How many calories are in buffalo wings?
A four-wing order of buffalo wings weighs about 140 g and carries 381 calories. Per 100 g, restaurant wings tossed in hot sauce run 272 calories. One wing on its own is 95. The fat does most of that work: 28.3 g in the order, against 23.5 g of protein.
You'd need to walk about 76 minutes to burn the 381 calories in a 4-wing order (140 g).
How long does it take to burn off buffalo wings?
A 4-wing order (140 g) is 381 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 381 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 1 hr 16 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 48 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 54 min |
| Jogging | 45 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 1 hr 25 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (140 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Buffalo wing quick facts
- US servings from one wing to ten
- Eight USDA versions of a buffalo wing
- Sodium is the row to watch
- How do buffalo wings compare?
- Most popular buffalo wings brands
- FAQ
Buffalo wing quick facts
Almost nobody makes buffalo wings from scratch on a Sunday. They arrive in a basket at a bar, in a takeout box, or in a delivery bag, so the record this page is built on is FNDDS 2706070, "Chicken 'wings' with hot sauce, from fast food / restaurant". That is the wing you are actually holding: fried, tossed, a little sticky. Homemade and frozen versions land lower, and they get their own numbers further down.
The serving column below is USDA's "quantity not specified" portion of 140 g, which works out to roughly four wings at the 35 g each that USDA lists for a single drummette.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 4 wings (140 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 272 | 381 | — |
| Total fat | 20.2 g | 28.3 g | 36% |
| Saturated fat | 6.29 g | 8.8 g | 44% |
| Carbohydrate | 6.18 g | 8.7 g | 3% |
| Dietary fiber | 0.1 g | 0.1 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 2.26 g | 3.2 g | — |
| Protein | 16.78 g | 23.5 g | 47% |
| Sodium | 842 mg | 1179 mg | 51% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows you would see on a package are missing here: added sugars and trans fat. USDA does not publish either value for this survey record, so the page leaves them out rather than guessing at them. Cholesterol and potassium are published: the 140 g order holds 143 mg of cholesterol, 48% of the FDA Daily Value, and 298 mg of potassium, only 6%.
US servings from one wing to ten
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g | 77 kcal |
| One wing or drummette | 35 g | 95 kcal |
| Three wings | 105 g | 286 kcal |
| Four wings, a typical order | 140 g | 381 kcal |
| Six wings | 210 g | 571 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 272 kcal |
Only two of those lines come straight from USDA: the 35 g single wing and the 140 g portion. The three-wing, six-wing and one-ounce rows are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, so treat them as clean multiples rather than measured plates.
The 35 g is the part you eat. Put four wings on a kitchen scale with the bones still in and the display will read higher than 140 g, which is why weighing a finished basket at home overstates the calories unless you weigh the bones afterward and subtract. A ten-wing order, the one most people share and then finish alone, is 350 g and 952 calories, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure rather than a USDA serving.
Eight USDA versions of a buffalo wing
USDA carries eight distinct wing records, and the spread between them is 108 calories per 100 g. All eight are scaled to the same 140 g order so they can be read side by side.
| Version | Per 100 g | 140 g order | Protein per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant wings with hot sauce | 272 kcal | 381 kcal | 16.78 g |
| Homemade wings with hot sauce | 267 kcal | 374 kcal | 17.02 g |
| From frozen precooked wings | 254 kcal | 356 kcal | 17.57 g |
| Boneless wings with hot sauce | 282 kcal | 395 kcal | 12.36 g |
| Plain unsauced restaurant wings | 323 kcal | 452 kcal | 17.77 g |
| Baked or roasted wing, no sauce or coating | 252 kcal | 353 kcal | 23.6 g |
| Fried wing, breading eaten | 310 kcal | 434 kcal | 21.14 g |
| Wing meat only, skin and breading removed | 215 kcal | 301 kcal | 28.77 g |
The headline surprise is that the hot sauce is not the problem. Plain unsauced restaurant wings are the heaviest record on the list at 323 calories per 100 g, 51 more than the sauced ones, because they carry 15 g of carbohydrate from the coating against 6.18 g in the sauced record. Cayenne, vinegar and butter simply do not weigh much. The batter does.
Boneless wings are not wings at all, and the numbers say so out loud: 20.03 g of carbohydrate per 100 g and the lowest protein of the eight at 12.36 g. That is breaded breast meat in wing sauce. Per 140 g order it is 395 calories, the third-highest figure in the table, and the one people most often assume is the lighter choice.
At the other end, wing meat with the skin and breading stripped off is the lightest record at 215 calories per 100 g and the highest in protein at 28.77 g. A baked or roasted wing with no sauce and no coating sits at 252. Frozen precooked wings finished in the oven at home come in at 254, a little below the restaurant version because there is less coating on them.
Retail bags follow the same logic. USDA's branded records for frozen buffalo-style wings run from 167 calories per 100 g for Perdue to 250 for Weaver, with Banquet at 247 and Farm Rich at 238, all below the 272 of a restaurant basket. The label serving on most of those bags is 3 oz (84 g), which is two wings and change, not the six or ten anyone actually eats.
