Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (2024)

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Sous vide chicken wings, one of my most popular, tried-and-true wing recipes, is an easy sous vide appetizer to make for your next party or game day. These mouthwatering Buffalo sous vide wings cook in just one hour and are ridiculously juicy, tender and moist. Learn my sous vide method for cooking delicious wings at the perfect temperature, plus see how to finish sous vide hot wings in the oven broiler, on the grill, and in the air fryer.

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (1)

If you’re like me, a proud owner of a Joule, Anova, or another precision cooker, the idea of a new sous vide experiment brings you joy! After all, sous vide enthusiasts are a special breed of people who really do love to cook just for fun.

We are always up for the challenge and science behind finding out, “Will it sous vide?”

These chicken wings with buffalo sauce are absolutely phenomenal.

See 9 EASY chicken wing recipes to make at home >

Not only will they be a super fun sous vide experiment, but they’ll also become a fan favorite in your household in no time.

New to sous vide cooking poultry?Learnwhy sous vide is so popular.

Table of Contents

Sous vide wings vs. baked chicken wings

Sous vide chicken wings taste way better then baked wings.

Why?

Low and slowchicken wings sous vide styleare cooked at the ideal time and temp to break down the collagen. Collagen is a protein in the chicken skin that can become very chewy when wings aren’t cooked sous vide.

The problem with baked wings is that it takes a long time to break down the collagen. By the time the collagen breaks down, the chicken wings are dry.

And no one likes dry chicken!

Thank goodness for sous vide machines…

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (2)

Ingredients for Sous Vide Chicken Wings Buffalo Sauce

You will definitely need plenty of chicken wings for this recipe, but other than that, there are minimal ingredients needed.

Make sure you have a red onion, cilantro, your favorite buffalo sauce (I used Franks) and salt and pepper ready in the pantry.

I also like to drizzle bleu cheese dressing before I serve these delicious hot wings.

See how to make these easy buffalo chicken sliders

How to make Sous Vide Hot Wings

Preparing the Sous Vide bath

Step 1. In a bowl, season chicken wings and (optional) red onions with salt and pepper. Add a very light coat of buffalo sauce, and a sprinkle of cilantro.

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (4)

Sealing the wings

Step 2. Arrange chicken wings in in a single layer in a vac seal bag and vacuum seal the wings. This is not a recipe I’d use Ziploc bags to cook in, since they could easily move around and overlap.

PRO TIP: Chicken wings like to float, so hold them down in the water with these balls, clips, or magnets.

NOTE: See this guide onvacuum sealing meat for sous vide.

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (5)

How long to sous vide chicken wings

Step 3. The sous vide temperature for chicken wings is 145.5 and they sous vide for 1 hour. This is my favorite temperature after much experimentation!

PRO TIP: Want more info on times and temps for sous vide wings?See thisChicken Wings Sous Vide Temperature Guide.

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (6)

Getting chicken wings with crispy skin

After the sous vide bath, it’s important to completely dry the chicken wings with paper towel. This step removes moisture, making it easier to get crispy wings. If your sous vide wings look pink after cooking in the water bath, see what to do if your sous vide chicken looks strange.

Then you can finish them with one of the methods below!

Finishing in the Oven

My preferred method for finishing sous vide buffalo chicken wings is in the oven. It takes just a couple minutes and doesn’t require special tools.

Here’s how you oven finish sous vide wings in the oven.

  • Once the wings are out of the sous vide bath, drizzle them with buffalo sauce and broil on high for 3-5 minutes.
  • The skin will get crispy, while the inside of the chicken remains tender and juicy from the sous vide bath.

NOTE: Broiling sous vide chicken wings is the finishing method for the sous vide wings recipe at the bottom of this post.

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (7)

Air fryer finish

You can finish the wings to achieve a crispy skin with an air fryer or traditional fryer instead of broiling them in the oven.

To finish sous vide wings in the air fryer, set the fryer to 400°F. Toss sous vide wings in olive oil and air fry sous vide wings for 5 minutes.

Remove from air fryer, shake wings in the fryer basket, and air fry for another 3-5 minutes until you have perfectly crispy sous vide wings.

Want to make the wings completely in the air fryer? My delicious air fryer chicken wings has only five minutes prep time?

Yes please!

