So, I was working on a recipe for chicken wings when not long after I started, my husband basically took over. Just for the record my husband CAN cook, and I love it when he does – it just doesn’t happen all that often anymore! So I did not argue and said, “Yes, I’d love for you to take a shot at developing this wing recipe” (i.e. make dinner tonight – wink wink).
And I must say they turned out to be the best oven baked chicken wings I’ve had and definitely rival the smoked chicken wings we recently fell in love with at one of our favorite Charlotte restaurants, Rooster’s.
Baking this knock-off version at home by emulating the flavor of their wood burning fire with smoked salt makes our house smell almost as good as their amazing restaurant, and it only takes 45 minutes to bake (instead of hours to smoke…not to mention you don’t have to tend a fire!). So, just in time for the Super Bowl – enjoy!
Here’s a video on how to make our best oven baked chicken wings:
The Best Oven Baked Chicken Wings!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken wings about 3 dozen wings total
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup or honey
- 2 1/2 teaspoons pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked salt (this recipe would not be the same without the SMOKED version versus regular salt…I found it at our grocery store and it’s worth the extra effort if you don’t already own some)
- 1 teaspoon thyme dried
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano dried
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper (ground cayenne)
Optional Accompaniments
- celery
- ranch dressing homemade (see link in notes)
Instructions
- Place the cooling rack on top of a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and set aside. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Pour the maple syrup into a large mixing bowl. Add the wings and mix with your hands to evenly coat the wings. (Note: If your wings are fairly wet, pat dry with a paper towel first, otherwise don’t waste your time.) Arrange the coated chicken wings on top of the rack, thick-skinned side down.
- Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl and with a dry hand, evenly spread about half of the spice mixture on top of the wings. With your other “wet” hand, press the spice rub into the wings and then flip them over (we want the thick-skinned side up during baking for extra crispiness). Evenly spread the remaining spice mixture on top with your dry hand.
- Bake for 45 minutes on the middle oven rack. Serve warm and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition Facts
I’ve made these several times and we love them! Question though. My butcher didn’t have any fresh so I bought frozen. Should I thaw first or can I coat and cook frozen?
Make sure you thaw them out before cooking. – Nicole
I made these last week (got the recipe from your cookbook) and they were absolutely delicious. This recipe makes the best home-cooked wings I’ve ever made and just as good as fried. I love the flavor of the coating, and they taste great the next day too. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Is that rack you are showing in the picture, oven safe? Where did you get it? I have a cooling rack for bakinh but not it oven safe.
I have to finally leave a comment here after cooking this tens of times and surprising everyone with the “best wings they ever tried”! We actually have special wing days now that just happened because of this recipe. Smoked salt is a MUST and I also use smoked paprika! We absolutely love the healthy ranch too!!! We can’t eat any other wings now haha! We tried both – oven and grilled these wings too, comes out amazing!
These wings are amazing but we are now doing Whole 30 and can’t have any sweeteners. Wondering what we could replace the maple syrup with to make the dry mix stick. Anyone have any ideas?
Hi. That is just red pepper/cayenne.
I’ve made these a few times and they are absolutely delicious. I always have one question though what do you mean by the ingredient red pepper? I never can find that except crushed red pepper is that what the ingredient is supposed to be?
It is Cayenne pepper.
I made these wings as part of an appetizer buffet, and they were great! For anyone who would assume this dish would be gluten-free (like I did), please check your smoked sea salt. I found the smoked salt in my regular grocery store but didn’t notice it had wheat in the ingredients until I was preparing the wings. Smoked paprika worked great along with kosher salt and the other ingredients. Will definitely make these wings again – thank you!
I only baked them for 40 minutes instead of 45 and they’re all nonedible. They’re too burnt! Dinner wasted
Check your oven temp. Most ovens are off by at least 25 degrees.
Super yummy! The only problem I had was my smoke alarm kept going off because the fat and spices dripping onto the foil underneath the chicken kept burning and smoke was pouring out of my oven! Wondering if anyone else had this trouble and, if so, did they find a solution?
Readers?
I’ve never had this problem. I’ve made them several times.
I have made these several time and love them but for some reason tonight they are burning up! No clue!
Put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan so drippings land on the paper instead of the hot metal.
