Crispy Baked Garlic Parmesan Wings

While this post is sponsored by Perdue Farms, all opinions are 100% honest and my own. I’m a huge fan of wings, but I typically prefer the boneless kind because wings tend to be a lot of work to eat for very little meat reward. These wings are the exception to my rule though because the crispy outside and the meat inside is so flavorful and delicious that it’s worth the work to eat them! If you still aren’t convinced, I’ve got a delicious boneless fried chicken recipe over here you might like instead. But if you’re still with me – you’re going to love these wings! The outside is first coated with a little oil and spices to give it that amazing crunch. And then the entire thing is finished with a buttery garlic sauce and fresh parmesan cheese. Serve them with this buffalo chicken dip, queso fundido, and these spinach and artichoke cups for the ultimate game day menu.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

We love the Perdue Harvestland Organic Chicken Wings because they come with both actual wings and drumsticks in the packs. And I prefer drumsticks while my husband prefers the wings, so it’s a great mix. You can get a party pack (great for your next game day party) that contains 3 packs of wings on the Perdue Farms website right here. PLUS right now they’re offering a free mystery product with every order and if you use my link to order, you’ll get an additional 15% off your entire purchase! And ordering from Perdue Farms means getting high-quality meat delivered directly to your door rather than having to go get it. Home delivery is better than even curbside delivery! And they offer pretty much any meat you can think of so you do all of your shopping at once! Other than the chicken, there are a few other things to note when purchasing your ingredients:

Parmesan cheese – Freshly grated is best but if you don’t have fresh to grate, regular grated parmesan cheese is fine as well. I don’t recommend using the large shredded parmesan cheese just because it won’t coat the wings as well as the grated will. Save that shredded parmesan for this sausage stuffing instead! Butter – The butter is a huge part of the sauce and flavoring of these wings, so I recommend a high-quality one. Organic, grass-fed is best but if you can’t do that, just something higher quality is going to taste better. Parsley – You can use either dried or fresh parsley depending on what you have on hand. Or use both – use dried parsley in the sauce and sprinkle fresh parsley on as a garnish.

Instructions

The method to how you make these is super important, especially since the recipe itself is fairly simple. First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and move your rack to the middle if it’s on the bottom or top of your oven. Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easier cleanup. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can skip this step. Then place an oven safe wire rack on top of the parchment paper to bake the wings on. Combine your oil, salt, and garlic powder in a large bowl or plastic bag. It tends to be easier to clean up and easier to toss the wings in a bag rather than the bowl, but it’s totally up to you what you want to do. Toss the wings in the seasoning, making sure to get them all coated. You can either use tongs or your hands to move them around to get coated.
Once the wings are all coated, place them in a single layer, evenly spaced on the wire rack. If you have more than one layer of wings, do a second rack rather than putting them super close together. Roast the wings for 25 minutes then flip your wings, ideally while still in the heat of the oven. We have a pull out rack in our oven that makes flipping easy but if you don’t, you can remove them from the oven and flip quickly if necessary. After flipping, roast for another 20-25 minutes or until the outside of the wings is browned and crispy. When the wings have about five minutes left to cook, start your sauce. Melt butter in a small saucepan. As soon as the butter has melted, add garlic and parsley and cook for 1 minute – stirring often to keep the garlic from burning. Pour the sauce into a large glass bowl then add your cheese and stir to combine everything together. Add the hot wings to the sauce and toss until well coated. Just like when coating in the oil mixture, use tongs to gently toss the wings in the sauce. The goal is to get all of those wings nice and sauced and ready to enjoy! Serve immediately warm to enjoy the crispy outside and moist and juicy inside.

Expert Tips

Bake on a wire metal rack to get a crispy skin on your wings. The hot air of the oven needs to be able to circulate around, including underneath, to make the wings crispy. And the fat needs to drip down away from the wings to keep it crisp. We like this rack for baking. Use parchment paper for easy clean-up. If you skip the parchment paper, you’ll end up having to scrape caramelized chicken fat off the baking sheet, which I can tell you from experience is not fun. Get the drumsticks pack instead if you prefer to have all drumsticks and none of the smaller wing sections. We’ve made this recipe with this drumsticks pack, and they’re absolutely delicious! Don’t make the sauce early so the butter doesn’t start to solidify again. You want it to be nice and warm to coat the wings nicely.