Lemon pepper seasoning, perfectly baked crispy wings, and a zesty lemon butter sauce to finish. These lemon pepper chicken wings are amazing!
These baked lemon pepper chicken wings have the most fantastic flavor because you’re not only going to use lemon pepper seasoning, but also lemon zest and fresh cracked black pepper. They just get the seasoning blend before baking. But then at the end you mix melted butter with the zest and pepper and more seasoning blend and toss the wings in that. It’s an amazing punch of flavor that will have you coming back for more.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
The Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Not all lemon pepper seasonings are created equal. Some taste better than others and some have more salt than others.
For that reason I haven’t put salt in this recipe. It’s way easier to add some extra salt at the end than figure out what to do with overly salty wings.
The brand I used for testing is McCormick’s Perfect Pinch lemon pepper and it has 180mg sodium per 1/4 teaspoon. The wings did not end up needing salt with this brand. If your brand has less salt, you should add some salt when you add the baking powder, and/or with the butter at the end. Dip a wing into the butter mixture and taste it. If it needs salt, add some to the butter before adding the rest of the wings.
The Lemon Zest
The recipe calls for the zest of half a lemon, which just brings a light fresh note without the bit of bitterness that lemon zest can have. But if you really love lemon zest and don’t find it too bitter, go ahead and add the zest of the whole lemon.
Why Is There Baking Powder?
For this lemon pepper wings recipe, we’re using the baking powder method. The baking powder raises the pH of the chicken skin, allowing it to get so wonderfully crispy and crunchy. You can read more about the science of it in my super popular crispy baked wings recipe.
Note: We’re talking about baking powder, not baking soda. Some people are also quite sensitive to the aluminum found in some brands of baking powder, so you may want to get an aluminum-free version if you try this and notice a bitter taste.
The baking powder and lemon pepper are added to the wings in two layers in the bowl (see recipe) so that they distribute more evenly. Add wings then half the powder and a half teaspoon of seasoning then more wings, powder, and seasoning. Note that there’s a quarter teaspoon of seasoning not added at this point that is saved for the sauce to toss with the wings at the end.
Temperature For Baked Chicken Wings
Start off at the low temperature of 250°F for 30 minutes to dry out the wings and let the baking powder take effect. Then, we crank up the heat to 450°F to cook them through and get that skin crispy, another 35 to 40 minutes.
How To Make Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
If you’re cutting your own chicken wings, you’ll want to cut the whole wings into the flap and drumette portions that you’re probably used to. The wing tips can be left on the flap without issue, or cut them off as instructed in the recipe and then either discard them or save them to make chicken stock.
While your oven is preheating for the low temperature cook, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place an oven-safe rack over the baking sheet. Spray the wire rack with cooking spray or oil lightly with cooking oil. The aluminum foil is just to make clean up easier. Oiling the rack is so that the wings don’t stick badly. They do still sometimes stick a bit so use metal tongs to get them off of the rack by sliding the tong under the wing a big before picking the wing up off of the rack.
Put half of the wings into a large bowl and sprinkle with baking powder and lemon pepper. Add the other half of the wings on top and sprinkle with more baking powder and lemon pepper. Toss to coat wings evenly so they are perfectly seasoned.
Arrange wings in a single layer on the rack. Bake for 30 minutes. With the wings still in oven, increase the heat and continue to bake until wings are cooked through and skin is crispy, another 35-40 minutes.
Just before wings are finished cooking, make your buttery lemon pepper sauce. Mix together the melted butter, fresh lemon zest, remaining lemon pepper seasoning, and some coarse black pepper.
Take the wings out of the oven and transfer them to the butter mixture in the bowl. Toss to coat wings in butter and then your delicious lemon pepper chicken wings are ready to serve! Feel free to garnish with fresh parsley or add a squeeze of lemon juice on top. It’s so good.
More Chicken Wing Recipes
We love chicken wings so much, we have a whole collection of wing recipes for you to enjoy. Make sure to take a look at some of the favorites below.
Zesty Baked Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings Recipe
Lemon pepper seasoning, perfectly baked crispy wings, and a zesty lemon butter sauce to finish. These lemon pepper chicken wings are amazing!
- Prep Time: 7 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 12 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 10 chicken wings
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder, divided
- 1 and 1/4 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning, divided
- 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground coarse black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place an oven-safe rack over the baking sheet. Spray the rack with cooking spray or oil lightly with cooking oil
- Cut the chicken wings into 20 wing pieces, discarding the wing tips or saving them for another use.
- Put half of the wings into a large bowl and sprinkle with half of the baking powder and with 1/2 teaspoon of the lemon pepper. Add the other half of the wings on top and sprinkle with the remaining baking powder and with 1/2 teaspoon of the lemon pepper. Toss to coat wings evenly.
- Arrange wings in a single layer on the rack. Bake for 30 minutes. With wings still in oven, increase heat to 450°F and bake until wings are cooked through and skin is crispy, 35-40 minutes.
- Just before wings are finished cooking, in a large bowl mix together the butter, lemon zest, remaining 1/4 teaspoon of lemon pepper seasoning, and the coarse black pepper.
- Take the wings out of the oven and use tongs to get under them and remove them from the rack, and transfer them to the butter mixture in the bowl. Toss to coat wings in butter and then serve.
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