Keto buffalo chicken wings
June 26, 2026 · 1 min read
Wings are about as keto as food gets — chicken, fat, and a sauce that's mostly hot sauce and butter. The only thing standing between you and crisp skin without a deep fryer is a teaspoon of baking powder and a hot oven.
Pat them bone-dry first; surface moisture is what keeps wings from crisping.
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb chicken wings, split into flats and drumettes
- 1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup hot sauce (such as Frank's RedHot)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- Celery sticks and ranch or blue cheese dressing, to serve
Steps
- Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and set a wire rack over a foil-lined sheet pan.
- Pat the wings very dry. Toss with the baking powder, salt, garlic powder, and pepper until evenly coated.
- Arrange the wings in a single layer on the rack and bake 40–45 minutes, flipping once, until deep golden and crisp.
- Whisk the hot sauce and melted butter into a glaze.
- Toss the hot wings in the sauce and serve with celery and ranch or blue cheese.
Notes and swaps
Plain wings and a butter-hot-sauce glaze come in around 3g net carbs a serving, almost all of it from the sauce. The two things to watch: bottled buffalo or wing sauces often add sugar and corn syrup, so check the label or stick to a plain cayenne hot sauce plus butter; and some bottled ranch sneaks in a couple grams, so a full-fat or sugar-free one is the safer dip.
Aluminum-free baking powder is what crisps the skin; baking soda is not a substitute and tastes off. Air-fry at 400°F for about 20 minutes if you'd rather skip the oven.
Buffalo sauce is where the carbs sneak in — tell Copper Keto Companion what you dipped and it gives you the real number, not a guess.