These Baked Buffalo Wings are cooked in the oven until golden, then smothered in sweet and spicy buffalo sauce for a quick and easy appetizer. This healthier alternative to fried wings is just as crispy and delicious and sure to become a family favorite.
Deep-fried wings taste great, but add extra mess and extra calories. These oven chicken wings are so much easier, just as delicious and naturally gluten-free.
The Best Baked Buffalo Wings
Once you try baked whole chicken wings, you’ll be shocked at just how simple it is to make buffalo chicken wings at home. You’ll get crispy restaurant-quality wings in minutes.
Email This Recipe
Get a link to this recipe emailed so you can save it for later + get all the latest Carefree Kitchen recipes!
By submitting this form you consent to receive emails from The Carefree Kitchen
If you have anyone in your family who isn’t a huge spicy foods fan, you can set some of these crispy wings aside without the sauce, or else serve them all sauceless and have everyone add their own.
You can also make two flavors of the sauce, divide the wings in half and then serve them both! If you decide to go that route, we recommend making these oven-baked buffalo chicken wings with Garlic Parmesan Wings. Yum!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They get crispy without the mess of deep frying. Baking the wings on a wire rack at 400°F lets the fat drip away while the skin browns and crisps, giving you restaurant-style wings straight from the oven.
- The buffalo sauce has a sweet-and-spicy twist. Frank’s RedHot is combined with brown sugar, which balances the heat and creates a sticky, flavorful coating with just two ingredients.
- They’re easy to customize for different spice preferences. You can leave some wings unsauced for anyone who doesn’t like heat, serve the sauce on the side, or divide the batch and make multiple flavors.
Key Ingredients
- Bone-in Chicken Wings – there are about 4-5 chicken wings in a pound so depending on what else you are serving, you may want to double this recipe.
- Avocado Oil – you can substitute another cooking oil, such as canola or olive oil, or even melted butter.
- Frank’s Red Hot Sauce – you can find this just about anywhere in the condiment aisle.
- Brown Sugar – you could also substitute a bit of honey.
How To Cook Buffalo Wings in the Oven
- Prep wings. Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack on top. Pat your wings dry with paper towels. Then, in a large bowl, add the wings and drizzle with avocado oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss until they are completely coated.
- Bake. Place the wings in a single layer on the wire rack that is on the baking sheet, making sure that the wings aren’t touching. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and a digital thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted into the chicken close to the bone.
- Make buffalo sauce. While you bake the wings in the oven, add the Franks Red Hot Sauce and brown sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
- Toss wings in sauce. Once baked, add the hot wings straight from the oven to a large bowl and drizzle with the buffalo sauce. Toss until completely coated.
- Serve. Serve baked buffalo wings warm with your favorite ranch or blue cheese dressing. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Make sure to pat the wings dry before you start. A paper towel works great for this. It helps them live up to their full crispy potential.
- If you want your wings extra crispy, toss them in a mixture of 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. Skip the avocado oil and bake as directed. Toss them in buffalo sauce once they have finished baking and serving immediately.
- You can also bake the chicken wings in a 400° oven for about 40 minutes and then lower the temperature of the oven to 170 degrees. This will keep the wings warm while giving them an extra crispy skin.
- If the chicken wings aren’t getting crispy enough in the oven, you can toss them in the broiler for 1-2 minutes to finish them off.
- For the freshest, most delicious wings, make only as many as you will want to eat in one sitting. They just don’t reheat very well.
- Using a baking rack yelps the fat drip down underneath so it isn’t cooking in it and getting soggy.
- Baking buffalo wings is better than frying. Chicken wings have a higher ratio of chicken skin to meat than most cuts of chicken. That’s what makes them so flavorful. When you bake chicken wings instead of frying, you roast the skin, it caramelizes the skin while rendering the fat and makes gives the wings a deeper flavor. This is why chicken wings are so flavorful!
Frequently Asked Questions
It should take about 35-40 minutes for your Oven-Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings to bake completely and get nice and crispy. How long to bake wings at 400 also depends on how many you are baking at once, so always check the internal temperature to be sure it has reached 165 degrees F.
We find that 400 degrees is the sweet spot for baking chicken wings. At 400 degrees, the oven temperature is hot enough to get the skin crispy, but not so hot that it will burn the outside because they cook through.
There are approximately 4-5 chicken wings in a pound. It will depend on how big the wings are but that’s a general guideline.
Boneless chicken nuggets are not chicken wings. They are usually made from breast meat instead of being a deboned wing. They are cut into wing sized pieces and then breaded and usually fried. Boneless wings are chicken nuggets, not actual chicken wings.
These chicken wings are best if cooked just before consuming but the Buffalo Wing sauce can be made up to 5 days ahead of time. Just cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge and pull out as needed.
If you want your chicken wings crispy, bake them in a 400° F oven for about 40 minutes. You can reduce the temp of the oven to 170 and keep them in the oven for 20-30 more minutes to make the skin extra crispy.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
- Refrigerator: allow the wings to cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- To Reheat: reheat in a preheated 350 degrees oven for about 15 minutes or until warmed through.
Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds bone-in chicken wings
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack on top. Pat your wings dry with paper towels, then add them to a large bowl. Drizzle with avocado oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss until they are completely coated.
- Place the wings on prepared wire rack, making sure that the wings aren't touching.
- Bake in your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and a digital thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted into the chicken close to the bone.
- While you bake the wings, add the Frank's Red Sauce and brown sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
- Once baked, add the hot wings straight from the oven to a large bowl and drizzle with the buffalo sauce. Toss until completely coated.
- Serve warm with your favorite ranch or blue cheese dressing. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this?
Don’t forget to leave a rating below and make sure to follow on Pinterest, Instagram and Tiktok for more!
More Drumstick and Wing Recipes That We Love
- Garlic Parmesan Drumsticks
- Buffalo Drumsticks
- Parmesan Wings
- Oven-Baked Drumsticks
- Mediterranean Drumsticks
- Garlic and Herb Drumsticks
More Chicken Recipes:
- Bacon Wrapped Chicken
- Crockpot Buffalo Chicken
- Honey Soy Chicken
- Best Game Day Food
- Healthy Chicken Recipes
- Easy Appetizer Recipes
- More Chicken Recipes
These Oven Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings are a healthy alternative to fried wings and just as crispy and delicious. They are baked chicken wings with buffalo sauce and are so easy to make. They are perfect football food or any game day snack!
Love that these are oven baked instead of fried. So much less messy and still all the flavor of buffalo wings. Hard to beat a batch of these for weekend game watching!
Yes, the perfect game day food for a crowd!
These wings were awesome! Great recipe!
So happy to hear you loved them as much as we do!
Hooray! So glad you enjoyed them!