These are by far the best wings I’ve had. My guests thought so too. THANK YOU!!!
Thy are very good but the instructions are silly. Mix your spices into the maple syrup in a large bowl and then stir the wings in with a spatula. No need to sprinkle spices on wings and then turn them to repeat.
This waa awesome and easy! I used fake maple syrup and honey (that’s what I had), oak smoked salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, and some southwest seasoning. I baked it for only about 15 minutes because my oven runs hot. So yummy
Added a few drops of liquid smoke to the maple syrup smells great
I’m not sure about the “cooling” racks. Shouldn’t we use “baking” racks? I read the comments under the product on amazon.com.
I now see that there are 2 separate links for the cooling racks. One’s okay to use. The other is not.
Used liquid smoke, ground thyme, and leaf oregano. Ten thousand stars! These were crispy and had a wonderful smoked flavor. Super easy to throw together too. Superbowl meal win! Make the queso too friends. You won’t regret it.
Do you use dried thyme & oregano leaves or ground?
They are dried and ground.
I have been making these wings for a year now and they are delicious and easy to make! The house smells so good while they are cooking. I don’t make any changes to this recipe and we don’t need any dipping sauces. Make them, you won’t be sorry!!!
These sound amazing! I haven’t seen smoked salt in my store, but I might try a few drops of liquid smoke. I liked the commenters idea of smoked paprika too!
I am going to try this for superbowl, except I am going to use smoked paprika instead of smoked salt, should work hopefully :)
EVERYBODY loves these! I throw the 1.5 lbs wings in a baggie, dribble in some maple syrup, shake it up, then add the spices (sans thyme…yucky). Then just throw them on a cookie sheet and in the oven. They turn out crispy and delightfully tasty! Plus, they only take two seconds to prepare this way. :)
Do you not use a cooling rack? I use my cooling rack for cookies, etc after they come out of the oven. I don’t want to use it for the chicken in the oven. I’d rather just use a baking tray/cookie sheet. Is that what you did?
Do these get crispy? I have a hard time with wings….I find that they are still fatty when I bake them and it grosses me out. I like the skin to get crispy. Any tips?
Mine get crispy. You could always throw them on the grill if you want them more crispy.
I almost burned the house down making these. The syrup dripped to the bottom of the pan and burned to smoke. Perhaps my oven is too hot.
Anything that has grease or oil will cause a fire in your oven. Place foil at the bottom of your oven. A friend of mine caught her house on fire by warming up a tostada shell in the oven.
These are awesome!! I made them tonight to eat while we watched football bowl games. I followed the recipe exactly, and hubby and I both loved them! I don’t like spicy hot food, but the spice on these is perfect. And the little bit of sweetness underneath from the maple syrup was wonderful. Thanks so much for a delicious alternative to greasy, fried wings.
I made these pretty much as written. I used honey and I think it really helped seal in the juices and flavours. Crispy on the outside and still somewhat moist on the inside, perfect! All dry ingredients through a mortar and pastle. I did back off on the red chili flakes because we Canadians can’t handle it! Wings got dark real fast – around 20 – 30 minutes, so I covered them with tinfoil. I do think some garlic powder was missing here. Served with fresh local veg and light ranch dressing. Thank you for the inspiration. Will attempt again!
I finally tried making these and I didn’t smell the smoked salt at all while they cooked. I used alder smoked salt but from another company on Amazon. I did smell the thyme and oregano as they were cooking.
I found these to be good but a bit on the peppery side. Temp and time for my electric oven was dead on! I also recommend splitting the wings with a sharp knife, removing and discarding the tips.
I feel a bit more accuracy in amount of wings is needed; from my local grocer 3 lbs. is not 3 dozen wings, only about a dozen. Maybe we just have really big chicken wings here?
I’d make this again with some modifications of my own; grind the smoked salt to fine, tone down the pepper.
You used whole wings, didn’t you? She meant ‘wings’ like you’d get at a restaurant, which are split and the tips cut off, which would give you more ‘wings’ total ;-) So, you’d have a flat piece, a miniature drumstic, and then the tip when you cut them up.
I think you missed what I wrote;”I also recommend splitting the wings with a sharp knife, removing and discarding the tips.”
