How many calories are in a chicken wing?
A baked chicken wing gives you about 35 g of meat and skin, and that piece carries 88 calories. Per 100 g, wings run 252 calories. Six of them make a 529-calorie plate. The bird is modest here; what happens to the wing in the kitchen is what moves the number.
You'd need to walk about 18 minutes to burn the 88 calories in one wing (35 g).
How long does it take to burn off a chicken wing?
One wing (35 g) is 88 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 88 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 18 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 11 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 13 min |
| Jogging | 10 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 20 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 (35 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Chicken wing quick facts
- US servings from one drummette to a party plate
- Cooking method moves the number more than size
- Raw wings versus cooked wings
- Protein sodium and cholesterol fill up before the calories do
- How does a chicken wing compare
- Most popular chicken wing brands
- FAQ
Chicken wing quick facts
The row behind every number on this page is FNDDS 2706057, "Chicken wing, baked, broiled, or roasted, from raw". That is the wing most people actually have in front of them at home: no batter, no coating, cooked from raw in the oven or under the broiler, skin left on. USDA also publishes a catch-all "NS as to cooking method" wing at 257 calories per 100 g, but it blends fried and baked records together and carries more salt, so it makes a worse default than the specific one.
One point about the weight: 35 g is the edible meat and skin of a wing, not the piece plus the bone that lands on your plate. USDA counts what you swallow.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 wing (35 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 252 | 88 | — |
| Total fat | 16.74 g | 5.9 g | 8% |
| Saturated fat | 4.94 g | 1.7 g | 9% |
| Carbohydrate | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 0 g | 0 g | — |
| Protein | 23.6 g | 8.3 g | 17% |
| Sodium | 404 mg | 141 mg | 6% |
% 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 are missing on purpose. USDA does not publish added sugars or trans fat for this wing record, so guessing at them would be worse than leaving them out. Cholesterol and potassium are published: 140 mg and 210 mg per 100 g, which works out to 49 mg of cholesterol (16% DV) and 74 mg of potassium (2% DV) in a single wing. Hold on to the cholesterol figure, because it becomes the binding limit long before the calories do.
US servings from one drummette to a party plate
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 drummette | 22 g | 55 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28 g | 71 kcal |
| 1 wing, any size | 35 g | 88 kcal |
| USDA default, quantity not specified | 70 g | 176 kcal |
| 6 wings, party plate | 210 g | 529 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 252 kcal |
The 35 g wing, the 22 g drummette and the 70 g "quantity not specified" entry are USDA household measures for this record. The ounce and the six-wing plate are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, because nobody orders wings by the ounce and everybody orders them by the half dozen.
A drummette is worth calling out separately. It is the meaty piece that looks like a tiny drumstick, and at 22 g it is roughly two-thirds of a full wing. Bags sold as drummettes are the same bird, so a 12-piece tray of drummettes is closer to 660 calories than to the 1,056 you would get from 12 whole wings.
Cooking method moves the number more than size
Here is the whole story of chicken wing calories in one table. Coated wings weigh more because the coating is part of the piece, and they are denser per gram too, so the two effects stack.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical piece | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baked, broiled or roasted from raw | 252 kcal | 1 wing, 35 g | 88 kcal |
| Grilled, no sauce | 265 kcal | 1 wing, 35 g | 93 kcal |
| Grilled and tossed in sauce | 250 kcal | 1 wing, 55 g | 138 kcal |
| Baked and breaded | 260 kcal | 1 wing, 55 g | 143 kcal |
| Fried and breaded, from raw | 289 kcal | 1 wing, 55 g | 159 kcal |
| Restaurant or takeout fried | 323 kcal | 1 wing, 55 g | 178 kcal |
| Plain wings from precooked frozen | 294 kcal | 1 drummette, 22 g | 65 kcal |
Grilling comes out slightly heavier per gram than baking, at 265 against 252. That is not a mistake. Baking and broiling render more fat out of the skin and let it drip away, while a grate holds some of it against the meat. The gap is 5 calories on a single wing, which is noise.
The gap that matters is the takeout row against the first. A restaurant fried wing is 178 calories, just over double the 88 of a baked one, and it got there on only 20 extra grams. Batter absorbs oil, oil is 9 calories per gram, and the coating also pulls the piece up to 55 g before you have eaten any more chicken. Six takeout wings are about 1,066 calories. Six baked wings are 529.
Retail frozen bags sit all over this range, which is why the package is worth reading. USDA's branded records list Great Value chicken wing drummettes at 152 calories per 100 g and Perdue buffalo style wings at 167, while EZ Wings drummies come in at 286 and Weaver buffalo style wings at 250. The light ones are usually raw or lightly sauced; the heavy ones are pre-fried.
Raw wings versus cooked wings
If you weigh wings raw before they go in the oven, do not use the 252 figure. USDA's Foundation record for raw chicken wing, meat and skin is about 168 calories per 100 g, with 18.4 g of protein and 10.6 g of fat. Cooking does not add calories; it removes water, so the same calories end up packed into fewer grams. The rule of thumb for chicken is that 4 oz raw lands close to 3 oz cooked.
