The other day I asked my husband what does he want me to make him for Super Bowl, and even before I was able to finish my question, he said chicken wings. But the way he said it and the expression on his face was more like, “you would not make that.”

He was right. I would not prefer to make a fried dish in my kitchen. He continued by saying that I should pretty much forget about healthy food when it comes to Super Bowl party food. I told him that I would find a way to make healthier chicken wings. Again, he looked at me with an expression on his face saying, “I don’t think so…”
I looked for a recipe that (1) I do not have to fry (2) will be crisp on the outside and soft and flavorful on the inside, just like the fried version would be.

After a few tries, I found the perfect baked chicken wings recipe that gave me just that. Perfectly crispy chicken wings without all the extra fat. Come to find out, the way to achieve my goal was by slow cooking chicken wings in the oven.
Intrigued? Let’s break it down.
Ingredients:
This Slow Baked Wings recipe has three sets of ingredients. Wings, hot sauce ingredients, and garnishes.
For The Wings:

- Chicken Wings: You need 4 pounds of chicken wings (approximately 30-40 wings) for this recipe. I recommend purchasing a combination of drumettes and wingettes (also called Flat) for variety.
- Baking powder: To get crispy chicken wings without frying, you must find a way to dry out the skin outside. The secret that does that is baking powder. Baking powder dries out the skin by breaking out the proteins within the skin. It also helps with browning.
- Kosher Salt: It is important to season the wings properly. 3/4 teaspoon of salt is all you need for this recipe.
For The Hot Wing Sauce:

- Storebought Hot Sauce: My favorite hot sauce is Frank’s Red Hot Original Sauce (affiliate link), but you can also use Texas Pete (affiliate link)
- Unsalted Butter: Two tablespoons of unsalted butter makes the sauce super silky and delicious.
- Molasses: Although molasses is an optional ingredient, I recommend using it as it adds another layer of flavor to this buffalo wing sauce. Alternatively, you can use one table of honey as a substitution.
- Garlic: You’ll need two cloves of minced garlic to flavor the sauce.
For the Garnishes:
You can serve these crispy buffalo wings with countless sauces/dressings or vegetables. If you want to create a dish similar to the ones you see in these pictures, you will also need:
- Healthy Blue Cheese Dip: I don’t know about you, but I do not think that you can serve chicken wings without a blue cheese dip. My version is a healthier one made with greek yogurt and vegan mayo.
- Yogurt Ranch Dip: Alternatively, instead of the blue cheese dressing, you can also serve these hot wings with my ranch made with Greek yogurt.
- Scallions: I usually sprinkle my wings with a handful of scallions.
- Carrots and Celery: These are the classic veggies to serve wings with, but you can use whatever veggies you have on hand.
Prep the wings
First things first, prep the chicken wings. To do so:

- Dry the skin: It is imperative that the skin of the wings is as dry as possible. I usually place a few sheets of paper towels on a rimmed baking sheet, place the wings on top, and dry them as much as possible with a few more paper towels.
- Mix the wings with salt and baking powder: Place the now-dried wings in a large bowl. Sprinkle them with baking powder and salt. Give it a mix to make sure that all the wings are coated with baking powder and salt.
How to slow cook chicken wings in the oven
I think what makes this recipe special is the fact that the wings are baked in the oven in two different heat settings. Cooking chicken wings low and slow first in a 250 F degree oven and then increasing the heat up to 425 F yields perfectly crisp chicken wings.

Once your wings are ready, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack (affiliate link) in it. It is important to use a wire rack for better air circulation that helps create crispy skin and fully cook the wings. Lightly grease the wire rack with oil to prevent wings from sticking to the rack as they bake.
Arrange the chicken wings on top. Here, it is okay to arrange them as close to each other as possible. However, if you run out of space, you can bake them in two batches. Preheat the oven to 250 F degrees.
How long does it take to cook chicken wings at 250 degrees
Bake the chicken wings in the middle rack in a low 250 F Degree (120 C Degree) heat for 30 minutes.
How long to bake chicken wings at 425 degrees F
After the first 30 minutes, crack up the heat to 425 F degrees (220 C Degrees) and bake for 45-50 minutes to finish the cooking.
How to make the hot wing sauce
As the wings are cooking in the oven, quickly make the hot chicken wing sauce.

Place the hot sauce, butter, and molasses in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally, in medium heat until simmering, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and turn the heat down to low. Cook for another 3-4 minutes.
How to get buffalo sauce to stick to wings
Once the wings are fully baked, remove them from the oven and transfer them into a large bowl. Pour the hot sauce over it.
If you do this as soon as they are out of the oven and super hot, you should not have any issues with the sauce sticking to the wings.

