Crispy Oven-Baked Chicken Wings

These crispy oven-baked chicken wings are marinated, tossed in a cornstarch and spice mixture and twice baked for the crispiest restaurant-style wings you’ll ever taste.

Crispy wings used to be one of our favourite things to order when Alicia and I would go out for dinner. Nothing quite compares to restaurant-style wings, am I right? They’re crispy, full of flavour and always leave you wanting more. 

But sometimes that craving hits and you just can’t make it to your favourite restaurant, so we’d tried a few different brands of frozen, preseasoned wings from the grocery store, but they just never compared. 

So it was then I decided to come up with a recipe for our own wings. Of course, the goal was to make crispy, delicious restaurant-style wings that we could make at home.

When you think of crispy chicken wings you probably think deep-fried, but I wanted to bake our wings instead. We do own a deep fryer, but it’s small and we wouldn’t be able to cook many wings in it, which would mean we’d have to cook them in batches and that would just take too long. 

And let’s face it, baked versus deep-fried is going to save you calories and fat. If you’re thinking “but baked never tastes as good as deep-fried”, I’m here to prove you wrong. In fact, I’m betting that you won’t even miss deep-fried wings after you give our recipe a shot. Plus, you’ll get to let go of the guilt of fried wings and enjoy a healthier version instead. 

It took a lot of tweaking but I’ve perfected my crispy oven-baked chicken wing recipe. So, you’re probably wondering how do I get them so crispy and flavourful?

First, I use fresh split/tips removed chicken wings that are free from antibiotics, hormones, and completely vegetable grain-fed. These aren’t necessary but make a huge difference in how tender and juicy the wings will be. This is usually the only type of chicken we will use in our home. 

I add the wings to a large bowl with sesame oil and soy sauce. The reason I use sesame oil is for the additional flavour it adds. It also has a moderate smoke point that is higher than olive oil but lower than corn, sunflower, canola or vegetable oil. This helps to really crisp up the outside of the wing. The soy sauce helps tenderize the meat and infuse a salty flavour. I’ll make sure that the wings are completely coated and then cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours.

Next, I use a small bowl to combine the corn starch and dry ingredients and set aside.

After the wings have marinated, I pour the dry ingredients over top and stir the wings to make sure they are coated evenly.

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment and put a wire baking rack on top and spray it lightly with a non-stick cooking spray and place the wings on the rack.

I bake the wings in two stages. If you have a convection bake or convection roast setting on your range, this is the time to use it! The air circulating around the wings will ensure they come out crispy. I will cook them first for 15 minutes on convection, and then the remaining 30-40 minutes on non-convection (regular bake setting).

In the past, I have taken these the wings out during the last 15 minutes of baking and tossed them in sauces before putting them back in the oven. While they still turned out great, the result wasn’t quite as crispy.

I recommend cooking the wings without sauce. You may find you love the wings plain, or of course, you can always dip them in your favourite sauces as you eat them to maintain maximum crispiness.

Do you want your wings even crispier? Once they’re done cooking, take them out of the oven for 10 minutes, then return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes, and you’ll have the crispiest wings ever.

We promise these crispy oven-baked chicken wings are sure to be a crowd-pleaser and they are easy to make in large batches making them the perfect snack for the big game or your next party. And while you’re here, don’t forget to check out some of our other favourite recipes.