CRISPY BUFFALO CHICKEN WINGS

TRULY CRISPY OVEN BAKED BUFFALO WINGS

Serving Size: 8

Prep Time: 15 MINUTES

Cook Time: 1 hr 10 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins

This recipe uses a genius technique discovered by Cook's Illustrated to make chicken wings in the oven that come out so crispy that it's hard to believe they aren't deep fried. Tossed in a classic Buffalo sauce and served with a side of blue cheese dip and celery sticks and you have one of the most genius food combinations this world has ever seen!

Ingredients

Crispy Baked Wings

4 lb / 2kg chicken wings, wingettes & drumettes (Note 1)
5 teaspoons baking powder (NOT baking soda / bi-carb soda) (Note 2)
3/4 teaspoons salt

Sauce

4 tbsp (60g) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce (Note 3)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Blue Cheese Dip

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, softened (I use gorgonzola)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 clove small garlic, minced
1 - 3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper

To Serve

Celery sticks
Lots of beer!

Instructions

Crispy Baked Wings

If you plan ahead, lay the wings on a rack on a rimmed baking tray and let them dry uncovered in the fridge overnight. Alternatively, pat them dry with paper towels.
Preheat the oven to 250°F/120°C (all oven types). Put one oven shelf in the lower quarter of the oven and one in the top quarter.
Line the tray with foil. Spray the rack on the baking tray with oil.
Place the wings in a large bowl. Sprinkle over baking powder and salt. Use hands to toss well (or shake in ziplock bag) to coat wings evenly.
Place the wings skin side up on the rack (ok if snug, they shrink). Bake on the lower shelf in the oven for 30 minutes.
Then move the tray up to the higher shelf and turn the oven up to 425°F / 220°C. Bake for a further 40 to 50 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through. The wings do not need to be turned over.
The wings are ready when they are dark golden brown and the skin is very crispy.
Toss with Hot Sauce and serve immediately with Blue Cheese Dip and celery sticks. They can be served plain, with a dipping sauce or tossed in sauce. Wings also reheat crispy!

Sauce

Whisk together the Sauce ingredients. Keep warm or reheat just prior to using.

Blue Cheese Dip

Mash the blue cheese with sour cream until smooth (or to your taste).
Add remaining ingredients and mix well until combined, using milk to get it to the consistency you want.
Store in the fridge until required. Remove from the fridge 15 minutes before serving.

Notes

1. Wings - While this recipe can be used for whole chicken wings, I prefer to cut them into wingettes and drumettes to make them easier to eat. See below for how to cut wings.

You will need 2.15kg / 4.3 lb of whole wings to make 2kg/4lb of wingettes and drumettes, after taking into account the wing tips which are discarded.

2. Baking powder - Use aluminium free baking powder, if you can find it, the flavour is neutral. If you can't find it, it's totally fine - just be sure to toss the wings very well to coat evenly, you do not want thick patches of the baking powder anywhere.

Baking powder is the secret to outrageously crispy baked wings, discovered by Cooks'' Illustrated / America''s Test Kitchen. DO NOT mistake with baking soda /bi-carbonate soda - if you use baking soda accidentally, it is inedible.

3. Franks Hot Sauce - If you are in Australia, you can find Frank''s Hot Sauce at Coles and Woolworths in the section where tomato sauce, tabasco etc are. It costs around the same as other hot sauces. If you can't find Franks, then any other hot sauce will do just fine. Even sriracha works - just add 1 tsp of sugar.

4. General notes:
* Salt - only a small amount is required, it's a phenomenon I can't explain but this small amount perfectly seasons 2kg/4lb of wings using this baking method.
* These shrink when baked because the fat under the skin renders out (melts) which is how these become super crisp. So they can be snug on the rack.
* They are JUICY not dry, despite the long cook time. This is because the first bake at the lower temp barely cooks them, it only melts the fat.
* These bake to a golden brown, not a deep golden brown. You will know they are done because the skin will be lovely and crispy.

5. Source: The recipe for the wings is from Cook's Illustrated "Meats Book" cookbook. The sauce recipe is my own.

6. To reheat: Allow wings (not tossed in sauce) to cool, then cover and refrigerate. The skin will wrinkle and soften. Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F. Spread wings out on tray, skin side up, and bake for 5 to 8 minutes or until the skin puffs up so the wrinkles smooth out and becomes crisp again. Works 100% perfectly!

7. Make Ahead: These stay crispy for as long as the wings are warm, so around 20 – 30 minutes. The skin stays crispy for around 10 – 15 minutes after tossing in the sauce, then after that they start to soften but not go soggy, up to around 30 minutes. If you reheat after tossing in sauce, they go soggy.

8. Comprehensive FAQ is available in the original Truly Crispy Oven Baked Wings.

9. Nutrition for just plain crispy wings (419 cal) and including the hot sauce (476 cal), both assuming 8 servings. Note that the wings have been adjusted to reflect the amount of fat that is rendered out (I measured the fat I poured off the tray :-) ).

Nutrition