How to serve slow-roasted chicken wings:
If you wish to create a similar dish to the one you see in the pictures. Make a batch of my healthy blue cheese dip and place it in the middle of a large plate in a small bowl.
Place carrot sticks and celery sticks on one side and the wings on the other. Garnish the wings with scallion and crumbled blue cheese.
How To Store Leftovers & Reheat:
- Storage: Leftover slow roasted chicken wings can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Just be sure that they come to room temperature before doing so.
- Reheating: To reheat, place leftover wings on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake them in a preheated 300-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until warmed thoroughly.
Expert Tips:
- If you are using frozen wings, be sure to thaw them overnight in the fridge.
- Don’t be afraid to arrange them close to each other on the baking rack. They shrink as they bake. However, if you run out of space, you can bake them in two batches.
- Make the sauce right before the wings are out of the oven so it will be nice and hot when you are ready to serve them.

If you do not want to sacrifice your health and still want to have delicious chicken wings that are not fried, you should give this recipe a try.
Other Game Day Recipes you might also like:
- Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken Wings
- Chicken Nachos
- Vegan Greek Nachos
- Mexican Street Corn Salad
- Five Bean Salad
- Cowboy Caviar
Adapted from cookscountry.com‘s.
Slow Baked Chicken Wings with Hot Wing Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 pounds chicken wings pat-dried with paper towels
- 1 tablespoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Hot Wing Sauce:
- 1/2 cup hot sauce I used Frank’s Hot Sauce Original
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
As Garnish:
- 3-4 carrots cut into sticks
- 3-4 celery stalks cut into sticks
- 1 cup of blue cheese dip
- 2 tablespoon crumbled blue cheese optional
- 1 scallion – green parts only- chopped optional
Instructions
- Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions.
- Heat the oven to 250 F degrees.
- Place baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add chicken wings. Toss wings and make sure that they are evenly coated with baking powder and salt.
- Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack in it. Spray it with vegetable oil spray.
- Place chicken, skin side down, on a single layer on the wire rack.
- Bake wings on lower middle rack for 30 minutes. Turn up the heat to 425 degrees, move it to the upper middle rack. Bake for 45-50 minutes, rotating the sheet half way through the baking to ensure through baking.
- Take them out of the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes.
- In the mean time, make the hot wing sauce.
- Place the hot sauce, butter, and molasses in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally, in medium heat until simmering, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and turn the heat down to low. Cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Place wings in a large bowl and add the hot sauce over it. Toss to coat.
- Place the blue cheese dip in the middle of a large plate in a bowl. Place the carrot and celery sticks on one side and the wings on the other side.
- If preferred, sprinkle them with pieces of crumbled blue cheese and chopped scallions.
- Serve immediately while they are still hot.
Notes
- Update: An earlier version of this recipe was made with Sriracha sauce. However, after testing a few more times I decided that Frank’s Hot Sauce is a better one to use in this recipe.
- Don’t be afraid to arrange them close to each other on the wire rack. They shrink as they bake. However, if you run out of space, you can bake them in two batches.
- The calorie information below does not include the optional blue cheese topping.
- Storage: Leftover wings can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Just be sure that they come to room temperature before doing so.
- Reheating: To reheat, place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake them in a preheated 300-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until warmed thoroughly.
Derrick Kearney
This is my new goto for wings I have always baked them but this approach, low heat, then high heat really worked perfectly. The wings were crisp and delicious.
Aysegul Sanford
YAY! This is music to my ears, Derrick.
Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a review. Cheers!
Teresea Heard
Do you have to use hot sauce? Can you use wing sauce?
Aysegul Sanford
I think so. You can use any sauce that you enjoy with your wings.
SunFish
I’ve made this recipe 4 times now. My husband really love these while watching Sunday Football! These are so fun to make!
Aysegul Sanford
Happy to hear that. Thanks for coming by.
Janette Naines
Amazing! Best wings ever! I made 2 batches last football game. I used sweet ray’s mild hot wing sauce ( I tried Frank’s hot- also really good but no one else in my family like Frank’s hot sauce, lol, I enjoyed them for 3 days!!!! 🍀 me 🙂
Cooking again for tomorrows super bowl.
Aysegul Sanford
This is music to my ears, Janette. Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a review.
Patricia Jones
OMG, I love chicken wings. These look delicious! I’m definitely pinning these! Can’t wait to try these! Thank you for sharing the recipe! Gonna try it this weekend.
kj
