For baked chicken wings that are perfectly crispy, you need our three-step method that’s loved by hundreds of thousands of cooks, cooks who come back here over and over again to make them. It’s the best chicken wing recipe ever!
Good news! You don’t have to deep fry wings in order to end up with deliciously crispy chicken. You can easily make trays of wings for game day in the oven with my crispy baked chicken wings recipe. A little bit of baking powder and a two-step baking method gives you delicious wings without a lot of effort.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
- Video: How To Make Crispy Oven Baked Wings
- Why Bake Chicken Wings?
- Why These Baked Wings Are SO Crispy
- Why Use Baking Powder?
- Can You Use Baking Soda Or Cornstarch?
- Time and Temperature for Baked Chicken Wings
- How To Bake Chicken Wings So They’re Extra Crispy
- Seasoning The Wings
- Sauce For Baked Wings
- Even Better Crispy Chicken Wings?
- More Chicken Wing Recipes
- Podcast Episode: Baking Chicken Wings
- Crispy Oven-Baked Chicken Wings Recipe
Video: How To Make Crispy Oven Baked Wings
Here’s a short video showing the three-step baking powder method for making crispy baked chicken wings. You’ll see the three steps in our process: (1) baking powder, (2) low temperature, (3) high temperature.
Why Bake Chicken Wings?
There are several factors that influence how you might choose to cook your wings. Here are the reasons that you might want to bake yours.
- You want a lot of wings. You can fit a lot more wings on a pan in the oven than you can in an air fryer or in a pot for deep frying. This means you can make a lot at once without working in batches!
- You want a hands-off process. Once they are in the oven, you don’t need to move them around or flip, making it super easy.
- You want crispy skin! With my baking method, you get wonderfully crispy chicken skin with very little fuss.
You can see in this How to Cook Chicken Wings post that we compared different ways of cooking chicken wings and baking is best for cooking for a crowd and the best option for crispy skin other than deep fried chicken wings.
Why These Baked Wings Are SO Crispy
These chicken wings are seriously so crispy, you’d think they were deep-fried. There are three reasons why they give you that crunch:
- They use a small amount of baking powder which helps crisp the skin, see more about why this happens below.
- They are baked at a low temperature first to really dry the skin out and to give the baking powder time to start working.
- High heat at the end to finish cooking the wings and to really brown and crisp the skin.
“My son says they’re as good as from his fave wing shop!”
Melody, TheCookful reader
Why Use Baking Powder?
Baking powder is a leavening agent usually used in baked goods such as cookies and cakes. It’s a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, cream of tartar, and cornstarch. But interestingly, when mixed with salt and dusted on chicken, after cooking, the chicken skin is extra crispy. Why does this happen?
It happens because baking powder is alkaline (the opposite of acidic). The addition of the baking powder therefore raises the pH level in the chicken, allowing the peptide bonds in the skin to break down, which in turn lets the skin get more crisp and brown.
You can also use this method with other cuts of chicken, like these amazingly crispy Baked Chicken Drumsticks. And, I’m going to tell you below how adding baking powder to a wet brine mixture can also get your crispy chicken skin.
Use Aluminum-Free Baking Powder
Note that while most of the comments below this post are very positive (people seriously love this method of baking crispy wings!) a couple of commenters noted a bitter taste on their wings. I at first thought that they were using baking soda instead of baking powder. Doing so would definitely lead to a terrible taste. However, they claimed that they were really using baking powder for sure. I was stymied until another helpful commenter posted this link showing that some people are sensitive to a flavor that is found in some brands of baking powder.
Baking powder that contains “sodium aluminum sulfate” has a bitter taste to some people. If you notice this flavor, you’ll want to try a different brand of baking powder. The Rumford Brand is aluminum-free, so that’s one to try. And note that Rumford is not a sponsor of this post or anything like that. We just know for sure that they are an aluminum-free brand.
Can You Use Baking Soda Or Cornstarch?
Baking soda is NOT a good substitute for baking powder. While baking powder does contain baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), baking soda alone is stronger and has a very metallic taste if used without being neutralized with an acid. The cream or tartar found in baking soda is acidic and neutralizes that taste.
