Oven-Fried Breaded Chicken Wings

Oven-fried breaded chicken wings are easy to make and get a delightfully crunchy exterior with juicy chicken inside.

Why Should I Bake Breaded Wings?

These are oven-baked for a couple of simple reasons. 

• Amount of oil needed. Deep-frying chicken wings taste great but it uses a lot of oil and can cause a smell in the house. 
• No need to work in batches. You can only fry 8-10 wing pieces at a time. If I’m cooking for my family, I don’t want to stand over a fryer doing multiple batches. This way, they cook in the oven all at the same time and it’s hands off.

If you love baking your wings, you’ll also want to try our recipes for BBQ baked chicken wings and zesty lemon pepper chicken wings.

What Do I Bread Chicken Wings With?

This breading is similar to what we use for shake and bake chicken. The oil is mixed with the bread crumbs, instead of being sprayed on or applied after breading. This ensures that each crumb is coated in fat so that it can brown and crisp up really well.

You could bread the wings by putting the breading in a bag and tossing, however, I find that the breading is quite wet with the oil and it needs a little help sticking on. Plus, I don’t like to dirty a zip-top bag when I’ve already got a bowl I’m using. Once the wings are baked, the breading stays on perfectly. But it just needs that little push explained in the recipe to really stick well, which is what I do for my Breaded Boneless Wings as well.

The recipe calls for 10 wings. That is 10 full chicken wings that have not yet been cut into pieces. You can leave them whole, but there won’t be enough breading. That’s because the amount of breading is for the drums and flats of the wings. If you have very large wings, or if you are going to keep them whole and therefore be breading the wing tips as well, make an extra half batch of the breading.

How To Make Oven-Fried Breaded Chicken Wings

Start by preheating your oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with an oven-safe wire rack. Oil rack lightly to help prevent the wings from sticking. Use our how to cut chicken wings guide to cut the wings into drums, flats, and wing tips. Discard the wing tips or save them for a future use such as using to make chicken stock.

In a large bowl, make your breading mixture by combining the bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic, smoked paprika, salt, and cayenne. Add the oil and stir well until it is thoroughly mixed and looks like wet sand. It is best to use an oil with a neutral flavor like grapeseed oil or vegetable oil rather than something with more pronounced flavor like olive oil.

Put 3-4 wing pieces into the bowl at a time. Spoon some bread crumb mixture over them and pat down to help bread crumbs adhere to the wings. This gets a better coating on them than a simple toss in the mix. Flip and repeat so they are fully covered in a light coating. Transfer coated wings to prepared baking rack. Repeat with all wings.

Bake the breaded chicken wings until cooked through to an internal temperature of 165°F and well-browned, 40-45 minutes.

Serve with your favorite dips like blue cheese or ranch dressing or make some of our homemade buffalo sauce to go with your oven fried chicken wings.

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