There's no need to go out for wings when you can make them right in your home using your air fryer! These Air Fryer Chicken Wings are crispy, flavorful, and cooked perfectly in only 20 minutes!
Air Fryer Chicken Wings Recipe
Air Fryer Chicken Wings taste so much better than takeout! Plus, they are much cheaper, and you can control the crispiness and flavors!
With only a few ingredients and 20 minutes, you'll have a plate of crispy, piping hot wings ready to devour.
You can keep them "naked", add your favorite seasonings to spice them up, or turn them into BBQ wings! Of course, the most favorite way to eat chicken wings is Buffalo style, and I will tell you how to make buffalo wings in the air fryer too.
Any way you spin it, and any way you season them, you will love this easy chicken wings recipe!
Want to see our other chicken wing recipes? Check out Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Wings, Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Wings, and these wings with our Air Fryer Chicken Wing Dry Rub.
If you're air frying with a Ninja Foodi, see our Ninja Foodi Wings recipe - the time and temp is slightly different for that specific machine.
INGREDIENTS FOR CHICKEN WINGS IN AIR FRYER
Chicken Wings - This easy air fryer recipe is for making one pound of wings. Depending on their size, this should be 10-12 pieces. You can cook more wings, but you'll want to do them in batches.
Oil - Vegetable oil, light olive oil, or another mild flavored oil will make your wings extra crispy.
Garlic Salt - if you aren't going to toss your wings in sauce, seasoning them before cooking is a great idea. Garlic salt is easy and tastes delicious on chicken wings.
If you have any questions about Air Fryer Chicken wings, please leave a comment below and I will get back to you ASAP!
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN WINGS IN AN AIR FRYER
- Rinse and pat your chicken wings dry, then separate them into drums and flats if needed.
- Place the wings into a bowl, then drizzle a little oil over the pieces.
- Sprinkle some garlic salt over the chicken and toss to coat..
- Line your air fryer basket with foil or parchment, then arrange the chicken in the basket in a single layer.
- Air fry the chicken wings as directed in the recipe below. They will take 15 to 20 minutes at 400°F/200°C. You should flip the wings over halfway through.
- Serve with your favorite dressing (ranch or blue cheese is classic) or dipping sauces and enjoy!
These numbered steps match the numbered photos above and are for illustration purposes. For the complete list of ingredients and instructions for making air fryer wings, see the recipe below.
HOW TO SEPARATE WHOLE CHICKEN WINGS
Your local grocer or butcher may sell chicken wings already separated. If so, that's great as it's a big time saver!
But if not, it doesn't take much effort to separate whole chicken wings yourself.
Here's what you'll need to do:
- First, identify the two bone joints in the wings.
- Next, use a pair of kitchen shears to snip through both joints.
- Discard the tips of the wings (they're mostly cartilage and skin), and cook with the little drums and flat pieces.
Tip: Save the wing tips in the freezer for the next time you make chicken stock or soup!
WHAT ARE THE TWO TYPES OF CHICKEN WINGS CALLED?
You can call them drums and flats, or sometimes they are called drumettes and wingettes. I kind of like that, it sounds fancy!
The drums are the ones that resemble chicken legs, and have one bone in the center. Flats have two bones inside. Many people have a preference as to which type of wing is their favorite! I like them both.
TIPS FOR MAKING AIR FRYER CHICKEN WINGS
To get extra crispy air fryer wings, make sure your chicken wings are dry before coating with oil. I recommend rinsing them with water and patting them dry with paper towels.
Place them on a plate lined with paper towels to drain any excess water while you gather the rest of your ingredients.
Doing this will ensure that the chicken wing skin will fry to a golden brown crisp in the air fryer.
Don't skimp on the oil. While you won't want to use an excess amount of oil (no smoking air fryers allowed!), you won't get that crispy golden skin texture without it.
Use a simple oil with a high smoke point like vegetable oil or peanut oil.
Pro Tip: When cooking meat it is extremely important that you measure the internal temperature to make sure your meat has been cooked to completion. Chicken is cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 160°F/74°C.
I highly recommend that you get a meat thermometer to keep handy when cooking in your air fryer!
Serve sauce on the side. Since chicken wings are dark meat, the meat will likely stay nice and juicy inside. Doing it this way will let everyone enjoy their favorite wing flavors, or more than one.
It's important to serve a creamy dipping sauce with wings too! Ranch dressing and creamy blue cheese dressing are great choices.
HOW TO MAKE BUFFALO SAUCE
I consulted a friend who lives in Buffalo so that I could give you the most authentic buffalo wing sauce recipe possible! Here's the super simple recipe:
Mix 1 part melted butter to 2 parts Franks Red Hot sauce. Taste and adjust as needed. For a hotter sauce, add more hot sauce, and to make your buffalo wings milder, add more butter.
Instead of using the garlic salt on these wings, cook them without seasonings. When the chicken wings are done, toss them in buffalo sauce before serving with ranch or bleu cheese.
HOW TO SERVE AIR FRYER CHICKEN WINGS
Simple Dippers: Place the wing pieces on a platter, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley, and serve with ranch dressing or your favorite dipping sauce.
