Super Crispy Garlic Parmesan Wings
Golden delicious garlic parmesan wings made in the oven or the air fryer! These are better than your favorite restaurant wings! One little ingredient makes them extra crunchy like they came out of the fryer!
Garlic Parmesan Wings!
For someone who refuses to eat bone-in chicken, wings are about the only exception to the rule. And how can it not be when they’re golden, crispy, hot, and loaded with garlic parmesan flavor straight out of the oven instead of the deep fryer.
Speaking of chicken wings! Am I the only one that despises breaded chicken wings? And I’m not big of fry wings either. Don’t get me wrong; this girl loves a good crispy chicken tender. But when it comes to wings, I’m and oven-baked wings girlie. I want them tossed in sauce, and no breading should get in the way of that crunchy golden skin!
These are big on flavor and perfect for football watching! Because some of us, I won’t name names are only at game day for the appetizers!
Ingredients for Garlic Parmesan Wings Recipe
- Chicken wings: Sometimes you end up with chicken wings that haven’t been cut for you. I like to remove the wing tips first and save them for a pot of homemade chicken stock. I then take the leftover ‘v’ and slice it down the center joint to create the drumstick and the wing.
- Baking powder: You’ll want to use aluminum-free baking powder for this recipe. The baking powder is the special ingredient that will help give these wings that super crispy texture. More on this below.
- Seasonings: You’ll need kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and some paprika. The paprika isn’t really going to add to the flavor, but rather is used to give the wings a bit more color!
- Parsley: I love adding a bit of fresh parsley to my garlic butter because it brighten both the flavor and the color!
- Fresh Garlic cloves: We’ll grate the garlic and create garlic butter to toss the wings in.
- Butter: melted butter, garlic, and parsley and zapped together in the microwave and we’ll toss the wings in this right when they’re hot out of the oven.
- Parmesan: grated parmesan cheese works best for this recipe, we’ll sprinkle this on top of the wings right before serving.
How to make Extra Crispy Wings
- Prep first. Start by preheating the oven and lining a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. You’ll also want to set a wire rack on top of the baking sheet, and spry the wire rack with cooking spray to keep the wings from sticking.
- Season the wings and bake. You’ll want to thoroughly pat the wings dry before seasoning them. Combine the baking powder, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and paprika in a small bowl. Sprinkle this seasoning mixture evenly over both the skin side and the flesh side of the wings. At this point, if time permits, line the wings on the baking sheet and place in the fridge for at least 45 minutes and up to 24 hours in advance. If you don’t have the time to refrigerate, you can let the wings sit for 10-15 minutes at room temperature or bake them immediately.
- Make garlic butter topping. When the wings are almost done, add the butter, minced garlic, salt, and parsley to a bowl. Melt the butter mixture in the microwave for 30-60 seconds. Place the wings in a bowl, pour the garlic butter sauce over the wings and toss to coat them evenly. Then, sprinkle with the parmesan and continue to toss until all the wings are evenly coated. Plate and serve immediately with celery, carrots, and ranch dressing if desired.
Tips for Making Extra Crispy Chicken Wings
Once you’ve trimmed the wings, take the time to dry them really well. I like to layer a few sheets of paper towels on a cutting board, line all the wings up, and place a few more paper towels on top and blot well. You want the least amount of moisture on the wings as possible.
More on why this ingredient works below, but baking powder helps give these wings that crisp and golden brown hue.
It’s important to really spread the chicken wings out on a wire baking rack. Using a rack ensure that the wings will have air circulating all around. This will help brown them rather than steam them in the oven. If you happen to have really small wings, they may not fit on one baking sheet. In this case, I recommend baking them on two baking sheets, baking one sheet pan at a time for optimum golden and crispiness!
If you are planning in advance, season the chicken with all the seasonings, then place them on the wire rack and pop the rack into the bottom shelf of your refrigerator at as long as time permits. Doing this overnight yields better results, but even 45 minutes to an hour helps!
When the wings are done, pop them into a large metal bowl and then drizzle in the garlic butter. Instead of using tongs to toss, swirl and toss the wings in the bowl. This keeps all that garlic parmesan sauce from sticking to the tongs!
Recipe FAQs
Baking powder is alkaline, which means that it raises the pH of the wings’ skin, causing the Maillard reaction to occur between the reduced sugars and amino acids. So when we bake the wings, you get wings that are perfectly golden brown, crispy, and full of flavor!
The general rule of thumb is about 8 ounces of chicken wings per person if this is a meal or if you aren’t serving too many other apps with it. This recipe would make enough wings for 5-6 people.
Yes, absolutely! I suggest preheating the air fryer to 400ºF. When it’s hot, add a single layer of wings to the air fryer basket. Make sure not to overcrowd the basket as they won’t get crispy that way. Bake for 16-22 minutes, depending on the size of the wings. Flip them over around the halfway mark. Toss in the garlic butter when they’re hot out of the air fryer!
I typically store leftover wings in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat leftovers in the air fryer on 300ºF until the wings heat through. You can also heat them in the oven.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Firecracker Chicken Meatballs
- Loaded Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Nachos
- Crunchy Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Poppers
- Sticky Baked Chicken Bites in Honey Sriracha
- Southwestern Egg Rolls with Avocado Cilantro Sauce
Super Crispy Garlic Parmesan Wings
Golden delicious garlic parmesan wings made in the oven or the air fryer! These are better than your favorite restaurant wings! One little ingredient makes them extra crunchy like they came out of the fryer!
