Chicken Wings substitute

Best substitute

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks

Use 1.5 lb thighs for every 2 lb wings

Best for Buffalo bites

Different texture

For anything sauced and eaten with your fingers, boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into two-inch chunks are the best swap: same dark meat, same forgiving cooking, and they hold sauce well, though they lack the crisp skin. Chicken drumsticks are the closest structurally, since they are bone-in dark meat with skin, and they take about 10 minutes longer. Cauliflower florets are the genuinely good meat-free option, because the real job wings do in a buffalo or barbecue recipe is act as a crisp, sturdy carrier for sauce, and cauliflower does that well. Do not use chicken breast; it dries out before the skin has anything to crisp.

Other chicken wings substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Chicken drumsticks
Close match
Use the same amount by weight; 1 drumstick per 2 to 3 wing pieces
Structurally the closest thing on the shelf: bone-in dark meat with skin, cheap, and it sauces and crisps the same way.
What changes
The differences are size and ratio. A drumstick has much more meat relative to skin, so each bite is meatier and less skin-forward, and the meat nearest the bone needs longer to cook, so allow about 10 extra minutes.
Best for
Baking, Grilling, Frying, Buffalo and barbecue sauces, Air fryer
Bake at 425F for 40 to 45 minutes, or air-fry at 400F for about 25 minutes, turning once, to 175F. Score the thickest part if you want the sauce to penetrate.
3Cauliflower florets
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 large head for every 2 lb wings
A real substitute rather than a consolation prize, because the wing's actual role in buffalo or barbecue is to be a crisp sturdy vehicle for sauce.
What changes
Battered and baked or air-fried cauliflower delivers exactly that. It tastes cleaner and sweeter than chicken and it is nowhere near as rich or savory, so a sharper, more vinegary sauce and a good blue cheese or ranch dip carry it further than a sweet barbecue glaze does.
Best for
Buffalo cauliflower, Vegetarian game-day food, Air fryer, Baking
Cut florets to a uniform 1.5 inches, coat in a thin batter of half a cup flour, half a cup water and a teaspoon of garlic powder, bake at 450F for 20 minutes, then sauce and return for 8 minutes. Sauce at the end or the coating goes soggy.
4Turkey wings, cut at the joints
Close match
Use 1 lb turkey wings for every 1 lb chicken wings
The same cut on a bigger bird, so the flavor and skin are right, but the scale changes everything.
What changes
A turkey wing segment is two or three times the size of a chicken one, needs roughly twice the cooking time, and eats as a knife-and-fork portion rather than finger food. The meat is a little firmer and more strongly savory than chicken.
Best for
Baked and braised main dishes, Barbecue, Larger portions
Have the butcher cut them at the joints, or use a heavy knife. Bake at 375F for 60 to 75 minutes to 175F. They are too big for a standard air fryer basket.
5Pork riblets or spare rib tips
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The right choice when what you want is small sticky bones to eat with your hands.
What changes
Riblets take barbecue and sticky Asian glazes beautifully and give a similar gnawing satisfaction. Pork is sweeter, fattier and more richly meaty than chicken, so it stands up to sweet glazes better and matches badly with a sharp vinegary buffalo sauce, which was built around lean chicken.
Best for
Sticky glazes, Barbecue, Oven-baked appetizers, Grilling
These need longer and lower cooking than wings: 300F covered for 90 minutes, then uncovered and glazed at 425F for 15 minutes.
6Extra-firm tofu or oyster mushrooms
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 lb pressed tofu, or 1 lb oyster mushrooms, for every 2 lb wings
Both work as sauce carriers if handled right.
What changes
Pressed and cornstarch-dusted tofu cubes fry to a genuinely crisp shell around a custardy interior, milder and much less savory than chicken. Torn oyster mushrooms are the more interesting option, because they shred into strands and crisp into something with a real chew, though they taste distinctly earthy under the sauce.
Best for
Vegan buffalo bites, Air fryer, Sticky glazes, Frying
Press tofu 30 minutes under weight, which is not optional; wet tofu will not crisp. Tear mushrooms rather than slicing them, for more surface area and better texture.

