You guys. Fall is in the air. As I write this, we’re having a massive thunder storm with marble-sized hail and I love the dark gray skies and the fact that they dropped the temperature 20 degrees in a span of about 5 minutes. I’m ready for it to drop 20 more so I can bust out all of my tall boots, wear sweaters and corduroy, and sip steamers all day while I light cinnamon-scented candles and see how many ways I can incorporate pumpkin into my daily food consumption. This is my most favorite time of year and I love seeing everything autumn pop up in stores these days. Here’s another tell-tale sign of fall :
Yes, that’s our Alma Mater’s logo mowed into my back lawn which can only mean one thing: football season is here. And football season also means football food. I’ve made plenty of chicken wings in my day, but baked wings are always a far cry from their yummier, crispier, naughtier, fried counterparts. So I was intrigued to see that someone at ATK had taken on researching a method that could produce tender chicken and crispy fried skin, in the oven. The solution comes with one very surprising ingredient:
I told you it was surprising. Cook’s Country explains: baking powder is composed of an acid and an alkali. It helps draw moisture to the surface of the poultry skin, where it can evaporate. The acid helps break down proteins within the skin, and the alkali accelerates the browning process, meaning that the skin can crisp more quickly.
Now. Let’s talk about the chicken for a minute. If you can find wings that have already been cut and prepped (meaning the little drumstick is separated from the wing, and the wing tips are removed and discarded) then I would totally go for those. I myself don’t have any major issues with raw meat, and I’m pretty good with a knife, and I will tell you right now, I hate prepping chicken wings. I’m not going to show you the ugly photos of me butchering meat (and by “butchering” I don’t mean the logical definition of one who specializes in the preparation of raw meat products. I mean the other one: the act of ruining or destroying something someone else could have done with grace and ease.) If you don’t know how to separate your wings, just do a quick google search and there are oodles of YouTube videos that will show you. It’s really not hard, I just need to sharpen my knives apparently. Anyway, let’s skip forward to some perfectly prepped little wings.
The only prep for these guys is to dust them with a mix of baking powder and salt and then place them on a rack that’s been placed over a foil-lined cookie sheet. How’s that for quick and easy?
They cook for a little bit in a barely-warm oven (there’s lots of science there too, but let’s skip that and just follow the instructions, ok?) and then the pan gets moved to the top rack and the heat is cranked up to 425.
When they come out, they even look fried with their beautifully golden brown crispy skin. They have a nice crunch on the outside and tender juicy chicken on the inside. And in case you were wondering (because it was one of my first questions) there is absolutely no lingering taste of baking powder.
You’ll want to toss them with sauce and then serve them right away. When it comes to the sauce, the sky’s the limit. I’m not a huge fan of buffalo, but that’s an obvious choice. I’ll include my recipe for a Honey-Lime-Sesame glaze that was a hit around here. It’s got lots of my favorite things in it, like honey, lime juice, sesame oil and ginger.
I sprinkled on some black sesame seeds to that batch for color and crunch.
Everyone loved the sweet and salty combo.
Another easy sauce is bbq, and honestly, you could use one of our homemade sauces, like this one, or do what I did and take your favorite bottled sauce and mix in a good drizzle of honey, and a couple shots of hot sauce.
It makes a sweet, spicy, sticky glaze; just how wings should be!
Cook up a batch or two for your next game. That way whether you win or lose, at least there will be something good to eat 😉
Crispy Oven-Fried Chicken Wings
Recipe Adapted from Cook’s Country Oct/Nov ’13
4 lbs chicken wings, halved at joints, wingtips discarded
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
sauce (recipes and ideas follow)
Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and preheat oven to 250 degrees. Set wire rack in aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and spray rack with non stick spray. Pat wings dry with paper towels and transfer to a large bowl. Combine baking powder and salt, add to wings, and toss to evenly coat.
Arrange wings, skin side up, in single layer on prepared wire rack. Bake wings on lower-middle oven rack for 30 minutes. Move wings to upper-middle rack, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees, and roast until wings are golden brown and crisp, 40-50 minutes longer, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Remove sheet from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Transfer wings to bowl with wing sauce of your choice, toss to coat, and serve.
Honey-Lime Sauce
Recipe by Our Best Bites
2/3 cup honey
juice from one lime (a couple tablespoons)
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
sprinkle of ground ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Pour desired amount over hot wings and toss to coat. (You may not use all of it)
Spicy Honey BBQ
Recipe by Our Best Bites
1/2 cup of your favorite bottled BBQ sauce
3-4 tablespoons honey
hot sauce to taste
Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Pour desired amount over hot wings and toss to coat.
Buffalo Sauce
Recipe from Cook’s Country
1/2 cup hot sauce
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon molasses
Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Pour desired amount over hot wings and toss to coat.
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Questions & Reviews
These were the WORST chicken wings I have ever made!!! The baking powder ruined the entire meal. It is much better to steam the wings first, then bake them….NEVER USING THE BAKING POWDER AGAIN….SO YUCKY!!!!!
We just cooked these last week. I couldn’t taste the baking powder but my husband could and my kids kept saying they had a funny texture. I really really want these to work 🙂 Any suggestions? I rolled them and then tapped them to try to get the excess powder off. Do you think I still had too much? Or maybe just not enough sauce? They love buffalo wild wings but I would love to create a more healthy version at home. Thanks for the tips!
I know this is an old post but found this recipe the other day on Pinterest. Tried it tonight and all I can say is – wow! I had almost given up hope of having crispy, restaurant style wings done in the oven. Yay science and kudos to you for sharing this with us!!
Would this work with frozen wings? If so, how long would the cook times be?
Just horrible!
