Crispy Keto Chicken Wings
Whether you need a crowd pleaser for the big game, or you just want to enjoy some pub food at home for dinner – keto chicken wings are where it’s at!
These wings are oven-baked yet super crispy, and taste like you got them from your favorite bar. I first tested them on a group of our friends, and they were gone in minutes. I bet you and your family and friends will love them too!
How to Make Keto Chicken Wings
These wings are not only crazy good, but they’re crazy easy to make. First, you’ll separate and dry your wings. Then, you’ll mix up some baking powder, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and toss that with the wings. You can also place the wings on a baking sheet, and rub the baking powder mixture on top – either way works.
Using a little baking powder actually helps get the wings crispier when you bake them in the oven.
For the baking portion, you’ll put them in for about a half hour, pull ‘em out and flip them, then continue to cook. All in all you’re looking at around 50 minutes of cooking time, but it’s well worth it!
Breaking Down Chicken Wings
If you’re just buying chicken wings for the first time, you might be surprised that they look differently than you get them at a restaurant. You’ll just need to break them down yourself, which is very easy.
Chicken wings are made up of three parts:
- Drumette – This is the part that attached the wing to the animal, and looks like a mini drumstick.
- Flat (or wingette) – This is the middle part of the chicken wing, and looks like a bit like a flat oval.
- Tip – This is the very end of the chicken wing, and is pointy.
I personally only split mine into two sections – the drumette and the flat/tip. I like leaving the tip connected to the flat because you can get some crispy chicken skin on there (though there’s not much meat underneath). If you prefer cutting the tip off, that’s fine too!
Why Does Baking Powder Help Make Crispy Keto Chicken Wings?
This was a family trick I learned a while back, so I really wasn’t sure why we started making them with baking powder. While I can’t find any conclusive evidence, my guess is that it’s related to how baking powder might change the pH of the chicken skin.
At quick glance, it looks like chicken is slightly acidic with a pH of 6 (neutral pH is 7). Baking powder combines both a base and an acid, and when adding it to the skin, it may affect the pH, helping the skin brown and crisp better.
I honestly have no idea if this is correct, but that’s the best guess I’ve got for ya! 😉 Chef friends or chemistry peeps, feel free to weigh in if you’ve got more information for me.
Two quick tips related to using baking powder:
- Use aluminum free baking powder, as some people may note a slightly bitter taste if the baking powder has aluminum.
- Do not – for the sake of delicious wings – substitute baking soda for baking powder. Baking soda is straight up sodium bicarbonate, while baking powder is a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and an acid (usually cream of tartar). You’ll still get brown crispy wings with baking soda – but they’ll have an unpleasant bitter taste because of this difference.
Sauces & Flavors for Keto Chicken Wings
For this recipe, I went with a standard buffalo wing sauce, mixing Frank’s Red Hot and butter to create that perfect buffalo flavor. You really can’t go wrong with that when it comes to wings!
But you can also do other sauces or flavor combos too! Here are a few ideas:
- Use keto BBQ sauce for BBQ wings
- Get some cheesy flavor with garlic and parmesan chicken wings
- Make a low sugar Thai sweet chili sauce for your wings
- Try the sauce listed in here for low carb General Tso’s chicken wings
I hope you love these chicken wings as much as we do – if so, please leave a recipe rating and a comment!
Crispy Keto Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 3-4 lbs chicken wings separated into the drumette and the flat/tip
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 cup Frank’s Red Hot
- 3 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Prepare the chicken wings by separating them into the drumette and the flat/tip portion. Dry them well with a paper towel.
- Combine the baking powder, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl. Toss this with the chicken wings.
- Lightly grease a baking sheet, and place the chicken wings on the baking sheet. (You’ll likely need two baking sheets).
- Place the baking sheets in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Take the baking sheets out and flip the wings over. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 20 minutes.
- Once the wings are done, melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave. Combine the butter and the hot sauce in a large bowl, and toss the wings in the sauce.
- Serve as-is, with crumbled blue cheese on top, or with an appropriate blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping.
Fabulous for my keto diet!!! Well done’
Crispy keto chicken wings ARE DELICIOUS!!!
Absolutely the best oven fried chicken I’ve ever had…PERIOD!
This Is the ONLY way I like my chicken cooked now.
The baking powder component changes EVERYTHING!
Thanks for sharing this AWESOME RECIPE😘
Thanks Kim – we’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe!!!! 🙂
This chicken recipe looks so good! I can’t wait to try this someday. Thanks a lot for sharing!
I made this just as you suggested and they were superb! The meat was juicy inside, with just the right amount of crunch in the coating…which I was looking for. Great addition to / for my Keto diet – thanks !
Glad to hear it! We’re happy you enjoyed them and thanks for leaving a comment. 🙂
Found this recipe around the first of August. It’s now mid-September and I just finished making these wings for the third time. They are wonderful! You can prep them for baking in the time it takes the oven to preheat. Who needs an air fryer for wings when this oven-baked version is so quick and easy? I ‘ll never pay the outrageous price for wings in a restaurant again. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Thanks so much for leaving this comment! We’re so glad you enjoyed them!
The crispiest wings I’ve ever made and delicious thank you so much for sharing.
Awesome! Thanks for giving them a try.
I made these wings tonight to go along with our Friday Happy Hour! Outstanding. Better than the Anchor Bar’s Buffalo Wing recipe (Original Buffalo Wing recipe) — and low carb to boot! Will make again, and again. Thank you.
What a great comment – thanks Lizzie! So glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Excellent. My husband keeps on saying how much he liked them They were so crunchy. Great change for the Keto diet. Thank you.