Not much meat on the tips so I toss those. Still does not add up to 3 doz. and I feel this is critical as it affects the overall ‘peppery’ of each piece. (I even added in two very large breasts.)
Still experimenting with this and will fold it into my other wing recipes.
Just made these today. I baked these for 25 minutes instead. They are super yummy. Your spice mix makes these chicken wings taste like breakfast sausage. Thanks for sharing your awesome recipe!
THE BEST OVEN BAKED CHICKEN WINGS! Yes, they were! I doubled the recipe and used 5# of fresh wings. Because we love sauce, at 40 minutes I brushed some BBQ sauce on half the wings, baked 5 minutes, turned and brushed the other side and repeated the 5 minutes. They were ALL amazing! Neither my son nor I could decide if we liked the plain or the sauced wings better. I may be making another batch this weekend because they have already disappeared and would be terrific packed in lunches this week! Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
Can I use drumsticks for this instead?
Hi Lucy. Drumsticks should work, too.
i made these today and we LOVED them! I had to use the hickory liquid smoke mixed into the syrup instead of smoked salt as I could only find it as a small jar for $12.99 at whole foods which I thought was unreasonable. We didn’t think it adversely affected the final result as they were so yummy!
Also I just slowly added the spices into the bowl, tossing it every time I added about 1/4 of the spice mix.
2 questions:
1) can you grill these?
2) how do you get the maple syrup most affordably? I am loving it in your recipes, but it is fairly expensive (more trouble for baked items, which require larger amounts, than this)
Hi there. Grilling them should work, too. I find Costco to be the most affordable place to buy pure organic maple syrup. You can get a liter for $12.99.
I made the oven baked wings. I used a 4 pound bag cause I don’t have anything to measure a 3 pound bag. I didn’t realize u had to use a paper towel to dry them off…now I know because you will lose seasoning…I use my blow dryer to help dry the wings since I had already added the seasoning mix…added a little more seasoning on top before I stuck them in the oven…I think with more seasoning it will be a little good.. they weren’t bad but no one wanted seconds…my kids that is….great for people wanting to lose weight
Thanks for the recipe, super simple but a great combination of flavors. I did not have smoked salt. I used smoked paprika though, and they were extremely good! I also put this on chicken thighs and it was great! Thanks
This is for everyone who is like me and lives in a small town, and wouldn’t be able to find a specialty ingredient like smoked salt. I have fallen in love with Spicely Organics, and they have a hickory smoked salt. Even better, all orders qualify for free shipping.
http://spicely.com/collections/hickory-smoke-salts/products/hickory-smoked-salt-grinder
I just made these last night after ordering the smoked salt on Amazon (thank you for the link!). These were wonderful! Even my husband, who loves wings, said they were better than any restaurant! I loved the crispiness and the salty, smoky flavor. I can’t thank you enough for this website – I’ve learned SO much over the years and absolutely LOVE the recipes!
Great wings! Love the crispness and the texture, but I need to cut down on the back pepper next time! Too much for me. I could not find smoked sea salt, so I used good Hawaiian Alaea Sea Salt and smoked paprika. Thanks for the recipe! Easy and delicious…I will definitely make again!
I don’t have smoked salt, but I do have smoked paprika. I wonder if that will have the same effect. I guess I will find out!
I always sub smoked sea salt-paprika combinations for regular sea salt and smoked paprika, and every recipe tastes fantastic.
These were great! Loved every bite and my kids even liked them despite the spicy kick! Thanks!
These were great! Loved every bite and my kids even liked them despite the spicy kick! Thanks!
I loved these! I was excited to try to bake wings BUT my husband came home early and insisting on putting them on the grill—could not complain! I will make them again because they were so so good! Loved the spice kick it had! Unfortunately I did not have any homemade dipping sauce, but found some I plan on pairing with this dish:)
These look delicious and I can’t wait to try them soon! I need to buy the oven friendly cooling rack first; thanks for sharing a link to that!
http://www.ourfrontdoorlookingin.com
Is the red pepper, red pepper flakes?
My cooking buds have never heard of ‘red pepper’.
Thanks
Gayla
Red pepper is also known as cayenne pepper.
These were delicious and a big hit with our guests!
