Homemade Buffalo Wings have a secret ingredient that makes them super crisp and irresistible. The easy buffalo sauce is just 3 ingredients and makes these taste like a restaurant-quality appetizer.
If you loved our Air Fryer Chicken Wings, you’ll love these Oven-Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings. You can bake a bigger batch all at once which is great for feeding a crowd. Think Super Bowl appetizer.
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Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings
The beauty of baked buffalo chicken wings is that you can get the same, crispy texture without the need for splattering hot fryer oil. Using our handy baking powder trick and a wire rack, they get a wonderful crust with a fraction of the fat of deep-fried versions. Tossing the crispy wings together with a buttery, tangy buffalo sauce is irresistibly good.
Ingredients for the Crispiest Buffalo Chicken Wings
- Chicken wings – Use fresh or thawed frozen wings that are broken down into drumettes and wingettes
- Baking powder – The secret ingredient for getting your chicken wings ultra-crispy without the need for deep frying
- Salt – we use fine sea salt in nearly all of our cooking
- Garlic powder – adds a bit of zest to your wings before tossing them in the buffalo sauce
- Unsalted butter – adds a nice creaminess to the buffalo sauce
- Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce – This is the perfect base for your wing sauce. It’s tangy, a little sweet, and has just the right amount of spiciness.
- Sugar – helps the sauce caramelize and thicken on your piping hot wings.
How to Make Crispy Buffalo Wings
- Prep Chicken Wings – cut wings in half to separate the drums from the wingettes. Pat the wings dry with a paper towel. Preheat the oven and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack over the pan.
- Make dry seasoning – Combine baking powder, salt, and garlic powder.
- Season the wings – Place the chicken wings in a large mixing bowl and toss them in the dry seasoning until well-coated. Assemble the wings in a single layer over the rack.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 50 minutes, flipping halfway.
- Make the Buffalo Sauce – In a medium bowl, stir together melted butter, sugar, and hot sauce.
- Toss Wings in Sauce – Transfer chicken wings to a bowl, and toss, drizzle with sauce and toss to coat. Serve with your favorite sauce.
Tips for the Best Buffalo Wings
- Remove moisture – pat dry with paper towels to remove as much moisture as you can to ensure they turn out crispy.
- Use baking powder – The baking powder creates such an incredible crust on the wings. It’s a must!
- Bake on a rack – A wire rack allows the wings to circulate and makes them crispy all around.
How to Serve
- Restaurant Style – We love to serve buffalo wings as they do at Chilis restaurant alongside some chunky blue cheese dip and celery sticks.
- Avocado Ranch – this dressing is also an amazing dip for buffalo chicken.
- Jalapeno Ranch – if you want a spicy kick to your sauce as well, adding jalapeno adds just the right amount of heat.
- Add fries – you can turn this into lunch by serving with crispy Air Fryer French Fries.
Common Questions
The temperature and timing should be adequate, but you can always use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken (at least 165˚F and tastier if 175˚F).
You can, but be sure to thaw completely before baking, or they won’t crisp up properly.
Add in a teaspoon of cayenne pepper or black pepper to the dry seasoning for a spicier wing.
You can cook the wings following the time and temperature for our Air Fryer Chicken Wings then toss with buffalo sauce to finish. You will need to cook in 3 batches or cut the recipe down to 1 lb of chicken wings.
More Easy Chicken Recipes
Chicken is so versatile, from chicken wings to drumsticks, thighs, and chicken breast. My favorite thing to do is Cut a Whole Chicken, freeze the various cuts and then use the bones for the Best Chicken Stock.
If you love chicken as much as we do, you’re sure to find some new favorites in this list of our favorite chicken recipes:
- Baked Chicken Legs
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Stuffed Chicken Breast
- Air Fryer Buffalo Wings
- Popeyes Chicken Sandwich
Crispy Buffalo Wings Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lb chicken wings, wings and drummettes split, wingtips removed
- 1 Tbsp baking powder, (use aluminum free)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp garlic powder
Buffalo Sauce
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Franks Original Red Hot Sauce
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar, or brown sugar
Instructions
- Thoroughly pat dry the chicken with a paper towel. Preheat the oven to 450˚F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack over the pan.
- Combine the baking powder, salt and garlic powder in a bowl, sprinkle over the chicken and toss to combine. Arrange chicken on the prepared wire rack.
- Bake the chicken for 25 minutes, flip it over and bake for another 25 minutes or until crisp and cooked through.
- In a medium-size bowl combine sauce ingredients. Remove chicken from the baking sheet to a bowl. Drizzle the sauce over the chicken. Toss to coat the chicken in the sauce. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Hi! I’m Natasha Kravchuk, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer, and writer. Here you’ll find delicious, reliable recipes made with simple ingredients, plus easy step-by-step photos and videos to help you cook confidently at home. 
Can your Crispy Buffalo Wings Recip used for boneless wings as well? Thanks for your amazing, easy to follow recipes! My wife passed a year ago and she did her best to teach me as much as she could in her last year (actually, without me realizing it) — BTW… I am 71 and never cooked until she got sick. I am finding it to be as much fun as she made it… she was also an amazing cook in her own right and could cook or bake ANYTHING!
Hi Jerry, I haven’t tried this recipe with boneless wings, but I imagine with a few adjustments, that may work well! If you try it, I’d love to know how you like it!
Jerry,
I’m about to try this recipe tonight and was reading reviews to see if there was anything I needed to be aware of. I read your sweet post and had to comment! Sounds like your wife was a lovely soul and I bet she’s smiling down at you with pride every time you’re in the kitchen! What a fun way to remember and honor her.
Happy cooking!
