Looking for the ultimate air fryer chicken wings recipe that promises tender, juicy meat and irresistibly crispy, golden skin? You’ve found it! This foolproof recipe delivers mouthwatering chicken wings with ease, making it the go-to choice for anyone who loves a tasty and hassle-free meal.
With an easy list of ingredients, many of which you may already have on hand, you can whip up air fryer chicken wings that are packed with taste and impossible to resist. Yes, they’re genuinely that amazing!
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Why I Love This Recipe
Developing this recipe was so much fun. The simple fact is – I LOVE chicken wings. And I knew I could use my air fryer to make awesome wings. I just never expected them to come out THIS awesome! They are so crispy, so savory, so perfectly seasoned… I’m making myself hungry again just writing this. This has been one of my most satisfying air fryer recipes and I’m beyond excited to share it.
Use Fresh Chicken Wings for Crispy Results
To get the very best results, use fresh chicken wings, not frozen. If you only have frozen wings, we recommend thawing them first. Air frying uses rapidly circulating hot air to crisp the food and this result is best achieved with fresh wings.
Simple Ingredients
We use a very simple dry rub seasoning that so perfectly accentuates the natural flavor of the chicken. This savory combination of herbs and spices, when air fried, gives us unbelievably flavorful and crispy wings. Each bite has that crispy crunch and burst of flavor that you will fall in love with. Our ingredients include:
- Oregano
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Salt
- Pepper
- Mustard powder
- Paprika
Preparation
Our recipe uses chicken wing drumettes and flats. Many supermarkets sell wings that are already cut. But if you only have whole chicken wings that’s fine too, we’ll just need to cut them. Use a good, sharp butcher’s knife or kitchen scissors and cut right at the joint that joins the drum and flat. Then, cut the wing tips from the flat right at that joint. Discard the tips or save them to make chicken stock later.
Pat the Wing Sections Dry
Once we have our wing drumettes and flats, use a paper towel and pat them all as dry as possible. This is very important for crisping the skin during the air fryer process. If there is any excess moisture, they will steam on not crisp.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a small dish. Add the wings to a large mixing bowl and toss with the oil until all the wings are well coated. Add the seasonings and toss again until all the wings are well coated with the seasonings.
That’s it! See? Told ya this was easy!
Air Fry at 390°(F) for 20-24 Minutes
The wings are now ready to go into a preheated air fryer. Make sure not to stack the wings on top of each other. They need to be in a single layer in the air fryer basket or tray, depending on the type of appliance you have. Use the air fry setting at 390°(F) for 20-24 minutes. The wings are done when the internal temperature should be at least 165°(F). You’ll probably find that the wings are closer to 180°-200°(F) internally, which is totally fine. In fact, it just makes the meat inside more tender. Wings hold up great with higher internal temperature.
When the wings are done, we toss them with the drippings from the bottom of the basket for an extra juicy flavor boost. That’s it!
How to Serve
The serving possibilities for chicken wings are endless. These wings go great with just about any dipping sauce. My favorite dipping sauce includes:
- Ranch dressing. Add some coarse-ground black pepper to the ranch for an additional flavor boost.
- Blue Cheese Dressing
- BBQ Sauce
- Honey Garlic Sauce
- If you are looking for some spice, any hot sauce or buffalo sauce will fit the bill
Wings naturally partner with fresh celery sticks and carrot sticks. Also, since these are herb-seasoned wings, side dishes of potato salad or coleslaw are excellent choices for making them a meal.
To make more than the 18 wings this recipe calls for, simply double the number of ingredients for the seasoning mix. However, we recommend air frying doing 2 batches or more. For air frying to effectively crisp and cook the food, the circulating air needs to easily reach all sides of the chicken wings. We do not want to crown the basket or tray or stack the wings on top of each other, a single layer works best. It’s ok if the batch fits snuggly, there will be some shrinkage during cooking. But we definitely don’t want to crowd or stack the wings.
These wings do not contain any ingredients which are considered hot. The flavor profile is extremely savory. But if you want to add a little heat, simply add ¼tsp of cayenne pepper to the seasoning mix. Or, use ½ – 1 teaspoon of crushed red peppers.
We do not recommend using regular prepared mustard in place of ground mustard. We want to keep all of the ingredients dry to be able to get the crispiness. If you do not have ground mustard, simply leave it out. (However, ground mustard is an awesome ingredient in many recipes and it’s very affordable. Pick some up on your next trip to the supermarket).