Buffalo Style: Toss the wings with buffalo sauce before plating. Serve with a good quality bleu cheese dressing.
SIDE DISHES TO SERVE WITH AIR FRYER WINGS
If you're making spicy wings, add fresh celery and carrot sticks to counteract the heat from the buffalo sauce.
Make your air fryer chicken wings into a healthy and filling meal by serving with baked beans and creamy coleslaw.
Create a knockout air fryer appetizer spread that will impress the guests at your next party or tailgate! An ultimate appetizer spread is easy to make in the air fryer!
Pair chicken wings with air fryer meatballs, air fryer pickles, and air fryer mozzarella sticks. I also really like making Air Fryer Potato Skins when I make wings. It's a bar food feast!
CAN I REHEAT CHICKEN WINGS IN MY AIR FRYER?
Absolutely! It doesn't take much effort to reheat chicken wings in the air fryer, and it gets the wings nice and crispy again.
I recommend skipping the microwave to avoid a soggy and rubbery reheated texture. The great news is that you can do it right in your air fryer instead!
Simply turn your air fryer to 360 degrees F, and air fry the wings for 4-5 minutes to reheat them.
That's just enough time to get them reheated and crispy without over cooking them.
CAN I COOK FROZEN WINGS IN THE AIR FRYER?
Frozen wings are no problem for the air fryer! Follow my Frozen Air Fryer Chicken Wings recipe to see how we do it. You can cook frozen wings in the air fryer, it just takes a bit longer.
CAN YOU FILL THE AIR FRYER WITH WINGS?
Wings will cook best in the air fryer in a single layer. Most large air fryers will be able to fit 1 pound of chicken wings this way. If you stack them on top of each other, you will have a difficult time getting the wings crispy, so cook your wings in batches if you need to.
DO I ADD FLOUR TO AIR FRYER WINGS?
There are suggestions I've seen to add flour, baking soda, or even baking powder to the wings to get them crispy. I'm here to tell you that you do NOT need to add any flour or powder to the wings. It doesn't do much to make them crispier, it only adds a coating to the outside.
Plain wings with just a small amount of oil and seasonings get the crispiest.
CAN I COOK CHICKEN WINGS IN THE AIR FRYER WITHOUT ADDED OIL?
You can! I find that adding a bit of oil gives them a golden brown crispy exterior. Because chicken wings have skin on them, they will create their own fat as they cook. You'll get crispy wings without adding oil, but the color won't be as dark.
COOKING CHICKEN WINGS IN THE AIR FRYER SEEMS MESSY!
Line the bottom of the air fryer basket with foil to keep the wings from sticking to the basket and making too much of a mess. Be sure to leave the sides of the basket uncovered so that air can circulate.
Yes, you'll have a small mess in the air fryer to clean up after cooking wings, but it's nothing compared to the mess that frying in oil makes.
This recipe was made in a Cosori Air Fryer with a Basket. The recipe should work in other air fryers.
Keep in mind that each air fryer runs differently, it is important to check your food often.
If you have a Cuisinart Air Fryer Oven or a Ninja Basket Air Fryer, both of these units seem to run "hotter" than most air fryers. That means you will need to LESSEN the cook time.
TRY THESE TASTY AIR FRYER APPETIZERS
We have so many air fryer recipes to choose from!
If you are having trouble figuring out which one to try next, we suggest: Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Wings, Air Fryer Meatballs and Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks. You might want to make a coupe batches of wings. If your air fryer is busy you can try these soy sauce chicken wings!
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Air Fryer Chicken Wings
Equipment
- Air fryer
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken wings split into drums and flats
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
Instructions
- Gently rinse the chicken pieces and pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Place the chicken pieces into a large bowl.
- Pour the oil over the chicken.
- Sprinkle the garlic salt over the chicken and toss to coat.
- Place parchment or foil in the bottom of your air fryer basket for easy cleanup.
- Arrange the chicken pieces in the lined fryer basket.
- Air fry the chicken at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
- Flip the chicken pieces and cook for another 8-10 minutes.
- In the last 2-3 minutes, open your air fryer basket and spray the chicken generously with oil to help crisp the chicken. (optional)
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- I have found the sweet spot of cooking to be around 16 minutes.
- Thicker wings will take longer to cook, so you may need to adjust your air fry cook time by a couple of minutes.
- Keep in mind that there are many different models of air fryers on the market, so cooking times and temperatures might vary slightly.
Nutrition
Air Fryers can vary greatly. Please take the time to learn your specific air fryer. You may need to adjust times and temperatures based upon your air fryer. All though this website attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, the information should only be considered an estimate. Varying factors such as different product types, different brands, etc. can change nutritional information. It is your responsibility as a consumer to read all labels to make sure the ingredients fit your dietary needs as well as calculate your own nutritional information as a double check.
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WE UPDATED THE PHOTOS IN THIS POST!
We recently took some new photos of our popular air fryer chicken wings recipe, and added some extra tips and tricks that we've learned along the way. Here are the old photos if you're curious!
