My husband loves buffalo wings. I’m not sure why, but it’s okay because we love them too, just not that much, haha. We’ve made these many times before, cooking the chicken wings before dipping them in that wonderful buffalo sauce. But they never looked quite right, the baked skins lacking the crunchiness of the fried buffalo wings you can find in restaurants. Without that crunch the sauce doesn’t stick convincingly enough, does it?
Start with some good chicken wings. You know the air-chilled, free-range, organic, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, etc. products. We bought ours frozen, so we had to thaw them first.
One thing to note about the chicken wings at this stage is that they should be as dry as possible. In this method, dryness is important! Use paper towels to blot up as much moisture as possible.
So what’s the secret to this method for making the best crispy skin-on chicken wings in the oven? Baking powder! I know, right, I was the same…like, what the heck, yeast? This is where all that high school chemistry should have come in handy, right? Um…not…
It seems that the yeast works magic on the skin of the chicken. A mixture of yeast and salt is sprinkled all over the wings. If you look closely you can see the white layer on the wings in the photo above. This coating breaks down skin proteins, draws moisture to the surface, and helps brown the wings.
Note: Some people use baking soda to crisp up their skin. We don’t recommend this as baking soda can affect the taste in strange ways.
And then, to help the wings reach even greater perfection, the coated wings are placed on the cooking rack uncovered and refrigerated overnight. The next day, when you remove them, you will find that the peels are nice and dry. Perfect!
Place the rack on a foil-lined tray to catch drips. So it’s in the oven, let’s go!
OvenLook! This is the oven photo of cooking chicken wings. Here you can see that the skin is becoming crispy and golden. Also note that the skin bubbles! This is the yeast in action, forming carbon dioxide gas which then boils through the skin and hardens with heat. This sizzling skin is the same as what happens when you fry wings!
The bubbling creates the cracked skin that makes a great crunch and provides all the little crevices that will absorb and hold the buffalo sauce.
Note: We encountered a slight technical issue here. Extreme smokiness in the oven. I don’t know why, as we have baked a lot in our oven and have never had the smoke problem. But there it was. I later did some research and found that if you put a layer of baking soda in the drip tray this will eliminate any smokiness. Good advice, right?
Oh God, look at these golden babies! Out of the oven, the skin becomes crispy and bubbly. Let me tell you, this yeast packs some serious chemistry! It really makes the skin crispy!
Taking a step back in time, while the wings are becoming crispy, it’s time to prepare the buffalo sauce. It’s a simple butter sauce, hot sauce, and a little seasoning to adjust the sauce to your liking. Traditionally the hot sauce used is Frank’s RedHot, but if you can’t find it (like we do) you can substitute any vinegar-based cayenne hot sauce. We used Tabasco. To make the sauce thicker and stickier, add a little flour to the butter as it melts.
Now is also the time to assemble the blue cheese sauce and celery sticks. You CANNOT have buffalo wings without these two side accomplices, they just fit perfectly and balance each other out. I also love blue cheese and it’s a great excuse to go out with cheese! And we like to secretly dip our buffalo wings in the blue cheese sauce, how delicious! I forgot to take a picture of them but don’t worry, we’ve included them in the recipe below.
One last look at the crispy skins of the chicken wings before tossing them with the sauce. They really look like fried wings, don’t they?
Spicy buffalo sauce goes in the chicken wings. Ooo, cute, amirite?! Give the wings a couple or more tosses and the sauce should coat and stick to the skins well.
(makes 6 servings or approximately 24 wings)
Preparation time: 5 minutes Marination: overnight Cooking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2.5 lbs of chicken wings, 1200 g
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 cup baking soda
Buffalo Sauce
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, 57 g
- 1 teaspoon of flour
- 4 tablespoons Frank’s RedHot sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
Celery and blue cheese sauce
- 8 stalks of celery
- 2 ounces blue cheese, 60 g
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice, or to taste
- pinch of salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- milk to dilute if necessary
Prepare the chicken wings: If necessary, defrost the chicken wings. Dry the wings as much as possible with absorbent paper. Season with yeast, cornstarch and salt. Brush the grill lightly with oil and then place the wings on it, with 1/2 inch space between the pieces. Store uncovered in the refrigerator overnight.
Preheat the oven to 230°C (450°F).
Prepare a foil-lined drip pan to catch drips from the wings as they cook. Spread a layer of baking soda on the bottom of the drip tray.
Place the rack with the wings over the drip pan and cook them in the center of the oven for 35-50 minutes until golden and crispy. Since different ovens may operate at slightly different temperatures, use your eyes and nose to check the doneness of the wings!
You can also take the wings out after 15 minutes to flip them and then put them back in the oven. We didn’t and everything was fine.
Prepare the buffalo sauce: In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour while the butter is melting. Add the hot sauce and stir to incorporate. Add salt and sugar to taste. Remove from heat but keep warm.
Make celery sticks and salsa: Wash the celery stalks. Trim the ends and cut into 3-inch long pieces. For the sauce, crumble the blue cheese into a bowl. Add the sour cream and mayonnaise and stir to combine. You can mix more to make the sauce smooth or you can mix a little less to leave little bits of blue cheese in the sauce, yum! Add lime/lemon juice to taste. Add salt and sugar, also to taste. If the sauce is too thick for your tastes, add a little milk to thin it out. Cover and place in the refrigerator until the wings are ready.
Toss chicken wings: Add crispy baked wings to a large bowl. Pour the hot buffalo sauce over the wings and then toss to coat them evenly.
Serve the buffalo wings, hot and saucy, along with the celery sticks and blue cheese sauce. Enjoy!
