Spicy Crunchy Baked Chicken Wings
This may seem odd considering their popularity in American culture—but I’ve always hated chicken wings. 😳 Except (as my parents tell me) for a brief love affair with one as a teething infant. Are you questioning their parenting skills as much as I am right now? Who gives a chicken wing to a baby? Of course those were the days before infant car seats were required by law, so we babies had to be tough! 🤣
I spent the rest of my life eschewing greasy, rubbery chicken wings like the plague. That is until I married a man who loved them. 🤯 I decided to try my hand at making chicken wings in a way that I could actually enjoy them with him and my Crunchy Spicy Baked Chicken Wings were born.
Chicken wings are dark meat with a high ratio of skin to meat. This can be a disaster in restaurant settings because they are trying to produce chicken wings quickly in a deep fat fryer. This method immerses a fatty product in more fat and flash cooks them. This short cooking time is not enough to render the fat from the skin and not enough to melt the collagen and gelatin in the dark meat making it pleasantly firm but moist. They are then tossed with a wet sauce that turns barely crispy skin flabby.
A much better approach is to bake them at a high temperature, for a long time. The long cooking time allows the wings to fry in their own rendered fat and gives plenty of time to melt the tough sinews of this much beloved bird’s wings into tender eats. The spiciness is baked into the wings via the marinade, so there is no need to coat them in a crunch destroying sauce after cooking. After making these wings myself, I now count myself among the other red-blooded American wing enthusiasts—as long as they’re baked. Try them and you just might reconsider your deep fried addiction.
Directions:
Combine hot sauce, celery salt, salt, onion powder, garlic, dried thyme, ground cumin and canola oil in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
Trim chicken wings of any excess fat and add to marinade. Stir to coat, cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
Combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda in a gallon size zip top bag. Close and shake vigorously to combine.
Adjust oven rack to the lowest position and preheat oven to 425° F. Line an extra large (14” x 20” inch) sheet tray with parchment paper. (Prepare two half sheet trays if you don’t have an extra large tray.) Spray generously with cooking spray.
Stir marinated chicken wings to evenly coat with marinade. Carefully transfer chicken wings to bag with flour one at a time allowing excess marinade to drip off.
Once all chicken wings are in bag, seal bag and shake vigorously to coat chicken wings with flour.
Transfer chicken wings to prepared sheet pan and spacing them 1-2 inches apart.
Spray the tops of the chicken wings generously with cooking spray.
Transfer sheet tray to the lowest rack of your preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, use tongs to carefully flip the wings over and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the temperature of the largest wing measure 180° F on an instant read thermometer.
Let cool 5 minutes on sheet before serving. (Wings will get crispier as they cool.) Enjoy with blue dressing if desired.
(Makes about 36 wings)
Ingredients:
3 lbs (1344 grams) Trimmed Chicken Wings
1 cup (240 grams) Frank’s Hot Sauce
1 tsp Celery Salt
2 tsp Table Salt
2 Tbsp Onion Powder
½ tsp Granulated Garlic
1 tsp Dried Thyme
¼ tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tbsp Canola Oil
1 ½ cups (180 grams) All Purpose Flour
2 ½ Tbsp (20 grams) Cornstarch
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda
Canola Cooking Spray
This may seem odd considering their popularity in American culture—but I’ve always hated chicken wings. 😳 Except (as my parents tell me) for a brief love affair with one as a teething infant. Are you questioning their parenting skills as much as I am right now? Who gives a chicken wing to a baby? Of course those were the days before infant car seats were required by law, so we babies had to be tough! 🤣
I spent the rest of my life eschewing greasy, rubbery chicken wings like the plague. That is until I married a man who loved them. 🤯 I decided to try my hand at making chicken wings in a way that I could actually enjoy them with him and my Crunchy Spicy Baked Chicken Wings were born.
Chicken wings are dark meat with a high ratio of skin to meat. This can be a disaster in restaurant settings because they are trying to produce chicken wings quickly in a deep fat fryer. This method immerses a fatty product in more fat and flash cooks them. This short cooking time is not enough to render the fat from the skin and not enough to melt the collagen and gelatin in the dark meat making it pleasantly firm but moist. They are then tossed with a wet sauce that turns barely crispy skin flabby.
A much better approach is to bake them at a high temperature, for a long time. The long cooking time allows the wings to fry in their own rendered fat and gives plenty of time to melt the tough sinews of this much beloved bird’s wings into tender eats. The spiciness is baked into the wings via the marinade, so there is no need to coat them in a crunch destroying sauce after cooking. After making these wings myself, I now count myself among the other red-blooded American wing enthusiasts—as long as they’re baked. Try them and you just might reconsider your deep fried addiction.
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