By the way, the honey-sriracha glaze is quite delicious and
incredibly simple, but merely an afterthought here. The real star of the show
is the strange, but effective technique of coating the wings with a baking
powder-laced spice rub before baking. Through the magic of chemical reactions,
the surface of the chicken becomes bone-dry, and eventually crisps up to
something very similar to what would come out of a deep fryer.
I’m not exactly sure who originally invented this; I heard about it via America's Test Kitchen, but that
doesn’t really matter, since the only thing that really matters is who people
10 years from now think invented this. And if this is video somehow goes viral, that could be me. To that end,
I really hope you give this unusual, and highly effective method, and honey-sriracha
sauce a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 portions:
2 1/2 pounds chicken wing sections
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp baking powder (aluminum free)
- Coat wings, and bake at 425 F., turning every 15-20
minutes, until they are browned and crispy. Total cooking time will be about 1
hour, but that depends on the size and temperature of your wings.
For the Honey Sriracha glaze:
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup Sriracha
1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
sesame seeds to garnish
163 comments:
These look mouth-wateringly good! I'm definitely trying them this week!
One could almost say, you've got a winner, winner, chicken dinner.
This is probably a stupid question, but will the baking powder thing work with wings that have been marinated? (At least, if patted dry first?) I'm a sucker for teriyaki, but I think some crispier skin would be awesome.
Can you suggest any substitutions for Sriracha sauce?
At Last!!! Crispy wings without dragging out my deep fryer!
Thanks Chef :)
It looks amazing. I wonder if legs and thighs would be as good if cooked the same way?
I'm making this tonight can't wait! However I'll need to double the recepie because the last wings of yours I made lasted for approx 1 hour in my house! Love ya chef!
Thanks for showing the technique for de-boning a wing again.
Doing this as I'm writing. They look lovely so far. I'm of course tweaking it a little, and added some ginger to the spice mix, used corn starch instead of flour and I'm gonna put the honey sriracha sauce on top with the wings on the broiler for a couple of mins. I am the king of my chicken wing. ;)
using only the flats and taking the bones out for a quick pick&eat? boneless tecnique, boner experience (i think)
Yes, you are the king, BUT I didn't use flour in this! It's baking powder! Cornstarch is not going to work for this technique.
Can't wait to try this, as I've never even heard of Sy-Ra-Wha? sauce before. I will have to see where it is in the grocery store. :-)
We actually bought fresh wings today (before I saw the vide) for the football game tomorrow. This will be perfect. Not a big sweet with heat fan. I think I'll just toss in Frank's and look for a FW video for bluecheesedip.
This is genius! Would this same 'baking powder' coating work on whole chickens or spatchcock chickens/turkeys as well? To simulate a deep fried but oven oven cooked bird?
Will this method work for skinless chicken wings?
Will this method work for skinless chicken wings?
Just a note that if your oven has a top heating element, you might want to set this down a little lower than the middle, just set off the fire alarm because the chicken was splattering and the grease got on the top heating element. Not good when trying to put a baby down for the night! Chicken is crisping nicely though, definitely the best wing recipe yet. :-)
Yeah...just a follow up to my last comment, if you can't deactivate your smoke detector, I wouldn't do this one unless you have a true range hood. Even lowered, it was smoking too bad to be able to keep going. I ended up turning the oven off. Wings were delicious though!
Are you putting oil on the wings or pan? Or maybe your oven has some residue inside is smoking? Of all the methods we've done this one definitely produced the least amount of smoke since there's no added oil.
Thank you, Chef John, for sharing this interesting way of preparing wings.
I love having them, mostly when I go out, as I've never really found a way to make them at home. Well, that will change now!
Not oiling the wings or pan, but yes, there probably is some residual oil in my oven. I'll give it a clean and try again. :-)
Yeah, I'm not sure where the smoke comment is coming from...I made a double batch of these for a party last night and had no smoke at all.
Thanks for the tip!
So I actually make a dry rub for my wings and bake them without the baking sheet so the rendered fat keeps it moist. If I add baking powder as one of my dry ingredients, how do you think it'll taste? Does the baking powder leave any weird taste to worry about?
Thanks!
Hello! I am always a big fan of your Youtube videos. So there is this Korean crispy fried chicken dish called dakgangjeong (it involves deep frying boneless, skinless pieces of chicken then coating them in sweet and spicy sauce, but I digress). Do you think that this amazing baking powder method would work with skinless chicken pieces? Or is it limited to chicken with skin intact? I would love to make my chickens sort of "healthier" so I could make this dish more often without feeling guilty. ;D
I had no significant amount of smoke from my oven and I accidentally cooked them at 450 degrees. So if yours was smoking that badly, you have some other issue.
