These baked buffalo wings are ultra crispy chicken wings tossed in a classic spicy sauce and served with ranch dressing. Snack away with less guilt!
Buffalo wings are a perennial favorite, they’re perfect for parties, game day, or just when you have a hankering for a hearty snack. These buffalo wings are baked instead of fried, but are just as crispy and delicious as what you’d order at a restaurant. They are perfect crispy appetizers along with chicken taquitos and potato skins.
I absolutely love chicken wings, especially when they’re extra crispy. When I see buffalo wings on the menu at restaurants, I can’t resist! As much as I love wings, I hate the idea of frying them – so much mess and so many calories! These baked buffalo wings are my own version that are baked instead of fried, yet still come out plenty crispy. Serve them with ranch for dipping, and you’ve got an awesome snack or meal with less fat and calories.
These buffalo chicken wings are one of my favorite ways to enjoy wings along with lemon pepper wings, garlic parmesan wings and my classic baked chicken wings.
How do you make baked buffalo wings?
The secret to crispy wings without a lot of oil is baking powder. It sounds strange, but coating the chicken wings in baking powder and seasonings will help the skin crisp up nicely. You won’t taste the baking powder in the final product. Be sure to use baking POWDER, not baking SODA, there is a big difference between the two!
After the wings are coated in baking powder and spices, they go on a rack to bake. It’s important to make baked buffalo wings on a rack so that the fat can drain off and the wings will be crispy on all sides.
How long does it take to bake chicken wings?
Chicken wings take about 45 minutes to bake. It may seem like a long time, but it’s important to render out the fat from the chicken wings so that the skin can crisp up.
How do you make buffalo sauce?
To complete these baked buffalo wings, we need to toss them in buffalo sauce. Buffalo sauce is made with Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, butter and a little honey. It’s that simple! The wings are coated in the spicy sauce, and then are ready to be served.
I love that I can have one of my favorite restaurant indulgences at home for less effort (and less calories!). My husband also loves these wings, and if I’m serving them as a meal I set some aside without the sauce so that my spice-hating kids can also enjoy some crispy chicken delights. A winning situation all around!
More amazing appetizer ideas
Baked Buffalo Wings Video
Baked Buffalo Wings
Ingredients
- 3 pounds party style chicken wings or whole chicken wings that have been halved crosswise
- 1 tablespoon baking powder do NOT use baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 cup hot sauce such as Frank's Red Hot Sauce
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 tablespoon honey
- celery sticks and ranch dressing for serving.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil and place a non stick oven safe rack on top of the pan.
- Place the chicken wings in a bowl. Add the baking powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
- Toss to coat the chicken evenly with the baking powder and spices.
- Place the wings on the rack in a single layer.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until wings are light golden brown and crispy.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the hot sauce, butter and honey.
- Pour the sauce over the wings and toss to coat evenly.
- Serve with celery sticks and ranch dressing.
Made them tonight and they were delicious. Only thing I changed was used agave instead of honey. Delicious….
I did omit the pepper since I have little ones, and I added a little dash. They turned out so delicious and crispy I love that there not overly spicy, and my five-year-old can still enjoy them. They were good also coated half with garlic parmesan sauce
What if you do not have a lot of honey? Is there a substitute?
Use 1 teaspoon granulated sugar instead!
sugar or omit altogether, sugar doesn’t make a big difference
Are the wings supposed to be thawed or frozen. I have frozen and it says to bake from frozen.
I’ve only tested this with thawed wings!
Just to be clear, Buffalo wings are ALWAYS served with chunky Blue cheese, not ranch dressing… but thank you for staying true to the Franks Red Hot sauce!
Not eveyone likes bleu cheese!!! Ranch is just as good!! People can eat them with ketchup! Italian dressing, chalk! I never recall seeing a law that they have to be eaten with bleu cheese…so maybe we shld make that clear?? Just saying…
Never knew a Buffalonian to eat them with anything but blue cheese though I imagine some people do.
I always eat them with sour cream and I order them extra spicy.
I like you already, Sara!
What if you have pre-coated wings from the butcher shop–should I still cook @400 for 45 minutes–then re-coat (because I’m sure they won’t be hot enough for us)?
