Buffalo Wings:
THE BEST EVER Buffalo Wings, made crispy in the oven, tossed in the ultimate homemade buffalo wing sauce. This is the buffalo wings recipe you will turn to and use from here on out.
No need to look further, when it comes to hot wings, this is the best recipe out there. Serve with crispy smashed potatoes, and fresh vegetables with dill dip!
Or make an appetizer spread with Shishito Peppers, Loaded Potato Dip, Cheesy Pesto Pull Apart Bread, and Taco Bites.
Not only has it been tried and tested dozens of times, and gets a huge stamp of approval from the hubs and all the neighbors. But it was the hit of our Super Bowl Party!
Buffalo wings are such an American classic with their tangy, spicy sauce, and that crispy, crunchy skin, then juicy meat. If you aren’t serving them at your football tailgates, or weekend gatherings, you are missing out.
What is a Buffalo Wing?
Just in case you are in need of clarification on this one, a buffalo wing is an un-breaded chicken wing section (flat or drumette) that is deep fried or oven baked in a way that mimics the result of deep frying, or is air fried. Then is tossed in a tangy, spicy cayenne pepper sauce mixed with butter.
So you basically get this buttery, rich, silky wing with a crispy crunchy skin, and amazing flavor.
Buffalo wings are typically served with celery and either blue cheese or ranch dipping sauce. And are a staple bar food and football food! When I think hot wings or buffalo wings, I think sports bar.
How to Make Buffalo Wings
To make this bar staple at home you need a few things:
- An oven
- Baking sheet
- Cooling rack that fits on a baking sheet
- Wings
- Buffalo Sauce
The best buffalo wings come out crispy. And I have a few tricks to help you get super juicy and super crispy wings. I believe the best chicken wings recipe starts with the best methods, and I am sharing 2 methods of cooking to get crispy skin and juicy meat.
One takes longer but uses equipment you for sure have, and makes more, and one is quick, but only serves a few and requires an air fryer.
Choose how to make hot wings based on your needs.
Try this Instant Pot method for Chicken Wings if cooking for a crowd.
When Cooking Hot Wings For A Crowd
When you are making chicken wings for a party, like a tailgating party etc. you want to cook a nice big batch. So you would likely want to oven bake them.
Thus, the first trick involves oven baking. I talk all about how and why and what you can do to achieve the best results for crispy oven baked wings in this post. But in a nutshell: there is a little bit of a process for helping draw out the moisture from the wings, so you can achieve a truly crispy skin.
The trick is coating the wings in a very light dusting of baking powder and salt before cooking them.
The salt and baking powder will draw moisture out of the wings skin so they can crisp up. But don’t worry, you will still have juicy wings because you have a layer of fat under the skin, that because we start cooking low and slow, it renders, and melts all over the meat, making for juicy tender results under a crispy skin.
So coat your wings with the baking soda and salt mixture. Drizzle with a little oil.
Then place on a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.
Then bake.
The cooling rack on top of the baking sheet does two things for baked buffalo wings. It keeps the wings out of the fat drippings, and it allows for air circulation so moisture will evaporate faster, and you get that nice crispy exterior.
Once cooked, you toss in this amazing homemade buffalo sauce.
Let’s take just a second to talk about this sauce… it is soooo good I made its own post because while we typically eat it over wings, it is also amazing on everything from smashed potatoes to chicken nachos. It is just so dang good.
It is spicy from the Frank’s cayenne pepper sauce, but is mellowed out with some brown sugar, given some smokiness with Worcestershire, and is gets a buttery silky smooth texture from the butter that is stirred it.
Basically it is buffalo sauce perfection and perfect for your hot wings recipe.
When Cooking Buffalo Chicken Wings For a Few
Skip all the hassle and steps involved with oven baking if you don’t need a lot of wings, and use an air fryer instead.
I am obsessed with my air fryer, and use it for wings more than anything else. To cook wings in the air fryer you just season with a little salt and pepper then cook the wings! All the details can be found here: Air Fryer Chicken Wings.
This is a great way to cook wings in smaller batches. So a dozen or so. Once cooked, simply toss with the homemade buffalo sauce and enjoy your homemade buffalo wings!
Make It A Meal
I love servings these buffalo wings along with other chicken wings for a fun variety of flavors on my appetizer table. But, they are also amazing as a main dish when served with:
Buffalo Wings
Ingredients
- 4 lb chicken wings
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoons salt
Buffalo Sauce
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup Frank's red hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 Tbs unsalted butter
Instructions
Baked Wings
- Defrost wings completely before using.
- Pat wings dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture. And set aside.
- Prepare your oven: placing one oven rack on the lowest height setting and one rack near the top.
- Preheat the oven to 250F
- Place wings in a large zip top bag. Add the baking powder and salt to the bag, and shake to evenly coat wings. Make sure there are no clumps
- Place a wire cooling rack over/inside a baking sheet, and spray cooling rack with cooking spray or brush with oil.
- Place the coated wings on the rack, leaving a little space between each wing, but you don't need a ton of room.
- Spray wings with cooking spray or brush lightly with oil.
- Bake on the lower oven rack for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, move tray to the higher rack, and turn the oven up to 425F / 220C.
- Bake an additional 25-35 minutes until skin is golden brown and crispy, and internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Bake longer if desired crispiness is not reached.
- Remove from oven.
Buffalo Sauce
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine: vinegar, Worcestershire, Frank’s hot sauce, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, paprika and salt, and bring to a low simmer.
- Remove from heat and whisk in 4 Tbs cold butter, sauce should thicken up. Set aside
- When wings are golden brown and crispy, remove them from oven and toss with Buffalo Sauce.
- Serve immediately with celery.
Video
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Danny says
Hi Rachael I think that the wings look amazing, this is your brother by the way. This is also for a typing class.
Rachael says
Thank you Danny! Happy they look yummy to you.