How do I cook chicken wings so they are properly crispy?

Crisp skin is dehydrated skin. Everything that works on wings — the drying, the baking powder, the rack, the high heat, the late saucing — is a different way of removing water or of not putting it back.

What you'll need

• Chicken wings, separated into drumettes and flats
• A wire rack over a baking tray
• Baking powder (not bicarbonate of soda)
• Kitchen paper

Step by step

1. Separate the wings if they are whole.A whole wing has three parts: the drumette, the flat or wingette, and the tip. Cut through the two joints with a heavy knife — feel for the gap rather than trying to cut through bone. Keep the tips for stock; they are almost pure collagen and make excellent gelatinous stock.
2. Dry them far more than feels necessary.Pat every wing dry with kitchen paper, then pat them again. If you have the time, spread them on a rack and leave them uncovered in the fridge for four hours or overnight. The fridge is a dehumidifier and this step alone changes the result.
3. Toss with baking powder and salt.About a teaspoon of baking powder and a teaspoon of salt per 500g of wings, tossed to a thin even coating. Baking powder raises the surface pH, which speeds up browning, and it helps break down the proteins in the skin so it blisters rather than tightening. Use baking powder, not bicarbonate of soda, which tastes soapy at this quantity.
4. Cook on a rack, in a single layer, with space.A rack lets hot air reach the underside and lets fat drip away instead of pooling. Wings touching each other steam at their contact points and stay pale there. If you have too many for one tray, use two.
5. Use high heat, or two-stage heat.The simple version is 200–220°C fan for 40–45 minutes, turning once. The better version starts at 120–130°C for 30 minutes to render the fat out of the skin, then goes to 220°C for 20 minutes to crisp it. The two-stage method is noticeably better and costs you nothing but time.
6. Cook them well past merely done.Wings are small, bony and full of connective tissue, so they want to go beyond the minimum safe point — think 80°C plus rather than 75°C. Chicken must be cooked thoroughly throughout regardless; with wings, the texture target and the safety target point the same way.
7. Sauce off the heat, at the last second.Put the hot wings in a large bowl, pour the sauce over, and toss. Seconds before serving. Sauce applied during cooking soaks in, and sugary sauces burn. If you want a baked-on glaze, brush it on for the final five minutes only.

Tips

• An air fryer is genuinely better at wings than an oven — it is a small, fast convection oven, which is exactly what crisp skin wants. 200°C for 20–25 minutes, shaken halfway, in a single layer.
• Flats crisp better than drumettes because they have more skin per gram. If you have a choice at the counter, buy flats.
• Cornflour instead of baking powder gives crunch but a slightly dusty coating. Half and half is a reasonable compromise.
• Frozen wings must be fully defrosted first. The surface water from thawing while they cook is the enemy of everything above.

Common mistakes

• Crowding them onto one tray — Wings release a lot of moisture. Packed together they steam in it, and no amount of extra time will crisp skin sitting in its own humidity.
• Using bicarbonate of soda instead of baking powder — Bicarbonate at that dose leaves a distinct soapy, metallic taste. Baking powder is buffered and does not.
• Tossing in sauce and then returning them to the oven — The skin absorbs the liquid and softens, and the sugar burns before the sauce has set. Sauce is the last thing that happens.

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