Who am I to tell you what the “perfect” baked chicken wing is? To be honest, I didn’t eat chicken wings until I started dating my husband. Well, I shouldn’t say dating…because wings are a horrible date food. I started eating wings when my then-boyfriend, now-husband, and I were in a deep, committed relationship. The kind of relationship where you can get sauce all over your face and rip crispy flesh from tiny chicken bones. It is probably what cemented our relationship.

Whoa. Sorry for the tangent. But really, my husband loves chicken wings, so it takes a lot to impress him.

The perfect baked chicken wings aren’t about the sauce you use. We all have different flavor preferences and spice tolerances. No. It’s about how you bake them (and how many times) to make sure they are nice and crispy.

First, I lined the chicken wings on a rack (like a cooling rack you use for cookies), over a foil lined baking sheet. Then I seasoned the chicken wings with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika and baked them at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Next, I tossed the baked wings in my favorite barbeque sauce and baked them in the oven for another 5 minutes.

The final step might seem trivial, but I think that it makes all the difference in the wings. After they baked a second time, I coated them again in sauce then I threw them on the grill to caramelize the sauce ans get a little char on the wings.

In the end, we had crispy, juicy, and flavorful wings that rivaled some of our favorite (fried) versions.

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