Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
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The Crispiest Baked Chicken Wings! You can make these crispy baked chicken wings in your oven in under an hour! The perfect snack to enjoy.
If you thought that chicken wings had to be fried to be crispy, this recipe will prove you wrong! We’ve perfected the method for crispy baked chicken wings!
Using only cornstarch, spices, and a little bit of oil you can get the crispiest chicken wings in the oven in under an hour!
Pair with your favorite blue cheese dressing or ranch dressings and enjoy!
You only need 3 ingredients and some spices for the perfect game day appetizer!
why we love this chicken wings recipe
There is a lot to love about this crispy baked wings recipe because it’s:
- The perfect snack – I think we can all agree that extra crispy chicken wings remain supreme when it comes to appetizers/snacks. They’re the ultimate party food! Use your favorite dipping sauce and dice some carrot and celery sticks on the side!
- Easy to make – Traditional chicken wings are deep fried which can be messy and dangerous, however, these chicken wings are tossed in cornstarch and spices and then baked.
- Healthier than fried wings – Baking wings instead of frying leads to wings lower in calories and fat. These wings have the same great taste and flavor and require no frying!
Ingredients
To make our favorite chicken wings you’ll need:
- chicken wings – we use a combo of drums and flats
- olive oil – you can also use avocado oil but we love the flavor of extra virgin olive oil
- cornstarch – this is essential to make the wings super crispy, baking powder can be used as well
- salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder
We also use a nonstick baking sheet and these mixing bowls.
Corn starch is the secret ingredient to crispy wings because it helps absorb some of the liquid from the chicken and results in a super crispy exterior without any need for battering and frying.
SUBSTITUTIONS
Wings: We use a mix of drums and flats. However, if you wanted to use all drums or all flats you could.
Olive Oil: If you don’t want to use olive oil, you could use avocado oil.
Cornstarch: We don’t recommend skipping the cornstarch because it really makes a difference and helps the wings get super crispy. You could swap the cornstarch for baking powder if needed.
Spices: Feel free to use more or less salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. You can also try other seasoning blends and sauces!
Flavors: We also love our Parmesan Chicken Wings, Pickle Wings, and Thai Chicken Wings. We love to toss these in buffalo sauce as well, buffalo wings are the best.
Tips for Baking Crispy Chicken Wings in the Oven
- Pat the wings dry before seasoning – Removing excess moisture from the wings will help them get a crispy exterior and will help the seasoning stick to them!
- Make sure to coal with olive oil and spices – Use a large bowl to toss the wings in olive oil and spices because it will really make a difference!
How Long to Bake Chicken Wings
Bake these chicken wings at 400° for 35-40 minutes to get perfectly crispy wings. You can also replicate this recipe in the air fryer although we have not tested it in ours yet.
Wing Sauce
You can make your own buffalo sauce, or buy it. Here are our favorite buffalo sauces:
- Primal Kitchen – this one is creamy and has the perfect amount of spice (we normally get it at Costco!)
- Frank’s Red Hot – can’t go wrong with a classic!
How to Make Crispy Wings
- In a bowl, mix cornstarch, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and set aside.
- Pat chicken wings dry and in a large bowl, mix wings and olive oil stirring to coat evenly. Add half the seasoning mixture, stir then add the rest and stir again to ensure they are fully coated.
- Place on nonstick baking sheet skin side down.
- Bake on bottom rack at 400° for 20 minutes. Flip the wings and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the wings are golden brown.
How to Serve
Wings are traditionally an appetizer that are great for a healthy game day snack and are delicious served with healthy ranch dressing, bbq sauce, or healthy blue cheese dressing next to our Healthier Buffalo Chicken Dip or our Healthier Spinach Artichoke Dip.
However, if you are wanting to make them as the protein for a meal, we think they would go great with:
- Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan
- Crispy Spiralized Potatoes
- Greek Chicken Pasta Salad
- Crispy Roasted Potatoes in Oven
- Green Bean Almondine
Recipe FAQ’s
Traditional deep fried chicken wings are high in calories, fat, and sodium and typically tossed in a butter based sauce. These healthy baked chicken wings are baked instead of fried and use olive oil as the healthier fat, making them a healthier appetizer option.
Baked and air fried wings are both a healthier option as opposed to the traditional fried wings.
To get cripsy baked wings, pat them dry and toss in cornstarch to absorb extra moisture and be sure to bake on the bottom rack.
How to Store & Reheat Chicken Wings
Storing: These keto chicken wings will last in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: We don’t recommend freezing cooked chicken wings, they will lose their crispy exterior!
Reheating: These healthy chicken wings are best reheated in the toaster oven or oven. We don’t recommend microwaving chicken wings because they will not be as crispy. Spray your baking sheet or toaster pan with olive oil, then cook at 350 for 5-10 minutes until crispy again.
Other healthy appetizer recipes:
Looking for other easy appetizers? Check out these Game Day Foods:
Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken wings drums and flats
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Spicy Ranch Dipping Sauce (Optional)
- 2 Tablespoons greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon ranch seasoning
- 2 teaspoons buffalo sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take out a large baking sheet and set aside for the wings. We are going to use the bottom rack of our oven when baking our wings to get a nice crisp without having to fry anything!
- In a bowl, mix together cornstarch, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and set aside.
- Remove your chicken wings from the package and pat dry with paper towels to reduce excess moisture from the exterior of your wings. We have been using this brand of wings for years.
- In a large mixing bowl, add your wings and olive oil and stir the bowl to coat all of the wings evenly.
- Once the wings are coated, add half of your seasoning mixture to the wings by sprinkling over the top. Stir the wings together and add the rest of the seasoning and stir to evenly coat. The trick to getting these wings crispy is the use of cornstarch and baking them on the bottom rack of your oven.
- Once your wings are evenly coated, place them directly on your baking sheet with the skin side down. You can also use nonstick aluminum foil but I used our nonstick baking sheets and baked directly on them. Place the baking sheet in the oven on the bottom rack.
- Bake the chicken wings for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, flip the wings with tongs or a spatula. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the wings are golden brown. (Please note: some ovens run hotter or colder depending on the model. You may have a 5-10 minute variance on cook time so always check a little early and take the wings out when they are golden brown on the exterior)
- Once your wings are out of the oven you can make a dipping sauce. We like to make a really simple spicy ranch dipping sauce with greek yogurt, hot sauce, and ranch seasoning but BBQ sauce and hot sauce are great options for this recipe!
These turned out really well! I followed the recipe exactly and the skin was crispy and the flavor was great! I will definitely make these again.
This makes awesome wings. It will be another one of those go to recipes for sure.
I made these for Super Bowl dinner and they were a hit. They came out so crispy which is the way we like wings. They came together so easy with little to no mess, beats frying. Will definitely be making again.