Crispy Baked Chicken Wings: Orangey. Gingery. Saucy.

The reason the expression finger lickin’ good exists is because of wings like these. Wings so good their saucy existence lives onto your finger tips where you must capture every last bit before you’re onto the next one. No sauce left behind. Enter these crispy baked chicken wings.

The baking powder is the secret ingredient that helps krisp the wings. Don’t forget this step!

How to bake chicken wings

It’s good to start with wings that are completely thawed out and defrosted. You’ll want to pat your wings with a clean paper towel so they are completely void of any moisture. The less moisture = the more krispy. If you have the time, you could even place them in the fridge for a few hours. Once they’re as dry as they’re going to get, mix them together in a bowl with oil, garlic, salt, and baking powder. The baking powder is the secret ingredient that helps krisp the wings. Don’t forget this step!

When you have a nice equal coating on the wings, place them onto a greased baking rack. I recommend baking the wings this way so the heat is evenly distributed around each wing.

Now, we’re ready to blast them with heat until they get ultra krispy. Pro-tip: Place the baking rack on top of a parchment paper lined sheet pan to make for easy clean up.

Check out the before and after.

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I used to be intimidated by making wings at home since I always figured they needed to be fried. It turns out that’s certainly not the case. These wings krisp up so nicely in the oven so there’s no need to pull out your canola oil and deep fryer.

Related Recipes: Juicy Chicken Meatballs, Homemade Turkey Dumplings, Walnut Crusted Bacon Wrapped Dates, Homemade Hummus

Chicken wing sauce

While the wings are baking, this is a good time to make your sauce. I can’t wait for you to try it because it’s so delicious! The maple syrup and orange flavors really come through and once hit with the heat, caramelize on the chicken so nicely.

When making your sauce, whisk all the ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl. Give it a good mix and cook it down in a medium sized sauce pan so all the flavors fuse together and until the sauce thickens to more of a glaze.

Once the wings are cooked, toss them in the glaze. At this point, they would be perfectly good to serve, but the final step is such a game changer, it’s worth the extra 2 minutes. Make sure they are fully coated and place them back onto the baking rack. If there’s extra sauce in the bowl, brush the wings for a bit more sauciness. Never can have too much sauce. Place them back into the oven on broil and cook for 2 more minutes max. The maple syrup and orange juice will give a nice caramelization to the wings — and this will happen quickly so watch close.

Now serve them up and enjoy!

Crispy Baked Chicken Wings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

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Ingredients

• 3 lbs of chicken wings 
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp maple syrup 
• 1/8 cup soy sauce (6 tsp)
• 3 tsp balsamic vinegar 
• 1.5 tsp worcestershire sauce 
• 1.5 tsp fish sauce 
• 3 tsp orange juice 
• 1/4 tsp garlic
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and place a baking rack on top of each. Grease both baking racks. Place 2 mixing bowls to the side.
2. Pat chicken wings dry and transfer to one of the medium size mixing bowls. (See above for notes on prepping chicken wings before baking.)
3. Add olive oil, baking powder, salt, and garlic powder with chicken. Mix together until wings are fully coated.
4. Transfer wings to baking rack and bake for 40 minutes.
5. When there's 15 minutes left on the chicken wings, in your other mixing bowl, combine maple syrup, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, orange juice, garlic, and ginger. Whisk liberally. Give it a taste test to make sure you don't want to add a bit more of a flavor.
6. Transfer mixture to a medium sized sauce pan and cook over low heat. Whisk occasionally until mixture begins to thicken.
7. When wings are ready, transfer to the same mixing bowl as you used to prepare the sauce. Top glaze over wings and coat liberally.
8. Transfer wings back to the baking rack and brush any extra sauce onto wings.
9. Change your oven from bake to broil LOW. Place wings back into the oven and broil for about 2 minutes. Watch closely and remove when wings begin to brown.