Garlic Butter Chicken Wings

Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

What’s better than garlic and butter? Garlic butter chicken wings! You only need a few simple ingredients to make these crispy, buttery wings. They’re perfect as a game-day appetizer or as an easy, flavorful dinner.

Garlic butter wings are what dreams are made of. These garlicky, buttery, and tender chicken wings are a simple but flavorful recipe that is perfect for any occasion. I would eat these every day if I could!

Overhead view of garlic butter chicken wings topped with minced garlic and chopped parsley.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Chicken wings are always a hit! You can serve them as a snack, an appetizer, or turn them into a whole meal. It can do it all!
Honestly, what’s better than garlic and butter? I’m also a huge fan of lemon, and the splash of lemon juice and lemon zest adds a deliciously bright flavor to the garlic butter wings.
They’re easy to make. This chicken wing recipe is one of my easiest ones! Season the wings with some salt and pepper and pop them into the oven and then melt butter on the stovetop to make the sauce. It really cannot get any easier than that.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Ingredients needed to make garlic butter chicken wings.

oil or oil spray — to lightly grease the baking rack. If you’d like to add some oil to the chicken wings, that’s up to you. This specific recipe does not require any oiling.
chicken wings — you can use a mixture of wingettes and drumettes or just one. It’s up to you.
salt and pepper — I suggest using 1 teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper, but you can adjust that to taste.
butter — use unsalted butter, as you don’t want the garlic butter sauce to be salty.
garlic — the more, the merrier! I don’t believe in too much garlic!
lemon — a bit of lemon juice and lemon zest really brightens the recipe. Use real lemon juice for the best flavor. Plus, you’ll need a lemon for the zest anyways!
parsley — I love a little bit of parsley to give the wings a pop of color. Parsley also brightens flavors but if you don’t have any on hand, you can skip it.

How to Make Garlic Butter Chicken Wings

Set of two photos showing before and after baking chicken wings.

Preheat oven to 450°F.
Pat the wings dry on both sides with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Set the wings on top of a greased cooling rack (greased with some oil or with an oil spray) set atop a rimmed baking sheet.
Decrease the oven to 435°F and bake the chicken wings for 35 to 40 minutes (depending on the size of your wings), until they’re golden brown and crispy. The internal temperature should be 165°F.

My Recommendation

This is my go-to meat thermometer for making sure that the internal temperature of my meat is good to go. It’s also magnetic so I have it on my fridge door to save drawer space!

Get it Now!

Set of two photos showing sauce in a saucepan then tossed with the chicken.

In a small pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add in minced garlic and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes, until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
Add wings to a large bowl and toss in garlic butter until they’re evenly coated. Serve with remaining garlic butter sauce for dipping on the side.

Close up of garlic butter chicken wings in a bowl.

Recipe Tips and Notes

It’s up to you if you’d like to bake these chicken wings on a rack. I find it difficult to clean the rack, but as the wings are elevated, the rack allows the hot air to circulate underneath, saving you the effort of flipping the wings. If I don’t want to deal with washing up the rack, I place the wings directly onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You’ll just have to flip them.
To make even crispier wings, you can toss the wings with 2 teaspoons of baking powder. Baking powder helps the skin crisp up!
If you have the time, you can also refrigerate the wings on the baking sheet for a few hours or overnight uncovered before baking so the skin dries out even more.
Don’t forget to zest your lemon before you juice it. You can get more juice out of a lemon at room temperature and if you roll it on your countertop first.
Always pat dry the wings to remove moisture. It’ll ensure they become crispy in the oven.
To be honest, I cannot remember why I was taught to preheat the oven to 450°F before lowering it to 425°F to bake the wings. I’ve been making wings this way for years, and it’s one of those “because I told you so” from my family haha. I believe the initial blast of hot air helps make the wings crispier!

A serving bowl of garlic butter chicken wings.

Storage Tips

Storage: These chicken wings keep up to 4 days in the fridge. Make sure to use an airtight container.
Reheat: I highly recommend reheating these wings in the oven or air fryer so they stay crispy.

What is the difference between drumettes and wingettes?

Whole chicken wings are made up of three parts: drumettes, wingettes/flats, and tips.

The drumette is the part that is attached to the main part of the chicken and resembles a chicken drumstick. One end is rounded and meaty as it tapers off to the bottom.

The wingette/flat is the part between the drumette and the tip. It’s my favorite part as it has the most skin-to-meat ratio. There are two bones running horizontally with the meat in the middle. This piece tends to come out more crispy since there’s less meat on it.

The tip is…the tip! It’s tiny and pointy with next to no meat on them.

A close up view of grilled chicken wings with grill marks garnished with cilantro.

Feel like grilling? Try my grilled chicken wings recipe!