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!!!! 🙂
Best wings ever! Do not even need bar b que sauce.
Terrific
Woohoo – thanks for the kind words!
Hello, I am presently baking these wings right now. I have good baking sheets and have oil them lightly and at 450F, that is way to high heat, luckily I was watching as I normally do with a first try recipe or they would have burnt within a few minutes. These folks that have commented before me, they must be your friends because NO WAY can these wings cook at 450F for 30 without burning. I just switched my wings to a rack instead and now they are truly cooking and not burning. I understand fat is a big part of the Keto diet, but I think it should not apply to chicken wings. My comments are not to put you down on the cooking method, but as a long time cook you must have a very special oven and all these folks that commented. Please do send me your comment and explain how you get those beautiful golden wings that you have in your pics. I am seriously curious. I am open to learning.
Hi Anne – Always happy to troubleshoot (though I do want you to know none of the above commenters are friends, haha – they’re all people that found the recipe online and tried it). A few thoughts:
-You mention oiling them lightly – are you referring to the pan or the wings? You really just need to very lightly grease the pan (think a little oil wiped over it with a paper towel, or a few shots of cooking spray) so the wings don’t stick, but there shouldn’t be any oil coating the wings or any heavy oil spots on the pan.
-Have you checked your oven temperature with an oven thermometer? Sometimes ovens can run too hot (no fault of your own!), so that could be part of the reason.
-The pics above are truly from the exact cooking method mentioned; my wife photographs everything we cook here. 🙂
-I know a few others have commented that they felt like the oven temp was too hot or that their pans were smoking (which can sometimes happen depending on the smoke point of whatever was used to grease the pan and especially if the oven runs hot). If you feel like 450 is running too hot, try lowering to 425 for about an hour.
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.
Good wings, but definitely did not need 50 minutes, barely need 30. Oven was literally smoking after 25 minutes and wings were reading internal temps of 180-200. Either my oven reads hot or yours reads a bit lower. Guess they were worth my like 10 fire alarms going off at once lol
Hahaha – I’m going to get an oven thermometer to double check the temp of my oven. We have made these probably 20 times and never had any smokiness, but I will definitely double check to make sure mine isn’t running cool. (If yours hit that temp so quick and had smokiness, try lowering to 425 on your oven next time.) But glad you at least enjoyed the wings. 😉
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!
Oh my heavens those were delicious!! I left the little wing tips on…and nibbled the ends off of them! Absolutely the best wings ever. My only problem… forgot to grease my pan. They all stuck for the first flip. Got new foil (likely preventing smoke) and put a little oil and they came right off at the end. Nibbled skin stuck on foil. I felt sad putting some in the fridge, knowing they won’t be as good.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing the tip about the pan – that’s smart!
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!
I didn’t care for the baking powder, mistake on my part. But to answer your question: yWing Stop either garlic Parmesan,
Original, Mild, hot, or dry rub with BONE IN is keto, plus get celery and carrot sticks instead of fries!!! Their ranch is keto acceptable, blue cheese is even better if you like that.
So sorry to hear you didn’t like the wings! Just to confirm, are you sure you used the amount of baking powder in the recipe for the pounds of wings listed? And definitely used baking powder rather than baking soda? Those are some common mistakes the lead to different flavor. As written, there should not be any baking powder taste – it’s only to help the wings crisp up. That said, we all have different tastes so if you followed it as-is and didn’t enjoy, I hope you can find another recipe you like.
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!
Omg! These are so good and east to make. I was going to purchase an air fryer, but I no longer need an air fryer thanks to this recipe.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed them!
Good heavens – these were so good! My smoke alarm went off too, but the wings were worth the smoke inhalation! 😊 I think my only comment would be I added a bit of onion powder into the dry ingredients, and used 3.8 pounds of wings but didn’t feel like I had enough mixture to cover all the wings. Next time I’ll with increase the dry ingredients or decrease the chicken. I sat next time because I will definitely be making these again. Thank you thank you!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! Love the tip about adding a bit of onion powder 🙂
These wings are perfect. We make them weekly and combine a blue cheese dressing with the Frank’s Red Hot to add some variety. Better than any wings I have ever eaten at a pub.
Awesome – so glad you enjoyed ’em.
I am making these now. There was too small amount of Baking Powder mixture to cover 27 wings. I had to triple that part of the recipe for only 27 wings. What did i miss? They do smell good tho.
Hi Anita! Thanks for commenting – I’m excited you’re going to try the wings. As for troubleshooting – Are you using 3-4 pounds of wings? As a heads up, they don’t need to be completely coated (like when you’d flour chicken to fry it) – instead, it’s really just a light dusting.
Let me know how they come out with the extra baking powder mixture.
These look extremely delicious!!!
Quick question, do you have to use Franks Red hot, or can you switch it some other hot sauce
Hi Bethany – so sorry for the delay; your comment got caught up in our spam filter for some reason – whoops! You can use any hot sauce that you have on hand.
Amazing!!! Just as described! Crispy and moist! Buffalo sauce was great compliment! Thank you!!!! Will be a staple!
Awesome – glad you enjoyed them.
These sound deliciious! My fam loves chicken wings! 2 Questions: have you tried deep frying and what is the result? Could you use same rub mix to make dry garlic pork bites?
I haven’t tried deep frying them, only because baking is so easy and requires less time watching 🙂 But you definitely could; I’m sure they’d deep fry just fine. I’m not sure about the dry garlic pork bites – I don’t think I’ve ever actually had those before so I can’t speak to them. If you try either, definitely post and let us know how they came out.
making tonight will let you know…….
