It’s football and hockey season now along with the end of baseball as well. That being said there are some foods that are iconic of the sport. Wings are a must in any household, bar, restaurant that is showcasing the big game. It’s almost a law in some cities. While traditionally wings are deep-fried and then slathered in sauce, shaken to lightly coat or left nekked to dip yours truly is not a big fan of deep-fried foods. Don’t get me wrong, I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE fried foods however my thighs and butt love them a bit more! So needless to say Mr. Fantabulous wanted wings and this child refused to deep fry them. That being said I had to figure out a way to make them baked BUT still make them as crispy and as flavorful. I wanted Crispy Oven-Fried Chicken Wings plain and simple.
As you can see by the pictures, mission accomplished! Now to truly get wings this crispy, that fried outcome, you need to plan ahead. See when you bake chicken like this you need to draw out the moisture. Now don’t worry as these badboys will be super juicy and moist but if you try and bake as-is, they won’t get crispy like a fried wing is. Thus you need to plan.
See you need to coat these in a mixture and then literally let them sit on a tray, uncovered in your fridge over night or 8 hours at a minimum. The next day all you need to do is pop the trays in the oven and bake away.
Now once they are done, how you choose to cover these is totally your choice.
You can toss them in some bbq sauce, buffalo glaze, maybe a melted butter garlic sauce. Heck even plain ol’ seasoned salt.
All I know is these did not last very long as Mr. Fantabulous was all over these in a heartbeat.
I was completely happy about this as he got his wings and I didn’t have to fret over hot oil and adding all that fat to our diets! 
Crispy Oven-Fried Chicken Wings
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Ingredients
- 4 lbs chicken wings, halved at joints, wingtips set aside (save for stock)
- 1 Tbl baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, and set rack inside.
- Carefully dry chicken wings with paper towels.
- Place wings in a bag, add the baking powder and salt.
- Shake evenly.
- Place on rack, leaving slight space between each wing.
- Place baking sheet with wings in refrigerator and allow to rest, uncovered, at least 8 hours. This draws out the moisture.
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
- Add chicken wings and cook for 20 minutes.
- Flip wings and continue to cook until crisp and golden brown, 15 to 25 minutes longer or until internal temperature is 165F.
Notes
Once the wings are done, garnish with your favorite wing sauce
I was a little skeptical but my oh my, these were very crispy on the outside and the chicken was juicy on the inside!! Delicious! My question is this – can I add more spices/more salt at the same time I toss the wings with the baking powder? I like my wings plain but I would like to kick up the spices a bit…will this effect the baking powder/PH level?
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So happy you loved them MaryAnne!
Yes you can add spices to the baking powder but it has to be dry spices. Essentially you’re doing a dry brine.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Would this recipe work if I used skinless chicken breast cut up in small pieces…boneless chicken wings?
Thank you,
Connie
Hi Connie,
I’m thinking no to be honest. You see the purpose of ‘drying’ these out in the fridge over night is that you’re drying out the skin part of the chicken to get that ‘fried’ crispy effect.
For boneless wings I would go with something like this: http://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2014/11/11/crispy-crunchy-crusted-chicken-fingers/ Now you can easily use this recipe but follow the skinny baked version. If you don’t want the breading just coat them in your favorite seasoning and bake away.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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Would this also work with chicken thighs? If yes, same ratio of baking powder and salt?
Hi Elaina!
Yes it will however the baking time will need to be increased due to the thighs being bigger. 4 pounds of chicken. The recipe is for 4 pounds of wings so if you go with 4 pounds of thighs, the ratio would stay the same. You’ll obviously have less thighs than wings as well the thighs are bigger.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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can i use rice flour
Hi Andrew,
I would say no as the chemical makeup of baking powder and rice flour are completely different (granted I’m not a chemist).
Baking powder helps draw the moisture into the skin which, when it bakes, it evaporates leaving a crispy skin. As stated in an earlier comment, the acid helps break down proteins within the skin, and the alkali accelerates the browning process, meaning that the skin can crisp more quickly.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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Baking powder? Sounded a little weird, but I thought let’s give it a try. Instead of the salt, I added a dry Cajun spice mix and it was probably more than the salt it replaced. They were amazing. I’ve been told by my husband that I will make these again=)
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Yep, I would not steer you wrong. 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 if you do a search on here for wings you’ll see a bunch of wing recipes with various sauces. Try them with these wings! Thank you again so much!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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I just now saw that they needed to be UNcovered in the fridge overnight! Mine had a loose piece of plastic wrap on them. I just uncovered them at 11am and will need to cook at 3:30. I hope I didn’t ruin the outcome of the crispy skin by covering them.
You should be ok.
Hi Lois!
They should be fine as I commented above. The purpose of ‘drying’ them out uncovered in the fridge is to let the baking powder and salt draw out the liquid from the skin. If you cover them you have the potential of keeping the moisture in. However if you left them just loosely wrapped, they should still crisp up really nice.
Plus at the end if you want you can always broil them just for a few minutes to ensure crispness.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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Thank you. Yes, very loosely covered and I did uncover as soon as I saw my mistake. They go in the oven in about an hour! I’ll report back tomorrow!!!!
These were so good. I took them to a jazz festival with friends and one of our group members had to tell her fiance “there is no more meat on the bone.” I seasoned mine up since I didn’t use any sauce and did that right before putting them in the oven. Will definitely be doing this again!
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Hi Mrs. J! Oh yum! I love wings like that too – just great seasoning with no sauce (plus it’s less messy). I’m so thrilled that you and your friends loved them!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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Is there nutritional info on this??
I cannot provide the nutritional value on these but there are tons of sites out there that can calculate calories, fats, etc… For you.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
These wings are best with out deep frying.
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Well thank you very much! They are super crispy just like fried wings but without all that extra fat!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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Question? One tablespoon of baking powder to 4 pounds of chicken wings? No flour? I’ve never heard of this, but the pictures make them look just like fried.
Hi Linda!
Yep, that’s it! You’re not ‘breading’ the wings. The baking powder is used to draw out the moisture. It’s just a light coating on the wings. After they rest in the fridge over night, you just bake in the oven. There’s no need to bread them.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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It works! These are awesome. My kids couldn’t get enough! Thanks.
Linda
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Thank you Linda! I make these weekly as they are so simple to make. If you want to spice them up, when you add in the baking powder add in about a tsp of smoked paprika. It’s INCREDIBLE!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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