Hi. Just found your site, and I love it! I have Celiac Disease and have not been feeling great lately, so I started looking into real foods and your site popped up! With some minor adjustments for gluten free (me) and nut free (my kids), this is totally doable! Thanks so much :)
I used this recipe with some thighs and legs. Cooked them in a roaster with water in the bottom to keep the chicken moist and added an additional 15 minutes in cook time. I also used an additional tbls of maple syrup as there was more surface area to cover. They were AMAZING. My husband said it was the best chicken I ever made. THANK YOU!
Hi Lisa,
I tried your recipe and it’s FANTASTIC! I did not only use the chicken wings, but other parts of the chicken like the legs and the recipe is still perfect.
Thanks for sharing!
Karla
These were delicious! I am a klutz and had trouble figuring out how to follow the wet and dry hand direction (true confession) so I added most of the dry ingredients to the large bowl and shook to coat. After putting the wings on the pan, (just the top of the broiler pan) I sprinkled the rest of the seasoning equally over. Everything stayed on, it was super easy and did I say delicious?
This was the best chicken wings recipe which gives the yummy flavor.It seems to be so great,that from now onwards no need to go out to have chicken wings.
These turned out great. Tons of flavor! We didn’t have smoked sea salt so we took the sea salt we had from Peru poured some liquid smoke on it and put it in the oven until it dried. Probably defeated the real food purpose but we stuck with the rest of the recipe and were not disappointed.
My husband would love to eat these; I’m not certain he would love to cook them!
I recently saw organic chicken wings at Market District for the first time and was so excited, but didn’t know where to start with a recipe, so this is perfect!! I’ve never heard of smoked salt, so I’m ready to expand my horizons on that, too! Thanks for the recipe!
Husbands are such talented cooks! WHY don’t they do it more? ;) LOL….my husband always makes lovely hot and honey mustard wings for the superbowl!!
These were the best wings I’ve ever made at home. Now if I can just find a Real Food alternative to Durkee Red Hot I may be able to convert my husband as well. :-)
A few notes on this recipe:
1. Prep time took longer than I anticipated because I needed to cut the wings up into smaller pieces. I’ve never made wings before so maybe I should have looked for something else at the store?
2. I found the smoked salt in my regular grocery store spice isle. It’s by McCormick and in a bottle with a grinder built in.
3. I put the wings in a large plastic bag and poured the syrup in to mix. Then I opened the bag, poured in most of the spice mix and tossed it around again. Saved the last 1/4 of the spice to top the chicken with once they were on the pan.
4. I did use a meat thermometer to verify that they had passed 165 before eating.
Overall, great recipe. These wings were the first thing gone.
Thanks for the instructions. Mine always stick to the foil & make a mess…….. the rack is PERFECT; keeps the wings from gluing themselves to the foil. So much better!
Found the smoked salt in a specialty section of our usual grocery store in town. It’s unfair to poorly rate a recipe because you can’t find an ingredient.
These are great! They even refrigerate well and were delicious the second day. They are sort of in between Asian wings and spicy wings. I added a little extra maple syrup and pepper flakes. I would make these again!
Good recipe, way too spicy for my kids (11 & 5). I cut back on the pepper (only used 2tsp), prob will only use one and used 1/4 tsp red pepper (may omit all together). Otherwise very easy and yummy recipe. But for those making for kids…cut down on the pepper. Too spicy!
Do we need to thaw the wings out first?
Chrissy, yes if you are using frozen wings you must thaw first.
Wings are something that I have always shied away from making because I thought they were difficult and I also try not to deep fry (and thought this was the only way to make them!) I couldn’t believe how easy and delicious these were! The amount of pepper was a little much for my kids so I might cut down on that next time, but overall such a great recipe!
these were soooooo good! made them yesterday for the Super Bowl and they were a HUGE hit. I had to use more than 1 tsp of maple syrup though to get them covered. I’m thinking next time I might brush it on vs dunking them? Anyway, the flavor was amazing and everyone raved about them!
Hi Kate, so glad you and your guests liked them! The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon (Tbsp), not 1 teaspoon (tsp), but maybe that’s what you meant. Regardless, 1 tablespoon does result in only a very thin coating of maple syrup, but believe it or not it does make a difference in flavor. – Jason
Its very unfortunate that someone gave this recipe 2 stars before making it just based on the fact that it asked for sea salt.. I made these for the superbowl last night and they were delicious! I bought cherrywood smoked sea salt from whole foods. It was a fairly large container for $9.99. I am sure I could have gone to a publix or kroger and found some less expensive but I plan to learn how this new ingredient will work into other recipes of mine. Will be making this again!
