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These are the Crispest Air Fryer Chicken Wings I’ve ever made. They have a crunchy outside and a juicy, tender inside. An easy and delicious snack for game day!

I have lots of chicken wing recipes on my blog. Okay. I have twelve, but that’s a lot to me! Most of them are air fryer wing recipes, but there’s a smoked wing recipe and an oven fried recipe or two. We devour wings in this house. So, they’re something I try to make often. Because they’re so simple yet delicious. And easy to make!

I rarely, if ever, purchase drumettes and drums already separate. Meaning, I purchase whole wings and separate them myself. I find them to be bigger, taste better, and you get that little tip to use for chicken stock. I toss those in the freezer until I’m ready to make stock. They have such great flavor in there for broth.

You’re right, this isn’t a chicken broth recipe post. This is a chicken wing post. For those that are apprehensive about separating wings, just do it! The more you practice it the easier it gets. For me, I place the wing joint on the board and form a V with the two pieces coming off the joint. That usually lines up the joint to make it easy to slice right down the middle and separate the drum from the drumette (or flat) or the drumette and the tip.

How do you make the crispiest air fryer chicken wings?

If your wings aren’t separate, then do that. Follow my little V example above to cut through the joint. I put mine on a plate lined with a paper towel. After separating all the wings, I dry them. THOROUGHLY! I wrapped each wing in paper towel and squeezed them to make sure there weren’t any hidden pockets of liquid in the wing or the in the skin of the wing.

After drying the wings, I tossed them with the olive oil. You could absolutely use seasoned olive oil if you want. I might try the harissa olive oil next time I make these. But for this one, I went with a regular olive oil. Then I tossed them with the seasonings of choice. For me, that’s a Bavarian blend, today. It has brown mustard, rosemary, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and sage. It’s a rich and earthy mixture that I thought would taste delicious. And I was right!

My air fryer has a two-tiered rack. I think it’s important for me to disclose that. I haven’t ever actually cooked wings in the basket that came with the air fryer. I prefer the rack. I can cook more wings and the air can completely circulate around the wings. This ensures all sorts of crispiness surrounds the wings when they’re finished.

The drumettes are layer into the bottom of the rack because they’re thinner with less meat. I don’t want to overcook them so they go on the bottom. The drums go on top because they’re thicker and take longer to cook.

I cook the wings in stages. First and foremost you want to make sure the wings are cooked through. This means I start mine lower and slower than most everyone else. My wings go in the air fryer at 375 for 15 minutes. That’s the first stage.

The next stage is the first crisping stage. I turn the air fryer up to 400 and cook them for 8 minutes. I call this the first crisping stage because sometimes they’re crispy and cooked enough and sometimes they’re not. Sometimes I find the drumettes aren’t as crispy as I want, and I must rotate the drums to the bottom and drumettes to the top. This could easily lead to the third stage or second crisping stage.

Now, if you’re using the basket, please cook all the drums and then all the drumettes together. They cook at different times and if you cook them together, the drumettes might get too cooked or the drums might not be cooked enough. So, be careful with that if you’re using the basket for your air fryer.

 

How crispy are the crispiest air fryer chicken wings?

They are packed with crunch!! I’ve tried just the baking powder trick. I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I think combining it with flour wasn’t the best idea when I tried it. The flour coated the wings, but didn’t make them any crispier. They were almost caked on with flour and that’s never attractive in a crispy wing.

And then I tried just baking powder alone and they just tasted weird. I probably added too much because there wasn’t anything else to help coat the chicken wings. It was just 1 teaspoon of baking powder. For like a pound of wings. How is 1 teaspoon of baking powder going to coat all those wings? I just didn’t see it working out.

Enter cornstarch! It’s light and makes things crispy! It’s the key to tempura batter which is always crispy and delicious. And some other crispy wing recipes called for it. So, I thought a delicate balance of the cornstarch and the baking powder would make my wings super crispy. And I was totally right!

The cornstarch combines with the baking powder to create a moisture barrier keeping the juiciness inside and the water outside. The baking powder has a chemical reaction with the skin making it crispy. The cornstarch keeps water from ruining the crisping process making it even crispier. Both of those means these are the crispiest air fryer chicken wings I’ve ever made.

After tasting the crunch, you taste the spices. For me, that’s the Bavarian spice blend I used. It’s earthy and delicious. There’s the rosemary and thyme, sage, and garlic. The mustard is a hidden taste you don’t get right at the front of your bite, but you taste it after a little bit.

I toyed with an Old World blend which, to me, is like Old Bay but not as seafood based. Or a delicious curry blend. Lemon pepper is always in my pantry for wings along with a slew of other herbs and spices to make my own blend I want on my wings. Follow that logic. Pick whatever spices you want on your wings.

Finger Licking Chicken Wings

• Chipotle Lime Chicken Wings from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Crispiest Air Fryer Chicken Wings from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings from That Recipe

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