We love the crunch of ’em too in our house! Glad you both enjoyed them.
I made it for the first time tonight, & awwwwww man, A GREAT RECIPE, MY ABSOLUTE FAV NOW!!!! I made a garlic buffalo sauce to go over my wings though, & that just made the wings pop even more. THANK YOU TONS for this recipe…..
So glad you enjoyed them! Love the garlic buffalo sauce idea – sounds delicious.
Loved this recipe! Thank you
You’re so welcome!
These wings are divine!!! I added a pinch of sodium bicarbonate to the sauce to tone down the acidity’ a little (I don’t tolerate acidity well). I also prefer a dryer wing so after they where cooke and covered with the sauce I put them back in the oven for about 8 minutes until the sauce dried out a bit. it was delicious, the best wings I’ve ever had!
So glad you enjoyed them!! Love the idea about popping them back in the oven for a few minutes post-saucing for a drier wing. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Brilliant recipe! Let’s open a Keto Restaurante! 🙂
Thanks man, glad you enjoyed them!
I’m going to try this tomorrow. I can’t wait! Thanks for sharing!
Alright I’ve literally never left a comment on any recipe ever but these wings are incredibly delicious. Just put them in the oven and this is my 4th time making them in the last month! Loooooove that they are so easy and soooo good. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Haha I’m so glad this was the recipe that got you to leave a comment! Really glad you’ve been enjoying it.
Best I have ever made at home. These will be a regular Saturday football treat for me.
Thanks man! Glad to hear you like ’em.
Game day wings were a hit! My kids and husband loved them and told me they’d never buy wings again! My husband didn’t believe they weren’t fried. I doubled the baking powder mix for the four pounds of wings.
Awesome! So glad to hear they were a hit for your family.
Not a wing gal, but these are SO good – they don’t even need any sauce!
Woohoo! Glad you enjoyed ’em Stella.
Huge hit at my play-off party! Next time I need to double the batch because everyone said these were the best wings they have had. Thank you for sharing!
Awesome! Glad to hear they were a hit!
Unbelievable! We make these every few weeks. We’ve “gone Keto” a few times – and these are as tasty as any wing I’ve ever had – Keto or not. Thanks for passing on the recipe. Lifesaver!
Glad to hear that Chris – thanks for letting us know you liked ’em.
Can you use frozen wings for this and if so would you need to thaw first?
Hi Tiffany! Are you referring to frozen uncooked chicken wings? If so, sure – just thaw ’em out first overnight in the fridge and then use them to make these.
Is the nutritional amounts for the serving size portion, or for the total recipe?
Thank you
Hi Liz! Per serving.
Oven at 400 degrees for 50 minutes cooks wings very dry and crispy. Recipe must be wrong. Is temp too high or should time be maybe 20 minutes? Please test and let me know. Thanks
Hi Cindy! Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy them. This recipe is for crispy wings, so the crispness is something we are going for here 🙂 The time and temp are correct; we’ve made these wings many times with success – and so have many of our readers here. Did you use bone-in wings? If you used boneless, that could be an issue as then they would be too dry. That would be one thing to troubleshoot. Or, if you prefer a wing that’s not crispy, you can definitely try a different recipe for one that’s not specifically meant to be crisp. Good luck!
FANTASTIC RECIPE!!!!! Love this, and will make them again and again……. delicious even without sauce. Crispy and PERFECT!!!
Btw, my first comment everrrr on a recipe! Thank you 😊
So glad you liked them!
Excellent recipe! The family loved it
Thanks Clif – glad you enjoyed them.
I followed the recipe exactly. My smoke alarm went off half way through lol I guess the chicken was done. I used your idea of garlic parmesean becuase I didn’t have any hot sauce. IT WAS AMAZING!!! Just starting Keto if this is any indication. I am going to love this way of living. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe.
So happy you enjoyed the recipe! I’m sorry to hear about the smoke alarm – I’ve never had that problem but I’m glad you liked the wings regardless, haha! 🙂 I think the smoke detector problem may depend on the exact oven temp calibration (like if it’s 10 degrees off, it could push it over the edge) — or if there is any residue that dripped on the bottom of the oven (from this dish or another recipe previously). Those are my best guesses!
OMG! These were the best wings we’ve EVER had, keto or not!!! We have a very small oven, so the smoke detector went off a few times, but this recipe rivals ANY deep fried versions I’ve ever had!!! This recipe is amazing!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Sorry to hear about the smoke detector – you’re the second person that mentioned that, haha! I don’t know exactly what may cause it as I haven’t had it happen to me, but my best guesses are that it may depend on the exact oven temp calibration (like if it happens to be 10 degrees off, it could push it over the edge) — or if there is any residue that dripped on the bottom of the oven (from this dish or another recipe previously). But regardless, so glad you enjoyed.
My father loves eating chicken wings but he wasn’t to try doing the Keto diet until at least October this year. I liked your suggestion about using a little bit of baking powder in the rub. I wonder if he can get wings that are keto from a restaurant. That might be a lot easier than trying to make them yourself.
Perhaps! Always worth a call to a local restaurant!
They are so good! Made them many times!
Glad to hear it – thanks for leaving a comment to let us know you liked ’em!
I’ve made these wings 3 times and they always hit the spot. Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe with us.
I got a lot of smoke too coming out when flipping the wings over but I think it’s because my oven fan doesn’t take the smoke out properly while cooking on high heat.
Regardless – lovely recipe.
Glad you enjoyed – sorry to hear about the smoke, haha!
These are the best wings I’ve ever had, period! And I consider myself somewhat of an expert 🙂
Awesome, so glad you liked ’em. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!