That record comes with a caveat worth stating: it is flagged by USDA for its energy calculation and its carbohydrate value is a rounding artifact, so treat the raw figure as a planning number rather than a label value. If you are logging what you ate, weigh it cooked and use 252.
Protein sodium and cholesterol fill up before the calories do
A six-wing plate is 529 calories, or 26% of a 2,000-calorie day. Nobody would call that a blowout. But the same plate carries 49.6 g of protein (99% of the 50 g Daily Value), 294 mg of cholesterol (98% of the 300 mg Daily Value) and 846 mg of sodium (37%). Two of those three numbers sit at their ceiling on a quarter of a day's calories. The FDA's Daily Value reference is where those percentages come from.
Sodium is where home and restaurant part ways hardest. A baked wing is 141 mg. A restaurant fried wing of 55 g is about 464 mg, and six of them total 2,784 mg, which is 121% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value in one order. That is a bit more than a teaspoon of table salt, before the ranch. If you are watching sodium, baking at home is the single change that does the most work, and it costs you nothing in protein.
On the plus side of the ledger, wings are a genuinely protein-dense food: 23.6 g per 100 g, with zero carbohydrate and zero sugar in the plain version. MyPlate counts them in the protein foods group, and for a low-carb or keto day a plate of unbreaded wings is one of the few bar foods that fits without arithmetic. Skin is what you trade for it. Nearly two-thirds of a wing's calories are fat, and the saturated share, 4.94 g per 100 g, is what a wing eater is really buying alongside the protein.
How does a chicken wing compare
| Cut | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken wing, baked | 252 kcal | one wing, 35 g | 88 kcal |
| Chicken drumstick, fried and coated | 247 kcal | 3 oz, 85 g | 210 kcal |
| Chicken breast, fried and coated | 250 kcal | 3 oz, 85 g | 213 kcal |
| Chicken thigh, sauteed with skin | 243 kcal | 3 oz, 85 g | 207 kcal |
The 3 oz servings in that table are our own arithmetic from each record's 100 g figure, not USDA household measures. Our take: per gram these four cuts are nearly identical, spread across just 9 calories per 100 g from the thigh at 243 to the baked wing at 252. The wing is the densest of the four, and it gets there without any coating at all, because skin makes up a bigger share of a wing than of any other piece. So the cut you pick barely matters; the portion does. Wings feel like a snack and get eaten in tens, while a breast gets eaten one at a time. Six wings at 529 calories quietly outrun a 3 oz coated breast at 213, and that is the trap worth knowing about.
Most popular chicken wing 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 |
| Great Value Chicken Wing Drummettes | 152 cal |
| Perdue Buffalo Style Chicken Wings | 167 cal |
| Archer Farms Buffalo Recipe Chicken Wings | 214 cal |
| Mattfield Farms Chicken Wing Portions | 161 cal |
| EZ Wings Chicken Wing Drummies | 286 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Chicken wing FAQs
How many calories are in one chicken wing?
One baked wing of 35 g edible meat and skin carries 88 calories, at 252 calories per 100 g. That figure covers wings baked, broiled or roasted from raw with no coating. Add breading and deep frying and the same piece climbs toward 178 calories.
How many calories in 6 chicken wings?
Six baked wings weigh about 210 g and come to 529 calories, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure. They also deliver 49.6 g of protein and 294 mg of cholesterol. Six restaurant fried wings of 55 g each land near 1,066 calories instead.
Are baked wings lower in calories than fried wings?
Yes, and not by a little: a baked 35 g wing is 88 calories, while a breaded wing fried from raw weighs about 55 g and runs 159. Part of that gap is the coating and the oil it absorbs, part is the extra 20 g of weight. Per 100 g the difference is 252 against 289.
How much protein is in a chicken wing?
One baked wing gives 8.3 g of protein, which is 17% of the 50 g Daily Value. Per 100 g wings hold 23.6 g. Six wings reach 49.6 g, essentially a full day of protein, though they carry 529 calories and 294 mg of cholesterol along with it.
How many calories in a buffalo wing with sauce?
A grilled wing tossed in sauce weighs about 55 g with the coating and comes to 138 calories, or 250 per 100 g. The sauce adds little on its own; the weight of the sauced piece is what moves the number. Restaurant fried and sauced wings run near 178 each.
Do chicken wings have carbs?
Plain baked wings have 0 g of carbohydrate and 0 g of sugar, so they fit a low-carb day cleanly. Breading changes that: baked coated wings hold 3.98 g per 100 g, and fried coated wings from a restaurant reach 15 g per 100 g, almost all of it flour and batter.
How many calories in a chicken drummette?
One drummette of 22 g is 55 calories baked, roughly two-thirds of a full wing. Plain drummettes made from a precooked frozen product run 294 calories per 100 g, so the same 22 g piece is 65. Retail bags vary: one store brand lists 152 calories per 100 g.
How much sodium is in restaurant chicken wings?
Restaurant fried wings carry 843 mg of sodium per 100 g, about 464 mg in a 55 g wing. Six of them come to 2,784 mg, or 121% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value. Baked wings at home are 141 mg each, under a third as much per piece.
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Count it without the math
Point the camera at the plate and BodyPal counts the wings for you, sauce and all.
