As every poultry lover knows, there are a lot of big questions to ask when it comes to chicken wings. Baked or fried? Drums or flats? Buffalo or barbecue? Blue cheese or ranch? And so on. But before you can start arguing about any of these thorny matters, you need to have a solid foundation — a delicious, well-cooked wing with crisp skin and moist meat.
Let's assume that, if you're cooking at home, you're probably not actually deep frying. Instead, you're , or . Skipping the deep frying takes a lot of hassle out of prepping your wings, but it also adds a layer of challenge: After all, it's that bath in hot oil, above all other things, that gives wings their irresistibly crunchy skin.
Luckily, there's a way to get a crisp skin on your wings even if you're baking or air frying them, and it's something you very likely already have in your kitchen cupboard: baking soda (or baking powder, in which baking soda is a key ingredient). Either one, when applied to chicken skin before it's cooked, helps speed browning, breaking down protein chains in that skin and rendering it shockingly succulent. Here's how to do it — and how to improve other savory dishes by reaching into the pantry.
Use baking soda — and other tips for great oven-baked chicken wings Chicken skin contains water and fat, both of which come into play the moment a wing hits the deep fryer: The water quickly cooks off, and some of the fat renders, leaving behind the proteins that brown, crisp, and constitute the mai.
