I made chicken wings using 3 celebrity chefs' recipes, and the best were super crispy

August 2024 · 5 minute read
Updated 2023-02-10T19:35:00Z

Super Bowl Sunday is around the corner, and I think we can all agree that any sports-themed party needs good bites, especially a great chicken wing.

To find the best chicken-wing recipe, I followed methods from celebrity chefs Guy Fieri, Ina Garten, and Sunny Anderson.

It didn't surprise me that Fieri's recipe had more ingredients than the others

Guy Fieri's dry rub alone used six different spices. Chelsea Davis

Fieri's recipe calls for a dry rub with cumin, black and white pepper, dry mustard, cayenne pepper, and garlic.

After I patted the wings dry, I tossed them with the spice mixture and let them sit in the fridge for an hour.

I let the wings soak up the flavor of the dry rub. Chelsea Davis

I preheated the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

I baked the wings for 50 minutes, turning them halfway

The spices baked on nicely. Chelsea Davis

While the wings were baking, I made Fieri's wing sauce. I combined lime juice, vinegar, Crystal hot sauce, some of the dry rub mix, jalapeño, garlic, and olive oil.

After heating the mixture in a saucepan, I let it cool and tossed the wings with the sauce.

You could definitely taste the jalapeño and zing from the lime juice

The wings had a nice kick to them. Chelsea Davis

These wings were super tasty, but not for the faint of heart.

They packed a good punch thanks to the minced jalapeño peppers and hot sauce, but the lime juice rounded out the taste.

The chicken itself wasn't as juicy as I would have liked, though the wings were extremely flavorful. 

The next recipe I tried was Garten's, which was the most straightforward

I combined melted butter and spices to make the sauce. Chelsea Davis

Garten's sauce recipe was simple: combine melted butter, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, and salt.

I brushed the wings with the mixture and cooked under the broiler about three inches below the heat for eight minutes.

I put a thick coat of the sauce on the wings. Chelsea Davis

After that, I turned them over, re-brushed the wings, and broiled them for four more minutes.

My wings didn't turn out great, but Garten's dip was awesome

The wings didn't come out looking like Ina Garten's at all. Chelsea Davis

These wings were super juicy but didn't get very crispy or golden brown, even after leaving them in the oven for longer.

The sauce didn't completely coat the wings and the flavor was underwhelming.

Ina Garten's blue-cheese dip was delicious. Chelsea Davis

However, Garten's recipe also included a dipping sauce made with blue cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper.

The sauce was addictive, with a savory taste from the Worcestershire and no overly blue-cheesy flavor other chicken-wing dips usually have. 

Though I didn't like the wings, I'd make the dip again.

The last recipe I made was Anderson's, which felt the most labor-intensive

The recipe called for a variety of spices. Chelsea Davis

For Anderson's recipe, I coated the wings in flour, cayenne, salt, and pepper and let them sit for an hour in the mixture to dry out.

Her recipe required a deep fryer, which I substituted with a pan filled with hot oil

I don't recommend this method unless you're comfortable cooking with hot oil. Chelsea Davis

To "deep fry" these wings, I heated up oil in a pan and cooked them for about 25 minutes, flipping halfway.

I didn't have a ton of oil, so I made do with about a third of a 24-ounce bottle, hence needing to turn them halfway.

My "deep-fried" chicken wings turned out crispy and golden brown. Chelsea Davis

The wings came out surprisingly crispy, like real fried chicken.

I tried one before coating it in sauce and it was super flavorful from the flour-seasoning mixture and the deep-fried taste.

Anderson's sauce was a simple mixture of lemon, basil, butter, and Frank's wing sauce

The recipe tasted like your typical Buffalo sauce. Chelsea Davis

I tossed the "deep-fried" wings in the Buffalo sauce and prepared the blue-cheese dip, which was very similar to Garten's.

To make it, I combined blue cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, buttermilk, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper.

This wing was my favorite thanks to the crispiness of the deep-fried skin

The wings had a crispy texture that didn't get soggy after getting coated in sauce. Chelsea Davis

I couldn't stop eating these deep-fried wings.

Though the breading and dipping sauce weren't unusual, the texture and juiciness of the wings made this recipe a winner.

Each recipe was tasty, but Anderson's wings are my top choice

Sunny Anderson's wings had the most texture and tenderness. Chelsea Davis

If I could, I'd take aspects from each chef to make the best chicken-wing recipe. I'd use Anderson's deep-frying method, Fieri's spicy Buffalo-style sauce, and Garten's blue-cheese dip.

I enjoyed the zing of Fieri's Buffalo-style sauce and thought that Garten's blue-cheese dip alone elevated her wing recipe.

Overall, Anderson had the best, crispy chicken wings. The Buffalo and dipping sauces weren't unique, but they were flavorful and exactly what I wanted from a chicken wing.

Click to check out the other celebrity-chef recipes we've put head-to-head so far.

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