Use this recipe for Air Fryer Chicken Wings to satisfy your craving for crispy, better than restaurant quality chicken wings at home.
I am a chicken wing snob. This is a good thing for you because it means you won’t find any fatty, rubbery skinned, lacking in flavor wings here. Very often the chicken wings that I order out disappoint me, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I developed a very highly rated recipe for truly crispy, oven baked chicken wings and you can find that recipe by clicking HERE. So since my air fryer recipes bring me lots of readers, it made sense for me to develop an air fryer chicken wings recipe as well.
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How to cook chicken wings in an air fryer:
Good air circulation is necessary around each chicken wing for the skin to get crispy. I have a small air fryer so I was only able to cook five whole wings at once. This recipe is best for small batch wings and not for serving a crowd. I shake the (not frozen) raw chicken wings in a mix of baking powder and whatever grill or chicken seasoning I have on hand. While I prepare the wings I brush a light coating of vegetable oil on the air fryer basket and preheat the air fryer before adding the wings. Once the wings are cooked I finished them with a mix of soy sauce, honey and melted butter. You can’t beat a salty sweet combination in my opinion. But you can add your own favorite sauce after the wings are cooked.
Can you cook frozen chicken wings in an air fryer?
No. If you want to cook frozen chicken wings without thawing them first then check out my recipe for crispy oven baked chicken wings HERE. The wings for this recipe to cook properly in the air fryer must be fresh, not frozen. Chicken is safe to eat once it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. As you can see the air fryer cooks them well past that temperature. Although I still use my digital thermometer to check and be safe.
What to serve with these air fryer chicken wings:
Since these are small batch chicken wings I would set them out with a collection of other snackable foods. And you are in luck because we are big football fans in my house, and I have a lot of delicious snack food recipes that will go well with theses wings!
- Ultimate Pizza Dip
- Best Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Ultimate Chex Party Mix
- Jalapeño Popper Dip
- Buffalo Chicken Celery Dip
- Meatloaf Sliders
- Seven Layer Hoagie Dip
- Cincinnati Nachos
Kitchen Tips and Tools:
- This is the brand of air fryer I used for testing this recipe.
- Do not spray your air fryer basket with a commercial cooking spray (like Pam) because it will damage the non-stick coating over time. Instead, use a pastry brush or oil mister to lightly coat the air fryer basket with vegetable oil.
- I use tongs like these to flip the chicken wings halfway through frying time.
- This is the brand of chicken seasoning I used in this recipe.
- I chose to leave my chicken wings whole but here’s a helpful guide for how to cut them.
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Air Fryer Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 2 lbs whole chicken wings fresh, not frozen
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp rotisserie chicken seasoning or your favorite dry rub seasoning
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp butter melted
Instructions
- Brush the inside of your air fryer basket lightly with vegetable oil and preheat the air fryer to 250 degrees.
- In a large zippered back, combine the baking powder, chicken seasoning and salt. Add the fresh wings and shake to coat.
- Depending on the size of your air fryer you'll probably have to cook the wings in two separate batches.
- For each batch, add one layer of chicken wings to the basket making sure they aren't touching each other (or barely touching).
- Cook at 250 degrees for 15 minutes. Flip the wings over and increase the temperature to 400 degrees.
- Cook the wings at 400 degrees for an additional 15 minutes.
- Check the temperature of the wings. Mine were over 200 degrees F when finished. Skin will be lightly browned and crispy.
- Whisk together the soy sauce, honey and melted butter. Toss the cooked wings in the sauce and serve.
Sarah Baumeister says
They look just the right amount of crispy. Thank you for the easy to follow instructions.
foodtasticmom says
They are perfectly crisp. You’re welcome!