I love making these chicken wings with a variety of sauces: buffalo, BBQ, and soy teriyaki—so everyone can have what they like best.

Fried on the stove

To fry your wings wings on the stove, add 2-3 inches of canola oil to a medium sized pot. Bring the oil temperature to 375 degrees and use a spider strainer to quickly drop, fry, and remove the chicken wings when golden brown.

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (8)

Other ways to finish your wings

Sous vide chicken wings oven-finished isn’t the only way to eat them. In fact, if you like playing with your food as much as I do, you’ll be happy to know that sous vide buffalo chicken wings provide many opportunities to utilize other fun kitchen gadgets.

Here are some options…

  • Torch them with asearzall(aka the coolest handheld broiler known to man)
  • Fry them in an air fryer
  • Fry them in a fryer
  • Pan fry chicken wings on the stove
  • Grill ’em — sous vide wings are one of the easiestsous vide dishes for camping
  • Smoke them with an indoor smoking gun(sous vide smoked chicken wings are SO good!)

Experiment with these finishing ideas to find your favorite!

PRO TIP: You have to check out thistrick for making sous videchicken from frozen.

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (9)

Final tips for making sous vide chicken wings

  • Grilled wings. Sous vide chicken wings finish on a grill in just a few minutes. In fact, theycan burn very quickly when grilled.So work quickly to grill each side and get them off the heat. Once the sous vide grilled wings are done, transfer them them to a bowl, drizzle the wings in sauce, and toss to coat. Serve as is, or quickly put them back on the grill for a thicker, more crisp skin.
  • Brining sous vide chicken wings. Once you learn how to make this basic recipe, you can continue building on the flavor. If you have the time and like an experiment, try brining chicken wings before sous viding them. Brining wings for at least six hours (preferably overnight) adds a more intense flavor and moisture.
  • Starting with frozen chicken. Frozen chicken wings sous vide style take an extra 30 minutes to cook.
  • Flavoring the chicken. I used one my favorite condiments, buffalo sauce, to flavor the chicken. I always add an extra coat of buffalo sauce after they’re cooked and serve them with a side of bleu cheese dressing. Experiment with any of your favorite sauces. I think they’re excellent glazed with equal parts BBQ sauce mixed with sriracha. These are some of my favorite sous vide bbq chicken wings. Try them all!
Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (10)

Don’t Bother with a 24 Hour Cook Time

There’s really no point! Even at a super low temperature, they’ll completely disintegrate because they are so small.

If you want to try a recipe with a long cook time, trysous vide pulled pork,24 hour sous vide short ribs, orsous vide spare ribs.

These are a Great Party Appetizer

Try this recipe for a party! My first attempt at these wings was for Super Bowl. They’re a great sous vide appetizer to share with friends because of the quick cook time and minimum amount of space needed. Plus, wings can besous vide from frozen.

Looking for more sous vide party recipes? Try thesesous vide sausage peppers and onionsand sous vide onions.

Tips for buying chicken wings

Is there anything you can’t sous vide?

There isn’t a thing in this world I don’t want to try to sous vide, other than homemade pizza. Personally, I don’t know why people sous vide pizza. There’s no need to mess with perfection!

If you’re looking for another chicken dish to serve a crowd, try making asous vide whole chicken.

Best chicken wings recipes on Sip Bite Go

  • Smoked chicken wings
  • Grilled chicken wings
  • Baked chicken wings
  • Air fryer chicken wings
  • Sous vide chicken wings
  • Sous vide BBQ chicken wings
  • Lemon pepper chicken wings
  • Garlic parmesan chicken wings
  • Also see how to make homemade blue cheese dressing
  • More chicken wings appetizers
Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (11)

The Perfect Sous Vide Setup

Everyday I’m asked, “what do you need to sous vide food?”. Here’s my answer.

  1. A sous vide machine.
    Option 1: “stick” models like the Joule, Anova, or Instant Pot Slim.
    Option 2: “multipot” models like the SousPreme or InstantPot Duo Evo Plus.
  2. Sous vide container.
    If using a sous vide “stick” model, you need something to hold the water the food cooks in, like a bucket or stockpot.
  3. Bags to cook sous vide food.
    Keep it simple and sous vide in ziplock gallon bags, or get fancy like me with a vacuum sealer setup.
  4. Nice-to-have accessories for sous vide cooking.
    Sous vide weights to hold down food that floats.
    Mini mason jars for desserts and sous vide egg bites.
    Cast iron skillet to sear sous vide steaks to finish them.
  5. My sous vide cookbook with 100+ recipes.