These are the BEST wings I have ever made at home and I think they are restaurant quality. You will not believe they are NOT fried as the skin is so crispy but the insides are tender and juicy!!! Thanks you for sharing this fabulous recipe!
Do you think this recipe would work with drumsticks?
I don’t like football *GASP!* but I absolutely LOVE these wings! Seriously.
I add about 1/2tsp of fresh ground pepper to the salt & baking powder, toss about 1/2 the wings in a gallon size ziplock bag with the other ingredients, shake it all around, put them on the rack and repeat with the other half. I usually use a bit more baking powder, too.
Since I prefer my wings dry, I often eat them as is, however tonight I made a maple sriracha sauce for them (1/4 c pure maple syrup & 1 tsp or so sriracha sauce). I think I died and went to heaven. So good.
THANK you for this recipe. It’s the only one I ever use.
Thank You for posting this!! These are AMAZING!! took them to a potluck party , although they were no longer crispy after transport in a crock pot , they were still tasty & the honey lime sauce was wonderful!! everyone raved about them! made them for my husband… ate them right out of the oven, they were so crispy salty together with the sweet lime honey sauce OMG!! they were soooo wonderful. I will be making theses again & again 🙂
Made these last night for Sunday Night Football. They came out exactly as advertised and were fantastic. My favorite type of wing is super crispy, nice and tight on the bone. These were exactly what I was looking for! Baking powder huh…who knew?
These were OUTSTANDING! After dusting the wings with the baking powder mixture, you will hear a faint “sizzling”, so perhaps this is your science you are referring to. Anyway, it works, whatever it does. Wings are crispy just like grease frying, and are SUPER MOIST inside. Keeper of a recipe! Thanks!
Can I use drumsticks instead?
I kind of half-heartedly made these wings tonight since I haven’t been happy with any baked wings that I’ve made before. To my surprise, these turned out EXACTLY as advertised…crispy and nicely dry. while still being juicy inside. My husband raved over them AND the Buffalo sauce you suggested. Who knew that a Tblsp of Molasses could make such a difference, thanks!!
Wow…I love crispy wings. Can you use a bag of frozen wings after they have been thawed with the baking powder?
Thanks so much for this recipe. The wings came out fantastic!!!!
Can I put two sheets in the oven at the same time?
Is it okay to put two baking sheets into the oven? Or will that mess up the cooking?
Wow this is best tip ever! My family loves wings but I could not get the crispy that was needed with out the frying thank you! I would love to share this in a favorite recipe round up when I do one.. linking of course!! Let me know if that is Ok.
Sorry that these are ridiculous questions, I am quite entirely new to cooking.
What is the difference between baking soda and powder? Would it matter a lot if I replace one with another?
Thank you for sharing your great discovery! Have a nice day 🙂
No, you definitely don’t want to interchange baking soda and baking powder, they are two completely different things. Especially in this recipe!
They are both leavening agents. There is a way to swap but you’d have to google the ratio. I’ve successfully done it before for baked goods.
Hmmm wouldn’t that be a bit different? In baking I mean. Here you need to coat the wings with the BP and the ratio is sth like 3:1 so not only do you have to deal with the extremely tangy taste but also suffer from not enough coating.
This technique worked perfectly!! I added pepper and garlic powder to the baking powder and salt and then after cooked, tossed in Rosemary Jelly from Sara Fay Farm Sooo delicious!
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Can you make these ahead of time and then warm up? If so, how? Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! These wings look so good. I just made a batch with 4lbs of chicken wings. I did a few things differently; I cooked them an extra ten minutes at 250 degrees and halfway through baking at 425, I flipped the wings over on the pan and put them back in at 450. They crisped up very nicely. They are cooling right now and will be tossing them in hot sauce shortly!
Can you bake these & then freeze them, reheat & douse in sauce?? I’m looking for things I can make ahead since I’m doing so many appetizers
Soooo good 🙂 We just tried these last night for the Super Bowl and they were a hit! Definitely cook these on a cookie sheet with a lip all around. I had some chicken grease spill over and things got a bit smoky. But these were very crispy and delicious. We served them with Buffalo Sauce, 1 cup BBQ sauce, 1 T Dry Cajun Seasoning, 1 T Hot Sauce. YUM!
I don’t suggest using a gallon ziplock to coat them. The steam and the backing powder makes a paste. Better to do it in an open air bowl.
I was so excited to make these and I failed miserably. Misread the directions and used baking soda instead of powder. Totally in edible 🙁
Oh no, lol! Better luck next time :/
Finally – I can bake wings instead of deep fry them. I usually deep fry in batches (about 10 at at time) which is never enough to feed the 6 of us – so to be able to bake 40 wings at a time in the oven was great! The baking powder did not leave any after taste – all 5 lbs of wings were devoured! We love wings – especially during football season!
These were the most disgusting wings we have ever had!!! I have never been so disappointed in a recipe. My husband and I always eat all our hot wings NOT THROW ‘EM AWAY because they left such a nasty aftertaste in your mouth. Very disappointed!
Maybe you did something wrong because mine came out fantastic. You should try again.
Mine were nice and crisp, but there was a bit of a baking powder aftertaste that the hot sauce (1/2 cup Franks, 1/2 cup melted butter, 2 TBSP red wine vinegar) couldn’t quite cover. I will try again with half as much baking powder and maybe a thicker sauce.
Just a quick question…I don’t have a pan with a rack. Can I just use the foil lined pan?
You can, but they won’t be quite as crispy- might be a little soft on the bottom.
If you were wondering why this was one of your top posts (other than their amazing) its because my husband makes me cook them twice a week at a minimum. He had his doubts when I first introduced them since they weren’t fried but one bite quickly changed his tune. Now, if you could convince him to try a different sauce, although the one he makes is pretty fantastic.