Mine came out amazing, thanks Chef John!
now i'm drooling over those... so gorgeous! as far as i know, my dad e.g. always rubbed the skin side of the pork belly with baking powder so that it becomes reaaaaally crunchy when baked (asians...), gonna try this soon, seems like the perfect recipe!!
Thanks Jon!! I just perfected the old coating technique now I gotta learn a new one hahah.
Still, looks great... couple of questions here, can I use standard sea salt instead of Kosher? And Olive Oil instead of Peanut? Does it affect the flavour that much?
Thanks and keep up the good work love your stuff.
These wings look and sound great! I searched a bit to learn more about using larger amounts of baking powder and I found an article that suggests perhaps using an aluminum free baking powder (the larger quantity might leave a metallic aftertaste). Any opinion on this? perhaps you used the aluminum free baking powder?
http://www.finecooking.com/item/5054/baking-powder
OMG. moment..can't wait to try...:)
I made these last night for my wife and they were out of this world. I added a little celery seed and granulated garlic to the dry ingredients. The texture was exactly like you said, which even impressed my wife. John, my wife is the biggest critic of wings. Thanks!!!
My husband was really happy with the crunchieness of the wings; since our hearts and minds were set on buffalo style wings; I just dumped the crispy wings in the giant bowl with Franks buffalo sauce on the bottom and did the bowl toss. I will eventually try the honey Sriracha sauce, after I do the sweet chili sauce next, this is a keeper of a recipe. I am going to try Ogaliis' fathers' pork skin trick too with the baking powder. I really liked how easy this was. I am drooling as I am typing this thinking of all kinds of possibilties.
Made a batch yesterday. They worked well except for some salt that stayed on top (when tested a couple prior to glazing).
Used a mustard-apricot jam glaze w/ mustard made a week ago. Turned out great :)
Thanks for the great idea!
Had no idea what to make for dinner- Chef John saves the day yet again. Crunchy as promised. Superb sauce!
My wings were slightly smaller than in the video, needed only 40 minutes @425.
Thanks!
Tried this tonight, absolutely the best wings I've ever had. A definite make again for movie night!
Do you really like tis over your potato pearl version? I thought that was killer!
made this buffalo wing yesterday, and they were delicious! definitely going to use the recipe from now on.
@Bobbisox
Please bear in mind that I don't know how exactly my dad did it, but I'm quite sure he did leave it on for some hours before baking, so that the skin becomes really nice. crisp and bubbly, but somehow airy! :)
Making this happen as I type, my wife is beyond giddy to come home and try some sweet and spicy wings! The sauce is AMAZZZZING!
So I made these for dinner tonight with a side salad, Awesome Wings! You taste the honey at first, then you get the heat from the Siracha. But its a good heat, just the right amount of burn to make you want another, and another and another!
Hi John,
Do you think this recipe would work with chicken breasts, or whole chickens in a similar fashion?
I believe the reaction works with any chicken skin, but I've never tried!
Hi Chef John !
I've just tried your recipe and yes, the wings are crispy !
However, I tasted a wing before adding the glaze , and the baking powder gave a very off feeling in my mouth .
Did I use the wrong type of baking powder ?
:(
Hi Chef John !
I've just tried the recipe and yes! My wings are crispy !
However , I had a wing before adding the glaze and it had an off taste/feeling on my tongue .
Did I did use the right baking powder ? :(
It will work with any chicken. Cook's illustrated demonstrated this technique about a decade ago for oven grilled chicken.
I'm no McGee, so I can't tell you how to nudge the recipe, but it definitely needs to be nudged to work with other pieces of chicken.
I just tried to make buffalo drumsticks, and the result was less than impressive. It took too long for the fat to render out of the skin, so the meat ended up dry. I pulled the chicken at 1:20; half the 'sticks hadn't properly crisped and instead tasted of ...salt? The aluminum taste baked out but not some other taste.
...you need the extra fat that wings give you for this. For Science.
I will be making these soon. You are such a good chef. I've made/attempted some of your videos. My best turn out so far is the banana bread. Keep posting you inspire me.
I've been just roasting my wings tossed in spices and melted chicken fat or lard for a long time now and just love it. The fat helps crisp the wings. I recently tried Alton Brown's method of steaming the wings before hand and was disappointed. Too dry. The only up side was the oven stayed cleaner. I recently saw this method and was unsure but since I got my original ability to make great wings from you, CJ, I will give this one a go. You have convinced me.