In the comments below this recipe, several people have asked if they can use cornstarch instead of baking powder. While people do use cornstarch on their wings to make them crispy, it works in a different way. Baking powder changes the pH of the skin so that the skin itself gets crispier. On the other hand, when you put cornstarch on wings, it’s the cornstarch coating itself that is toasting and crisping.
Therefore, my answer is that you can use cornstarch on wings, but not as a substitute for the baking powder in this recipe – it won’t work the same way and the amounts would not be equivalent.
Time and Temperature for Baked Chicken Wings
We start at the low temperature of 250°F for 30 minutes to dry out the wings.
Then, without removing the wings from the oven, increase the temperature to 425°F and bake for 40-50 minutes more. This cooks the chicken through and browns the wings to crispy perfection. If your wings are smaller than average, you will likely only need to cook them for 30 minutes at this step.
How To Bake Chicken Wings So They’re Extra Crispy
Prep and Season
If you have whole wings, you can learn how to cut chicken wings here. (When you cut ten wings, you end up with 30 wing pieces. That’s 10 drumettes, 10 flaps and 10 wing tips. You’ll either discard the wing tips or save them for another use. That leaves 20 wing pieces that you’re using here.)
Note: You can leave the wings whole if you prefer and it won’t affect the cooking time. I think they area little more awkward to eat though. You also can leave the wing tips attached to the flap, but there’s so little meat on there that they aren’t the best to eat.
Once they’re all cut up, put them into a big bowl. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of aluminum-free baking powder (and NOT baking soda!). It doesn’t seem like much but you’re not trying to make a coating for the wings here. You’re trying to change their pH level so that they will crisp up better. Mix it up, I usually just toss it around or get in there with my hands.
I’ll also say that I am somewhat of a perfectionist and so to get a really even coatingthat is dispersed well on the wings, what I usually do is to put half of the wings into the bowl, sprinkle with half of the salt and baking powder, then add the other half of the wings and sprinkle with remaining salt and powder, and then I mix them with my hands. That just reduces the likelihood that the salt and baking powder will be overly concentrated on some wings.
Use A Wire Rack
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil to make clean up easier. Then set an oven-safe metal rack onto the baking sheet. Spray the rack with cooking spray or lightly oil it to help prevent the chicken from sticking. Place the wings on the rack.
The rack is really helpful for crisping the wings because it allows air to circulate all around the chicken pieces so that they get evenly crisp. It also lets the fat drip away from the chicken so they’re not sitting in pools of fat, which will also reduce crispiness.
Start at a Low Temp
Place the chicken in a 250°F oven for 30 minutes. This gets some of the fat rendered from under the skin and starts that drying out process. Here’s how they look after 30 minutes. These are not cooked. Do not eat them yet.
Finish with High Heat
Leave them in the oven and crank the heat up to 425°F and cook 40-50 minutes more, until golden brown and so crispy. If your wings are smaller, skinnier ones, you will likely only need to cook them for 30 minutes at this step. If they’re crispy on the outside and their internal temperature on an instant read thermometer is 165°F, they’re done.
Note that a lot of people’s ovens aren’t calibrated well and usually run a bit lower than is displayed. If your wings are not browned well after 40 minutes, increase the heat to 450°F or even 475°F to get a final bit of browning on them.
In general, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer that sits in your oven and tells you the actual internal temperature. They’re inexpensive and very useful if you’re trying to perfect your cooking. They sell them at a lot of grocery stores, and you can also get one on Amazon here.
Seasoning The Wings
You can season them before baking, but sometimes some spices burn from the high heat. I therefore prefer to toss them with just the salt and baking powder for baking and then add flavor with a spice blend and/or sauce after.
Having said that, this wing dry rub contains baking powder and great seasonings and works beautifully – these spices don’t burn.
After baking, my favorite is really just adding more salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Use regular fine salt, which is more likely to stick to the wings, not kosher or anything thick here. A bit of tajin seasoning thrown in is always good too! Or try these seasoning blends that are great on wings. And yes, pizza seasoning is one of them and is my kids’ favorite on crispy baked wings!
