Baked Chicken Wings
For “health month” (which we are still technically in, FYI, even though January seems to have sprawled itself out over like a decade already) I thought I’d do a baked chicken wings recipe.
When we first did hot wings on the show, it was my first time with chicken wings, both eating and cooking them. I’ve mentioned that I was a vegetarian for many years — 8 — and it took me quite a while after that to become comfortable with eating meat off of bones. Something about my teeth on bones
really skeeved me out bad. While I doubt that I am alone in the world with my bony squeamishness, the popularity of that video indicates that I am certainly in the minority. I’m still a little touchy about it, which is why we also did boneless Buffalo wings
.
But I’m getting braver now. It’s like my resolution or something. So baked wings it is. The sauce here is pretty classic, but with much less butter than is traditional and the boiling/baking method renders out much of the chicken fat that would otherwise stay in the wings and then crawl inside your body and camp out around your organs or wherever. Plus, with this baked method, your house and hair won’t smell like a KFC for weeks afterwards and that is also fantastic.
To make these ahead of time is also totally possible and rad. You can boil the wings, then cool and refrigerate up to two days before pulling them out and baking off. I guess you could even freeze them for longer storage.
Baked Chicken Wings Video (scroll down for printable recipe)
If you can’t find Frank’s RedHot (it’s really the only traditional sauce I think for real Buffalo wings) you can substitute another vinegar-based hot sauce. I’d suggest something with a little body to it, like Crystal, Cholula, or Sriracha. Crystal would probably be the closest in flavor to Frank’s.
AAAANDDDD … you can make your own blue cheese dip! S’easy!
Baked Chicken Wings Recipe
Baked Chicken Wings
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken wings
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2–4 dried red chilies (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- Water
- 1/2 cup hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
- To serve: blue cheese dip, celery sticks
Instructions
- Cut wings into portions if not already separated (see video for demo).
- Put in a large pot with garlic, chilies, salt, pepper, and enough water to cover. Bring to boil. Simmer 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 450ºF. Lay wings out on a rack on a baking sheet.
- Mix hot sauce with melted butter and brush lightly over wings.
- Bake 30 minutes.
- Toss with remaining sauce.
Notes
I suspect, judging by the amount of fat rendered out in the cooking process, that the nutritional info here is a little higher than in reality. But maybe not. It’s all an estimate, people!
Nutrition
- Calories: 569
- Fat: 39
- Protein: 54
Click here to watch this baked chicken wings recipe video on YouTube.
50 Comments
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My recipe is very similar but I’ve never thought of boiling them first. Brilliant!
Also, Frank’s Red Hot is the best but you have to get the original Hot Sauce, NOT the Wing Sauce. Trust me.
Yay! I’m glad to show you a new way. And I agree on the sauce. When I went to the store, I saw the Franks “wing sauce” and ew, it looked gross. I started to freak a little thinking that maybe they didn’t make the regular Red Hot sauce anymore, but it was just on a different aisle. Weird.
You have to be talking about HEB…it took me 20 minutes to find regular Frank’s!
Hilah! You’re killin’ me! I cook for 7+ people 7 days a week, have lived a very full life, and never cooked chicken wings. Never. You sold me on this. I have seen videos of Buffalo wings deep fried, but yours sound much better. Yeah, not all that oil to deal with. And I love the ‘stainless flip’ you do with the stainless steel bowl (I have a whole set) and will do that too. Stay tuned for my rave reviews. GO RAVENS!
Sweet!!! Man, yeah, cooking for that many people, baking wings is the only way to go, I think. I bet you could get two big trays in the oven at once and cook many more than you could fry at once. Go RAVENS! Have an awesome Superbowl Sunday.
Hey Hilah can you please make something sweet like chocolate recipes for valentines. I also suggest that can you make some Chinese recipes for Chinese New Year. Thank you. And I want to say that your chicken was perfectly awesome!
Hi Yana! I’ve got some chocolate coming up for you! 🙂 Glad you liked the chicken wings.
