Air Fryer Chicken Wings – juiciest, crispiest and most delicious chicken wings you’ll ever have in your life; all made in an air fryer in under an hour. Healthy, crispy and tasty quick dinner or game day appetizer. You’ll be gobbling it down to the bone!
I hear you, friends. For the longest time, I’ve been getting comments on the blog if I can post some air fryer recipes. So today I’m finally sharing my FIRST EVER Air Fryer recipe (Woohoo!) just in time for next week’s Super Bowl game here in the U.S. And boy, oh boy, I’m loving every bit of it! See that plate right there above with the sauce and celery? *COUGHS* I ate that whole thing! *COUGHS*
What is an Air Fryer?
Not long ago, hubby bought me my first ever air fryer that, unfortunately, had been collecting dust. It’s not that I’m ungrateful (I really appreciate the thought. I mean who doesn’t want to be gifted with some kitchen stuff), but it’s just that I don’t feel that connection or excitement when using it.
And so I bought myself a new one and I instantly love it!
Cooking in an air fryer is not really FRYING it, per se. You don’t need to submerge your food in oil (though you may or may not spray or toss it with oil for added flavor) to achieve that crispy crunchy fried texture. What it does is that it has a heating mechanism and a fan inside that blows its air around in a circular motion making sure that that hot air touches every surface of the food as it cooks thus resulting in that crispy texture. It’s as good as the oven or fried ones!
Air Fryer Chicken Wings Dry Rub
Now that you have an idea of how an air fryer works, let’s go to that drool-worthy part.
Our air fryer wings for today are not just amazingly crispy, but are also beyond delicious! It has that garlic, onion and white peppery primary flavors with undertones of heat from smoked paprika and cayenne. Plus a little bit of minty and sweet aroma from thyme.
And guess what do we have??? Air fryer fried chicken that will knock you off your chair in every bite! But if you want to experiment, please feel free to do so. You can skip the dry rub that I made and use your favorite seasoning OR any of these ones below which I can confidently vouch for.😉
How Long to Cook Chicken Wings in Air Fryer?
This air fryer chicken recipe is easy to prepare and comes ready in under an hour. Yep! I was surprised at first on how quickly it all comes together compared to baking it (see my Baked Crispy Chicken Wings HERE) without compromising the taste and the texture.
First, I set my air fryer at 380°F when cooking for about 10 minutes. Then remove the basket, shake up and continue cooking for an additional 10 minutes. This is actually how we render the fat from the chicken wing. After doing that, we crank up the heat to crisp the skin at 400°F for another 5-6 minutes more.
That’s a total of 25-26 minutes, and perhaps about 10 minutes of prep time. See what I’m talking about? It’s such a breeze to cook these chicken wings in air fryer.
Just serve them with your preferred sauce (I love this Ranch Dressing or this Blue Cheese Dressing), and a couple of other snacks (check my healthy Crispy Roasted Chickpeas HERE) and booze and you’ll have one heck of a party! But if you’re like me who loves some “alone time”, you could have all of these to yourself as you binge-watch Netflix. 😉
More Chicken Wings Recipe
Can’t get enough of chicken wings??? I have more for you here on the blog!
Other Appetizers That You’ll Love
- Indian Fry Bread
- Tostones (Twice-fried plantains with guacamole and shrimp)
- Sausage Rolls
- Smoked Salmon Dip
- Pizza Dough + Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce
- Chicken Quesadilla
How To Make Air Fryer Chicken Wings
Thoroughly pat dry chicken wings with paper towels and place them on a large plate or mixing bowl.
Preheat air fryer; I preheat mine at 400°F for 5 minutes. When ready to air fry, salt, and pepper chicken, then thoroughly mixed with spices above OR use any of our favorite spice mix we have on this blog – Jerk Seasoning, Creole or Italian Seasoning.
Set your air fryer to 380°F. Spray the basket with a nonstick cooking spray and place chicken wings in the air fryer basket. Do not overcrowd your chicken. You might have to do so in batches. Cook for about 10 minutes, remove air fryer tray and shake air fryer basket. Cook for an additional 10 minutes or more. Then increase the heat to 400°F and cook 5-6 minutes more for extra crispy chicken wings. Chicken wings should be brown and thoroughly cooked through before serving.
Remove and toss with sauce or serve with Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing HERE.
Air Fryer Chicken Wings
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds (907.18 g) chicken wings
- ½ tablespoon (0.50 g) thyme
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) onion powder
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) smoked paprika , (replace with paprika)
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) white pepper
- ¼- ½ teaspoon (0.50- 1 g) cayenne pepper (adjust to taste)
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) chicken bouillon powder (optional)
- nonstick cooking spray for the basket
Instructions
- Thoroughly pat dry chicken wings with paper towels and place them on a large plate or mixing bowl.
