq sauce. Bake for another 10 minutes until the sauce gets caramelized and then pop them out. Delicious.
Linda
Love the crispiness of these chicken wings. So easy to prep and so delicious
Jason
Make sure the wings are very dry. Use all the paper towels you need. That's the secret to getting crispy baked wings. Made these twice. The first time they came out great. The second time, I skipped drying the wings and it wasn't as crispy but still tasty though. Overall, great base wing recipe for sauces and dips.
Diane Read
I can't wait to try this recipe but concerned that my baking powder isn't aluminium free. Please advise!
Gail
I love that these are oven-baked and healthier compared to deep-fried. So crispy-licious!
Alex
This is my FAVOURITE baked wings recipe. The wings cook up to absolute perfection and are so golden and crispy. I made a quick spicy sauce to accompany them, and we devoured them in no time. Will be making these on absolute repeat.
Gerri
First time I thoroughly enjoyed a chicken wing! Followed the recipe exactly, and loved them. Next time, I’ll try a few little tweaks to add my own flavors. But, definitely delicious and crispy!
Alison
Super simple to make for a tail-gate of Super Bowl party. They are really nice and crispy!
Gwynn
We really enjoyed these wings while watching the playoff games this weekend. So crispy and delicious. Will definitely be making them again for the Super Bowl game!
Maria
Omg! love this! I made this for one of my movie nights! Thank you!
Greg
40 minutes was just right in my toaster oven.
Samantha
Oh wow! These chicken wings are super crispy! Was fantastic with homemade sauces.
cyndy
These will be perfect for Super Bowl Sunday. I am thinking of adding Franks Hot sauce mixture on top to make them a little bit Buffalo!
Allyssa
Will surely have this again! It's really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!