These baked buffalo wings are super crispy, easy to make, and don't require using a deep-fryer! We've also included a recipe for our favorite buffalo wing sauce.

When I first started making chicken wings at home, I was super intimidated! I didn't want to deal with the hassle of deep-frying, but I also wasn't confident that I could really get crispy wings in the oven. After many, many tests I'm happy to report that you can absolutely get crispy, juicy, flavorful wings that will rival your favorite take out joint with minimal effort! These wings are great as an appetizer, a main dish, and are of course a great staple for your Super Bowl party menu.

How to Bake Crispy Chicken Wings

Making baked buffalo wings is really simple! Here's what you'll need to do:

Preheat the oven to 400F. The key to crispy wings is baking them for a long time at a high temperature. This allows all of the fat to render from the wings so that the skin can get crisp up. Pat the wings dry. Too much moisture can interfere with getting the skin crisp. Season the wings. Next, you'll brush the wings with oil (we like avocado oil or ghee here), then season them with salt and pepper. Place the wings on a wire baking rack on top of a rimmed baking sheet. Next, you'll line up the wings on a wire rack. The rack helps ensure that the heat touches both sides of the wings, so you don't have to flip them to get them crispy. If you don't have a rack, you can still make these wings without one! Just know that the underside of the wings may be slightly less crisp. Bake the wings. Finally, you'll bake the wings until they are perfectly crispy.

How long do you bake chicken wings?

We found that baking your chicken wings at 400 F for one hour yields the best results. You may worry about such a long cooking time for such small wings, but rest assured that the excess fat in the chicken wings keeps the chicken perfectly moist and juicy while the chicken skin crisps.

Can I use chicken wingettes in place of whole wings?

When you go to the grocery store, you'll often see that chicken wings are sold whole rather than as the wingettes and drummettes that you get at your local wing restaurant. A chicken wing actually has three parts: the wingtip, which is normally thrown away, the wingette or flat, which is the flat-looking chicken wing, and the drumette, which is the mini drumstick. For this recipe, we chose to leave the wings whole so that you don't have to do the work of breaking them down, but if you only have wingettes on hand, you can adjust the recipe by baking for 50 minutes instead of 60!

How to Make Buffalo Sauce

Buffalo sauce is incredibly easy to make! With this recipe, we've included 2 buffalo sauce options. One is a semi-homemade sauce with just two ingredients, and the other is a from-scratch, dairy-free buffalo sauce without any additives. Here's how to make them:

For the Semi-Homemade Buffalo Sauce: Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, add 1/2 cup of hot pepper sauce – we love Frank's Red Hot. Make sure you are looking for hot pepper sauce, not wing sauce, as wing sauce is milder and typically already blended with an oil!

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, add 1/2 cup of hot pepper sauce – we love Frank's Red Hot. Make sure you are looking for hot pepper sauce, not wing sauce, as wing sauce is milder and typically already blended with an oil! For the Scratch-Made Buffalo Sauce: To make this buffalo sauce, you'll simply place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes.

That's it! Once you pull the wings out of the oven, you'll toss them with the buffalo sauce and then serve. If you have leftovers that you need to reheat later, you can simply pop them back in the oven at 400 F for 10-15 minutes until they crisp up again.

What to Serve With Baked Buffalo Wings

While buffalo wings are great on their own, especially when served as an appetizer or snack while watching the big game, they also make for a great meal! Personally, I like to make oven-baked fries alongside my wings on the lower oven rack, throw together a super quick side salad, and serve them with a side of 3-ingredient ranch. No matter how you serve them, we hope you love them!