Next time, look in the bulk section at Whole Foods. My Maryland location has an array of salts available in bulk – so you just get what you need for very little investment!
I made these last night for a superbowl party and they were a hit! Thank you so much for this recipe! I felt great about serving them and eating them!
Love this recipe! Made them for the whole family. A Super Bowl favorite! Just started using this site for recipies. Made 5 this week. Love all of them! Thanks.
I just learned something new today. I didn’t know there was such a thing as smoked salt. I’ll be getting some and definitely be experimenting with it for the next few days. Thanks.
Simply awesome! Didn’t have the smoked salt so I added some liquid smoke to my spice mix – I made almost 10 lbs of drumsticks with this recipe (nearly quadrupled the ingredients) and it was the hit of the evening. So many compliments from kids and adults- people couldn’t believe it was so simple. Kudos guys – great job!
Made them exactly the way Lisa said and they were a hit !!!!
Will definitely make them again.
These were awesome! Thank you for another great recipe!
Tried these over the weekend and they are exceptional. Used a few drops of hickory smoke (could not find smoked salt on short notice at my local WF) into the maple syrup and there were smiles all around. Thanks so much for sharing, will be making these again and recommending to others! So nice that the recipe is so simple too.
Used this recipe w/o the maple syrup and with somewhat less smoked salt. Baked wings until semi-crispy. I used garlic oil. Then I did two batches – one with B-B-Q sauce and one with the traditional hot sauce and butter. Coated wings in these sauces and then baked for a long time, separate batches, at around 275+ degrees. As everyone knows – a long slow simmer or slow cooker for some beef and chicken produces very tender meat. I go back and forth between 275 and 375 until wings are very tender – falling off the bone.
I know – it’s work but worth it.
McCormick Smoked Sea Salt is available in the spice aisle at HT. Look on the rack of McCormick Spices.
Just be careful if you have a gluten allergy – I wanted to try this recipe and went there. The McCormick smoked sea salt has wheat, maltodextrin, and natural flavor. I will have to wait until I can find a real food version of the salt.
Mindy, where at Harris teeter did you find it??
I found the smoked sea salt at Harris Teeter for $1.50!
I made these with regular sea salt and smoky paprika and steamed them first a la Alton Brown. I’ll probably add some liquid smoke to the maple syrup next time. I put the seasoning mix in a shaker jar. It was easy to control the amount I put on each wing. Had a little leftover. I plan to use it on chicken thighs cooked the same way as the wings. Hubby has already “sampled” the wings in advance of the big party. :)
We had these for supper tonight and they were amazing. I didn’t have the smoked sea salt, so we did just regular sea salt and the flavors were still great. I am going to get some smoked sea salt next time to see what the difference is! This was a very quick and easy recipe. I was able to get them in the oven in less than 15 minutes even with 3 little kids running around me! :)
Savory Spice has wonderful smoked salts! Try the Smoked Alderwood.
So forgive me ahead of time but I’m new to the no package thing and going to try to make these for the big game tomorrow. The recipe does state if I’m supposed to use dried spices (the thyme & oregano) or fresh? I guess it doesn’t matter, right? Or does it?
Hi Paula, you use dried spices in this recipe to make a rub. I’ll update the recipe to clarify. – Jason
Love the recipe – flavor is great! The whole house was filling with smoke though when cooking them (smoke alarm city!) and I had to triple the sauce recipe for a 1/3 of the amount of drum sticks though…
You might try Trader Joe’s or William Sonoma for smoked salt. They both have a good selection of salts. Looks like a great recipe!
Thanks Jason, sounds amazing and I was looking for a new baked wing recipe. Heading to the market to pick-up the smoked salt! Cheers! Kary
Any other alternatives for the smoked salt? Snowed in here and can’t get to the stores anytime soon. Thanks.
Hi,
You might consider making your own smoked salt. I’ve made my own for years.There are recipes all over the place on how to do it. It’s not that hard to do, and its a lot cheaper than buying from the store.