Try a new sous vide recipe…

  • Sous vide salmon
  • Sous vide frozen steak
  • See how long to sous vide chicken
  • Learn how to sous vide frozen chicken breast
  • Sous vide chicken wings
  • Sous vide chicken breast tenders
  • Sous vide pork chops

Are you a foodie, too?

Find me on Instagram @sipbitego and see my latest sous vide recipe videos on the Sip Bite Go channel.

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (12)

Check out my new cookbook – The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook. It’s packed with tasty sous vide recipes.

Still hungry?? Check out more chicken sous vide recipes

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (13)

Sous vide chicken wings with buffalo sauce (Sip Bite Go)

Crispy Sous Vide Wings with Franks hot buffalo sauce. In one hour, get perfect sous vide chicken wings. This is a great sous vide appetizer for football games, Superbowl, and sous vide holiday app. To finish, grill, use an air fryer, bake or broil the sous vide wings in the oven.

5 from 45 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Sous vide, sous vide buffalo wings, sous vide chicken wings, sous vide hot wings, sous vide wings, sousvide wings

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 people

Calories: 440kcal

Author: Jenna Passaro

Ingredients

  • 1 LB chicken wings
  • ¼ cup red onion sliced
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 tbsp buffalo sauce (or Whole30 compliant buffalo sauce) divided
  • 1 tbsp cilantro

Instructions

  • Set temperature on sous vide machine to 145.5 F.

  • In a bowl, season chicken wings and onions with S+P, 1 tbsp of buffalo hot sauce, and cilantro. Arrange chicken wings in in a single layer in a vac seal bag. Vacuum seal wings.

  • Sous vide chicken wings at 145.5 F for 1 hour.

  • After 1 hour in the sous vide bath, dry sous vide chicken wings with paper towel and arrange sous vide wings on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle with Franks buffalo hot sauce and broil finish in the oven on high for 3-5 minutes. *see recipe notes for alternative finishing options

  • Serve sous vide chicken wings with an extra drizzle of Franks hot sauce and bleu cheese dressing.

Video

Notes

Sous vide chicken wings grill finished:Sous vide chicken wings can burn easily when grilled. Work quickly to grill each side of the sous vide wings and get them off the heat. Transfer them them to a bowl, drizzle the sous vide wings in sauce, and toss to coat. Serve as is, or quickly put them back on the grill for a thicker, more crisp skin.

Sous vide chicken wings air fryer finished:Set air fryer to 400°F.Toss sous vide wings in olive oil and air fry sous vide wings for 5 minutes. Remove from air fryer, shake wings in the fryer basket, and air fry for another 3-5 minutes until you have perfectly crispy sous vide wings.

Sous vide chicken wings fried on the stove: Add 2-3 inches of canola oil to a medium sized pot. Bring the oil temperature to 375 degrees and use a spider strainer to quickly drop, fry, and remove the chicken wings when golden brown.

Frozen chicken wings sous vide style take an extra 30 minutes in the sous vide bath.

Let’s see your sous vide chicken wings! Find me @sipbitego on Instagram and #sipbitego so I can see your post!

Nutrition

Calories: 440kcal

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @SipBiteGo or tag #sipbitego!

Sous Vide Chicken Wings Recipe with Buffalo Sauce (Hot Wings) (2024)

FAQs

How long should you sous vide chicken wings? ›

If you want wings that literally fall off the bone while remaining juicy and tender, cook them at 160°F for two hours. If you want the juiciest, most tender wings that still have a little springiness in the meat and don't separate from the bone quite so immediately, cook them at 165°F for just one hour.

Do you put buffalo sauce on wings before or after cooking? ›

Most oven-baked chicken wings are tossed in sauce after they have been cooked, which means that the skin needs to be perfectly crisp to soak up all the sauce. Thoroughly pat the wings dry with paper towels before seasoning them with salt and placing them on a baking sheet.

How do you crisp wings after sous vide? ›

After a 2 hour water bath in the sous vide, the wings are ready to eat. Because wings are always best served with a crispy skin on the outside, I recommend using an air fryer, or broiling the wings in the oven, after the sous vide. It only takes about 5 minutes, and the result is delicious!