I made these with drumsticks instead of wings and my family loved them. i will try with thighs next.
Aysegul Sanford
Hi KJ,
What a great idea to make it with drumsticks.. How long did it take?
I’d think it would take a little longer? no?
Thanks for letting me know.
Best – Ice
Darrell Smith
Can I ask what the 30 min at 250 on the bottom rack does for the wings? Can this be skipped?
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Darrell,
The initial, low heat oven helps with drying the skin and rendering the fat, which helps with getting a crispier end product. So, to answer your question, I wouldn’t skip it.
Please let me know if I may answer any other questions you may have.
Stephanie
I don’t have a wire rack to put on the baking sheet. Can I cook directly on the foil kind baking sheet?
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Stephanie,
I think so. I guess it may end up being a little less crunchy but I think it would be just fine.
Let me know how it turns out.
Cheers!
Ice
Renz
I found your recipe last night at about 11pm and decided I had to try it. It was great. I didn’t have as much wings as you used so I basically eyeballed it. Lol. I loved it!!
I wrote a review on it here: http://www.homemadezagat.com/2014/04/recipe-no-fry-chicken-wings.html
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Renz,
Wow.. That is so nice.
I am so glad it worked out for you.
Your version looks better than mine! LOL
Thank YOU!
Cheers..
Ice
Helen
I’ve just started to inquire about Wings @ thought that your site was going to answer my first concern CAN I COOK @ FREEZE ?????..Please let me know what you think…THANKS
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Helen,
For this particular recipe I wouldn’t freeze. The beauty of these chicken wings is the fact that they are super crispy after they come out of the oven. I am afraid they will loose their crispiness if you freeze them.
Though I must say, the leftovers for the next day were not too bad.
Hope this helps.
Please let me know if I may answer any other questions.
Thanks for stopping by!
Ice
Vicki Arnold
let’s just say my son has stomach issues and can’t handle hot wings but he loves them.this recipe works for him. Thank you thank you!
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Vicki,
I am so happy to hear that this recipe will work for your son.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Cheers!
Ice
Ashley
I bought a bag of frozen chicken wings. Should I thaw them out before trying to coat them with baking powder?
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Ashley,
Yes, you should.
I would allow them to sit in the fridge overnight. Also prior to coating them with baking powder (next day), allow them to sit on the kitchen counter for at least half an hour. This way they will be completely thawed.
Since I have very limited access to fresh chicken on the island, I always use frozen chicken. So you shouldn’t have any problems. But like I said, they should be completely thawed for a good result.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I am here to help!
Cheers..
Ice
J
I found your recipe on pinterest and I had to leave a post thanking you for this! I made these tonight and the wings turned out just perfect. I can’t wait to make my boyfriend try these when he gets back from his trip. We both enjoy wings so much, but feel guilty after we eat 10 of them.
I might use a different sauce and omit the honey/molasses next time though.(Sriracha is too sweet for me already).
But thanks so much – I’m sharing!
Aysegul Sanford
Hey there J,
I am glad to hear that they turned out good. I am the same way. I love chicken wings but feel guilty after eating a bunch of them…
I had to find a way. 🙂
Thank you for sharing..
Cheers!
Ice
Katie
I have also been looking for crispy, healthy & delicious chicken wings…trying these tonight!!
Davina
I tried another recipe on another site and many things went wrong with my hot wings on Superbowl Sundy; #1- they were not HOT!, the sauce did not stick, and the skin barely got crisp. Looking at your recipe, I already see it’s going to be GREAT turnout! Thank YOU so much, now I can redeem myself. LoL!
Crystal Ball
Wow… When I first read this review I was skeptical to say the least. But I have seen the light. These wings are easily the best thing I have ever eaten in my life. I would like to take a moment to thank you for you have changed my life. The only downside is that I have now gained 20 pounds from eating wings every day for the past week.
With lots of love and hot sauce,
Crystal
Aysegul Sanford
Dear Crystal,
Ha ha… I love, love and love the fact that you love these wings. Who would know you can have wings these good without frying them??
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I hope you’ll get a chance to try some other recipes.
Cheers!
Ice
Aimee / Wallflower Girl
Sounds delicious and great tips on how to get a crispy coating without frying – that’s always the appeal of frying over baking!
Aysegul Sanford
Thank you Aimee.. Not sure if you eat meat but if you do I would recommend these wings.. Best,
Ice
Cate @ Chez CateyLou
My husband is also obsessed with wings! I need to make these for him – I can’t believe that they aren’t fried! They look delicious, and your photographs are gorgeous!
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Cate,
Thank you for your comments about my photographs.
These chicken wings are incredibly moist inside and crunchy outside. I hope he will like it.
Cheers!
Ice