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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 without baking powder! The secret ingredient? Plain cornstarch. Here me out.
Table of Contents
Ingredients You Need to Make Baked Buffalo Wings
For the Hot Wings:
- Cornstarch: not baking powder and certainly not baking soda – read why below
- Kosher Salt: or fine sea salt
- Chicken Wings: drumettes and flats separated (look for ‘party wings’ at the grocery store)
To Make the Buffalo Sauce:
- Butter: if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Garlic: fresh garlic cloves
- Hot Sauce: such as Cholula Original or Frank’s Red Hot
For the Easy Blue Cheese Dip
- Blue Cheese: your favorite variety
- Garlic: fresh garlic clove
- Sour Cream: ideally full fat sour cream
- White Vinegar: or white wine vinegar
- Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Do NOT make the same mistake I did.
My first attempt at making these baked wings went terribly wrong, but it was my own fault. When I first tried the technique from the America’s Test Kitchen Meat Book, (where raw wings are coated with baking powder before baking and, like magic, the wings come out crispy) I knew I had to try it 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.
Why Cornstarch is Better than Baking Powder for Crispy Baked Wings
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 chicken 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 ultra tasty, divinely crispy 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 dressing.
More Great Game Day Recipes
- Garlic Parmesan Wings
- Cajun Wings
- Pulled Pork Nachos
- Pork Belly Sliders
- Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
- Baked Coconut Shrimp
- Baked Buffalo Chicken Tenders
- And here or a complete list of game day recipes
How to Make Crispy Buffalo Wings
Start by setting one oven rack in the upper-middle position and another in the lower-middle. Preheat the oven to 250°F and prepare a baking sheet with a foil or parchment-lined oven-safe wire rack, lightly greased with non-stick spray or oil. In a large bowl, combine cornstarch and kosher salt. Pat chicken drumettes and flats dry, then toss them in the cornstarch mixture to coat evenly.
Arrange them on the prepared rack in a single layer and bake on the lower-middle rack. After baking, increase the oven temperature to 425°F and move the chicken to the upper-middle rack, continuing to bake until golden brown and crispy, rotating the sheet halfway through.
While the chicken is baking, prepare the buffalo sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, adding minced garlic and cooking until the garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat and whisk in hot sauce until smooth. Once the chicken is done, let it rest for 5 minutes, then toss with the warm buffalo sauce in a large bowl.
Serve the coated wings with the blue cheese dip, made by smashing blue cheese and garlic into sour cream, adding vinegar, and seasoning with salt and black pepper to taste.
Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings
Video
Equipment
- Oven-Safe Baking Rack Key to achieving perfectly crispy baked buffalo wings!
Ingredients
For the hot wings:
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 pounds chicken wings drumettes and flats separated (look for ‘party wings’ at the grocery store)
For the buffalo sauce:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup hot sauce such as Cholula Original or Frank’s Red Hot
Easy Blue Cheese Dip
- 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
Instructions
To make the wings:
- Adjust oven racks so that one rack is in the upper-middle and one is in the lower-middle.
- Preheat oven to 250 °F (121 °C).
- Set an oven-safe wire rack into a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Spray wire rack with non-stick spray or brush with oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cornstarch and kosher salt.
- Pat chicken drumettes and flats dry with paper towels. Add to bowl with cornstarch mixture and toss to coat evenly. Arrange in a single layer on rack in baking sheet. Bake on lower-middle rack for 30 minutes.
- Increase oven temperature to 425 °F (218 °C) and move baking sheet to upper middle rack. Bake for 40-50 minutes more until golden brown, rotating the sheet half way through.
- Meanwhile prepare buffalo sauce. Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When butter begins to melt, add minced garlic and stir. Cook and stir until butter is fully melted and garlic is fragrant; remove from heat. Whisk in hot sauce until smooth.
- When wings are golden brown and crispy, remove them from oven and allow to rest on rack for 5 minutes. Then place wings in a large bowl and pour warm buffalo sauce over; gently stir to coat evenly. Transfer coated wings to platter and serve with blue cheese dip (recipe below).
Easy Blue Cheese Dip
- Add blue cheese, garlic and sour cream to a medium bowl. Using the back of a fork, smash blue cheese crumbles into sour cream until flavors have melded. Stir in vinegar. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve.
Notes
- Keep an eye on the wings in the last 25 minutes at 425˚F to be sure that they don’t get too brown for your taste. Some readers have preferred them baked for as little as 30 minutes at the higher temperature.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I will never fry wings again. These were literally the best chicken wings I have ever had (and I used to host 1000+ person wing competition in my town). These were so crispy! My secret addition: I added just a splash of fish sauce to the buffalo sauce and it added just a bit of umami that pushed them over the edge flavor wise. Thank you for this recipe!
I love to hear this, Kelly! Thank you for coming back to let me know. I’ll definitely try that splash of fish sauce the next time I make these.
Absolutely the best wings ever! So easy and tasty. I followed the directions except I doubled the cornstarch and kosher salt to better coat the wings. My husband said this one was “out of the park!”