What are they coated with?
This is top notch! No frying and delicious. My husband is a southern man and loves his fried chicken. He helped make it and gave thumbs up! I did double the ingredients for the amount I was cooking. This is a new recipe for my book. Thank you
I couldn’t find franks house sauce so I used sweet baby ray’s wing sauce..so we’ll see how they come out!
How’d it go?
I made these in sept., 2020 and they turned out well. However, there is not nearly enough baking powder and spices to coat 3 lbs of chicken wings! I tripled the quantities to get good coverage. Also, I used Franks wing sauce so I did not have to eat all of that butter. I will make these again for sure!
@rob I’ve found the tablespoon to be plenty enough but then again I never tried tripling it. As I sprinkle the baking powder in the mixing of the wings end up providing a nice coating all around. I use a pair of tongs to really get em all mixed and they’ve turned out wonderfully.
@rob I agree with @steve I used one tablespoon and the wing turned out just fine I mixed it with my hands to get full coverage
Hi! I was hoping to make these wings for my family, and they always say my wing aren’t hot enough (it’s true) so I was just wondering how hot these are? I know it’s hard to say over the internet, but just a rough example would work! thank you so much!
I’d say moderate in heat as they use a standard buffalo wing sauce which typically isn’t super spicy. I’d recommend adding another hotter sauce, such as habanero or something similar to up the heat.
Thank you so much for your reply and the suggestion!
Franks regular hot sauce isn’t super spicy. Definitely a “standard” heat level at most restaurants I’ve visited.
Get ready for a flavor explosion! These were so yummy! Licked all of my fingers to get every bit of the sauce.
What can I use if I do not have baking powder??
There’s not a substitute for baking powder here, I’d just omit it! Your wings might be slightly less crispy but should still come out well.
You would then go to your grocery store and buy some baking powder. 🙄
Thank you for that Julia, it made my day.
yea you should omit the baking powder or buy it also keep in mind you can use flour as a substitute
Awesome recipe! I’m very sensitive to any spice and added a bit of sour cream to the sauce and they turned out delicious! Thank you!
I found some organic chicken wings on sale at the store so I looked up a recipe on Pinterest. I thought yours looked good. OH MY GOODNESS. These were by far the best wings I have ever had. And probably at least a little healthier than the others, too. THANK YOU! Why ever order them at a restaurant again?
This looks yummy ! I love it
These chicken wings are so good they don’t even need sauce. Tastes like Kentucky Fried Chicken! The healthy version. Definitely making this again. Thank you!!!
I did change up the recipe a bit. I used garlic powder cumin coriander and salt of course. Baking powder is clearly the secret ingredient.
This looks amazing
Hi, first of all thanks for this great recipe. What kind of oven mode do you use?
Thanks in advance.
What do you mean when you say oven mode?
I think they mean what type of oven (conventional vs. convention oven) and perhaps cook setting (bake vs. broil). I followed the recipe using a conventional oven while baking, and it turned out perfectly!
Hey. Four years late but you have finally given a common sense recipe that even a pretty good but not great cook can follow. Gracias mi hermana
I do not have a rack, is that ok??
It should be fine the wings may be slightly less crispy!
Hey there. I know you posted this recipe two years ago, but I only found it yesterday on Pinterest.
Thank you Thank you for sharing your recipes and cooking skills. During quarantine I’m trying to save money and keep dinners interesting. Your recipes have been a godsend.
We just baked six pounds of wings using your methods, and my skeptical parents Love them. Thanks again for sharing your skills and helping us save money ($30 at home vs $60 at Buffalo Wild Wings).
What can I substitute Frank’s red hot sauce? That’s the only ingredient I don’t have in hand. Do you think I can use cayenne pepper and vinegar instead?
You could try some other kind of hot sauce, but since the sauce is the main flavoring agent in this recipe I can’t say that it would turn out correctly with a substitute!
Thank you. I found Franks red hot sauce on amazon prime and made this. OMG it was sooooo good. Tasted just like the one from restaurant and my kids enjoyed without hot sauce. They were yummy without the sauce too!! Thanks for the easy recipe.
I use Louisiana Hot Sauce. To me it has a great flavor! (wonderful on raw oysters also).