I was craving Extra Crispy Chicken Wings one day and wanted to learn how to make extra crispy, restaurant-style wings without having to deep fry it and make my whole apartment smell like a greasy fast food joint. I did some research and found some great recipes online how to achieve this. Now I just have to make the sauces to go with it. At the time, my husband and I were really into lemon pepper wings and garlic Parmesan wings. I decided to combine both of those flavors into one for one of my sauces. For the 2nd sauce, I made a more traditional buffalo wing sauce with some garlic, butter, and Frank’s.
spicy garlic buffalo wing sauce and lemon pepper garlic parmesan sauce Click here to see recipe for sauces
The Prep
So the secret ingredient for making those wings extra crispy is baking powder (you can also use corn starch). The baking powder already has corn starch in it (along with sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar)
- First I used a paper towel to pat dry the about 2 lbs of chicken wings before I put them into a big bowl. Then I mixed together about half a cup of baking powder, a tsp of cornstarch, and a tsp of salt (or to taste). I wanted to add a little extra cornstarch in there even though the baking powder already has some of it in there because I thought it would help give it better coating and make it crispier.
- Next, I sprinkled it into the bowl of chicken wings, mixing once every few sprinkles.
- Cover and let sit in your fridge for 2-4 hours (or overnight).
The prepping stage is very important in making these wings extra crispy. What the salt and baking powder does is draw all the moisture from the wings out to the the surface, so when you bake it, the skin gets nice and crispy without all that moisture trapped underneath it.
Time to Bake
Ready to be baked
Once your wings have been marinating in the mixture for a couple hours, take it out of the fridge and mix it evenly again before letting it sit it room temperature for 30 minutes. All the chicken juices and baking powder mixture gets puddled at the bottom of the bowl, and using it to re-coat your chicken is a great way to add a “light batter” on the wings prior to putting it in the oven. Once it has been sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes, it’s now ready for baking.
There’s two parts to this baking process. The first part is to bake it at a low temperature for about 15 or 20 minutes to let some of the moisture evaporate. The next step is to bake the wings at a higher temperature to cook it through and add crispiness to the skin. It’s best to grease the baking rack before placing the wings to prevent sticking (trust me, it’s a pain pulling the chicken off without the skin sticking to the wires when it’s not greased!)
I also made a honey mustard ranch dip to go with the wings. (See recipe here)
Crispy wings, ready for coating
When the chicken comes out of the oven, before to let it cool a little before taking it of the rack so the skin doesn’t get pulled off as easily. Toss and coat evenly in your own favorite wing recipe and enjoy!
You can hear how crispy it is:
See below for the printable recipe. 🙂
| Prep Time | 2 hrs + |
| Cook Time | 1 hr 20 min |
| Servings |
people
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- 2 lbs wings
- 3 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 tsp salt
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 250°F.
- Place a rack onto a cookie sheet.
- In a large bowl, toss the wings and coat evenly with baking powder, corn starch and salt. Place wings on the rack in single layer and cook for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, leave the wings where they are and raise the heat to 425°F for 40-50 minutes.
- Take wings out and let rest 5 minutes before coating them in your favorite sauce.
For my spicy garlic buffalo wing sauce and lemon pepper garlic parmesan sauce click here.