The Secret Ingredient For The Crispiest Chicken Wings Is Probably Already In Your Pantry

As every poultry lover knows, there are a lot of big questions to ask when it comes to chicken wings. Baked or fried? Drums or flats? Buffalo or barbecue? Blue cheese or ranch? And so on. But before you can start arguing about any of these thorny matters, you need to have a solid foundation — a delicious, well-cooked wing with crisp skin and moist meat. Let's assume that, if you're cooking at home, you're probably not actually deep frying. Instead, you're baking your chicken wings, or air frying them. Skipping the deep frying takes a lot of hassle out of prepping your wings, but it also adds a layer of challenge: After all, it's that bath in hot oil, above all other things, that gives wings their irresistibly crunchy skin.

Luckily, there's a way to get a crisp skin on your wings even if you're baking or air frying them, and it's something you very likely already have in your kitchen cupboard: baking soda (or baking powder, in which baking soda is a key ingredient). Either one, when applied to chicken skin before it's cooked, helps speed browning, breaking down protein chains in that skin and rendering it shockingly succulent. Here's how to do it — and how to improve other savory dishes by reaching into the pantry.

Chicken skin contains water and fat, both of which come into play the moment a wing hits the deep fryer: The water quickly cooks off, and some of the fat renders, leaving behind the proteins that brown, crisp, and constitute the main appeal of a finely bronzed chicken skin. If you're baking or air frying your wings, though, you're working with lower temperatures than hot oil provides, and these inhibit some of that action from taking place.

Enter baking soda. As an alkaline, it raises the pH of chicken skin, helping to crisp its proteins by breaking down the bonds that hold them together. Since baking soda tastes pretty nasty, though, you only want a bit of it. That's where baking powder helps — it's baking soda combined with cream of tartar and a little cornstarch, so the acidic part is diluted. Plan on using about 1 teaspoon of baking powder per pound of wings. To further dilute it, mix that powder in with whatever other dry seasoning — salt, herbs, spices — you're using.

Since exterior moisture is the enemy of the crispy wing, a couple more tips: One is to air dry the wings in the fridge up to overnight to let some of that moisture evaporate off. And if you're baking them, put those wings on a wire rack on a sheet pan so the hot oven air has a chance to circulate all around them.

The same principle applies to a whole roast chicken or turkey: If you're dry brining the bird, add some baking powder to the mix — about 1 teaspoon for every tablespoon of salt. Ditto roast potatoes, but use straight baking soda, and use it earlier in the process — if you're boiling the spuds first, adding baking soda to the cooking water will help break down the exterior of the potatoes, helping them absorb delicious oils in the oven.

Baking soda has a role to play in boiling ingredients, too. Many hummus-heads already know its value for that beloved Middle Eastern spread, which is already better homemade: When you're boiling the chickpeas for hummus, adding 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the water will soften those legumes, giving way to an ultra-creamy dip. Caramelizing onions? A pinch of baking soda (about ⅛ teaspoon per pound of onions) will reduce the amount of time you have to stand around stirring: For the same reason — increasing the pH — it'll help your alliums brown faster.

Too much acidity in your soup or tomato sauce? You guessed it: Add a pinch of baking soda to help neutralize that acidity. And if you're storing what's left of that tomato sauce, you might have reason once more to reach into the cupboard: There's nothing like a paste of baking soda and water to get tough tomato stains out of any plastic storage container.