No need to fry when you can make the best Crispy Buffalo Chicken Wings in the oven!
Once you see how easy it is to make these spicy baked wings, you'll never go back to frying!
Crispy on the outside, spicy and buttery and juicy on the inside! Everyone loves these!
It's football season in Tennessee, and even though it looks a lot different this year, there is still plenty of food being consumed.
A favorite football appetizer is buffalo chicken wings. We love them. I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack on them all night!
Now, I don't know about you, but I am not that much of a fan of grilling wings and frying wings. All the effort to get the grill set up and then all the turning while standing over the hot grill.
Don't even get me started on the mess of frying them.
Luckily you don't have to do either! You can make amazing crispy baked buffalo wings in your oven! Wait till you see how easy they are!
Ingredients
Hot Sauce - use your favorite hot sauce. I used sriracha, but I have a huge collection - always grab some whenever I go in Marshall's!
Butter - unsalted or salted.
Honey - optional, but I like to include it.
Chicken wings - the first two sections of the wing, not those thin little tips (save them for stock!)
Salt, pepper, olive oil.
Baking powder - optional, makes them crispier, sometimes I use it and sometimes I don't. They are good either way!
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a rack in it. This is one of the secrets to getting crispy wings - you want air flowing underneath them too!
Place the wings in a bowl, with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the optional baking powder. Sometimes I add the baking powder and sometimes I don't (depends on how lazy I am.) I do think it makes them a bit crispier, so definitely use it if you are after the crispiest wings!
Lay the wings skin side up on the rack and roast for 20 minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven and turn the wings over (tongs make this so easy.) Roast for 20 more minutes.
Bring the pan out of the oven, turn the oven to 450 and turn the wings one last time. Place them back in the oven and roast for about 7-10 minutes.
If they aren't brown enough you can place them under the broil for a minute or two.
When I changed my temp to 450, I also turned on the convection in my oven and mine came out nice and brown.
In a bowl large enough to toss the wings mix the melted butter, hot sauce and honey.
Toss the wings in the sauce, while they are still hot and then pile them up on a platter for everyone to dig in!
Serve with plenty of napkins and extra hot sauce!
These were wonderful. So crisp, you don’t miss the frying at all.
These spicy buffalo chicken wings are now one of our favorite game day foods! They are so easy to make and everyone loves them.
Crispy, spicy, sweet and tangy!
You could also make these Sweet and Sticky Oven Baked Chicken Legs - they cook at the same temp and the timing is practically the same!
More game day food:
Spicy Rosemary and Orange Roasted Olives
Recipe
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Crispy Oven Baked Buffalo Wings
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds chicken wings or about 24 wing pieces
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp baking powder optional
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 3 tbsp hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon honey
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a rack on it.
- Place the chicken wings in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper and baking powder (if using.). Toss to coat.
- Lay the wings skin side up on the rack and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven, turn the wings and roast for 20 more minutes.
- Pull the pan from the oven, turn the heat up to 450 and turn the wings one last time (they should be skin side up.). Roast for about 5-10 more minutes.
- Combine the melted butter, honey and hot sauce in a bowl. Place the wings in the bowl and toss to coat with the sauce.
Notes
Equipment
Video
Nutrition
This was originally published in 2012 and has been updated for 2020.
How did I not know about that "rack" trick before? Mine have always been a soupy mess. THis technique was awesome..so tasty too. The kids loved the honey flavor with the hot sauce. Pinning to make over and over again.
My son loves buffalo wings! I can't wait to make these for him thanks for sharing!
I absolutely love the sauce for this! The premaid bottles of buffalo sauce always have so much salt!!!!!
These are the perfect buffalo wings! Such great flavor.
I too bake buffalo wings and they are so good and easy to make!
These wings come out so juicy and sauce covered! Yum!
This is one of my fav chicken wing recipes. I love that I can make them in the oven, and the touch of honey really balances the flavor. A winner!
You know I absolutely love chicken wings when they are baked. They taste just as good as the fried wings and so crispy too. Loved the baking powder tip.
These wings do look crispy! Can't to try them - we moved our grill in our backyard, so now it isn't covered and these wings will definitely be in order if it rains.
you mean your spoiled chicken got spoiled? tragic! great wings, though. as alternatives to spatchcocking go, this one ain't half bad. 🙂
They look good but I still like mine fire roasted (but of course you knew that, lol).
Too bad about the freezer burn on your 'special' chicken... Dang!!!! Don't think I've ever eaten a chicken that has watched the Real Housewives of Orange County before. What have I missed????? ha ha
Have a great weekend, Pam.
Hugs,
Betsy
Oh, we're trying this one, for sure.
I'm pretty much anti-frying so this sounds perfect -- thanks, Pam!
Such a nice alternative to frying. Takes the guilt out of eating all those wings! Thanks for sharing!
Pam, I discovered baking my wings when my grill ran out of gas and I popped them in the oven. You can do this on the grill too in the baking sheet as you described if you don't want to heat up the house in the summer. I set oven to 350, put wings in a big bowl with olive oil and Zatarains or Chacheres Cajun seasoning mixing well. And bake as you directed Flipping half way through. Everyone I serve these to LOVES them. Easy Peasy too!
This is a great recipe. I really hate deep frying things... so messy, so much oil –– but I love wings. NOw I can make them without the mess! Thanks for the tips!