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Looking for a delicious, like-fried crispy, crunchy baked chicken wing recipe that is super-simple, totally delicious, and doesn’t contain a ton of steps or any additional breading?
This addictive oven-baked crispy chicken wing recipe has been a favorite at our parties for decades – and is shockingly simple to make at home. Bring your own sauce, let’s get cooking!
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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – my goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!
Table of contents
Easy Crunchy Gluten Free Baked Chicken Wings
If you’re looking for crispy, crunchy classic chicken wings – baked to perfection in the oven – these chicken wings will be your new favorite!
These crispy oven baked chicken wings are juicy and tender every time, with a crunchy crust that tastes deep fried.
This method for perfect baked chicken wings never fails to deliver… it’s one of our all time favorite chicken wing recipes!
I hope you love these baked chicken wings as much as I do – and be sure to check out my baked Lemon Garlic Parmesan wings while you’re here!
How to Bake Chicken Wings
To make this recipe, we will need the following ingredients:
- Chicken Wings: Often discarded or used for making stock, but can add extra crispiness if left on.
- Drumettes: meaty part of the wing that resembles a small drumstick.
- Flats: The middle joint of the wing with two bones, which lays flat, providing the perfect meat to crispy skin ratio.
- Tips: You can discard wing tips if desired, as there is almost no meat on them – however, some like the crunch they get.
- Butter (4 tbsp)Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture.Helps the wings to achieve a golden-brown color and crispy texture.Balances the heat from the hot sauce, providing a slightly sweet and buttery flavor.
- Hot Sauce (¼ cup Frank’s Hot Buffalo Sauce or hot peri peri sauce)
- Frank’s Hot Buffalo Sauce: Adds a classic, tangy, and mildly spicy flavor, synonymous with buffalo wings.
- Hot Peri Peri Sauce: Provides a more intense heat and a unique, slightly citrusy flavor profile.
- Other flavors and sauces: pick a flavor you love – from creamy and loaded with parmesan, to spicy with chilies, to a garlicky mix – or even BBQ sauce – the sky is the limit!
Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, we will use the following process to bake chicken wings:
- Prep:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two large baking sheets (with a large rim) with parchment paper or foil. Set a wire rack (preferably a nonstick rack, or lightly greased) over baking sheets.
- Pat chicken wings dry with paper towels.
- Divide wings between wire racks and spread out in a single layer.
- Bake:
- Bake wings until cooked through and skin is crispy, 45–50 minutes.
- For extra crunch, broil under broiler on high for 2-3 minutes per side – watch CAREFULLY to make sure wings don’t burn or over-crisp.
- Make Sauce:
- Melt butter in sauce pot until foamy. Vigorously whisk in sauce until well combined.
- Toss in Sauce:
- Pat wings dry out of oven with paper towels.
- In a large mixing bowl, add wings.
- Drizzle sauce over wings and toss vigorously until evenly coated.
- Serve immediately.
Tips to Easy Baked Chicken Wings
Pat Wings Dry. We’re using the fat in the chicken wings to crisp them without frying – which is easier if wings are completely dry going into the oven. Excess liquid from packaging or water on your wings can cause wings to steam instead of crisp – making skin soggier. Quickly pat wings dry with a paper towel to get a crispier wing.
Cook on wire racks. Cooking chicken wings on a wire rack encourages better air circulation all around the chicken wings, which will help them cook faster and crisp more. Lightly grease wire racks with olive oil, coconut oil, or another fat you prefer to make it less likely to stick to the chicken wings.
Toss in Sauce Last. This will help to reduce any chance for your wings to get soggy from the sauce. Make sure to use from the oven hot wings – the sauce sticks better to hotter wings what have been patted dry with paper towels to remove excess oil and fat and then tossed with sauce.
My Pro Tip
Recipe Tip
Measure sauce with your heart – some like a saucy wing, some like a bit less. This is one way you can completely control the flavor of your baked chicken wings – add more or less sauce, depending on your preferences.
In the photos for this post, I used about half the sauce I normally would, as I wanted to show off the chickens crunchy exterior. Yours will look much saucier.
Cut chicken wings to save money. I often buy flats of chicken wings from my grocery store because they are much more affordable – and often more fresh! Cutting your own chicken wings saves a ton of money, so I try to always trim my own chicken wings whenever I can. For this recipe, you can use the whole wing intact – but I find the texture is the best when I cut them.
How to cut chicken wings. To cut chicken wings into thirds – flat, drumette, and tip of the wing – follow the instructions below:
- Using a sharp large chefs knife, feel for the joints between the 3 main parts to a chicken wing – the wing tip, the flats, and the drumette.
- Bend the joints backwards, using your hands, to get them to loosen.
- Use your knife to feel where the bones come together, and pressing down hard, cut through the joint. (You don’t want to try to cut the bone – but find the space in between the bones.)
- While you can cook wing tips, they often dont have much (if any) meat to them. Discard any that don’t look to offer you much meat.
Baked Chicken Wings FAQ’s
If your wings are done cooking, but you want a bit more crunch, pop them under the broiler for a few minutes (make sure they don’t burn) to crisp up all sides of the wings.
Chicken wings are a great filling low carb meal – many sauces have no or little sugars, but check labels carefully since the sauce you pick will have the biggest impact on carbs for this dish.
Often when you buy chicken wings you get the whole wing – not separated into drumsticks, flats, and the tip. You can cook them whole, but we prefer cutting them to allow the wings get crunchier and crispier. It is totally up to you, however.
You can certainly dip your wings in a cornstarch mixture to get even more crispy crunch – this recipe was designed to get chicken wings that are crispy with no additional seasoning or batter, however. I like to call them “naked” wings.
This is a very personal taste issue – I prefer my wings absolutely smothered in sauce, but some prefer just a hint of sauce. Do what you like!
Other Chicken Wing Recipes
If you love the best baked chicken wings recipe, please be sure to check out my other chicken wing recipes you are sure to love!
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The Best Baked Chicken Wings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken wings, cut into thirds (wing tips, drumettes, flats)
- 4 tbsp butter
- ¼ cup Franks Hot buffalo sauce or hot peri peri sauce
Instructions
To Bake Crispy Wings:
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Line two large baking sheets (with a large rim) with parchment paper or foil.
- Set a wire rack (preferably a nonstick rack, or lightly greased) over baking sheets.
- Pat chicken wings dry with paper towels.
- Divide wings between wire racks and spread out in a single layer.
- Bake wings until cooked through and skin is crispy, 45–50 minutes.
- For extra crunch, broil under broiler on high for 2-3 minutes per side – watch CAREFULLY to make sure wings don’t burn or over-crisp.
For the Sauce:
- Melt butter in sauce pot until foamy.
- Vigorously whisk in sauce until well combined.
To Coat the Buffalo Wings:
- Pat wings dry out of oven with paper towels.
- In a large mixing bowl, add wings.
- Drizzle sauce over wings and toss vigorously until evenly coated.
- Serve immediately.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love a good crunchy chicken wing doused in spicy sauce! Thank you for all the tips…we loved these wings!
Oh my gosh! Courtney, these are SO good!! Thank you for sharing!!
Nothing like a great chicken wing recipe! My boys will love these! Thanks!
Best EVER super crispy wings ever made in the oven. We love this recipe!