These were absolutely fantastic. I have been on Keto now for five months and have lost 60 pounds! It is easy when you find great recipes like this. The baking powder was a total game changer. They were crispy as if you dredged them in flour and deep fried them. Fantastic.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Melissa. Congrats on the weight loss – way to go!
This recipe lists a total of 3 tsps of ingredients for 3-4# of wings. What is the correct amount?
The amounts are correct – it is meant to be an extremely light dusting on the wings. Did you try the recipe? 🙂
I am making the first time but have not been able to determine if you start out with frozen wings or with thawed wings. Can you clarify.
Thawed wings. 🙂
These were AMAZING! So easy and so delicious. Thank you for a wonderful wing recipe. I’ also had my smoke alarm go off so I must be doing something right. 🤣 The only problem I had was my wings stuck to the pan even after I greased it. Next time I will use foil like someone mentioned. Thanks again for the keto recipe. You are a lifesaver. 😊
So glad you enjoyed them! Smart idea to use foil if they’re sticking – that can definitely happen based on the type and age of the baking sheet.
Made these wings yesterday. My husband is still raving about them today. He said they were the best wings he’s ever had! My daughter couldn’t stop raving about them, too . She asked if I could make them again for our next get-together on Father’s Day.
That’s awesome! I’m glad the family enjoyed them. 🙂
I just made these wings, and my only complaint is this….I’m mad I can’t sop up all this sauce with some butter bread. These are the best wings that I’ve had since I was pregnant with my son in 1996! They are crispy and juicy all at the same time. I will be making these again and again! THANK YOU!!!
Haha, thanks for such a great comment and compliment. I’m so glad you liked them!
Thanks for sharing the recipe, gotta try! I read in this article https://sweetsaltythings.com/diy-buffalo-wild-wings-keto-friendly-version/ that buffalo wild wings keto are best served cold. Share your experience, what’s the best?
Hi Emma — I’ll disagree, haha! I prefer my wings warm, but I do know people that love cold buffalo wings. I suppose it’s individual preference, so your best bet is to try ’em both ways and see what you like. 🙂
These wings were so crispy! I didn’t use Hot Sauce because I didn’t have any and I really thought I did. What I did use was a bottle of Tiger Sauce. So good!!
Thanks for this great receipe.
Awesome – I’m so glad you enjoyed them.
The wings look stunning <3 They are my fav chicken part whenever it comes to cooking because it's where the meat is enough, not so thick or slender. Added it to my weekly meal plan !
Yay, hope you enjoy!!
Very delicious! Quick and easy! I convection baked them @425F for 20 min, then flipped them 10 min, moved them from foil lined pan to a rack on a cookie sheet, then baked an additional 25 min… juicy and tasty! Wish I could show you the picture! They were heavenly! Thanks for the recipe!!!
Thanks for such a great comment – I’m so glad you enjoyed them.
I’ve done the wings many times and they are a Hugh hit, we love them! My question is can you do this with chicken fingers that would be skinless or is the skin the key part of the crispy ness?
Hi Stephanie – apologies on the slight delay in replying here! The skin is definitely necessary for the crispiness in this case, and the bone-in is what prevents them from drying out in the oven. If you did boneless chicken fingers and wanted them crispy, I’d suggest dredging in a combo of either almond flour and Parmesan, or even crushed up pork rinds, and then baking around 400 and shortening the cooking time.
I’ve made these wings a couple times using this resume. They are very delicious!!! Thanks so much for sharing.
So glad you liked ’em!
I loved these chicken wings – only thing is that I didn’t need to bake them for 50 minutes. I baked them for 15 mins on each side. I had 30 wings, and quadrupled the recipe. Still needed one more single recipe to finish up. Loved this recipe! A great and easy go-to!
Thanks for letting us know you enjoyed ’em Lisa!
Oh my goodness! I’m so glad to find this recipe. I have been making wings for keto for such a long time and they have always been so-so. I always include the baking powder for crispness but wasn’t using the right temp and never flipped them. Genius!
Woohoo! So glad they were a hit for you Gina. 🙂
Thanks for this Preparation suggestion. I really wanted some crispy wings. My BF had been buying restaurant Hot Wings, but the cost adds up. And, y’know how people are when they don’t do the cooking, they find something to complain about and the fact that oven baked wings don’t become crispy just makes trying to add sauce a sad soggy experience and something to be brought up each time I suggest making wings at home. I know that a dusting of corn starch works for making a crispy coating on meats, and baking soda can tenderize meats and keep them from binding and getting tough. There must be some magic in the combination of baking soda and tartaric acid that makes this incredible crisping result.
I made a batch of the mixed ingredients and tested with a single serving of 6 wings. I put the powder in a zipper pouch and put in a few wings at a time and shook to dust them all over, then repeated with a few more. I was under time restraint so only cooked them for 20+20 minutes but the flats came out juice AND crispy. I had to postpone eating them, and even an hour later, they were still crispy. I cheated and cooked them on the lined sheet that I had previously used for bacon as my “greased pan” and some still stuck a bit. but that is the nature of chicken skin. I think I only got smoke toward the end of the second cooking time as the fat on the sheet got hot enough to smoke. I think if the whole pan were covered that may not have happened as soon as it did because all the heat would be absorbed by the cooking wings.
Anyway, TL:DR – Great Coating, Crispy Outcome, Definite Winner, Tasted good even without sauce, Easy to measure out ahead of time for ease of use anytime.
Guess I’ll go check out your other cooking suggestions. Thanks for adding a bit of quality to my meals!
Thank you for sharing such a thorough experience with this recipe! I know that’ll be helpful for others to read and hopefully this passes the BF test with no complaints! 😉
Delicious!
Thanks Slava, so glad you enjoyed them.