Protein in Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are logged by wing count at restaurants or by edible meat weight at home. USDA wing references describe meat only or meat and skin — not whole bone-in wing weight on a scale.

Our piece estimates use ~21g edible meat per roasted wing (meat only) and ~34g per wing with skin from USDA household measures linked to FDC #172392 and #173630 ^[1]. Actual wings vary by bird size; weigh when accuracy matters.

Select raw or roasted and skin-on or skinless above before using calculators — mixing states is a common tracking error.

At roasted meat only (default, FDC #172392): 30.5g protein, 203 kcal, 8.1g fat per 100g.

At roasted with skin (FDC #173630): 23.8g protein, 254 kcal, 16.9g fat — skin adds fat and lowers protein density per 100g.

At raw meat only (FDC #173632): 22.0g protein, 126 kcal. Fried flour-coated (FDC #173629): 26.1g protein, 321 kcal, 22.2g fat, 8.3g carbs — a separate product from plain roasted wings.

At roasted meat-only values (~21g per wing): ≈ 6.4g protein and 43 kcal.

At roasted skin-on values (~34g per wing): ≈ 8.1g protein and 86 kcal — nearly double the calories with skin.

Restaurant "one wing" may mean a whole section (drumette or flat) with bone; our reference is USDA edible meat yield, not bone-in scale weight.

Six wings, meat only (~126g): ≈ 38.4g protein, 256 kcal — a common appetizer order size at roasted meat-only values.

Ten wings, meat only (~210g): ≈ 64.0g protein, 426 kcal.

Buffalo, BBQ, or breaded wings add sauce and coating calories not included in plain USDA wing references — log sauces separately when possible.

Weighing a bone-in wing on a scale includes bone mass that is not eaten. USDA per-100g values apply to edible meat (and skin if selected), not total wing weight with bone.

If you weigh bone-in wings, either remove meat from the bone and re-weigh, or use wing-count estimates with the stated reference weights (~21g meat-only, ~34g with skin per wing).

A pound of raw bone-in wings yields roughly 200g edible meat after cooking and bone removal — not 454g of protein-bearing food.

Per 100g roasted: skinless meat lists 30.5g protein at 203 kcal; with skin lists 23.8g protein at 254 kcal ^[1]. Skin contributes fat and weight without much protein, lowering protein per 100g.

If you eat skinless meat from a skin-on wing, log meat-only roasted for the meat weight you actually ate. Rendered fat absorbed into the meat surface is not fully captured by either reference.

Fried breaded wings (FDC #173629) are a third category — do not substitute plain roasted values for battered restaurant wings.

Roasted wing meat lists 30.5g protein per 100g vs raw at 22.0g — cooking removes water, concentrating nutrients per gram. Total protein in the same piece does not increase; the piece weighs less.

Weigh raw and log raw, or weigh cooked edible meat and log roasted. Do not enter cooked weight against raw per-100g data.

See the comparison table below for side-by-side raw vs roasted meat-only values.

At roasted meat-only: 30.5g protein per 100g · 8.6g per oz · ~15.0g protein per 100 kcal.

At roasted with skin: 23.8g per 100g · ~6.7g per oz · ~9.4g protein per 100 kcal.

Wing meat is among the higher-protein poultry cuts per 100g when skinless — comparable to drumstick meat-only roasted (~24.2g) but with more fat than breast.

Count-based: use wing-count servings when you know how many plain roasted wings you ate and accept the ~21g meat reference per wing.

Weight-based: weigh edible meat after cooking (or raw before cooking) and enter grams with the matching food state.

Restaurant wings: breaded, sauced, or deep-fried items may differ from USDA plain references — use the restaurant nutrition PDF when available; otherwise select fried flour-coated for breaded wings or add sauce calories separately.