These extra crispy brined chicken wings are the easiest way for the most amazingly crisp wings without deep frying, and they are fully seasoned inside and out!
If you’re looking to make extra crispy wings for game day, you’ll want this amazing brined chicken wing recipe. It starts with a simple 2 hour wet salt brine with an added special ingredient. Then it gets a double baking process, first to dry the wings at a low temperature and second to cook and crisp to perfection.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Why Brine Chicken Wings?
For a long time, I didn’t think that brining chicken wings was necessary. I was perfectly happy getting crispy baked chicken wings using baking powder. But these get even crispier than the regular baking powder wings!
This is good because some people are sensitive to the baking powder taste and this uses so little and is so diluted that you can’t taste it. For this recipe, they get so crispy that you even see bubbles, almost like with deep-frying chicken wings, that burst and make the skin crackly in places.
How Does A Brine Work?
Brining is simply soaking food in a salt water solution before cooking. Sometimes for extra flavor, you might add other ingredients, like sugar, herbs, or spices. But all you really need is salt and water. For this brine recipe, we’re also adding baking powder, which I’ll explain in a moment.
The brine absorbs into the meat, making the wings more moist and juicy. Plus, the salt is making it more flavorful, seasoning it from the inside. It’s not hard to do, and the benefits will be apparent once you give it a try!
Adding Baking Powder
Baking powder is a leavening agent that you may be most familiar with using for your baked goods. It’s a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, cream of tartar, and cornstarch.
Note: Do not substitute baking soda!
When mixed with salt (in this case, the brine) and coated on chicken it dries out the skin, leaving it crisp and crunchy. The addition of the baking powder raises the pH level in the chicken, allowing the peptide bonds in the skin to break down, thus letting the skin get more crispy and brown.
Tips For Brined Chicken Wings
Pay attention to the salt. The type of salt matters, so if you aren’t using Morton’s kosher salt, make sure to check the equivalent measurements in the recipe notes below. Table salt has finer grains and Dixie Crystals Kosher salt is more coarse so they require different amounts.
Seasonings. If you’re using a seasoning blend before or after cooking your wings, make sure it doesn’t include salt, since we already have plenty from the brine. You can make our dry rub for wings that has paprika and garlic powder, but omit the baking powder and salt since we included them in the brine. You could also use one of our great seasoning blend recipes like Montreal Chicken Seasoning or Cajun Seasoning, just remember to omit the salt.
Skip the marinade. Since we’re brining for this recipe, there’s no need for a marinade.
Double baking process. After you’re finished brining your wings, start cooking the wings at a low temperature to dry them out and really let the baking powder start to work its magic. Then, crank up the heat to cook the chicken through and get perfectly crispy skin.
Sauce. I suggest skipping a sauce, or just using one to dip the wings because of how wonderfully crispy these chicken wings end up after they bake. Adding sauce can take away some of that crispiness. But if you really want a sauce, you can try our homemade Buffalo wing sauce.
How To Bake Crispy Brined Wings
First, make your chicken wing brine by mixing the water and salt together and stirring until the salt dissolves. Then stir in the baking powder to the brine.
If you have whole wings, you can cut the chicken wings into drums and flats, if you’d like. I think it makes them easier to eat and it’s how they are normally served in restaurants. Add the wings to the brine and make sure they are fully submerged. Put in the fridge for 2 hours to brine. Don’t bother adding bay leaves like in this picture though. They didn’t really add any flavor in the end.
After brining, preheat the oven to 250°F and prepare your baking sheet and rack. Line the baking pan with aluminum foil to make clean up easier, and lightly grease your oven-safe rack to help prevent sticking.
Remove the wings from the brine and pat them dry with a paper towel. If you want to add other salt-free seasonings, you can toss the wings and seasonings in a medium bowl.
Arrange the wings in a single layer on the baking rack set over the baking pan, and cook at the low temperature for 30 minutes. Without removing the wings from the oven, increase the temperature to 425°F and continue to cook until golden brown and crispy, another 40-50 minutes.
Even though you oiled the rack, sometimes the wings stick a bit. I suggest using metal tongs or a metal spatula to slide beneath each wing to loosen it from the rack, which will reduce the risk of any of that deliciously crispy chicken skin being left behind.
If using a sauce, put sauce in a large bowl and toss wings to coat evenly.
More Chicken Wing Recipes
Find out how to cook chicken wing using various methods here, and check out all of my chicken wing recipes over here. These are some of my favorites:
- Baked BBQ Chicken Wings Recipe
- Zesty Baked Lemon Pepper Wings
- Air Fryer Buffalo Wings
- Instant Pot Chicken Wings
Podcast Episode: Making Extra Crispy Brined 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
Extra Crispy Brined Chicken Wings Recipe
These extra crispy brined chicken wings are the easiest way for the most amazingly crisp wings without deep frying.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Brine Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 4 and 1/2 Tbsp. Morton’s kosher salt*
- 1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
- 10 whole chicken wings
- 3 tsp. salt-free seasoning blend (optional)**
- 1/2 cup wing sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Measure the water and salt into a medium bowl. Stir until salt is dissolved. Add the baking powder and stir well.
- If desired, cut chicken wings into drums and flats. Cut off wing tips, if you’d like, and discard or safe for another use.
- Add wings to salt mixture making sure all wings are submerged. If they aren’t, transfer to a narrower bowl or make more salt, water, and baking powder solution. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Top it with an oven-safe rack. Lightly oil rack.
- Remove wings from salt mixture and pat dry with paper towel. If using seasoning blend, put wings into a medium bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of the seasoning blend and toss wings. Add 2nd teaspoon of seasoning blend and toss wings. Add 3rd teaspoon of seasoning blend and toss wings.
- Arrange wings on prepared rack and put into oven for 30 minutes. Without opening oven, increase oven temperature to 425°F and cook until wings are golden brown and crispy on the outside, 40-50 minutes more.
- Remove sheet pan from oven. Use metal tongs to slide under wings and dislodge any skin that has stuck to the rack. If using a sauce, put sauce in a large bowl and add wings. Toss to coat.
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
*You can substitute with 3 tablespoons of table salt or 6 tablespoons of Dixie Crystals Kosher Salt instead.
**The seasoning blend that you can see in the picture on the wings is my homemade pizza seasoning, which is my kids’ favorite wing seasoning, go figure! lol
OMG, these turned out absolutely delicious! Crispy and juicy. I used the sauce for dipping vs coating the wings and each bit had a fantastic crunch! I will definitely make these again!
Thank you, Carla! I’m so happy you gave these a try. 🙂