Hope this helps
Kolohe, you might try smoked paprika or liquid smoke, though I’ve not tested either. I’ve cooked with smoked paprika before and like it.
I made these for Superbowl yesterday. They were awesome! I did not have smoked salt and since we got 12″ of snow yesterday, a trip to the store was out. I just used regular sea salt and smoked paprika and I thought they tasted great. I have not made them with the smoked salt so I cannot compare the two, but they were plenty flavorful and a big hit!
Hi would you be able to freeze them?
We’ve never had any left to freeze so I’m not sure! You could certainly use previously frozen (and thawed) wings for the recipe, but I don’t know how they would turnout if you freeze after making and then reheat later. – Jason
Thank you so much for answering my question. Made them last Sunday and there were none left to try freezing! they were great, I thought 3lbs of chicken sounded so much in the recipe but they were all gobbled up :-) a winner, thank you.
These look fabulous! Do you use sweet paprika or smoked paprika? Can’t wait to try them!
Tamara I used regular paprika, but I suppose you could use smoked for an extra smoky flavor!
Thanks for letting me know!
Unfortunately, pretty much a worthless recipe for most of us. Visits to t grocery stores produced nothing but blank looks when trying to get smoked salt and the web site has none available. Good eating to those who can find the salt.
Hi John, we found smoked salt in the spice section of our local store, but here is a link to a slew of options on Amazon http://amzn.to/1DdHFBh. Surely some options will be in stock. The particular wood used to smoke the salt is not important.
I agree…Im picking my daughter up from college so I will stop by the Whole food store otherwise…it is not close to me at all…I googled smoked sea salt and made phone calls to grocery stores…it is an item that is hard to find…will look at the other recipes they have here on this website to see what else I can get while I am on that end…wonder do they shop at walmart…isn’t that store nationwide
You can order hickory smoked salt at Spicely Organics….and now ALL orders on their website qualify for free shipping.
I find a non-organic brand at Walmart by the regular sea salt.
Hi,
Can I use cherry smoked sea salt as well or hickory sea salt…as this is what the whole food store said that they carried….8oz 10 bucks…he says
Sure. Different woods will have slightly different flavors, but most common hardwoods should be great.
Hello Jason,
I am a USAF, retiree living abroad in the Republic of Panama and finding recipe ingredients can prove to be very challenging. Many basic ingredients found within the U.S. are unavailable, or you spend exhausting amounts of time / money driving around to find them and the prices are usually 3-5 fold (i.e. real maple syrup, smoked sea salt, smoked paprika, etc.). When / if you are able to find them, you may need to buy a 3-5 year supply (not stocked on a reoccurring basis) and improvising is usually the best avenue.
To cut through the chase; I’m contemplating using a mixture of maple flavored pancake syrup or real honey, liquid smoke (hickory or mesquite) and seasoned salt or regular salt to fill the void in this recipe.
Amounts of each improvised ingredient would have to be suited to taste and extra glaze would have to be made for lab rat testing / tasting purposes (served alongside a case of beer – ROFL), but that’s all part of cooking. Your thoughts?
Hey Gary, having been to Central America once before I can somewhat imagine your predicament. I would try honey mixed with a small amount of liquid smoke and regular salt. Good luck!
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe! Can you make these a day before and re-heat them using the broil setting?
We reheated some in our toaster oven and they great, so I would assume so.
is there a reason you don’t just mix all the dry ingredients into the syrup/honey and coat them in one step? it just seems like it would less messy…what do you think?
I considered that but thought it would turn into a clumpy mess with a fair amount of spices stuck to my hands and therefore wasted. But you could always try it :)
Any chance you could have the same results with olive oil instead of maple syrup? I don’t particularly like my meat sweet.
Any other alternative?
This is the most coincidental thing, because I came online to find a baked wings recipe and before I could even search, I saw yours on my reader feed!
Thanks!!!
You could try that or you could just omit the syrup – I think the spices will stick without it.
Honestly the result does not taste sweet. While you can totally omit the maple syrup (I tried it), I think it is better with the syrup. There really is very little in the entire recipe, and much of it drips off during cooking. But it does round out the flavor.
I am the same way not caring for sweet taste in my meat, but that was not the case with these at all. The flavor using the exact recipe was very good.