Chef John, I made these tonight and loved the recipe! I'm a big fan. Thanks for all the great recipes, man!
http://www.coopertnelson.com/blog/2015/1/21/chicken-wings
I made these tonight and they turned out perfect! The sauce was awesome. Not too sweet and not too spicy, the perfect combination. Also, it was great not frying them! This technique worked really well. Thank you Chef, I'm a huge fan and enjoy cooking your recipes here at home for me and my family! Keep up the great work!
Chef John what kind of oven do you have(what brand?what model?)
this chicken wings are great,tried them: ))
chef john what kind of oven do you have?(what brand?what model?)
these chicken wings are great tried them :)
Chef John - I'm such a fan, but these did not work for me. Even though they came out brown and crispy, it still felt like I had a mouth full of powder when I ate them. And yes, I'm sure I used baking powder, not soda. Any idea what happened here? The sauce is delicious, but unless I can figure out the problem, it's back to flour for me.
I tried these today. The first batch came out really metallic flavored, and I had to toss them, but they looked great.
The second batch I didn't use baking powder on the second batch and they came out great looking and no metal taste.
Maybe the Japanese baking powder is different, I live in Japan and don't really know if there is a difference.
Anyways, the sauce is amazing.
I made a small batch today. The wings were awesome. The sauce I still need to tweak for my tastes. I eat very little sugar or starch so that may be the issue. I did make the sauce with a little higher hot sauce to honey ratio and since I like a sharp vinegar flavor used more rice vinegar. I also added more cayenne as the sauce was too mild. Remained too sweet for my palate though.
My tweaks created a sauce that was too runny and soggied the crust a bit but was otherwise pretty tasty. I'm going to continue tweaking this sauce recipe though as I overall like it. Perhaps some melted butter and less honey. No critique of another fine recipe, just need to get it dialed into my personal tastes.
People asking about a metallic taste, your baking powder might be out of dates=, or contains aluminum, Try an aluminum free baking powder.
Watched this video on a Friday, and tried it the next day. However, I did not have any ink in my printer, and was going by memory. Used Baking Soda instead of Baking Powder. DOH! The result was very flat and flavorless. Dang! Then I remembered Chemistry! I poured on some extra rice vinegar, and the sizzling sound told me that it was reacting with the Soda. After a few shots of vinegar, and some shaking, the soda was neutralized, and the flavor picked up. A half A$$ed rescue, but a rescue without a doubt. I have some fairly good chicken wings.... Next time I will follow instructions.
Chef John, this is a winner! Fantastic flavor and fall off the bone delicious. I had mixed results with the flour and instant potato wing recipes. This one Sir, is a keeper.
Chef John these Wings were amazing! I've tried a few of your other wing recipes and this is by far the best! My wife lives on Siracha sauce and loved it! My daughter is and I can't take the sauce and they were perfect without them. THANK YOU!
I followed your recipe verbatim and even bought a wire rack (a must have to get it crispy) for my largest baking sheet and these are indeed the greatest, most crispy and flavourful chicken wings I have ever tasted. Thank you sir. You are a genius!
Oh my stars, chef John, you continue to offer *the* coat tails to ride to superstar chef status (at least in my household)! Made these for the family tonight, did some with the sriracha honey glaze (omg wow) and some for the kids with a honey mustard I think I learned from one of your earlier recipes (honey, yellow, and dijon mustards). The ones I left plain tasted a touch salty on their own, but were divine if dunked in either of the sauces. For some reason the drumettes are sold for half the price of the flats here in Beijing, so I may just make a whole mess of those next time, but I made sure to shell out for some flats just so I could try your deboning technique. :) Thank you so much for yet another fabulous recipe to put in the rotation!
This was great except that the cooling rack is pretty much mandatory. I got crisp, chicken-skin crusted aluminum foil with buffalo flavored wing meat.
The wings that weren't scalped were the best I've ever pulled out of an oven though.
Chef John what am I doing wrong?
Just tried these and they were truly amazing. I used the amount of salt stated but not kosher salt, just a fine sea salt so they were a little on the salty side - I'll know for next time.
Do you think adding the baking powder to your other wing recipes would be fine? I assume it's all about that chemical reaction so worth a try
Credit where it's due - J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats developed the baking powder method
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/02/the-best-baked-buffalo-chicken-wings-in-oven-not-fried-appetizers.html
I'm happy to publish this link, since it's a great article, but my research indicates the baking powder trick predates 2010. :)
Thanks Chef John- is there anyway to make the jerk chicken sauce for this and still get the great color/flavor AND the crispy-ness?
Thanks Chef John- is there anyway to use the Jamaican jerk sauce with this crispy-ness recipe?
Dry spices will work, but a wet rub or marinade will not! You could always make a sauce with the same ingredients and toss once crisp.
