Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings
These crispy air fryer wings win hands-down for a good Super Bowl menu item. In fact, we had them teed up and ready for our own party until the Chiefs won again.
Boy, do these deliver a touchdown! Super crispy, super delicious, super easy and super RV friendly. I think I used the word “super” enough to drive home the game winning point.
We love messy chicken wings, especially ones with a little spice that require a thorough handing cleaning as soon as you’re done. A local place has just that and we set out to make them at home.
This recipe from CJ Eats jumped out at me because he emphasized his recipe makes extra crispy wings. Yep, this is the one. I like how you can change the sauces to make it your way. Some of our friends don’t like a ton of spice, they make it with a mild BBQ sauce. I like them without any sauce so I can dip them in different sauces where Mark is a “more sauce is better” guy.
Our air fryer is a Ninja 4-quart which means when feeding a crowd we must work in batches. We can do an entire batch at once in our toaster oven/air fryer and our son and daughter-in-law have a double basket air fryer which can knock out a ton of wings at once.
The key to the crispiness according to CJ is getting the wings as dry as possible and baking powder. He was right! We patted the wings and thought we had them dry enough. Just for fun I grabbed a few more paper towels and patted them again; I did not do a good enough job the first time. I recommend patting them again, even if you think they are dry enough.
Let’s get winging!
I like to get all the parts together so I’m not searching for something like the olive oil in the middle of cooking something.
Stir the salt, pepper and baking powder in a small bowl and get the oil ready. He recommends a neutral oil like avocado oil and what do you know, we always have avocado oil. Vegetable and canola oils are also considered a neutral oil.
Then it was time to pat the wings dry. Pat some more, pat again, give them one last pat.
Transfer the wings from the plate to a bowl, sprinkle the baking powder mixture on, add the oil and toss to coat evenly. You can use tongs or your hands. If you’re really coordinated, you can shake the bowl and make the wings flip around like Guy Fieri. I would have wings everywhere if I tried that.
Heat your AF to 400° for about five minutes.
Place the wings in the AF basket in a single layer. If your AF doesn’t hold them all, you’ll work in batches like we do. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove the basket and turn the wings over before cooking for 7-12 minutes longer depending on their size. 7 minutes was perfect for our wings.
Place your cooked wings in a large bowl, pour your favorite sauce over them and toss them to get a good coating of sauce. Or eat them just as they are. You’ll like the extra crunch the baking powder gives; it really makes them better!
Click to print recipe.
Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings
Adapted from: CJ Eats
- 1 pound chicken wings
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 Tablespoon avocado oil, or other neutral oil like vegetable or canola
- Preheat AF to 400°.
- Add baking powder, salt and white pepper to a small ramekin, stir and set aside.
- Pat the wings dry, then pat them some more. You want them to be as dry as possible.
- Add the wings to a bowl, add the seasonings and oil and toss to coat well.
- Place wings in the AF in a single layer. You may have to work in batches. Cook for 10 minutes.
- Turn chicken over and cook for 7-12 minutes until crispy and golden brown. Larger wings may take full 12 minutes. Ours were done in 7.
- Add wings to a large bowl and toss in your favorite sauce or eat them naked, without sauce.
Refrigerate any leftovers. We’ve never had any leftovers.