I’m so glad these were a hit with you and your husband, Judy! Thank you for coming back to let me know!
This is a ridiculous recipe! Way overcooked those poor little wings. Terribly dried out – no meat left on the bone. I should have known better than to cook for a total of 75 minutes. I’m looking for a better recipe
Oh no, Jimmy! I’m sorry this wasn’t what you were looking for.
Made the wings tonight for the game. Wings came out great and crispy. Enjoyed that they even tasted like they had a light breading. Hubby actually thought they were breaded. I have never made wings at home because I do not deep fry at home. Watched oven timing and I pulled them about 4 minutes short of the 50. Great recipe. Thanks.
That’s wonderful, Carmen! Thank you for coming back to let me know.
Thanks for the timely recipe!
I googled “wings corn starch” hoping that someone else had worked through the Baking Powder error. The first ingredient in baking powder is Corn Starch; if you use pure starch you aren’t faced with chemical taste or worry about unproven health problems. IMHO, this is one place where regular salt is better than kosher – it mixes better with the starch and coats better. It tastes the same. (Would you put kosher salt on popcorn?)
My pleasure, Ted! So glad you enjoyed these. Thanks for your notes on salt; you make a good point. I’ve added an ‘or fine sea salt’ to the recipe.
This recipe looks pretty awesome. I’m rolling through a pack or two of wings, and so nice to find someone else noticed the primary ingredient in the BP and had a Hmmmmmmmmmm moment! I’ve viewed quite a few comments, but didn’t see anything like what I’m curious about – using either arrowroot starch or coconut flour (no corn or grain products here) as the drying agent. I’m going to give it a go in the next few days, but would like to hear your opinion. Thx!
Great question, Jude. My guess is that arrowroot starch would work just fine. I’m not sure about coconut flour as I haven’t cooked with it much. Please let me know how it goes!
I’ve never cooked any kind of wings before; usually my husband smokes them on the Big Green Egg. But, he was sick, and I needed to use the wings we had in the fridge. Love how easy they were and really delicious. I’m going to try this recipe next time with chicken thighs because I prefer them to wings.
I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed these, Bonnie! If you try this recipe with chicken thighs, I’d love to hear how it goes.
Is it okay to use cornstarch and fried the wings instead of baking ?
Hi there, Jeniffer. Yes, I think that should work just fine!
This is a great recipe. I do have a suggestion, though, for those that get a metallic taste from baking powder. I understand it’s about 30%. I taste it and it’s awful. Baking soda without aluminum sulfate is the answer. It’s readily available and cheap. I use Redford which I get at Target, There are others.
Hi there, Steve! Thank you for your thoughts, but why not just use cornstarch? It’s simple and gives the wings that fantastic crispiness, no other ingredients needed.
Hi Marissa,
I made these yesterday, but I really had to watch them closely as they were done pretty quickly. In fact, at 425 degrees they were done in 30 minutes instead of 50 min.
My question to you is – should I have removed the tray while bringing the oven up to 425 degrees? I just left the tray in the entire time.
By the way, they were very good and my husband loved them so, thanks for the great recipe.
Thank you for your cooking notes and glad you and your husband enjoyed the recipe, Mari! I don’t remove the tray while the oven is heating. But it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the wings (as you did!) at the higher temperature. I’ve added a note to the recipe recommending that others do the same.
I was born and raised in Buffalo Wing country (Rochester, NY) now living in Maryland and finally, finally I’ve found a recipe as good as you can ever make at home. And even better, my family is mostly gluten-free so with the cornstarch not flour recommended by so many, you’ve made our football days better (Go Ravens!)
I love to hear this, Rachel!! Thank you!
Loved this recipe!!! I prepared the wings in the oven just like your recipe asks to and then divided up the wings into 4 bowls and instead of just using the buffalo sauce, I tried a few other sauces like store-bought Asian sweet and sour sauce, a homemade garlic parmesan sauce and a coconut red Thai curry sauce. Now I will never need to order in wings. Thank you so much for this simple recipe.
I love to hear that, Daniel!! Thank you so much for coming back to let me know.
Picked up some wings to make tomorrow night! I’ve tried the baking powder method but I’m super excited to check this out with straight up cornstarch. Buffalo wings are my weakness. 😂 Can’t wait to taste these!
Awesome, Marissa! Let me know how it goes!! 🙂
They were great! Crispy and I loved every bite. 🙂 Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Made my day!! Thank you, Marissa! 🙂
OMG, I decided to try these for Super Bowl LIII, they were so easy, crispy and delicious and so much better than any frozen wing you can buy in the grocery store. This will be my go to wing recipe from now on. I am even going to try them as Teriyaki wings. They definitely scored a touchdown and the 2 point conversion..
I love this comment so much, Annette! You have my husband and I cracking up!! I’m so glad the wings were a hit!! 🙂
Made these yesterday for today’s Super Bowl party. Excellent.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!!