Hi Chef, tried this recipe and it worked great. Curious about trying a different sauce though, specifically a buffalo. I was considering cutting out the smoked paprika and cutting back the salt back to a tsp given the amount of saltiness that's inherent with buffalo sauce. Or should I not worry about the amount of salt on the wing prior to tossing? I had previously tried the steam and bake method and this is so much simpler and results in a better and crispier wing.
Chef John, Thank you!!! I just made these for my Super Bowl party. My lord, those are the best wings ever!!
I'm your biggest "phan" in Philadelphia and thought your mini-cheesesteaks update was phenomenal.
I tried these and the skin became very salty and the rub hardened and burned.
I came up with the idea by myself through some serious testing, although I may not have been the first. I use a little flour in mine. and prefer teriyaki as I do in most things. Chef John though is always the king. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx5eW0N0CM8
I made these tonight - turned out perfectly! I don't make wings often, but this was a very simple technique and well worth the effort!
I modified the sauce a bit to make it milder: I used ketchup with only a tbsp of siracha, honey, soy, Worcestershire, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Lovely!
Thanks Chef John for the technique and recipe!
I made these wings tonight as per the recipe. The baking powder rub worked great in producing crispy wings. But I did not like the honey-stiracha sauce. Sorry Chef John but the sauce was disappointing compared to Buffalo wing sauce.
I marinated my wings first. Pat dry. The meat came out a little dry, but I did use an upper rack on my oven(hotter). Finally, an alternative to deep frying, would highly recommend.
The sauce is different, sweet, tasty, hot. The honey does a good job of coating the wings with a lot of taste.
The next day, I took the leftover sauce and put it in my scrambled eggs, they were good.
Thanks Chef John.
Maybe a silly question, but should the wings be frozen or defrosted when starting on this?
Follow-up: Just noticed the wings in the video are defrosted, so that more or less answers my question! You don't have to post either this or my previous comment, I don't mind. :)
John,
I used this method in a wings competition. I won best overall wings. Also, some could not believe I didn't fry them.
Thanks,
Chris
Well, we definitely enjoyed! I didn't have wings in the freezer, so I had to use legs instead since I didn't want to drive 30 miles to the grocery store. I have to say this recipe is great, and the skin crisped up (my fiance performed your fork scraper test, he worships you by the way). I added this to my family favorites recipe binder, it's a keeper!
Thanks for all you do,
Rheann
Hi there Chef John. I have now made these 3 times over the last 2 weeks and I love them. Super simple to make. I do have one question. Is 1 tablespoon of salt to much? The first time I made it they were way to salty. I have cut the salt down to just under 1 tsp. Thanks for a great blog.
Are you using kosher salt! A tbsp of fine salt may be too much. But salt is subjective, so use to taste!
Hello chef John.i ve tried this recipe and it is great. Would it work with ahrimo as well as i would lile my vegeterian frienda to enjoy ir as well?
Hello chef John. I ve tried this recipe and it is great.would it work with shrimp as well as i would like my vegeterian frienda to enjoy it as well?
I hadn't tried Sriracha before and was eager to try it after watching the video. I added a few more tablespoons of honey and bit more sesame oil but loved the recipe. I oven baked Turkey wings and poured some sauce over them when they were done, then returned them to the oven for 5 minutes. More sauce was drizzled over the wings when plated. It was wonderful! Love the smokiness with the sweet and hot. Will definitely try this sauce again with grilled shrimp. Thanks Chef John!
Sorry, but the technique won't work with shrimp due to its lack of chicken skin. ;)
I should have posted this earlier, but I tried this technique, and used your buffalo style wing sauce instead of the sriracha/honey glaze. FANTASIC - raves from the entire family... Thanks again Chef John!
Hi Chef. For this method of baking, will it produce the same resulting crispness if you omit the seasoning and just use the baking powder by itself.
These wings are exceptional. As always, the video is all you need to get the job done (I print out every recipe I have made of yours John, just in case the internet dies !!!)
Always the right length and no face time to get distracted.Your skills and techniques do the job.
Another winner! all the best from Australia
chef john I have only rice wine vinegar shall this ruin it
The recipe calls for rice wine vinegar! so yes. ;)
The recipe calls for rice wine vinegar! so yes. ;)
john your recipe actually calls for seasoned rice vinegar I had White wine vinegar I didn't know if they were the same not a vinegar expert However tried them and they were great I did ENJOY
Great vid Chef John, i tried twice but i cant seem to get the crisp though. i dried the wings with kitchen towel before adding the seasoning. It appeared slightly dry in the first 20 min but after overturning it, it didnt appear light brown afterwards. The skin is still pretty soft. Should i use a higher temperature? Pls advice? =)
Great vid Chef John, tried twice but I cant seem the crisp. Tried drying wings with kitchen towel before adding in the seasoning. It appear slightly dry still soft though in the first 20 min and remained as it is for the rest of the baking, Any advice? should i be increasing the temp? i set around 210 degree celsius.