I made these today for a superbowl party Hilah. It’s a miracle I didn’t bite off a finger they were so yummy!
Ha! Thanks, Kandice. Glad you enjoyed them. 😉
Hi Hilah! I just made these to go with the “beyonce concert” and it was a match made in heaven! Wings in under an hour costing a fraction of the price and fat. Thank you ever so.
Awesome! 😀 It’s crazy how much restaurant wings cost, isn’t it? So glad y’all liked them. Thanks for writing, Donna.
Dude Hilah! I just made these wings and they are AMAZING! Just started a diet and I don’t feel awful for eating like so many. Can’t wait to make them for company :). Also I love your flour tortilla recipe, now I can’t eat them any other way…keep the great recipes and videos coming
YAY! That’s great, Genavie! It’s a good way to do it for guests, too, since you can boil them ahead of time and just bake when you’re ready. Thanks for writing!
I made these and then a batch with Teryaki marinade. They were A-mazing and a big hit with the hubby!
Yay! Thanks, Sarah! xo
Hilah,
I love your show and you as a great chef, really.
In 2004 I won a Chicken Wing Cook-Off which I have sold bottles since. I have just registered my Company in 2013… Mystical Magic LLC, here in Connecticut, which I have introduced 3 different sauces, my Original (Mystical Magic Wing Sauce), my (13 Ghost Sauce) and my aged for 45 days Mystical Magic Holy Hot Sauce! My heat is all natural… Peppers, all kinds of peppers. I recently watched your episode of Baked Chicken Wings, and really was dispointed. Now slow down and don’t think this a cut, I do not do the typical Buffalo sauces. My sauce has 32 ingredients… yea yea yea, take one away and what? Well the answer is simple, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix is.. Capishe? For you I have attached my cooking method of Baked Wings which is so healthy.. as far as wings go but am asking you if you would like to sample my wing sauce which I promise you, you will not be disappointed. Typicay Buffallo sauce is Franks and Butter, FGS, people need a change, that typical sauce burn and stains your lips where as mine, heats your mouth nicely and comfortably. My 13 Ghost well go figure is made with all and 13 seperate Bhut Jaloki peppers. Here it is… BANG, want a smaple to blog about?
Best Wishes and Great Cooking and your a blast hailah
Raymond
ps.. here is my baked wings recipe:
Oven Cooked Wings (split) *****
24 to 30 Chicken Wings, split, washed and dried.
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoon of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
2 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Garlic powder
1 Cup Flour
1 Tablespoon Cajun Season
Instructions
Mix ingredients above in a large bowl.
Put wings in the bowl and work around to coat all wings.
Lay wings out on a cooling rack and on a cookie sheet. Place in refrigerator for 1 to 2 hrs
Move oven wrack to a high position. Preheat oven to 425ºF
Bake wings for 25 minutes. Turn wings gently and continue to bake for 25 more minutes. Remove wings and place in a large bowl.
Add 1 to 2 cups of heated Mystical Magic Wing Sauce and coat well.
Raymond
I made these for supper tonight. They turned out perfectly. Coating the wings with the sauce before baking makes all the difference. I was skeptical about the boiling but the results speak for themselves.
My comment above went in the wrong spot. I made Hilah’s easy and delicious wing recipe not Raymond’s as implied by the comment postion. The Buffalo sauce is simple and tasty and the wings turn out great without frying. Raymond’s may be great too but I have not tried them.
Hi! I found your video on YouTube and followed the link here for the recipe… I made the wings last night and they were delicious! Best wings I ever made! Thanks!
Hey Roberta! Thanks for writing! I’m so glad you liked the recipe. This is my favorite way to cook them now, too.
Hey Hilah! I found your YouTube videos about 2 weeks ago & I have to say one of the first recipes I saw that I wanted to try was the baked wings recipe! I made it tonight & they are delicious! Mine never got crispy though & I don’t know what I did wrong but they tasted amazing w/the sauce & all. Thanks for the great recipe! Healthier than Buffalo wings (I LOVE wings on Sunday while watching football). Also I thrilled it cost me $4.00 to make 2 dozen wings. I didn’t even look for Frank’s since I’m in NOLA & can’t swing a dead cat w/o grabbing a bottle of Crystal. Thanks for all the great videos–I’ve really enjoyed them.