Sauce For Baked Wings
These wings are so crispy that I find it a shame to add moisture to them and lose any of the crispiness with a sauce, but if you must toss them with a sauce…
This easy decadent homemade Buffalo sauce will blow your mind or grab some BBQ sauce.
And then you’ll need a great dip, like ranch or blue cheese dressing. I prefer ranch dressing. You can grab a bottle at the store, make your own with fresh herbs like this, or make homemade ranch seasoning with ingredients from your pantry and stir together 1 cup of sour cream with 1 tablespoon of the seasoning. It’s so fresh-tasting and delicious!
Even Better Crispy Chicken Wings?
I have to tell you something. So it is absolutely true that the recipe below, the one I’ve been telling you about so far, is the one I’ve been using for over 15 years and is the one that everybody raves about it. I love it and my readers keep coming back and making it over and over. I still stand by it and it is still the same recipe down there that it has always been.
However, recently, I’ve started doing things a little differently at my house. I’ve started brining the wings in a mixture of water, salt, and you guessed it, baking powder. Why?
- The baking powder flavor is undetectable with the brine method.
- The chicken wing meat gets nicely seasoned right though from the salt brine, so much flavor.
- I swear, the skin is even crispier! It even kind of bubbles up in places as though it’s deep fried.
So, if you want to try something new, head over to my new crispy baked brined chicken wing recipe.
More Chicken Wing Recipes
If you haven’t guessed it already, I’m obsessed with chicken wings. Here are all of my chicken wing recipes for you to browse through. If you specifically want to bake wings but with a different flavor, try our Zesty Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings! They are baked with baking powder, salt, and lemon pepper seasoning, and then have fresh lemon zest and cracked pepper added at the end, which is so crazy-good! Or, if I haven’t convinced you that baking is the way to go, here are some other ways to cook your wings:
Podcast Episode: Baking Chicken Wings
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Crispy Oven-Baked Chicken Wings Recipe
For perfectly crispy baked chicken wings, you need our trusted three-step baking powder method loved by hundreds of thousands of cooks.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 20 wings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 10 whole chicken wings, cut into flats and drumettes (here’s how to do it). Discard tips or use for a stock. That leaves you with 20 wing pieces total
- 1 Tbsp. aluminum-free* baking powder (NOT baking soda)
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- Sauce or dry rub
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F.
- Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Place a oven-safe rack on top of cookie sheet. Spray rack with cooking spray or lightly oil it.
- In a large bowl, use your hands to toss the flats and drumettes with the baking powder and salt until chicken is evenly coated. But do not add extra baking powder. Just mix them so they all have some.
- Place wings on the prepared rack in single layer. Transfer rack with the cookie sheet under it to oven and cook for 30 minutes. This baking at a low temperature dries the wings out and allows the baking powder to penetrate.
- After 30 minutes, leave the wings in the oven but raise the heat to 425°F. Continue to cook until brown and crispy, 40-50 minutes.**
- Take wings out and let rest 5 minutes. Toss in a delicious sauce like this one and serve.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
Notes
This post originally appeared in January 2016 and was revised and republished in December 2024.
Great wings. Much better than bought ones.👍
Thanks so much, Brian. I think so too!
So simple and so so crispy. The only thing I would add to the recipe is to spray the rack with oil because the wings stuck really badly. Love this recipe. The sauce I used was a garlic parmesan sauce. Absolutely delicious!!! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing with us, Jill!
Hi, can i still use the baking POWDER on wings that have been marinated? I’ve been making “Silver Spoon Wings” for years, but they take FOREVER to bake and get crispy. As the yearly BIRTHDAY dinner for my sons, I suck it up and bake and turn, and turn the wings until they reach the PERFECT color. I’m hoping that by coating the wings with the baking powder will help, and not interfere with the delicious teriyaki flavor. Any suggestions , for success? Thanks.
Suzanne, I wish it could be that easy, but I don’t think that will work.
Part of the process is really about drying out the wings. This is the Silver Spoon Wings Recipe that I’m looking at https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/appetizer/poultry-appetizer/silver-spoon-angel-wings.html Since for this recipe you’re doing all that continuous basting with sauce, it’s not going to allow the drying to happen.