Are you using a rack? Sounds like you juts need to give it more time!
Are you using a rack? Sounds like you just need to give it more time!
I tried this with chicken thighs and it worked perfectly. I even got the ugly white chicken look for the first turn. lol Today I'm doing actual wings. Surprisingly though the wife said they were to salty for her taste(she pours salt on everything), so I'll cut back to half as much.
Do you recommend wearing San Francisco Giants clothing while cooking?
Made these twice and they were awesome!! Hubby and all liked them better than wings at the "wing place". Only thing is they stuck to the rack and lost some of the crispy layer so will spray rack next time. Once again, a success!!! Tks chef!
Oh...by the way, those who think that it was a little salty, it may be the type of baking powder you're using. One of my baking powders said 55mg of sodium per 1/8 tsp and the other said 95mg. So if you're wondering, that may be why. Also, I did cut back a little on the salt anyways because I did use other sauces that had tons of salt in them.
Thanks Chef John! I just made these wings tonight and the were totally AWESOME! They had a bit if a bite but were great. I did leave them in for about an hour and 10 minuets and they were nice and crispy. I'll make the next batch as a double dip of both teriyaki and buffalo sauce.
Chef John, love the idea but I found them way way way too salty... that's 3 ways for 3 teaspoons (one Tablespoon) of salt.. next time I will just use 1 tsp salt and the rest of the proportions the same. Could that have been an error?
big fan.
Way way way too salty. Are you sure it is 1 Tablespoon of salt. One teaspoon would probably do.
Are you sure you're using kosher salt? If you're using fine table salt, and probably only need half a tablespoon. Kosher salt is a much bigger crystal.
It may have been that you didn't use an aluminum-free baking powder. I didn't and mine had this salty taste that came on strong, but it built up. Some may call it metallic, but that just makes too much sense, considering the aluminum.
My family loves spicy food, and this hit the spot. everyone loved it. but i cant seem to get my wings as crispy.
also i watch you all the time, i wait for the "new video" notification all the time. and we need more wing recipes!
Very good, but just a little too salty for me. An absolute keeper.
I've made this recipe a couple of times. The first time my wife said these are the best wings she's ever had. The second time, my son and his wife said the same thing. He said they were even better than eating restaurants' wings. So easy to make, too.
One thing I would include in the recipe is to line your cookie sheets with aluminum for easy clean up. It appears that is what you did, looking at the pictures. Also, spray the wire rack with Pam so that the wings will not stick. They don't stick that much, but who wants to lose even a little bit of that yummy skin?
Chef John, you have done it again. This was simple, crispy, and delicious and the glaze was just outrageous. (I did add a dash of garlic powder). It reminded me of a PF Chang style wing. The four of us ate 30 wings in about ten minutes. We all had slightly crazed looks on our faces when it was over...
I'm going to add a little baking powder to my next BBQ chicken thigh recipe to see if I can de-flabinate the skin.
Thanks again, John. You are our go to guy for just about everything not flabby and delicious!
DW
San Jose
Tried this with with added garlic and chopped chili to the sauce mix
Going to try this tonight with standard chicken thighs
I tried this recipe yesterday and it was a hit! The baking powder method worked out! It's definitely a dish I'll make again in the future. :)
This is partly my own cooking naivety, but I think the recipe needs to mention that a wire rack is mandatory and the rack needs to be sprayed down with cooking spray/PAM.
It's been brought up in the comments, but both steps are critical to achieving crispiness, not just baking powder.
I attempted this "baking crispy" technique of yours on your baked onion rings recipe and they came out amazing! :D I also used it when following your regularly deep-fried onion rings and they came out awesome also. Thank you for such an amazing tip. :D
Would they still be crunchy if reheated the next day if reheated?
Chef John
It's finally happened. We didn't like this recipe at all. The Siracha/honey thing didn't do it for us. I guess it was inevitable after so very many WOWs!!!!
Please don't cry!
Finally got to try this, but being a cheapskate went with the drumsticks that were on sale. Previous posts mentioned there wasn't enough chicken fat in the legs to get the crisp outcome, so dabbed the dry spots (at the 50 minute mark) with a bit of vegetable oil and it worked out well.
Next time wings for sure, if only for the surface area-to-volume ratio that makes the sauce-to-chicken balance perfect.
That's a lot of hyphens up there...
Thanks for all that you do in making great, tasty home-cooked food accessible to us all.
