Baked Crispy Chicken Wings

Who doesn’t like chicken wings? Especially crispy ones.

How to make crispy baked chicken wings

It will take about 30 minutes to bake your chicken wings in the oven. A hot, 450 degree oven helps the chicken to cook faster and aids in the crispy skin result that you want. You will bake the chicken wings for about 30 minutes, or until they are nice and crispy and golden. Cooking them on a wire rack is optional, but can also help with the crispiness factor.

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Mix the flour and spices together in a large bowl, then coat the wings. Once the wings are coated in the flour mixture, place them on a foil covered cookie sheet that’s been sprayed with cooking spray (don’t forget this step – trust me!).
2. Bake them in a 450 degree oven for about half an hour, turning them about halfway through. You can also place the wings on a baking rack that you set on top of the baking sheet. You’ll still want to spray it and flip them for even cooking, but it might make the skin a little crispier (but honestly, I haven’t seen much of a difference).
3. In the meantime you can make your own hot wing sauce, which is basically just melted butter and hot sauce. If your family likes it spicy, add more hot sauce. Alternatively, you could leave the wings unsauced, but what’s the fun in that? If you’ve got some that like it hot and some that don’t, use two separate bowls to coat the wings. Make the sauce more on the mild side and pour some over the wings in one of the bowls. Then stir more hot sauce into the remaining sauce and pour that over the other bowl of wings to coat.

Tips & tricks for crispy chicken wings

• Be sure to tap off any excess flour mixture before placing these on the rack. This will keep your wings from tasting bitter from the baking powder.
• Use the rack. If you don’t have one, get one. They are really inexpensive and super useful in the kitchen.
• Don’t crowd the pan. Space your wings far enough apart so they aren’t touching and the air can circulate around them for even cooking.
• Feel free to mix it up with the flavors. Add different seasonings to the flour, or use different sauces.
• Keep lots and lots of napkins handy. These chicken wings are messy – but it’s a good messy!

Ingredients

• 3 pounds chicken wings or drumettes thawed or fresh (about 3 dozen pieces)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoon baking powder
• Bottled Cayenne Hot Sauce like Frank’s Red Hot
• 1 stick butter, not margarine

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Rinse chicken wings and trim any excess skin. Do not remove the skin or you will lose the crispiness. Pat chicken dry.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and seasonings. Add chicken and coat with the flour mixture. Shake off excess.
4. Prepare a large cookie sheet by covering with foil and spraying with cooking spray.
5. Arrange chicken on the cookie sheet, at least an inch apart.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes, turning once after about 20 minutes.
7. While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce. Add about a 1/2 cup of the bottled Cayenne hot sauce and a stick of butter to a small saucepan. Heat on low and stir until butter is melted and sauce begins to bubble. Taste. If the sauce needs more heat go ahead and add some in batches, or add a few dashes of Tabasco.
8. Transfer baked chicken wings into a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the crispy baked chicken wings and toss to coat.
9. Serve with celery and carrot sticks and a side of ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping.