This recipe uses butter, which does magic to baked chicken wings. It adds a ton of flavor, and makes them brown very nicely. You won’t get the same level of browning using cooking oil, or no oil at all, unless you bake chicken wings with convection. There is no flour or bread crumbs here, these chicken wings a completely gluten-free.
Baking chicken wings
I like to bake chicken wings at 400F-425F, though in this recipe I start baking at 400F and finish at 350F. The reason for that is that it allows to better balance browning and cooking. I use a similar technique in the pork loin roast recipe, where I start roasting at 425F and finish at 325F. The baking time is 30 minutes at 400F and 10-20 minutes at 350F. Technically, the wings will be done after 30 minutes, but you want to bake them a little longer, to get better browning and make them crispier. How much longer is a matter of personal taste. I normally do 20 minutes, sometimes even longer, up to 25 minutes, if I want some extra crunch.
Tips
Use wings with less fat, those that have thin, bluish skin, as opposed to yellow-colored wings that a lot of fat under skin. If all you have is fatty wings, trim off as much of loose skin and fat as you can. In this recipe, you can use both whole chicken wings and separate wingettes and drumettes. There are no adjustments necessary if you make a substitution. Pour melted butter over wings and mix quickly, otherwise the butter will solidify and will be hard to spread evenly. Once the wings are coated with butter, sprinkle the salt the seasonings evenly all over, then pat down to make the spices adhere. You can also rub the spices but the cooled down and solidified butter will make this a bit challenging. But don’t get too stressed out about it, these wings will taste amazing regardless.
Bake chicken wings on parchment paper if they have thin skin with little fat. Fatty, yellow chicken wings will release a fair amount of fat during baking, so it’s best to bake them on a cooling rack fitted over a baking pan lined with foil (for easier cleaning later). This way the wings won’t be greasy. Bake the wings on the second highest rack, this will provide the most optimal browning. If you are using salted butter, remember to adjust the amount of salt.