Tried these tonight and wow soo crispy. Loved It. Question though. Seemed a touch salty. It the salt playing a role in the reaction with the baking powder or would I be safe to reduce the amount of salt?
Chef John, these are fantastic. I have made them several times and my daughter and husband and of course I just love them. Who knew you could bake chicken wings and have them come out so crispy. The sauce is so easy and to die for also. This is the only way to make them.
Pelase please help I've been waiting to make these all week for a party I'm attending and I just noticed it said to be aluminum free ! Oh gosh what can I do now ?
Well well well. I was really pessimistic 3/4 of the way through. They were grey, life-less, limp chicken wings and 10 minutes later, when I went to check on them, voilà - perfectly crispy and juicy wings! Definitely a make-again recipe! Thank you so much!!
Hello Chef John,
I made these wings a couple of days ago and I have to say it won't be the last time! Although I'm not necessarily a fan of sticky, sweet sauces this was a winner in my book. I switched things up a little, though. I like my wings cooked to well-done (read dry and a bit leathery) so a prolonged cooking was in order and worked well.
I also double-glazed them. Since I only had had a little more than a pound-and-a-half of wings, there was a good amount of sauce left over and rather than waste it, I thought that it might be a good idea to coat the wings and then put them back in the still hot oven and let them dry for about an extra 10 minutes.
Afterward, I ran them through the leftover sauce and put them on a plate and noshed away. Sorry I don't have a photo to back-up my studies, but the wings weren't around long enough to pick-up the camera to shoot a couple of frames! Nom nom nom...
Thanks for all of your helpful and culinarily inspiring videos (esp., spatchcocking a chicken) and please keep up with your efforts in this arena.
Best Regards,
David from Baltimore
Chef John, I had my doubts about this working out but I should not have doubted you after the peanut butter jelly wings with the instant mashed potato turned out to be my go to recipe. For Christmas...Million Dollar Chicken what else?
Made these. Loved them. Except one thing.
This is a sodium bomb. Which is unfortunate since it's so tasty. Going to have to figure something else out that contain so much salt. I felt terrible after eating which is only reserved for high sodium hits.
I made these and you DEFINITLY need to use a baking rack. I didn't have one so did it straight on the tray and the wings stuck to them really badly. Still turned out ok, but was sad to see all the skin and flavor stuck to the tray instead of on the wings. Sauce was amazing and will be doing these again as soon as I get that baking rack...
Chester, you can get away with using a sheet pan, just line it with foil and rub on some oil. Once the wings are done, slide the foil and wings off the pan and let them cool for a few minutes (they're too hot to eat anyway). As they cool, the wings will shrink a little and should release from the foil intact. The sugar in the sriracha sauce would be akin to baking with ketchup so things will stick, even if you use a rack. I've used this technique for baked wings in the past and it does work well, plus cleanup will be a little easier since you won't have to soak and scrub so much.
Chef John
Could you cover with foil for first 20 min. Cooking time, uncover and turn chicken pieces, cook 20 min., remove from oven turn chicken again and return again for 10-15 min. *and get same results of crispy
I tried this tonight. Thinking what a great idea for the Super Bowl. However, they didn't exactly come out like those in the video. For one, they didn't crisp up the way it was shown. We cooked them at 425° for 20 min, turned them, cooked for another 20, turned them again and cooked them for another 15. By that time, they looked like they were getting overcooked so we pulled them out. They were not crispy at all.
Secondly, even with them sauced (I made the honey siracha for him and teriyaki for me) they were extremely salty.
Lastly, they were on the verge of being dried out. They were not juicy at all, albeit edible.
I don't think I did anything different from the video but my results were no where near the same. All in all, very disappointing. Your mileage may differ.
Way too much salt in this. I'm not sure if it was the salt of the Baking powder, but they did taste strange. I would use some other technique to get crispness, this way kills the chicken.
Perfect! Just Perfect! I made these last night.
I ended up flipping them for additional turns, as I had two racks full of these. (until golden brown, used the fork test too!)
Making the dry rub for roughly 2.5 lbs of chicken was spot on. I just repeated it over and over for my 7 lbs of wings.
I served the whole tray ala carte. But tossed my wings, and for anyone who asked, in various sauces.
Came out marvelous!!!
Chef John,
I love your videos and recipes! As a way of giving back, I wanted to share a great webpage I just found. It talks all about cooking the best, crispiest wings and what ingredients to use: http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/10/the-food-lab-korean-fried-chicken.html. Notably, they mention baking powder!
"How do you make the batter crisper and lighter? One trick is to use a leavener like baking powder. This accomplishes two goals. First, it raises the pH of the batter, which has the effect of increasing its browning properties. Secondly, and more importantly, it creates tiny, tiny air pockets that bubble up as the batter hits the hot oil. These pockets not only increase the surface area of the batter, making it crisper and crunchier, but they also break up the thick layer of batter, reducing its toughness."