Thanks, Russell! I’m really happy to hear this. 🙂 The baked wings don’t get quite as crispy as fried (part of the price you pay for being healthy, damnit!) but next time try sticking them under the broiler for a few minutes after baking. That might help.
Thanks for writing about the Crystal sauce! I do think it works just as well.
Yeah, Crystal is good stuff. I REALLY prefer Tobasco, but it’s a little to thin & vinegar-y for wings. Might try it w/Cholula. I need to watch the episode you did on hot sauces again. My grandfather used to make his own hot pepper vinegar, but I have no idea what kind of peppers he used or how to do it–I asked my mother & she had no idea. If anyone knows what the little kind-of-fat hot green peppers they grow in Piedmont NC are… Oh: and what do you call the dried red chilis you use when you boil the wings prior to baking them? You see them all the time in cooking, or in Chinese food–but then you go to a grocery store in New Orleans & they act like no one has ever bought a dried red chili pepper before. Do they have a name?
I’d like to know what those little green peppers are, too. I use chile piquin to make hot pepper vinegar around here, but I know the ones you are talking about.
The red chilies I use are called chiles de arbol, but similar ones are also sold as Japanese or Thai red chiles. Any one of those will work and if you can’t fine none of them, use a tablespoon of red chili flakes.
I’ve made this several times now & discovered that the wings do get crispy, even baked, depending which hot-sauce you use. They get crispiest w/Cholula, but taste the best w/Frank’s, and also get pretty crispy. Just to make sure it wasn’t anything else, I did a batch where I made half w/Frank’s & half w/Crystal–the Frank’s ones were noticeably crispier. Which sucks–I’d love to be patriotic & say Crystal is the best here but it isn’t, although the flavor is great. I’d use Tobasco or Louisiana No. 1, but they’re too vinegar-based & not thick enough to use. They’ve been delicious each time, but using Frank’s really does seem to produce the best results in terms of a balance of crispy & great flavor.
Thank you, Russell! I wonder what it is about the different sauces that makes some crispier than others. Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
If I were to guess what makes some more crispy than others the first thing I’d look @ is how much sugar might be in the sauce. Not necessarily sugar-sugar, but something that might be A sugar–anyway, doesn’t sugar often caramelize & make things crispy? I’m just guessing though. If it isn’t that, then I have no idea, but variations in the way the different sauces are made definitely make some wings crispier when coated than others.
Dear Hilah:
I made these again tonight (along w/the slaw from the fish taco recipe). I cook these roughly once every two weeks. Tonight I did something different & put them on the grill after boiling & brushing them w/sauce.
I’m not a grill-master. I don’t really know how to translate oven-time to grill-time, but it went OK (next time I think I’ll give them a few more minutes–they were un-questionably safely cooked, but could’ve been a bit crispier/more done). I gave them 10 mins. on one side right after I dumped the coals & 15 mins. on the other after brushing more sauce on. I think I’ll increase that to 15/15 or 15/20 next week to see how it goes. I just have a little Smokey Joe so my max. is about 30 bricks in the chimney.
This is still the most amazing wing recipe. Baked or grilled, the boiling some fat off first, then not deep-frying (there’s no way I could fit a deep-fryer in my kitchen, plus I’d find a way to hideously injure or kill myself w/quarts of 375 degree oil…) for a less-greasy wing is one of the many truly great finds I’ve made a fundamental part of my menu-planning since I discovered it, and is easy as falling out of bed as well. Thank you again!
I made these tonight and they were a big hit…! Awesome easy recipe. I never cook. And I never post comments. You are the shit I your new biggest fan!