Sodium is the row to watch
A single 140 g order delivers 1,179 mg of sodium, 51% of the Daily Value, which is roughly half a teaspoon of table salt before anything is dipped in anything. The CDC puts the recommended ceiling at 2,300 mg a day for adults, so four wings spend half of it. Ten wings, at about 2,947 mg, spend all of it and then some.
Saturated fat runs close behind: 8.8 g in the order, 44% of the Daily Value. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend keeping saturated fat under 10% of daily calories, which on a 2,000-calorie day is about 22 g. The baked, unsauced wing is the only one of the eight records under 500 mg of sodium, at 404 mg per 100 g, less than half the restaurant figure. If you are watching salt rather than calories, that is the row that matters, and it is a bigger saving than the 28 calories you gain by baking.
The one genuinely good number is protein: 23.5 g in a four-wing order, 47% of the Daily Value, which is why wings hold people over better than their calorie count suggests.
How do buffalo wings compare?
| Cut | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo wings, restaurant | 272 kcal | 140 g order | 381 kcal |
| Fried coated chicken breast | 250 kcal | 140 g | 350 kcal |
| Fried coated drumstick | 247 kcal | 140 g | 346 kcal |
| Sauteed chicken thigh with skin | 243 kcal | 140 g | 340 kcal |
Our take: wings are the most calorie-dense of these four and the weakest on protein, at 16.78 g per 100 g against 22.61 g for a sauteed thigh. Fat is the reason, 20.2 g per 100 g versus 14.79 to 16.29 for the others, because a wing is mostly skin wrapped around a small amount of meat. For weight loss, the sauteed thigh gives you 5.8 g more protein per 100 g for 41 fewer calories per portion. For a night out where you want the wings, order six rather than ten and skip the plain unsauced ones, which cost more, not less.
Most popular buffalo wings brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Weaver Buffalo Style Chicken Wings | 250 cal |
| Perdue Buffalo Style Chicken Wings | 167 cal |
| Archer Farms Buffalo Recipe Chicken Wings | 214 cal |
| Banquet Hot & Spicy Bone-In Chicken Wings | 247 cal |
| Farm Rich Buffalo Style Breaded Chicken Wings | 238 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Buffalo wing FAQs
How many calories are in one buffalo wing?
One wing weighing 35 g carries 95 calories, from USDA's record for restaurant wings with hot sauce at 272 calories per 100 g. That is a small wing or a drummette, edible part only, bone not counted. Three of them land at 286 calories, close to a whole fried drumstick.
How many calories in 10 buffalo wings?
Ten wings weigh about 350 g and come to 952 calories, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure rather than a USDA serving. The same order carries roughly 2,947 mg of sodium, above the 2,300 mg daily ceiling on its own, plus about 59 g of protein.
Are baked buffalo wings lower in calories than fried?
A 140 g portion of baked wings without sauce or coating is 353 calories against 381 for restaurant wings in hot sauce, a gap of only 28. Sodium is where baking really pays: 404 mg per 100 g instead of 842. You save more salt than calories by using the oven.
How much protein is in buffalo wings?
A four-wing order holds 23.5 g of protein, 47% of the Daily Value, from 16.78 g per 100 g. Strip the skin and breading off and wing meat alone reaches 28.77 g per 100 g, the highest of the eight USDA wing records, while boneless wings sit lowest at 12.36 g.
Why are boneless wings higher in carbs?
Boneless wings carry 20.03 g of carbohydrate per 100 g against 6.18 g for real wings, because they are breaded breast pieces rather than wings. That coating also pushes them to 282 calories per 100 g, or 395 in a 140 g order, and drops protein to 12.36 g per 100 g.
How much sodium is in a serving of buffalo wings?
A 140 g order contains 1,179 mg of sodium, 51% of the Daily Value and about half a teaspoon of table salt. Per 100 g that is 842 mg. CDC advises adults stay under 2,300 mg a day, so one basket of wings uses up half of it before any dip.
Do buffalo wings have sugar?
There are 2.26 g of total sugars per 100 g, so 3.2 g in a 140 g order, most of it from the sauce. USDA does not publish an added sugars value for this survey record, so there is no split between natural and added here. Either way it is a small number.
Are buffalo wings keto friendly?
A 140 g order carries 8.7 g of carbohydrate, low enough for most low-carb plans. Boneless wings are a different story at 28 g per 140 g, and plain breaded wings without sauce reach 21 g. If carbs are your limit, bone-in and sauced beats boneless by a wide margin.
Similar foods
- Cannoli — 227 cal per cannoli
- Nachos — 663 cal per order
- Fries — 452 cal per medium fast food order
- Waffle cone — 556 cal per Waffle cone with 2 scoops
- Onion Rings — 282 cal for 8 rings
- Funnel cake — 318 cal per cake, 6-inch
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the basket and BodyPal counts the wings for you, sauce and all.
