Recipe Box

Baked Buffalo Wings

Modified

Equipment

Chicken

  • Sheet pan
  • Foil (optional, but recommended to simplify cleanup)
  • wire rack to fit the sheet pan (optional, but recommended to increase crispiness)
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Paper towel
  • Knife and cutting board
    • to separate the whole wings into parts (sharp kitchen shears work too)
    • to prepare the garlic
    • to cut the lemon

Sauce

  • Measuring spoons
  • Tongs
  • Small sauce pot

Serving

  • Platter for the wings and veggies
  • Ramekin for the dressing

Ingredients

These quantities are for a single serving.

Chicken

  • Wings (1 lb.)
  • Baking powder (1 tsp)
  • Kosher salt (1 tsp)

Sauce

  • Butter (1 T)
  • Frank’s Hot Sauce (2.5oz)
  • Garlic (1 or 2 toes/cloves)
  • Lemon juice (1/2 lemon)

Accoutrement

  • Celery
  • Carrots
  • Blue cheese or ranch dressing

Prep

Taking care not to keep raw chicken and its juices contained and apart from the rest of the kitchen…

  1. Line the sheet pan with foil and set the rack (if you’re using one) in place.

  2. Prepare the wings

    This step is about breaking down whole wings and getting them as dry as possible.

    1. Line the sheet pan (or rack) with a layer or two of paper towel.

    2. With a knife or sharp kitchen shears, separate the whole wings into 3 parts: tip, flat, drumette.

      1. Chuck the tips into the trash, a stock pot simmering on your stove top, or collect them in a bowl that you empty into a freezer bag eventually for freezing and reuse.
      2. Lay the flats and drumettes on the paper-towel-lined baking sheet (or rack) to dry in a single layer.
      3. Once the sheet pan is full, use several sheets of fresh paper towel to dab the top sides of the chicken dry.
      4. Move the dry chicken into a large bowl and discard all of the paper towel.

  3. Prepare the oven

    1. Adjust the top rack to within 6" of the broiler
    2. Set the broiler to 400F

  4. Prepare the wings for baking

    This step is about getting the wings coated evenly with salt and baking powder and arranged on the baking sheet for cooking.

    1. Mix together the baking powder and salt (equal parts), and sift, sprinkle, or spoon over the bowl of dry chicken.
    2. Toss the chicken in the salt/powder mixture with your hands or a wide spatula until they’re coated evenly.
    3. Lay the wings on the pan (or rack) in a single layer, leaving enough space that you can turn them with tongs, halfway through cooking.

  5. Prepare the sauce

    1. Roughly chop the garlic
    2. Add garlic, butter, and hot sauce to the small sauce pot

Cook

  1. Add the sheet pan full of wings to the oven

    Broil 10-15 minutes per side

  2. While the wings are broiling

    1. Heat the sauce on medium, stirring occasionally
    2. Wash the bowl you used to toss the wings
    3. If you haven’t already, chop the celery and carrot!

  3. Once the wings are done:

    Internal temp should be ~165F

    1. Pull the sheet pan out of the oven and transfer the wings to the clean mixing bowl
    2. Squeeze lemon into the sauce, stir, and then pour into the bowl
    3. Using a clean spatula, toss the wings in the sauce so that each is coated

  4. Serve

    1. Using tongs, transfer the sauced wings to a platter with the celery and carrot
    2. Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing (NYT Cooking link below also provides a recipe for making your own blue cheese)

References