Reheating cooked wings in the air fryer is easy. 380°(F), 5-8 minutes of cooking time will yield the best results.
Keep the cooked chicken wings in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Starting with defrosted wing sections (wingettes) which are patted dry is key. If the wings are too moist, they will steam more than they will crisp. Have some paper towels handy and pat those wings as dry as possible before adding the oil or seasonings!
Also, make sure not to overcrowd your air fryer with a batch of wings that are too large. For the air frying to be effective, the wings need room. Make sure they’re in a single layer, not stacked on top of each other, and that each wing has a little bit of room around it. This will allow the hot air to properly circulate and get those wings nice and crispy.
Goes Well With…
Aside from the above serving suggestions, I love the good crunch of coleslaw with chicken wings. Our Country Creamy Coleslaw is a winner for sure and a great partner for our chicken wings.
Do you know what else I love with chicken wings? Macaroni and cheese. Yep, the two go together so well. Our Best Damn Instant Pot Mac and Cheese is so creamy and delicious and loaded with flavor.
PrintRecipe
Best Damn Air Fryer Chicken Wings
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 18 wings
Description
These mouthwatering, crispy chicken wings are herb-crusted and cooked to perfection in your air fryer in under 25 minutes. Perfect for a weeknight meal or game-time.
Ingredients
- 2lbs chicken wings (fresh, flats and drumettes, about 18 pieces)
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp thyme, dried
- 2 tsp rosemary, dried
- 2 tsp oregano, dried
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- Mix all dry ingredients. Set aside.
- Add chicken wings to a large bowl or zip-top bag and toss with vegetable oil. Add seasoning mix and toss to coat all the chicken well.
- Preheat air fryer for 5 minutes at 390°(F).
- Add chicken wings to tray or basket of air fryer. Air fry at 390°(F) for 20-24 minutes. Shake basket/turn wings 2-3 times during cooking for even crisping.
- When done, remove wings to a large bowl and toss with and drippings from bottom of air fryer basket or drip tray.
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 22min
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
Jackie
I am vegan but the rest of my family is not so I am constantly looking for new easy things to make them since I’m usually cooking twice. Happy to report everyone in the family loved these!! The meat came clean off of the bone and they loved the flavor (I followed the recipe except for the ground mustard, didn’t have any so I subbed 1/2tsp onion powder + 1/2 tsp garlic powder). Thank you for the recipe, these are definitely going in the weekly rotation.
Jilian
Best air fryer wing recipe I have tried so far. Yummy!!
Marge Sulikowski
very good. will make again
Jennifer Mullin
These were absolutely the best wings I have ever made. Crispy, spiced just right. You can did in wing sauce or blue cheese. Thank you for sharing and also showing me how to cut the wings.
Jennifer
Patricia
I made these and they were really good! My husband said they had lots of flavor. This will be my wing recipe in the future. Thanks!
Tom
These are the best air fryer wings I have ever made! I like mine with a little spice to them so I added 1/2 tsp of cayenne, delicious!
jodi macmartin
Made the wings today, I’m enrolling in your school. They were every thing you promised. Have picked out 2 more recipes for next two days, so your promise is on the line. Will let you know what grade the teacher gets from the new student.
RecipeTeacher
Awesome, Jodi! I hope the other recipes grade well too. 🙂
Cathy
We found these to be a little bland. And I did not have any juice to pour over the chicken wings when they were done.
But it was fun to learn how to make wings in the air fryer, since I never tried that before. The wings came out juicy and crispy. Will definitely try this again.
Dirinda
I made this for my husband tonight. He is eating it with ranch dressing and smacking his lips.
For some reason, unknown to even me, the only part of the chicken I eat is the breast, so I asked him, “What’s the flavor like?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s not barbeque. It’s not garlic. More like maybe a dry rub. Smoky, I guess. Let me eat some more.”
Unfortunately, the wings I bought were the WHOLE wings, and cutting them apart at the joints was kind of a barbaric endeavoring, which I disliked immensely. The next time I will look more closely before I buy or just have the butcher do it for me.
Judging by my husband’s reactions, I would give this recipe a four or five star.
Buddy French
I have made these several times. Always delicious. I don’t have any leftovers!