Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings with Homemade Buffalo Sauce

Name: Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings with Homemade Buffalo Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 80 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 6 people
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons cornstarch; 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt; 3 pounds chicken wings (drumettes and flats separated (look for 'party wings' at the grocery store)); 1/2 cup butter; 2 cloves garlic (minced); 1/2 cup hot sauce (such as Cholula Original or Frank's Red Hot); 1/2 cup blue cheese (crumbled); 1 clove garlic (minced); 1 cup sour cream; 1 teaspoon white vinegar; salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

January 29, 2018 · 61 Comments

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Third try is a charm for the PERFECT Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings recipe. I’ve found the secret ingredient for making buffalo wings ultra crispy in the oven. Hint: it is not baking powder. And it’s exactly why I’m re-posting these with a new and much-improved recipe!

It’s not that I mind eating the occasional deep fried food. Who doesn’t love french fries? I just don’t enjoy deep frying in my own kitchen; it’s too messy, too smelly, and then there’s disposing of the oil. Because of this aversion, I assumed that buffalo wings were only something to be ordered out.

But I’ve been enlightened; it’s possible to make super crispy, utterly delicious buffalo chicken wings in your oven! The secret ingredient? Plain cornstarch. Here me out.

My first attempt at making these went wrong, but it was my own fault. My friend Nagi posted these Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings with Honey Garlic Sauce (I made that sauce btw, and you have to try it. It’s awesome!). Then I came across Stephanie’s Crispy Oven Sriracha Buffalo Wings. They were both using a technique from the America’s Test Kitchen Meat Book; they coated the wings with baking powder before baking and, like magic, the wings came out crispy! I had to try it.

I tried it and they were HORRIBLE. It wasn’t until the next morning when I awoke with an awful taste in my mouth that I took another look at the recipe and realized that I’d used baking soda not baking powder. Whoops! Do not make the same mistake. After the baking soda flavor left my mouth, which was no less than a week, I decided to give the recipe another try. And the wings were very good, crispy on the outside; tender and flavorful on the inside.

But I have to make a confession: there was still a hint of metallic flavor from the baking powder that I didn’t care for, likely from the baking soda that is one of the ingredients. I learned that when I read the baking powder label, and the answer to the ultimate crispy wings was right there. The first ingredient in baking powder is, drumroll please…

Cornstarch.

When you coat chicken wings in plain cornstarch mixed with a little kosher salt before baking, you are rewarded with divinely crispy, ultra tasty buffalo wings with zero metallic flavor. They’re delicious on their own, but you can make them even better by bathing them in buttery homemade buffalo sauce and dipping them in my easy blue cheese dip.

How to Make Crispy Buffalo Wings

Step 1: Coat raw chicken wings in a mixture of cornstarch and kosher salt – 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound.

Step 2: Bake coated wings on an oven-safe rack in a baking sheet for 30 minutes at 250°F, then 50 minutes at 425°F, rotating the pan halfway through cooking time.

Step 3: Coat in buffalo sauce and serve!

And for more spicy goodness, be sure to check out these TRULY Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Tenders – they’re amazing!

A hand dipping a crispy baked buffalo wings in blue cheese dip.

5 from 4 votes