These easy Air Fryer Chicken Wings are exploding with flavor and cook in half the time that regular oven baked wings do! Grab your air fryer and impress your friends and family with these savory, delicious chicken wings.
Why You’ll Love This Air Fryer Chicken Wings Recipe
Easy preparation, tons of flavor, AND quick cleanup? These chicken wings check all the right boxes! Here are a few more reasons why you should try cooking wings in the air fryer:
- Crispy Yet Tender: The air fryer makes the skin on these wings perfectly crispy, but leaves the meat ultra-juicy!
- Flavor-Packed: These chicken wings are seasoned with smoked paprika, spicy crushed red pepper, savory fresh garlic, and more. You’ll be hooked by the first bite!
- Quick and Easy: You can have these wings on the table in 20 minutes – how’s that for a quick weeknight dinner (or easy game day snack)?
Also, if you’re looking for more air fryer chicken recipes, try out these easy chicken legs or these crispy chicken thighs!
What Is the Best Air Fryer?
Air fryers come in 2 different styles. The more popular type has a drawer/basket that slides in the front and usually doesn’t require preheating. The second type looks like a toaster oven and opens with a door, like a mini version of a regular oven.
We have tried a few different air fryers and these are our 3 favorites depending on your budget and air fryer style preference:
- Budget-Friendly: Gourmia Air Fryer
- Basket Air Fryer: Cosori Air Fryer XL
- Toaster Oven Style: Power XL Air Fryer
Recipe Ingredients
7 ingredients – that’s all it takes to make perfect wings! Chances are, you already have most of them in your kitchen, too. For exact ingredient amounts check out the recipe card below.
- Chicken Wings: You can purchase chicken wings as a whole wing, or broken down into drums and wings. We like to purchase them already separated, but you can separate them yourself if you accidentally bought the connected ones.
- Olive Oil: Avocado oil can be substituted if you like.
- Dried Chopped Onion: Onion powder will also work if you’d rather use that.
- Crushed Red Pepper: If you want these wings to be extra hot and spicy, you could double (or triple) the crushed red pepper depending on how much heat you like. You can also sprinkle in some cayenne pepper, too, if you really want to turn up the heat!
- Smoked Paprika: This provides an earthy spiciness and a pop of color.
- Salt: Kosher salt, table salt, etc., all work!
- Fresh Garlic: Garlic powder is fine in a pinch, but freshly minced garlic provides the best flavor!
How to Make Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings
These air fryer chicken wings come together in a few simple steps. Let’s get into it! Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed instructions.
- Season the Wings: In a large bowl or ziplock bag, toss all of the ingredients together. Remember, if you use a Ziplock bag, you get to throw it away when you’re done. One less dish to clean!
- Prepare the Air Fryer: If your air fryer needs preheating, go ahead and preheat it. Some do, some don’t, just read the instructions in your manual. You want to heat the air fryer to 400°F. Once it’s nice and hot, arrange the wings in an even layer in the air fryer basket.
- Cook the Chicken: Cook the chicken wings for a total of 16 minutes, flipping them halfway through. Don’t forget this step! If you don’t flip the wings, they won’t cook evenly and you want them browned on all sides.
- Enjoy! After just 16 minutes, you’ll have wings that are better than what you find in most restaurants. Serve immediately, and enjoy!
Tips for Success
Read through these tips and tricks for a little more info on how to get the best air fryer chicken wings!
- Fully Coat the Wings: When you’re tossing the wings in the seasonings and olive oil, it’s important that you try to coat every single one evenly. That way, each wing is just as delicious as the last!
- Lay Your Wings in a Single Layer in the Air Fryer: Make sure your wings are in a single layer in your air fryer and are not stacked on top of each other. This will ensure they are crispy and perfectly cooked!
- Dry the Chicken Before You Season It: If you have to rinse the chicken wings for any reason, pat them dry with paper towels to remove any extra water. This will help keep the wings crispy while they cook.
What Goes With Air Fryer Wings?
Chicken wings can be served with almost anything! Here are a few suggestions to get the ideas rolling:
- Dips and Sauces: Like most wing lovers, we both love dipping these in blue cheese and ranch! Wings are traditionally served best with those 2 dipping sauces and some crunchy celery on the side.
- Salad: A light salad (like this cucumber salad) is a good way to go! It provides a bite of freshness in between bites of these savory wings.
- Roasted Veggies: Parmesan roasted broccoli or roasted green beans would both be great choices!
- French Fries: Salty, crispy French fries are a perfect match for chicken wings.
- Mac and Cheese: As long as we’re making comfort food, how about some chili mac and cheese too?
How to Store & Reheat Leftovers
Once cooked, these crispy air fryer chicken wings will stay fresh at room temperature for about 3 hours. If you end up with leftovers, here’s how to save them for later:
- Store: These wings will last for up to 4 days in the fridge when kept in an airtight container.
- Reheat: You can use your air fryer or the oven to do this. Preheat either one to 350F, then cook the chicken wings until they’re warmed through (about 5 minutes for the air fryer and 10 for the oven).
- Freeze: Let your chicken wings cool completely, then store them in an airtight container and freeze them for 2-3 months. When you’re ready to eat them again, let them thaw overnight in the fridge, then follow the reheating instructions!
FAQs
Air fryer wings are the ultimate fun, easy dinner. Whether you’re making a batch of these perfectly cooked wings for a weeknight dinner or a football party, you’ll be glad you used this recipe! Here are some answers to common questions we get about these crispy wings.
YES! These are a great prep ahead party food. You can season the wings up to a couple of days ahead of time, and then store them in an airtight container in the fridge or even freeze them. If you freeze them, just make sure to let them thaw before cooking. When we prep air fryer chicken wings ahead, we toss them all together in a ziplock bag with the seasonings and then store them in that same ziplock bag. Easy peasy!
Sure! Double up on the spices and olive oil, that way you can prepare all of your wings at the same time. Then, because of the size of the air fryer, you’ll need to work in batches to make as many as your heart desires.
Of course! If you prefer your wings coated in sauce, you can toss them directly into your favorite sauce as soon as they are done cooking. We tested this recipe with a few different sauces and think they are great if you toss them in Frank’s Buffalo Sauce for great buffalo style wings.
More Easy Air Fryer Recipes
- Juicy Air Fryer Shrimp
- Tender Steak Kabobs
- Air Fryer Pork Chops
- Hot Honey Chicken
- Crispy Chicken Cutlets
Air Fryer Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken wings, split into flats and drummettes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dried chopped onion
- 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- In a large bowl or ziplock bag, toss all ingredients together. Make sure to toss wings to coat fully in seasoning and olive oil.
- Heat air fryer to 400°F. Arrange wings in an even layer of air fryer basket.
- Cook for 16 minutes, flipping wings half way through cooking. Serve immediately!
Video
Notes
- To store. These wings will last for up to 4 days in the fridge when kept in an airtight container.
- To reheat. You can use your air fryer or the oven to do this. Preheat either one to 350F, then cook the chicken wings until they’re warmed through (about 5 minutes for the air fryer and 10 for the oven).
- To freeze. Let your chicken wings cool completely, then store them in an airtight container and freeze them for 2-3 months. When you’re ready to eat them again, let them thaw overnight in the fridge, then follow the reheating instructions!
These were AWESOME! Made them for game day and they were the first thing to go.
I have a Ninja with a rack. Would you recommend doing the chicken wings in layers? I’m new at this – just received one for a gift yesterday – and just happen to have wings out to thaw.
Thanks
Hi Dee! Keep the chicken wings in a single layer, that way they all get cooked evenly and crispy!