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds chicken wings, halved at joint
- 1 tablespoon baking powder (aluminum free)
- ½ teaspoon EACH: garlic powder AND kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon EACH: black pepper AND paprika
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 4-6 cloves garlic, grated
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons grated parmesan
Instructions
- IF TIME PERMITS: pat the wings dry with a paper towel. Combine the baking powder, salt, garlic powder, black pepper. and paprika in a bowl. Season the wings evenly all over. Then place a wire rack on a baking sheet and place the wings on the rack. Pop the rack into the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. Doing this overnight yields best results, but even 45 minutes to an hour helps! Make sure to remove them from the fridge 30-40 minutes before baking.
- PREP: Position a rack in the upper third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Line a baking sheet with foil, then place a wire rack on top of the baking sheet. Spray the wire rack with cooking spray to keep the wings from sticking to it.
- SEASON: If you didn't season the wings the night before, pat the wings completely dry using paper towels. Combine the baking powder, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and paprika together in a bowl. Sprinkle this over the wings to coat them evenly on both sides.Place the wings skin side up on the wire rack.
- BAKE: Bake the wings for 28-38 minutes, depending on the size of the wings, flipping them after the first 18 minutes until they’re golden and cooked through. See notes for air fryer directions.
- GARLIC PARMESAN: When the wings are almost done, add the butter, garlic, ¼ teaspoon salt, and parsley to a small bowl, and zap in the microwave until the butter melts. Transfer the wings to a large bowl, drizzle with the garlic butter and toss to coat all the wings evenly in the garlic butter. Sprinkle with parmesan and continue to toss until evenly coated. Plate and serve warm!
Notes
- Air fryer: Preheat the air fryer to 400ºF, when hot add a single layer of wings (making sure to not overcrowd the basket. It’s better to do this in batches than all at once!) Bake for 16-22 minutes depending on their size, flipping the wings around the halfway mark. I usually let them go slightly longer with the skin side up for more color!
Can you make these on a grill or big green Egg? If so, what temperature & for how long?
– Grilled wings for 20 mins
– Smoke it for about 2 hours
– Spritz/spray it with some apple cider vinegar, beer, wine or whatever your choosing to for the wings to keep in the moisturizer.
– Both @ 250 F° until internal temp is at 165 F°
Would this work on drumsticks as well?
Hi Shannon! I think it could work, but depending on the size, they may require additional time to bake all the way through!
Why aluminum free baking powder? I only have baking powder with the aluminum in it.
Because the one with aluminum has a metallic taste to it especially with recipes with amounts larger than a teaspoon.
You can also use corn starch instead of aluminum free baking powder!
Husband loved them!! He said this is a keeper.
These are soooo good!!and I’m bariatric, they turned out great!!
Recipe excellent. I add sharachi sauce to the butter/parsley mixture to accommodate family prefrences
So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for taking the time to circle back and leave a review 🙂
Excellent recipe!!! Can’t wait to make them again.
Do you cover the wings when you put them in the refrigerator over night?
Hi Kathy! You would leave them uncovered so that the skin dries out. Hope you enjoy the wings! 🙂
So crispy. Amazing flavor. My family & I loved them. I made them in our airfryer.
Wow! You promised these would be better than my favorite restaurant wings and you delivered on your promise. They were fantastic! Next time I will cut back on the sauce; we loved the wings so much without it, that a little drizzle would be fine for us.
Thank you for this recipe. 🙂
What can I use to substitute aluminum free Baki g powder
Cornstarch
Stupid question, can you pre-bake the wings the day before? Reheat in the HOT oven then toss in sauce?
Thank you tonight will try
Im confused you said to season the wings before putting in frig and then season again before baking? Please clarify should I do both? Thank you
Hi Roberta! If you’re doing the overnight method, there’s no need to season the next day, you would just place them on the wire rack and bake them in the preheated oven. Hope that clarifies things!
Love the garlic parm wings and have been experimenting w some other seasonings including smoked paprika, minced garlic and a dash McCormicks Grill Mates Montreal Chicken seasoning.
No air fyer here so doing the old rack in oven at 350 bake but I just noticed (after 8 yrs I also have a ConvectBake option and an East/Convect choice.
Would either of these be superior to regular 450 bake and if so, would they still be 18 min skin side and 20ish after flipping.
Thanks in advance for your reply
Hi Michael! Convect Bake should help these crisp up a bit more as there’s a fan that will help circulate the air better, thus cooking the wings more evenly! Keep a close eye on them though, they’ll cook a little quicker than if you were to use the regular bake option! Enjoy!
thanks much this most recent batch were the best yet but I will try the convection option next time
the minced garlic w reg and smoked paprika, baking power, salt, pepper and garlic powder helped as well
sorry meant 450 bake and Easy/convect not Eastlol
My family says these are better than Buffalo Wild Wings. We have them at least once a month at our house.
11/10 amazing wings!! Excellent recipe! Left the seasoned wings in the fridge for about 45 minutes prior. I don’t have a wire rack so i just put them on a baking sheet and baked them maybe 10-15 minutes longer than recommended they still came out so crispy and perfect. Thank you!
I am cooking these today. They have been in the fridge for almost 24 hrs. I was wondering if I should take them out of the fridge and let them come up to room temp before baking?
Hi Sue! Yes, you could remove them for 45-60 mins before baking to help cook them more evenly! Enjoy!
Can you make these ahead of time a freeze for a future occasion?
Hi Pat! I’m not sure I understand the question. Do you mean just seasoning them and freezing them for later or preparing them all the way through?
On point! I also added Badia complete seasoning to the ingredient mix … They came out freakin yum!