Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings

 These Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings will quickly become the hit of your next party and a new family favourite! Not only are they delicious, but they make for a healthier version since they’re baked and not fried. {Gluten-free}

My husband is a major football fan and always enjoys making special recipes for game day. It’s his little tradition, so of course, I just go along with it.

He’s always been a lover of wings, but it’s not something we make on a regular basis.

Well one day, I decided to treat him to some homemade wings, but wanted to try out a baked version to make it healthier.

I think he was a little surprised at my suggestion, and I could see the excitement on his face when he found out that these Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings were my recipe experiment of the week.

We were both incredibly impressed by how well they turned out.

Talk about YUM.

I think it’s safe to say, that these wings will be making a reappearance on our menu!

For more delicious wing recipes, you’ll love these Air Fryer Chicken Wings with Baking Powder! Or make up a batch of this Dry Rub for Chicken Wings to make tasty wings in record time!

Ingredients for Buffalo Chicken Wings

When I previously thought about making wings, I always thought the process would be fairly difficult. But, as it turns out, minimal ingredient’s are required and chances are, you already have a lot of them on hand!

You’ll require the following ingredients to make these wings:

• Chicken wings
• Baking powder
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Paprika
• Salt
• Frank’s Red hot sauce
• Butter
• Honey

How to make crispy baked chicken wings

You may have noticed from the title that there is no deep frying involved in this recipe. Instead, we’ve opted to bake them. But that does not have to mean non-crispy blah wings.

Oh no, don’t you worry.

There are a few things that you can do to ensure that baked chicken wings turn out extra crispy in the oven.

First, I highly recommend allowing the wings to sit in fridge overnight uncovered or alternatively, if you’d like to make them sooner that that, pat them down well with paper towel, squeezing out any excess moisture from the wings.

Next, we’re going to coat the wings in the baking powder mixture. Now you may be thinking….baking powder?? Say what?

So here’s a little secret. The baking powder helps to pull the moisture from the chicken wings, resulting in a crispier wing.

Who would’ve ever guessed that baking powder could work that kind of magic?!

I like to toss the chicken wings together with the baking powder mixture in a large Ziplock bag to make sure it’s all evenly coated.

Expert tip: Be sure to use aluminum free baking powder if you can find it as it has a more neutral taste. Also, DON’T sub in baking soda for the baking powder. It will NOT have the same effect and you will definitely taste it. Not the flavour of chicken wings we’re going for.

The final strategy to help those wings get extra crispy is to cook the wings at lower temperature first on a lower rack for 30 minutes, and then adjust to a higher temperature on a higher positioned oven rack for 40-50 minutes.

The lower cooking temperature helps to melt off a lot of the fat so that when you go to cook them at a higher temperature, they get nice and brown and crispy.

Also, be sure to bake the chicken wings on a rack placed on top of a baking sheet so that the fat can drip off. Just be sure to put some foil down on the baking sheet for easier clean up!

These methods come to us courtesy of our friends over at Cook’s Illustrated. How brilliant are they?!

So that’s just a little crispy baked chicken wings 101.

How to make buffalo sauce

Buffalo sauce doesn’t get much easier than this!

All that you need for the sauce are the following ingredients:

• Franks Red Hot Sauce (can sub in other hot sauce if you can’t find franks)
• Melted butter
• Honey

In a small saucepan, mix together these three ingredients and keep warm until ready to pour over chicken wings.

Bringing it all together…

Pour the warm buffalo sauce over the cooked chicken wings and toss to combine.

If you don’t plan on eating all of the chicken wings in one sitting, you may wish to only coat the chicken wings that you’ll be eating and save the remaining sauce for later when you go to reheat the remaining chicken wings.

See below for more about that.

Can I make these wings ahead of time?

You definitely can make the wings in advance, but keep in mind that they’ll only maintain their crispness while they’re warm, so about 20 minutes or so fresh out of the oven, and for about 15 minutes after pouring on the sauce.

To reheat, follow the instructions below.

How long do the wings last in the fridge

The wings should last in the fridge for up to four days, but I doubt they will last that long.

Just sayin’.

How to reheat

If you plan to reheat the wings, ideally your best bet is to leave the buffalo sauce off the wings not yet consumed. Allow them to fully cool before storing them in the fridge. You may notice that once cool, the skin will become soft and wrinkly.

To ensure the wings maintain their crispyness when you serve them up, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 5-8 minutes. The skin should start to firm up and become crispy again.

Next, toss the wings in the sauce and serve immediately.

If you’ve already put the sauce on and only have time to reheat them in the microwave, no worries! They still taste delicious, but just keep in mind that they may not have that same crispy factor as when they’re fresh out of the oven.

We enjoyed them both ways, so it’s not the end of the world if you reheat them with the sauce.

Why these baked chicken wings are healthier than traditional chicken wings

As mentioned previously, cooking at lower temperature first helps to melt off some of the fat. My husband couldn’t believe that all of the fat on the chicken wings had virtually disappeared! When I explained the science behind it, his mind was blown.

The wings were fairly fatty when raw, but after using this cooking method, it was like POOF. The fat magically disappeared.

Additionally, because these wings are baked and not deep fried, you don’t get those trans fats that are found in traditional deep fried chicken wings, which makes them a much more heart-healthy option.

Finally, by preparing them yourself, rather than opting for takeout, you can control the sodium level. Restaurants typically use a crazy amount of salt, but how much you use is completely under your control.

How to serve buffalo wings

There are a number of options for serving up these wings.

They taste extra delicious along with:

• Ranch or blue cheese dip
• Raw celery sticks
• Roasted Cauliflower
• creamy coleslaw or salad
• Roasted Garlic Potatoes
• Sweet Potato Fries

How would you serve up these tasty wings?