What is Chicken Wings?

Chicken Wings is Chicken wings are the three-jointed wing of a chicken, sold whole or already cut into drumettes and flats, the latter also called wingettes or party wings.

Cooking tips

Understand what a wing actually is, because it explains every substitution. It is a very high ratio of skin, fat and collagen to meat, which is why wings crisp so well and why they taste rich out of proportion to their size. Any substitute with less skin, like a boneless thigh, will taste less indulgent, and any substitute with no skin, like cauliflower or tofu, needs a batter or a starch coating to do the crisping job instead.
Cornstarch or baking powder is the trick that transfers to almost every swap. Toss the pieces with a tablespoon of cornstarch and half a teaspoon of baking powder per pound before baking or air-frying; the starch dries the surface and the baking powder raises the surface pH so browning happens faster. This is how oven wings get crisp without a deep fryer, and it works just as well on drumsticks, thighs and cauliflower.
Sauce at the very end, always. Whatever you substitute, toss it in sauce after it has finished crisping, and if you want it baked on, give it no more than five to eight minutes back in the oven. Sauce applied before cooking steams the coating and you end up with something soft and sticky rather than crisp.
Dark meat wants to go past 165F, not stop there. Wings, drumsticks and thighs are best at 175 to 185F, where the collagen has melted and the meat pulls easily from the bone. This is why dark-meat swaps are so forgiving, and why swapping in chicken breast fails: breast is dry by 170F and never gets the chance to develop that texture.
Count by piece, not by pound, when you are planning quantities. Two pounds of party wings is about 20 pieces and serves four as an appetizer or two as a meal. One pound of boneless thighs cut into chunks yields about 16 pieces with far more meat, so the same weight of thighs feeds noticeably more people than wings do.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for chicken wings for buffalo wings?

Boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into two-inch chunks, dusted with cornstarch and air-fried or baked at 400F, then tossed in the sauce. They keep the dark juicy meat and take the sauce well. If you want the bone and skin, use drumsticks and add about 10 minutes. For a meat-free version, cauliflower florets in a thin batter are genuinely good, since a wing's job in this dish is mostly to be a crisp carrier for the sauce.

Can I use chicken breast instead of wings?

It is the weakest swap and worth avoiding if you can. Breast is lean white meat with no skin and no collagen, so it has nothing to crisp and it dries out at the temperature and cooking time a wing recipe implies. If it is what you have, cut it into strips, brine it for 20 minutes in a tablespoon of salt per cup of water, coat it in cornstarch, and cook it fast and hot to 160F only.

How many wings does a person eat, and how much substitute do I need?

As an appetizer, plan on 5 or 6 wing pieces per person, and as a meal, 10 to 12. That is roughly half a pound to a pound of wings each. Because wings are so much bone and skin, a boneless swap goes much further: about six ounces of boneless thighs per person as a meal is plenty. Drumsticks and turkey wings match wings pound for pound.

Are drumettes, flats and party wings different things?

They are parts of the same wing. A whole wing has three segments: the drumette, which looks like a tiny drumstick, the flat or wingette in the middle, and the tip. Party wings are simply whole wings already separated into drumettes and flats with the tips removed. All of them substitute for each other freely; flats crisp a little better and drumettes have slightly more meat.

Can I make wing recipes without any chicken at all?

Yes, and cauliflower is the standout, with torn oyster mushrooms a close second and pressed tofu third. All three need a coating to crisp and all three need to be sauced only at the end. The one adjustment worth making is to the sauce: buffalo sauce was designed to cut through fatty chicken skin, so with a lean vegetable it can taste harsh. Whisk an extra tablespoon of butter into it to soften it.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Chicken Wings substitute

Other chicken wings substitutes

2Chicken drumsticks

3Cauliflower florets

4Turkey wings, cut at the joints

5Pork riblets or spare rib tips

6Extra-firm tofu or oyster mushrooms