At which store did you find the smoked sea salt?
I got it at Earth Fare (health food store)
Would this recipe work with different cuts of chicken (tenderloins, or cubed chicken breast)? It looks delicious, but my husband doesn’t like bones in his chicken…picky, I know :)
Kim – I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why not!
Kim the high heat in this recipe is designed to render much of the fat off the wings, leaving them crispy on the outside. While the seasonings should work well with other cuts of meat, you may need to experiment with the temperature and cooking times.
I use chicken legs and it works great. I also use a little more maple syrup.
Are bakers cooling racks by nature oven safe? I have a set of three stacking racks by Wilton, I’ve looked but not been able to find anything about their oven safeness, so I don’t use them that way. They seem to be coated with something – but that something appears to be the same as in your photo! I have an uncoated roasting pan rack I have used like this in a pinch, but it’s really not large enough to effectively cover a baking sheet so I’ve looked at purchasing an oven rack. But I despise unnecessary kitchen gadgets in my city apartment! I did notice the Amazon answers on the one you linked to share that it’s not oven safe, but its safe to say I trust your input more than Amazon answers. Thanks in advance for the advice!
Karissa to be honest I am not sure since we’ve had ours for so long, and while they look exactly like the brand I had linked to at first, I don’t recall where we got them. I just swapped out the link to one that is advertised as oven safe and will fill the entire 13×17 (approximate size) baking sheet.
Thanks for the reply!
Thanks for your reply Jason, I will stick to the recipe as posted, just wanted to confirm. :)
How do you think this would be with thighs?
I think it would be great, but you may need to adjust the cooking time.
These look yummy! I have done some research online for producing crispy oven-baked wings and found a recommendation to boil them first (to render some of the fat underneath the skin!). They turned out FANTASTIC! Will definitely try your recipe!
Thanks Michelle. I’m curious to hear what you think after trying them as personally I think they are plenty crispy without the need to boil first (when cooked as directed, of course). We try to skip steps when we can (I tested with and without patting the wings dry, for example) to keep it simple!
Can you tell me where you found the smoked sea salt? Does Earth Fare carry it? Thanks!
If you click on the word Smoked Sea Salt in the recipe (it is underlined) it will bring you to Amazon and that is where you can order. :)
Yes, that’s where I got it – Earth Fare!
And you can get it on Amazon too like Caroline mentioned :)
You can get hickory smoked salt from Spicely Organics. They now offer free shipping on all their orders.
I can’t wait to try these this weekend!!! I would suggest parboiling the wings first. This renders out some of the fat and makes the bakes wings extra crispy!
Thanks for the suggestion. When we develop recipes we try to make them as simple as possible and do a fair amount of testing. In this case I found that a lot of the fat gets rendered out by placing the thick-skinned side up and baking the entire 45 minutes without flipping the wings. I’m curious to hear your thoughts after you try them this weekend!
Simple is good!!! How much time I have this weekend will determine which technique I try! :)
I also thought the amount of red pepper would seem spicy (for my liking, anyway!) and was planning to reduce it to 1/8 Tsp.
Is it really only one tablespoon of maple syrup? Is that enough to coat 3 dozen wings?
Yes, it is enough to lightly coat the wings. We tested 2x :) – Jason
Does just 1 Tbsp. of maple syrup really coat 36 wings? It looks amazing and I’ve already ordered the smoked sea salt from Amazon, I have everything else on hand and can’t wait to try, just wanted to confirm the amount of maple syrup to be used. Thanks!
Good question :) We tested the recipe twice and it is enough to lightly coat the wings if you mix thoroughly. It adds a nice touch that balances out the flavor (we tried without, but the recipe needs it). I suppose if you like sweet you could add a little more, but we try to limit our consumption of sweeteners. – Jason
Is this kid friendly? The amount of pepper seems a bit spicy? Can anyone Lmk. Thanks
Our 7 and 10 year old girls LOVED this recipe. Lisa is somewhat sensitive to spicy food, and she thought it was just right. If you are concerned you could always dial back the pepper. – Jason
My husband will thank you for this! He has been begging for wings! Now to find the smoked sea salt!
William Sonoma carries the Smoked Salt
Looks yummy! Can’t wait to try!! Gotta get some smoked salt first!