Would this baking powder method work on other cuts of chicken? Thanks!
This baking soda technique is the best! Works with any flavor sauce you want. My friends all think I'm some sort of wing wizard because of it. Thank you, Chef John!
TOO SALTY! I made these tonight for my wing-loving boyfriend. They came out very well and were indeed crispy. My boyfriend loves hot spicy wings and these were definitely spicy! The sauce was a good blend of sweet with spicy and was delicious. However, we both felt the rub mixture was waaaaay too salty. It kind of ruined the meal for us because the wings were just soooo salty. The salt absolutely overpowered the meal. I followed the recipe EXACTLY - yes I used Kosher salt. 1TBSP = 3tsp, and next time I will use only ONE tsp of Kosher salt. But yes I WILL make it again.
I'm quite skeptical this recipe is going to work without even a drop of oil, and the wings w'ont get burned. Could you supply some more theoretical and practical evidence (except your own experience) as to the so called "chemical reaction" the baking powder is causing.
yuditm6644,
Thou shalt not question the chemistry, just try it and you will be surprised.
Is there any way this could be adapted to a sous vide style? I just put a batch of drumsticks in a bag for an 1 1/2hrs at 149, then coated and broiled for 8min per side. It wasnt fully crispy, but I fear if I go any longer the chicken will dry out. My verdict is that it came out juicy, had some crispiness but definitely didn't seem fried.
Can I put baking powder in the bag with the chicken? That would infuse it possibly. Another idea is to partially cook the chicken and then finishing it for a longer time in the oven. But there's not a lot of play there, as the recipe is fairly short when done oven only. Thoughts?
PShizzy,
I'm not sure the sous vide would be the best choice. Not saying it's wrong by any means. Since you've already tried crisping your chicken after cooking and it kind-of worked, I'll share my two pennies in two ideas. But before that, the chemical magic may only happen with dry heat (I haven't tried it any other way) so if there is a chef/chemist out there, I'd like to know myself and as Chef John says, once cooked, there is no bicarb taste! Anyway, here goes...
First, use your technique but instead of the oven to crisp the skin, maybe *carefully* try the broiler or a salamander. Since the food would be closer to the heat source, hypothetically speaking, short exposure to high heat will crisp the skin before the meat has a chance to dry out since it's already cooked.
Second, I cook wings of different styles in the oven all the time with pretty good to excellent results (400-450F) depending on how flabby the raw skin is. Since the wings have less surface area and mass, with a little practice you can get near identical moist but crisp results similar to using a fryer. I don't deep-fry at home because the smell of hot oil gets into everything and it lingers for several days. In place of that, maybe shallow, pan-fry the wings in just a little oil for crispness but with less absorbed fat.
The only way to get *your* perfect wings is to try and try again. Keep a journal on your exploits as you refine the techniques - it works for me. Hope you find my two pennies helpful or inspirational.
Cheers!
drcobol2000,
I appreciate your comments, and had similar thoughts, trying to broil them instead of simply oven baking them to finish. I also tried shallow frying in cast iron. The broiler was more successful, and less messy, however I had too many dry spots that needed blotting. Using the oven as per the recipe allows the wings time to expel juices, which helps moisten the skin and baking powder, and that is the magic behind getting the crispy skin. Since drumsticks are dark meat, they can take a bit more heat and essentially oven cooking through and through may be the way to go. Or... I could make a slurry with the baking powder and some of the rendered juices from the bag, and brush that on. Ideas for the next batch.
I will say that sous vide did an excellent job of handing the dark meat, but it wasn't far and away better than any other drumsticks I've had before. Steak on the other hand, is pretty much the poster food for the machine.
Thank you for your response, it is both helpful and inspirational
Hi Chef John! I plan to make this for a party this weekend. Could I bake them the night before and "rebake" the day of the party and add the sauce in? Would that overcook the wings? Thanks so much!
Too much salt. I would definitely recommend using 1 teaspoon instead of the tablespoon. Not all kosher salt has the same crystal size. Otherwise, it made crispy chicken wings.
Thank you Chef John for this recipe. I used it for this year's Super Bowl and it was a hit. This method worked great. I found the recipe on Allrecipes. Like other reviewers, both here and on Allrecipes, I too found this a bit too salty (yes I used Kosher salt). Before I adjust the salt to my taste next time, I just wanted to be sure it didn't have to do with the chemical reaction that causes the so desired crispiness. If so, I will leave well enough alone as the crispiness and sauce clinging are too awesome to sacrifice. Thank you again for sharing.
