When To Bake Vs Fry Chicken Wings (Plus Pro Tips To Make The Best Of Each Method)

Chicken wings are an American favorite, wth a debated origin story that began during the 1960s. They've become a mainstay on fast food menus, sports bars, and game nights over the following decades. While most wings offered at restaurants and fast food chains are fried, baked wings also have their merits. If you decide to cook wings at home, you can explore the pros and cons of baking and frying chicken wings with the help of two experts. Tasting Table interviewed Erin Colombi, senior vice president of operations, and chef David Jutras at Fat Patty's, a burger, wing, and American food restaurant with six locations across Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Jersey. While fried wings are the specialty at Fat Patty's, both Jutras and Colombi assert that they both have a time and place.

"Both baking and frying chicken wings have their own advantages and disadvantages." The duo breaks down the pros and cons of baking and frying wings and when to use each method. Then, they delve into pro tips to make the best of each method. After weighing the pros and cons, Jutras and Columbi told us that, "ultimately, the choice between baking and frying depends on your personal preferences for health, convenience, and texture."

Baked wings are often the preferred method for home cooks for both practical and nutritional purposes, which brings us to the advantages of baking chicken wings. As per Jutras and Colombi, baked chicken wings are technically healthier. "Baking uses less oil, making it a healthier option with fewer calories and less fat," they said. As a dry cooking method, baking means "there's no need to deal with hot oil, which means less cleanup." Perhaps the biggest pro of all is that "baking allows for more even cooking, especially if you use a wire rack to elevate the wings." Using this wire rack increases and maximizes hot airflow around your wings, resulting in even cooking.

At the other end of the spectrum, Jutras and Colombi told us that "baking generally takes longer than frying." Our recipe for crispy baked chicken wings requires 45 minutes in the oven. Another con to baked wings is texture. "While you can achieve crispy wings in the oven, they may not be as crispy as fried wings," they said. Baking powder is an overlooked ingredient that will help render the crispiest oven baked chicken wings.

Plus, not only is this option a little healthier, but it also comes in handy "when you want to avoid the mess and hassle of frying." That said, you can only enjoy the pros of baked wings "when you have more time to cook."

Where baked chicken wings fail, fried chicken wings thrive because frying instills an inimitable textural contrast. In comparison with baked wings, frying chicken wings "results in a crispier and more golden-brown exterior." Also, frying is one of the fastest cooking methods, much "quicker than baking, making it a good option when you're short on time." Baking times are at least 40 minutes, while frying chicken wings takes as little as eight minutes.

That said, what you save on cooking time you make up for with a tedious cleanup. Colombi and Jutras told us that "frying can be messy and requires careful handling of hot oil." Whatever oil doesn't splatter all over your stove and backsplash will infiltrate the wings, which "adds more calories and fat." As a pure fat, oil is a boon to texture and flavor. But deep frying takes fat saturation to an extreme that's less healthy than baking. Lastly, while baking is a hands-off method that allows you to multitask once you've slid your wings into the oven, frying requires you "to monitor the wings closely to avoid over-cooking/burning." Deep frying requires much more attention because your wings can go from crispy to burnt in a matter of seconds

It's worth mastering the technique if "you want the crispiest wings possible" as long as "you're okay with a bit more mess and cleanup."

If you've decided to go the healthier, mess-free route, Jutras and Colombi have provided some crucial tips for baked chicken wings, starting with cooking times and temperatures. You'll need a fairly hot oven to get baked wings to a desirable crispness, and they recommend "preheat[ing] your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius)" and "bake for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until the wings are crispy and cooked through." Food safety rules say that the internal temperature of your wings should be 165 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a sign that the wings are properly cooked, and you can use this digital meat thermometer, inserted directly into the flesh of your wings, to check.

As previously mentioned, Jutras and Colombi recommend using a wire rack to provide space between the wings and the baking sheet for air to circulate. Our recipe for baked garlic parmesan wings uses the wire rack in a hot 400-degree Fahrenheit oven. But before placing the rack in the oven, it first places the seasoned wings in the fridge overnight.

Air circulation will ensure even cooking, but you'll still need to "flip the wings halfway through baking for even crispiness." While they bake, you've got plenty of time to make your favorite wing sauce to toss them in. You can also brush the sauce over the wings, letting them bake an extra five minutes to create a flavorful, crispy crust, like we do in this recipe for bourbon-glazed baked chicken wings.

If you're new to deep frying wings, follow Jutras and Colombi's guidelines, which we have supplemented with a few essential frying tips of our own. Frying begins with the right vessel, and a cast-iron pan is a great choice for home frying because it'll help maintain a constant temperature. One of the keys to perfectly fried wings is the correct frying temperature, which Jutras asserts is 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).

The two also recommended "fry[ing] the wings in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan." If you are a fan of deep-fried wings, it might be worth it to invest in a deep fryer because it'll save you the mess of oil splatter. We like this sleek and cleverly designed De'Longhi Roto Deep Fryer. Jutras and Colombi mentioned that fried wings will take "about eight to 10 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy, and maintain[ing] an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit." Again, a digital thermometer comes in handy to make sure the wings are cooked through. Deep frying certainly maximizes your wings' crispy texture, but too much oil will sabotage their crust, so don't skip the final step of "drain[ing them] on paper towels to remove excess oil." Ridding the wings of excess oil will help them absorb and retain the sauce you'll make while they drain, like this zesty, sweet, and smoky jerk sauce for our Jamaican jerk wings.