Whoopee! Thanks, Jenna! That makes me so glad to hear and I am flattered as hell! 🙂
I am going to make the baked chicken wings, but I have a question about the boiling. Are the wings fully cooked when they come out of the water? Can I use the same sauce mixture to brush them, and toss them after they bake? Or, do I need to have two bowls of sauce mixture so I don’t get any uncooked chicken bits when i toss them at the end?
Thanks for the help.
Hey Steve!
They are fully cooked through boiling, so there is no risk of cross-contamination. Hope you like them!
Love these wings. They ars crispy but not greasy. We like ours with garlic butter, so I season the water with garlic, seasoned salt and a few shakes of hot sauce. The wings at restaurants don’t agree with either of us, but we never have a problem with these. I have told several people about this method of cooking wings.
Alright! I’m so happy to hear that, Cindy! 😀 Great idea to add garlic to the water, too.
Sooo, i made this dish (literally last night) and whoaaaa. My mind=Blown. This was super simple and easy and the best part, SUPER DELISH. I also must let Hilah know that i have NEVER (YOU READ RIGHT) EVERRRRRRRR MADE CHICKEN BEFORE. Like, unless you count quasi-cooking on my Foreman, chicken is a meat that i stay far far away from. The intimidation factor was huge for me. I’d see my nana, aunties and mom all making their own chicken recipes but i could ever bring myself to attempting it. Plus, I was really worried about the boiling part of the recipe, but boy oh boy… magic. If you look at the water as its boiling, you see the fat from the skin just oozing out. ick! I squeezed…squozed? … err, (whatever the word is for getting all that moisture away from the chicken) with a few paper towels until they looked nice and dry. The funny part is that the boiling really seems to keep moisture on the inside.
I can def say that i didn’t need a baking rack, as the meat got nice and crispy on its on. I did turn the meat over once after 15 minutes in the oven and then applied more FRANKS. Watching the chicken just get nice and crispy was a sight to behold but the true test was the taste. I opted not to make the side dressing (as i didn’t feel like going to get all the ingredients lol ) and settled for some nice cool ranch. Let me tell ya, this was so on point. Lawdy lawd! I couldn’t get over how tasty they were, how crispy they were and how tender and juicy the meat was on the inside.
So, through all of my grammatical errors… i am simply trying to say, THANKS HILAH! KEEP UP THE TASTY WORK!!
So happy to hear that, Britt! And wow! REALLY excited that this was your first chicken cooking. Thanks for choosing my recipe for it. I feel honored. 🙂
These wings taste awesome, are easy to make, and without the greasy, fried mess. I’ve made them twice – once for the Superbowl and once for the Oscars (I called them Ruffalo Wings) and they were winners each time. Thanks!
Ha! Ruffalo wings! I love that, Jeff. 🙂
I made this dish this evening with drumsticks instead of wings (I prefer a little more meat) and it was effing good. I was even able to get Frank’s RedHot here in Adelaide, Australia.
I have never had any issues with the boneless fried version of ” buffalo chicken” but have struggled with baking. This is my new favorite for wings since I don’t have to fry!!
Thanks Hilah!!
Yay!
Came across this in time for the Super Bowl and these wings were the hit of the party! It was easy to make 15 pounds of wings, because it’s easy to boil and bake in bulk more so than fry. Partygoers said the wings were flavorful and the meat fell off the bone. I also made a few pounds of honey bbq and they were just as delicious. Great recipe!
Glad to hear, Ben! 🙂
OMG… This is so easy… And so tasty…. Just had a snippets evening and this was perfect. It occurred to me that just by adding other spices to the water could give a different vibe to the end result. Thank you Hilah.
Great to hear it, Karen!! 🙂
Dang… I just ate 2.5 lbs of these. They are TOO good!
I really hope you can see this being that this recipe was posted years ago. I’m super excited to try your recipe out tomorrow but my husband can’t eat hot foods, so do you think I could try this recipe out and swap the hot sauce for bbq sauce?
Yep! that sounds great!
Can this be done with turkey wings?
And if so….does the recipe need tweaking at all?
Thanks!
I’m not sure. I imagine so, but the cooking time would be longer