Football season is back, which means I will be spending a good portion of my Sundays watching with despair as my beloved Buffalo Bills get their butts handed to them. ***UPDATE, Wait the Bills are now finally good now!*** But no matter how they’re doing a true fan sticks with their team through and through. That’s why every Sunday I pay homage to the Bills by whipping up the city of Buffalo’s greatest claim to fame, buffalo wings. Baked buffalo wings that is!
How to Make Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings
One of the keys to making great buffalo wings is getting nice and crisp skin. Or more importantly, getting the skin to stay nice and crispy. Because you got to remember folks, once the chicken is cooked you are going to drown those wings in sauce. And as soon as that sauce hits the skin it’s going to start making it soggy rather quickly.
So as a pro tip, always make your wings crispier than you want them to be, that way they won’t be soggy halfway through eating them.
Now, when it comes to the traditional method for making wings (frying), you can achieve extra crispy skin pretty easily. However, baking can be a bit more difficult. But definitely not impossible. And while there are many different tips and techniques for getting extra crispy skin. My method is pretty simple.
All you have to do is make sure that the wings are well coated with some type of oil (this can be vegetable or a spray like PAM). Then as they cook on a baking sheet, the chicken will slowly render its fat allowing the wings to “semi-fry” in the mixture of oil and fat.
Literally, that’s it!
And don’t worry this won’t result in greasy wings. But in order to get extra crispy skin, you need to let them cook in a good amount of oil and fat.
Making Buffalo Sauce
Now let’s discuss the other important part of buffalo wings, the sauce. For starters, there’s the basic and traditional sauce. The type of sauce that you would expect to find on a wing if you ordered some from a bar. Which is surprisingly easy to make and only requires two ingredients.
It’s just Franks ret hot, and melted butter.
Honestly, it’s that simple. And all you have to do is adjust the ratios of these two ingredients to get the proper heat level. For Example:
- 1 part Franks red hot + 2 parts melted butter = Mild
- 1 Part Franks red hot + 1 part melted butter = Medium
- 2 Parts Franks red hot + 1 part melted butter = Hot
However, if you want a little extra kick then I suggest you try out my family’s sauce. It doesn’t use any butter, so it’s hot+. Instead, it has a nice splash of red wine vinegar and a few pinches of black pepper. The vinegar gives the sauce an extra zip, while the black pepper provides a different layer of heat.
Tips, Tricks, & Suggestions
- Want your wings to be extra spicy? Then add in a couple of dashes of your favorite habanero sauce to your mixture.
- Serve your wing the traditional way with some celery sticks, and Blue Cheese Dressing.
Baked Buffalo Wings Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Servings: Roughly 30 wings
Ingredients
3 to 4 Lbs. of chicken wings
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, Canola oil, or PAM
Jensen family sauce:
12 fl.oz. of Franks red hot sauce
2 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar
A good amount of freshly cracked black pepper (optional)
Traditional buffalo sauce:
12 fl.oz. of Franks red hot sauce
Melted butter (½ stick for hot, 1 stick for medium, 2 sticks for mild)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Separate the chicken wings into the drumette, flap, and tip (If Needed): Use either a meat cleaver or a very sharp chef’s knife to break down the chicken wings into three parts.
The drumette and flap will be used for the wings, while the tip can either be discarded or saved to be used to make stocks.
3. Get the wings ready for baking: Cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Grease the foil by either brushing it with 1 tablespoon of oil or giving it a generous spray with PAM. Place the wings on the cookie sheet and brush/spray them with another tablespoon of oil/ generous spray.
4. Bake the wings: Place the sheet of wings in your heated oven. Let the wings bake for 15 minutes on one side. Then flip them, and let them cook for another 15 minutes on the other side.
At this point, you just want to continue baking the wings making sure to flip them every 7 to 10 minutes until the skin is crispy. This can take anywhere from another 10 minutes to upwards of 30 minutes depending on your oven, and how crispy you want your wings.
5. Make the sauce: While the wings are baking, get out a large bowl (big enough to fit all the wings) and mix together the ingredients for either my family’s buffalo sauce or the traditional buffalo sauce.
6. Sauce the wings: After the wings are cooked through and have a nice crispy skin take them out of the oven. Then toss the wings in the sauce, using tongs makes this easier.
7. Serve the baked buffalo wings immediately, and enjoy!
Baked Buffalo Wings Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 Lbs. of chicken wings
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil Canola oil, or PAM
Jensen family sauce:
- 12 fl.oz. of Franks red hot sauce
- 2 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar
- A good amount of freshly cracked black pepper optional
Traditional buffalo sauce:
- 12 fl.oz. of Franks red hot sauce
- Melted butter ½ stick for hot, 1 stick for medium, 2 sticks for mild
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
- Separate the chicken wings into the drumette, flap, and tip (If Needed): Use either a meat cleaver or a very sharp chef’s knife to break down the chicken wings into three parts. The drumette and flap will be used for the wings, while the tip can either be discarded or saved to be used to make stocks.
- Get the wings ready for baking: Cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Grease the foil by either brushing it with 1 tablespoon of oil or giving it a generous spray with PAM. Place the wings on the cookie sheet and brush/spray them with another tablespoon of oil/ generous spray.
- Bake the wings: Place the sheet of wings in your heated oven. Let the wings bake for 15 minutes on one side. Then flip them, and let them cook for another 15 minutes on the other side. At this point, you just want to continue baking the wings making sure to flip them every 7 to 10 minutes until the skin is crispy. This can take anywhere from another 10 minutes to upwards of 30 minutes depending on your oven, and how crispy you want your wings.
- Make the sauce: While the wings are baking, get out a large bowl (big enough to fit all the wings) and mix together the ingredients for either my family’s buffalo sauce or the traditional buffalo sauce.
- Sauce the wings: After the wings are cooked through and have a nice crispy skin take them out of the oven. Then toss the wings in the sauce, using tongs makes this easier.
- Serve the baked buffalo wings immediately, and enjoy!