Here’s what I would try though. Marinate the wings as usual. Then pat them dry and toss them with the baking powder. Go ahead and reduce that sauce and cook it, but don’t use it as a baste. Instead, cook the wings at the low temperature, possibly for longer than instructed in my recipe above, to really dry out that skin. Then increase the heat and cook until crisp. Get that cooked marinade warmed up again. When the wings come out of the oven, toss them in the sauce and serve immediately. Or, you could put them back into the oven just for about 10 minutes to help the sauce really stick to the wings.
If you try it, come back and let us know how they turned out!
I have made this recipe 3 times. Do not overdo the Baking Powder. Stay with measurements.
Great recipe!!
Now how about for a temperature and time for a basket air fryer?
Thank you, Stella! I have a few air fryer wings recipes, here’s the crispy version – https://thecookful.com/air-fryer-crispy-chicken-wings/
Great recipe! Make these wings often, especially for football games, and will never go back to other methods. Who would have thought to toss wings in baking powder to get them oven crispy. I use your recipe exactly as given, thank you Christine Pittman, its a really score!
I’m thrilled this has become a go-to recipe for you, Wanda! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment.
Love. These. Wings!!! Crispy, juicy, and no need for a deep fryer. And easy with little mess. I’ll be making these often!!!
Thanks, Kevin. And yes, less mess is always a wonderful thing!
Hi Christine,
I have made these at least a dozen times and shown others how to. It never fails and one of my all time favs. Thank you for sharing.
Paul
You’re welcome, Paul! Happy to hear you’ve made them again and again.
OMG tastes just like wings at Anchor Bar in Buffalo NY nice and crispy without being dried out
Jeri Lyn, I’ve never had wings at the Anchor Bar, but I’m so happy you like these ones! This recipe always amazing me too since they end up so nice and crispy, but not dry and not greasy. Thank you for your comment and rating!
Love. These wings so crispy
Susan, So happy you like them! Thank you for the rating and review as well. I appreciate it!
Best oven fried wings I ever had thank you for the recipe. I wounded if I smoke them first then add the mixer for the crispy texture then bake at 425 for 30 minutes what do you think
Scott, I’m so happy you like them! As to smoking, I haven’t tried it, but here’s what I think. The baking powder and salt mixture can actually be left on the wings for awhile (like overnight in the fridge). I therefore think that smoking them with the mixture ON could be really great. The smoking time would help to dry the wings out, and give time for the baking soda to do its chemical magic. So, you’d toss them with the baking powder and salt, then you’d smoke them, then you’d finish them off at the higher oven temperature just until crispy. If you give it a try, please come back and let us know how it works out. Now I want to try it too!
Thanks for letting us know how it worked for you, Renae!
crispy wings, have our own wing sauce— 2 parts franks hot sauce, 1 part creamy Italian salad dressing, 1 part bbq sauce and always 1-2 cloves crushed garlic, heat enough to blend flavors. most yummy
Thanks for sharing with us, Barry!
Worked out perfectly! They were moist inside and crispy on the outside. Thank you so much for this! 🙂
You’re welcome, Allison. I’m thrilled you loved it!
What a yummy Bake! i love it!
Awesome Recipe Christine!! I love it so much!
Awesome Recipe Christine!!
Thanks, Ken! If you get a chance, could you come back and give it a 5-star rating? Thank you!
This is a fantastic recipe. This is my “go to” for naked wings. Crispy and juicy every time.
Thanks so much, Ryan!
Wings were crispy! However they had an odd flavor which was the baking soda. Even after sauced.
Paula, Yes, some people detect the baking powder flavor. It helps if you use an aluminum-free brand, but even still, there is a small percentage of the population that has a sensitivity to the taste.
Wings tasted like baking soda. Odd flavor. Anyone else? Great crispiness though.
Did you make sure you were using aluminum-free baking powder, Paula? It does seem like some people are very sensitive to the taste, so it’s possible you fall into that category.
Hi, I’m looking at the times to cook these wings. However, the link to making the sauce and then cooking the wings is different. Which one is correct? Thanks
If you’re looking at the fancier Buffalo sauce, that one starts by calling for par-cooked wings which is what the first cook time at the lower temp is doing in this recipe. Sorry if that is confusing, Steve!