How do you get buffalo sauce to stick to wings? ›

However, there's a simple technique that can help the maximum amount of sauce coat every inch of the wing's surface area: Dusting chicken wings with flour before cooking. This easy step transforms the wings into a canvas that both promotes a crispy texture and ensures that the sauce clings irresistibly to every inch.

What is the best temperature to sous vide chicken? ›

Between 140 and 145°F (60 and 63°C) is my preferred temperature range for chicken served hot (and I generally aim for the hotter end of that scale).

What is the best temperature and time for sous vide chicken? ›

Set the sous vide to 145-degrees. Vacuum seal the chicken breasts using your preferred method. 2 breasts per bag, along with salt and pepper, fresh herbs and lemon slices. Cook for 1 hour, up to four hours.

When should I put sauce on my wings? ›

If you want to add sauce, you will do so during the last 30 minutes of baking (and then again when they come out of the oven, if you want them extra-saucy). The options are pretty much limitless when it comes to wing sauces, and you can buy bottled versions of so many of these now.

What is the difference between buffalo wing sauce and hot sauce? ›

Buffalo sauce and hot sauce are not the same thing. Hot sauce is a spicy blend of cayenne pepper, vinegar, and salt. Buffalo sauce, meanwhile, is hot sauce that's been enhanced with butter and other ingredients. Buffalo sauce is much richer and smoother than regular hot sauce.

How do you get crispy skin after sous vide? ›

The secret solution to this is boiling water! Just pour boiling water over the skin until it contracts before you cook it in any way. This works for sous vide and non-sous vide cooking! After cooking it crisps up MUCH faster and more evenly and doesn't leave any creepy pieces.

How do you make sous vide more flavorful? ›

Infusions and Aromatics

Placing herbs, spices, and other aromatics within the sous vide bag with your food can create subtle yet complex flavor profiles.

Why is my sous vide chicken rubbery? ›

Poultry, including chicken, should be cooked to 165 degrees to be safe for consumption. Why is my sous vide chicken breast rubbery? Overcooking sous vide chicken breast is the main reason why it turns out rubbery.

What cancels out buffalo sauce? ›

There's an easy solution though - adding dairy products. Dairy has a natural ability to counteract spiciness, so a dollop of sour cream or a sprinkling of cheese can help tone down the heat. You can also try stirring in things such as butter, cream, or yogurt.

How do you make buffalo wings not soggy? ›

For the crispiest wings, use an oven-safe baking rack inset into a rimmed baking sheet (like in my photos and video). This rack lifts the chicken wings and allows some airflow around them. I use the same setup when baking bacon. You also want to pat your wings dry, which helps them crisp up in the oven even more.

How do you keep buffalo wings crispy? ›

Toss the chicken wings with baking powder, spices, and place on a wire rack set in a sheet pan in the fridge for 2-4 hours. This will evaporate all of the moisture and help make the skin crispy. 2. Bake the chicken wings in a 400 degree F oven for exactly 45 minutes and then turn the broiler on for the 5-7 minutes.

How long do you sous vide chicken at 145 degrees? ›

Chicken
Preferred DonenessTemperatureMin Time
Soft and juicy chicken breast145°F / 63°C1h 30m
Traditionally firm chicken breast155°F / 69°C1h
Juicy and tender chicken thigh165°F / 74°C1h
Off-the-bone tender chicken thigh165°F / 74°C4h

Is sous vide chicken at 140 safe? ›

Best Sous Vide Chicken Breast Temp

You can drop the temperature pretty low and still be safe, but most people don't go below 136°F (57.8°C). After experimenting a lot over the years, I've settled on 140°F (60°C) as the best sous vide chicken breast temp for my preferences.

Is it safe to sous vide chicken at 145? ›

That's why the optimal temperature for cooking chicken sous vide is 145ºF for at least 1 hour. Now before you start thinking “that can't be safe!” let's talk about why this is actually perfectly safe. Killing bacteria is a function of heat and time.

What happens if you leave chicken in sous vide too long? ›

While many will tell you that it's impossible to overcook with sous vide (and this isn't far from the truth), do bear in mind though that if you leave the food in the water bath for an extended period of time it won't 'overcook', but it could start to take on a mushy texture, so don't forget about it!

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