Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotić Andrijanić

Why It Works

• Tossing the wings with baking powder promotes browning and bubbling of the chicken skin during cooking, resulting in a crackly, just-like-fried exterior.
• Using brown sugar instead of cooked caramel is an easy way to create a glossy glaze with built-in molasses flavor, which pairs naturally with salty, savory miso.

Great chicken wings are all about contrast. You want crackly, deeply browned skin wrapped around juicy meat. You want salt up front, followed closely by just enough sweetness to make their savory flavor sing. Miss either one, and the whole thing falls flat. These miso-caramel chicken wings put that idea front and center. They’re savory, aggressively salty (in the best way), and just sweet enough to keep you reaching for another one, even when your fingers are already shiny.

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotić Andrijanić

To achieve this balance of contrasts, this recipe starts with our most reliable wing trick, borrowed straight from our former culinary director Kenji’s oven-baked wings method. Instead of being fried, the wings are tossed with salt and a small amount of baking powder, then refrigerated before being baked in a very hot oven. Baking powder raises the skin’s pH, helping it brown more efficiently and form tiny micro-blisters as it cooks. Those blisters are what give you shatteringly crisp skin that reads as convincingly fried, even though the wings never go anywhere near a vat of oil.

You can cook the wings right after tossing them with the salt and baking powder, but if you’ve got a little foresight, letting them rest uncovered in the fridge for 8 to 24 hours makes a noticeable difference in both flavor and texture. The salt penetrates deeper into the meat, seasoning it throughout, while the skin dries further, which promotes crispiness.

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotić Andrijanić

Once the wings are crisp and deeply golden, the real personality of this recipe comes through in the miso-caramel glaze. The sauce takes loose inspiration from Vietnamese-style caramel chicken, pairing sugar and fish sauce for depth, but then pivots with white miso for extra savoriness.

Rest assured, I am not asking you to babysit a precious caramel on the stovetop for this recipe. There’s no need for a candy thermometer, no sugar spinning, no risk of molten-sugar burns here. Instead, I use a hefty amount of brown sugar to do the heavy lifting. It brings a deep, molasses-like sweetness that reads as caramel-adjacent without the work of making caramel. When simmered with white miso, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and garlic, it turns into a glossy, sticky glaze that has the right balance of sweet and savory. The sweetness isn’t meant to dominate the flavor; it sharpens the saltiness. Salty food is good, but salty food with a little sweetness is better.

Tossed in the warm glaze, showered with sesame seeds, and served immediately, these wings are messy, glossy, and unapologetically sticky. And no deep fryer—or a sugar burn—to get there.

Keep Screen Awake

For the Wings:

2 pounds (900 g) chicken wings, cut into drumettes and flats, divided

2 teaspoons (10 g) baking powder, divided

2 teaspoons (10 g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume or the same weight, divided

For the Sauce:

2/3 cup brown sugar (5 ounces; 141 g)

1/4 cup (60 ml) white miso paste

2 tablespoons (30 ml) fish sauce

2 tablespoons (30 ml) rice vinegar

1 medium clove garlic, finely minced

1 to 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds for sprinkling

**For the Wings: **Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a wire rack inside. Carefully dry chicken wings with paper towels. In a large bowl, combine 1 pound wings with 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt, and toss until thoroughly and evenly coated. Place on rack, leaving a slight space between each wing. Repeat with remaining wings, baking powder, and salt.

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotić Andrijanić 1.

Refrigerate baking sheet with wings, uncovered, at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotić Andrijanić 1.

When ready to cook, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat oven to 450°F (230°C). Cook chicken wings for 20 minutes. Flip wings and continue to cook until crisp and golden brown, 15 to 30 minutes longer, flipping a few more times towards the end.

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotić Andrijanić 1.

**For the Miso-Caramel Glaze: **Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, miso, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and garlic, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves and simmer until mixture thickens to a glaze-like consistency that coats the back of a spoon, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotić Andrijanić 1.

Transfer wings to a large bowl and toss with prepared sauce until coated evenly. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and toss to coat. Serve wings immediately.

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotić Andrijanić

Special Equipment

Rimmed baking sheet, aluminum foil, wire rack, medium saucepan

Notes

We prefer to buy whole chicken wings and butcher them ourselves, but you can also use presplit wings.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Wings are best served immediately, but can be safely stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
628	Calories
39g	Fat
43g	Carbs
28g	Protein

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Nutrition Facts Servings: 4 to 6 Amount per serving Calories 628 % Daily Value* 39g 50% Saturated Fat 13g 67% 124mg 41% 2086mg 91% 43g 15% Dietary Fiber 2g 6% Total Sugars 24g 28g Vitamin C 4mg 21% Calcium 179mg 14% Iron 3mg 16% Potassium 351mg 7% *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)