Delicious and crispy!! Thank you for a much healthier, crispy chicken wing ♥️
I’m glad you liked this recipe, Samantha!
Loved the chicken wings! I have a convection setting on my oven, so I used it on Convect/Roast. They were nice and crispy. I looked at my baking powder (and it did have aluminum on the ingredient list, oops) but I did not taste anything metallic like some reviewers found. I used a bit less of that on the wings before roasting them. Another thing I did was I got them out of the refrigerator about 2 hours before using them, dried them with paper towels and put them back in the refrigerator UNCOVERED. I think it helped to dry them. I used brown sugar in the sauce, but I noticed other recipes used honey, might try that next time. Thanks for a great recipe, you have never disappointed me Natasha!
You’re very welcome, Linda! Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad you loved the recipe.
I used to have a recipe for wing sauce that was very similar to this but the sweetener it called for was light karo syrup. That’s another option!
thinking of using chicken legs. Would they turn out the same?
Hi Sue, I haven’t tested that, but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Could I bake the chicken wings a day ahead and refrigerate them and then serve to guests the next day with the Buffalo sauce?
These are best fresh so that they keep their crispness. You can reheat these again in the oven to crisp them back up but they may dry out. You may try to spritz them with water before putting them in the oven to help keep them moist.
I used legs. They turned out great. My son and his friend were working on their cars and wanted a snack. I air fried them. Yes, using the baking powder makes a big difference in how crispy they are.
I loved these..have made these so many times..but, I added Honey and more brown sugar, also Cayene we liked it more.. I have been following your page for awhile.. looking forward to many more recipes..
Hi June! That sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Hands down best buffalo wings recipe ever. My son said they are the tastiest wings he has ever had. My brother called them amazing!
Hi Mary! That’s amazing. I’m so glad to hear that they were a hit!
This is my favorite recipe for chicken wings. Wings and legs so delicious, but I suggest to cook them out of the house, on the grill maybe. After cooking (I cooked twice), my whole house was totally smoked, and oven required to be cleaned😏. It stops me to repeat it. Next will I try to cook them in the patio on the grill.
Thank you for sharing, Nataliia!
Update: I couldn’t refused totally from this amazing wings☺️, because it’s the best wings that I tasted. So, I bake them not on the wire rack, but on the regular roaster. Now fat does not drip to the bottom of the oven and it’s no smells, no smoke. Happiness!☺️
Sounds great, it’s good to hear that you enjoyed these wings!
You are suppose to put the rack (like a cookie cooling rack) over a sheet pan not directly on the oven racks.
Why aluminum free? What would happen if you use baking powder with aluminum. Is it just a preference
Hi Karen, some people report tasting a metallic flavor when you use baking powder with aluminum in it, which is why I recommend using aluminum free. Another reader reported excellent results using corn starch instead of baking powder if that helps.
These were delicious! I’ve made the air fryer ones but switched it up due to doubling the amount of wings. Did not disappoint, my husband was licking his fingers by the end of the meal. Thank you!
You’re so welcome, Katie. Good to know that you both loved it
This is a very good recipe, but I won’t be adding the sugar to the sauce when I make it again, it isn’t necessary.
Thank you for the feedback, Sam! 🙂
Then you’ll find out if it was needed,next time without it.
I made these wings for Super Bowl exactly as written, but used corn starch instead of baking powder. Patted them very dry with paper towels, and they were so crispy and juicy! These were by far, the best wings I’ve ever made, so it will now be my “go to”. Thank you!
That’s terrific that it worked so well with corn starch! thank you for sharing!
What if I don’t have aluminum-free baking powder? Is it okay to use it anyway?
HI Kellie, some people report tasting a metallic flavor when you use baking powder with aluminum in it which is why I recommend using aluminum free. Another reader reported excellent results using corn starch instead of baking powder if that helps.
Delicious! Followed the recipe exactly except we grilled the wings. Make sure to get them as dry as possible before shaking with the dry ingredients. Should have made more!
I’m so glad it was a hit, Carol!
Followed the recipe to the T. Delicious and a big hit for Super Bowl party! Thank you!
Perfect and thank you for following the recipe to the T! Appreciate that.
These did not turn out as crispy as I expected. The chicken, however, was tender and tasty.
Sorry to hear that it wasn’t that crispy when you tried it, we never had that issue before. The baking powder makes them so crispy. you didn’t happen to skip that, right?
Purchased aluminum free baking powder. Did a trial run yesterday making half the recipe following recipe exactly. Son and husband loved the wings and said way better than take out! Making again today doubling the recipe for super bowl party.
Sounds great! Thanks for the compliment and for sharing that your husband enjoyed these wings!
I made these for the NFL NFC championship game. The were excellent! I am making them again for the Super Bowl. These wings are so delicious and they help the Eagles Fly. Go birds!
Awesome! So glad that you all enjoyed these chicken wings.
I am making this today for the super bowl. Can I also use another flavor of bbq sauce? I wanted to make half of the wings with a honey bbq sauce I bought. I’m hoping it will work. Maybe?
Hi Patricia, I think that will be okay. Let us know how it goes and enjoy!
I don’t have any Frank’s Hot Sauce, but I do have Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce. Are the two close enough to substitute?
Hi Neva! I think it would still work but they are different. The buffalo sauce is still hot sauce that’s been enhanced with butter and other ingredients so the sauce is much richer and smoother than regular hot sauce.
you can absolutely use it instead of the recipe sauce. It’s already prepared for the wings.
How do you know if your baking powder is aluminum free? Mine says it has sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch and monocalcium phosphate. Doesn’t sound like it has aluminum, does it?
Hi Sandra, It’s easy to avoid the aluminum varieties– simply look for the “aluminum-free” designation on the label.