Here’s where two of my best ever recipes meet to become the best ever Ultimate Chicken Wings. Crispy oven-baked wings with deliciously perfect sweet BBQ sauce.
Are you ready for this? Ha! These are my most ultimate wings. They take the very popular, baked, extra-crispy chicken wings from our sister site, TheCookful, and combine them with the best BBQ sauce recipe from this site (but with more punch). You get huge flavor and such a delicious texture from the wings.
What Makes These The Ultimate Chicken Wings?
Let’s see if I can explain the texture. When the dry wings come out of the oven, they’re really crispy. This is because of the secret ingredient and process we use to dry out the skin and get it extra crispy. I’m always tempted to just add a bit of seasoning and dive in immediately. And I often do! But if I resist for a second, I toss them with a sauce. If you do this, and you totally can using the sauce recipe below, then the wings are crispy and saucy at the same time. However, if you want to take it to another wing level, you can toss them in sauce and then put them back into the oven.
What happens if they go back into the oven? You might guess that they lose a bit of the crispness, and they do. But the sweet sauce soaks in and glazes onto the skin and you end up with a sticky, but not soggy, perfect chewiness. You know what I mean, where you bite into the wing and then have to pull it away from your face as it stretches just a bit and you end up with a smear of sweet sauce on your lips. That. Just that.
So go ahead and leave your wings plain and dry, or toss them with a sauce, or if you want to go the extra mile, glaze them in a delicious sauce. Or, make a big batch (it’s so easy when making wings in the oven – they all go in there on a big pan) and do some wings of each version. A veritable smorgasbord of wings.
You really can’t go wrong here. It’s just different levels of right. Do let me know which version(s) you tried and what you think below. I think you’re going to be really happy! – Christine :)
PrintUltimate Chicken Wings
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
These wings have an amazing texture from the long-baking and then being glazed in a tasty sauce.
Ingredients
- 10 whole chicken wings (or you can cut them each into flats and drumettes, discarding the wing tip or saving it for another purpose, here’s how to cut them)
- 1 Tbsp. aluminum-free baking powder (NOT baking soda)
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 and 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tsp. hot sauce (such as Tabasco)
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F.
- Place a rack onto a cookie sheet.
- In a large bowl, toss the wings with the baking powder and salt. Place wings on the rack in single layer and cook for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, leave them in there and raise the heat to 425°F until brown and crispy, 40-50 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the ketchup, mustard, honey, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Taste and add salt and pepper if desired.
- When wings are done, add to the bowl of sauce and coat well. Remove wings (discard remaining sauce) and serve, or put them back on the rack and back into the oven until the sauce is dry and sticky-looking, 8-10 minutes more.
This post originally appeared in October 2017. It was revised and republished in January 2019.