- Preheat air fryer; I preheat mine at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes. When ready to air fry, salt, and pepper chicken, then thoroughly mixed with spices above OR use any of our favorite spice mix we have on this blog - Jerk Seasoning, Creole or Italian Seasoning.
- Set your air fryer to 380°F. Spray the basket with a nonstick cooking spray and place chicken wings in the air fryer basket. Do not overcrowd your chicken. You might have to do so in batches.
- Cook for about 10 minutes, remove air fryer tray and shake air fryer basket. Cook for an additional 10 minutes or more. Then increase the heat to 400°F and cook 5-6 minutes more for extra crispy chicken wings. Chicken wings should be brown and thoroughly cooked through before serving.
- Remove and toss with sauce or serve with Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing HERE.
Tips & Notes:
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Kris says
Amazing. We did a dry brine on the wings and omitted the boullion and salt and pepper. Super tasty and crispy
imma africanbites says
This is a keeper, right? I’m happy you like this one, Kris. Thanks for the feedback.
Florence says
Love that I can use pantry ingredients. Delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Immaculate Bites says
Thank you, Florence! 🙂
Adeola Ajayi says
Amazing recipe
Adeola Ajayi says
Awesome recipe
Wanter Uja says
Definitely on my Christmas lunch menu… fingers crossed I win the air fryer.
ImmaculateBites says
Wishing you all the best!!
Marcie says
My husband and I thought these wings were great. We dipped them in Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce. Wish I would have made more. The real test will be my son-in-law. Will let you know!
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! I am sure your son-in-law will love it too! Thank you for sharing!
Jim says
If using one of your spice mixes,how much would you use.
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Jim, About 2 -3 Tablespoons or more. Make sure chicken is fully coated in spice mixture.
Mispa Ajua-Alemanji says
Wow Imma thank you. I have had an air fryer sitting in my garage for almost a year now. When I saw your recipe I knew it was time to try using it. I also have breaded calamari I bought from Costco and some egg rolls. This thing is going to be my new best friend if this works. The only thing is figuring out how long to air fry for.
Thank you!!
imma africanbites says
Hi. I’ve just recently been using an air fryer, so I can’t tell for sure how long will it take. But will definitely post more air fryer recipes in the future. Adding now those two recipes on my list. Thank you for stopping by!
LaNita says
Going to try this before I give the air fryer away!
ImmaculateBites says
Hahaha. Please do! That air fryer wouldn’t be going anywhere after you try this recipe 🙂 !
Marcia says
thanks for the tips i just picked up from your post. one of the first things i tried when i got my air fryer about a year ago was wings, and i was very happy with the results. i am curious, though, about why the first air fryer just collected dust and you love the new one you just bought. what was the difference? i have a power air fryer oven (has 3 racks rather than a basket) and i love it. and they now sell for only @ $80, which is a lot less than i paid a year ago. and everybody i know who has tried the more common basket type has been very pleased. it seems that there’s not a lot of learning curve to get the knack of air fryers.
i am looking forward to trying wings with your rub, and i will be checking out the other seasonings you suggest. i already know they’ll be good, just from reading your ingredients. then, when/if you do pork chops in the air fryer, i’ll be looking forward to that. my best meal yet was when i did stuffed pork chops w/sesame teriyaki green beans.
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Marcia ,
So happy to hear from you. My first air fryer just collected dirt because it just didn’t appeal to me- Lol . And didn’t want to introduce another gadget to my already Long list of equipments . Quickly convinced when I saw this Cosori’s brand – it ‘s visually appealing and I read so many rave reviews about it….So far it’s been great!-wondered why I didn’t jump on in a little sooner. It’s never too late right?
Anyways, I have made pork chops already- Woohoo. Can’t complain. Will put it on my recipes to make for the blog soon.
Thanks for following along .Hope you enjoy these wings as much as we do.
Happy Cooking!!! .
Raelene Beggs says
I don’t have an Air fryer. Is there something else you could use??? Or an alternative way of cooking them. Thank you
ImmaculateBites says
Hello Raelene. You could try this Baked Crispy Chicken wings https://www.africanbites.com/baked-crispy-chicken-wings; Grilled Chicken wings https://www.africanbites.com/grilled-chicken-wings/; Baked Jerk Chicken wings https://www.africanbites.com/jerk-chicken-wings/ . or Chicken wings Shawarma https://www.africanbites.com/chicken-wing-shawarma/
Happy Cooking!
Adeola says
This is a great recipe I had love to try out with Air fryer. I make grilled chicken using the conventional oven & African Suys spice and it usually comes out dry and hard with no moisture left. I look forward to trying this recipe .
ImmaculateBites says
You are going to like this one . Thanks so much.