Is the 1 tbsp of salt a typo? I followed this recipe exactly and my wings are too salty to eat. I used 6 lbs of wings so I multiplied the recipe by 3. The skin is crisp, just too salty.
I followed the suggestions and only used about 1 teaspoon of salt per portion which to tell you the truth is really not needed, in my humble opinion, as the sauce is what makes this recipe. The crispiness of the wings and the sauce ... oh so good!!!! I won't ever buy wing sauce again!
I won with this! The Opening Day Wing contest at work.
It was unanimous. And I pandered to the crowd by using local honey from my boss's hives (always a good trick for a victory).
Everyone wanted to know how I cooked them - they could not figure it out. Not fried, too crispy for baked, were they smoked? (smoked paprika fooling them!) I maintained secrecy for the most part, except for a few people who I sent to the site afterwards.
My only slight modification (if you can even call it that) - I toasted the sesame seeds.
Dear Chef John, how would you apply this new superior baking powder technique to the ol' Garlic Parm Hot Wings recipe in which you parboiled the wings in vinegar and spices? (Could I liquefy the vinegar and spices and simply mix that in with the rest of the coating before tossing?)
I examined all the wing recipes and decided on this for my nephew's grad party. Gone in minutes. I pulled in some other stuff: garlic powder in the rub, fresh ginger in the sauce. I did (3) 20-minute rounds of cooking, and, not serving them right away, I thought they were a touch overdone, myself, having let them rest; but they were devoured. The See-Rah-Cha -- next time I will add more because it was undetectable as even a back-heat.
Can this baking powder method be used on grilled wings or do I have to bake them to get the same result? Tomorrow is the 4th of July and I really want to make these but don't want to turn the oven on for an hour!
These are by far the best , crispiest best flavored wings I have ever made!
I did go with the traditional Buffalo sauce to coat them with but even eaten as is they were juicy, crispy and loaded with flavor.
Made the first batch for the neighbors and I never even got to try one. They all clamored for the recipe.
Can't wait to try them with other sauces like teriyaki , or the orange sauce or a plum sauce.
I've been making this recipe for about 12 months and I am not happy.
My family demands I make it all the time and my wife has softened her formerly very harsh position as an anti-sriracha activist.
Prior to serving this up one cold night, life was peaceful and I was able to cook without fear nor favour. (Favor for you American types)
They are on the menu again tonight.
Does this have to be made with aluminum free or can it be made with regular?
Thanks Chef John! All of your recipes are the best! ILU!
These were fantastic Chef John!
Also, I tasted one pre-glaze, and these make some very tasty crispy "plain" seasoned chicken wings as is - the salt, pepper, and paprika are a great combo. Great for kids that are a little shy of spice. Of course the glaze makes them even more delicious.
Chef John, do you think this technique will work for an air fryer?
I have found that my air fryer makes crispy wings without any coating but yours look very evenly crispy so I'd like to try this.
Chef,
Thank you so much for this recipe...would this technique work for grilled wings?
Thx!
Mike
Ps your focaccia bread recipe wss an inspiration
Chef,
Thank you so much for this recipe...would this technique work for grilled wings?
Thx!
Mike
Ps your focaccia bread recipe wss an inspiration
Making these for the 3rd time tonight. First time, I didn't have enough baking powder, but they still turned out crispy and delicious! I bought a new can of baking powder and made them a second time. They had a funny taste. That's when I realized the baking powder I purchased had aluminum in it! So, I threw out that can and made sure the next baking powder I purchased did not have aluminum! Hopefully, tonight we'll be able to enjoy the exact recipe!
AMAZING THANKS CHEF JOHN
This was the first recipe I made from Food Wishes and I come back to it again and again. It fundamentally changed the way I think about homemade chicken wings. LEGENDARY
Thank you Chef John. I made this last night for dinner and again right now for my daughter who never liked chicken. After dinner last night she said mommy please make a bigger batch next time. Thank you i like your website. Tara
Ack. Total fail. I know you said you wouldn't taste the baking powder but the texture reeks of it. What else you got?
I just made this recipe for a dinner of almost 20 people. The one-lb per person suggestion is absolutely accurate. This was a hit! Yes, I was concerned before the first turn of the chicken wings, but afterwards they were ridiculously crispy and so flavorful. They did not taste of baking powder in the slightest!
I used this technique with your garlic-parm chicken wing recipe as well (sans par boiling) for half of the wings, to give my guests options for their culinary enjoyment.
Thank you for sharing this and adding what I suspect will become a crowd favorite in the future!
The salt overwhelmed the flavour of the chicken wings and coating.
I'll try again but with no salt.
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