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Baked Chicken Wings - Extra Crispy, Like Deep-Fried

Course: Dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American
Keyword: baked chicken wings, Buffalo chicken wings, crispy chicken wings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 302kcal
Author: Victor
A recipe for the best baked chicken wings that are extra crispy on the outside and very tender and most on the inside.
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Ingredients

  • 2 lbs chicken wings (tips removed, separated into wingettes and drumettes)
  • 1 Tbsp BAKING POWDER (whatever you do, do NOT use baking soda)
  • 1 tsp kosher salt (plus more to taste)
  • 1 Tbsp butter (melted)
  • 1/3 cup hot wing sauce (e.g. Duff's hot sauce)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 450F.
  • Dry chicken with a paper towel really well. Place the wings in a large bowl. Sprinkle baking powder over the wings. Toss until all wings are evenly covered in baking powder. Better yet, mix by hand to ensure even coverage.
  • Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place a cooling rack (see note) on top and spray with Pam or rub with cooking oil to prevent sticking.
  • Lay the chicken wings on the rack, leaving space between the wings.
  • Place the baking sheet in the oven. Turn the heat down to 425F and set the mode to convection.
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the wings are nicely browned and crisp.
  • Let the wings rest for 5 minutes. This will preserve crispiness of the skin.
  • Meanwhile, prepare the Buffalo wing sauce by combining the butter and the hot wing sauce in a small bowl.
  • Season the wings with salt and whatever other seasonings you like. Toss with the Buffalo sauce or serve with the sauce on the side.

Notes

While a cooling rack helps with getting the melted chicken drain off the wings, it's a major pain getting it cleaned afterwards. I stopped using a cooling rack and bake the wings on parchment paper. I don't notice much difference, if any.
If you don't have a convection oven
Method 1
This comes from readers of this blog and worked for them very well.
Bake at 450 for 40 minutes, then 350 for an additional 40 minutes. Seems like it worked very well for a few people. 
Method 2
This is the original method proposed by America's Test Kitchen
Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Arrange wings in single layer on a wire rack placed over a backing sheet. Bake wings on lower-middle oven rack for 30 minutes. Move to upper-middle rack, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees, and roast until the wings are golden brown and crisp, 40-50 minutes longer, rotating sheet halfway through baking. 

Nutrition

Calories: 302kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 101mg | Sodium: 1227mg | Potassium: 522mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Vitamin A: 300IU | Vitamin C: 15.8mg | Calcium: 145mg | Iron: 1.5mg