These crispy air fryer wings have an amazing crunch and explode with flavor.
Put these on a short list of the best air fryer wings. These are seasoned with a homemade chicken dry rub and fried to serious crispiness.
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Crispy Air Fryer Wings Ingredients
- Chicken Wings - I’m partial to drummettes, but if flats are your thing, use them and I promise not to judge you.
- Potato or corn Starch
- Eggs
- Panko Bread Crumbs
- Chicken Dry Rub (recipe below)
Air Fryer Chicken Wings Dry Rub
The potato starch and technique provide the crispiness, but the rub is the source for all the crazy flavor. For the rub you’ll need:
- Paprika
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Dried oregano
- Dried thyme
- Cumin powder
- Cayenne pepper
- Ground black pepper
- Brown sugar
- Kosher or Sea salt
- Dried lime zest (optional) - you can buy it at a spice shop or make your own by grating and drying the zest. I substitute Mexican tajin seasoning which is in most grocery stories and has dried lime as a key ingredient.
How To Make Crispy Air Fryer Wings
Wash and dry the chicken with paper towels. Set aside and allow to reach room temperature.
Mix the chicken dry rub ingredients together in a small bowl or ramekin.
Season the chicken with ¼-1/2 the spice mix. Place chicken in a large bowl and add the potato starch. Shake to coat the individual wings well.
Create a dredge set up with three separate bowls - one for the starch, one for the beaten egg, and one for the bread crumbs. Feel free to season each with the dry rub mix.
Dredge the wings in the starch, then dip into egg wash. Finally cover the wings in the bread crumbs and place wings on wire rack until ready to fry.
Preheat fryer to 400 degrees. Brush wings with olive or grapeseed oil. Alternatively spray wings with cooking spray. Fry for 15 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Spread wings out on a baking sheet and let them air dry (preferably uncovered) in the fridge (about 30 minutes).
Remove the wings. Brush with oil (strictly for sticking purposes) and sprinkle each with the remaining spices.
Tips and Considerations For Crispy Air Fryer Wings
Corn or tapioca starches are perfect substitutes to potato starch. Starches work great as a coating because they don’t contain gluten which results in lighter and crunchier skin.
Season the wings before and after cooking with the dry rub.
This recipe is compatible with any spice mix so don’t fret if you don’t have all the ingredients on hand or if you just have a personal chicken wing dry recipe you prefer.
Time permitting dredge the wings in the starch and air dry them in your refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This helps to create that crunchy skin that sticks to the wings vs. a crust that falls completely apart when you bite into it.
Absolutely do not crowd the air fryer pan. Create as much space between each wing as possible. Cook in batches if needed. By maintaining space you help aid the circulating heat in the fryer reach all parts of the wings.
If you have leftovers, no problem, you can easily reheat wings in an air fryer. Assuming they've been refrigerated allow the wings to reach room temperature. Then just heat your air fryer to 400 degrees F and place wings in the air fryer for about 5 minutes
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Ingredients
For the wings
- 1 lb chicken wings
- ¼ cup starch
- ½ cup panko
- 1 egg lightly whisked
- olive oil spray
For the dry rub
- 2 tsps paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 1 teaspoon dried orange or lime zest optional
Instructions
For the rub
- Mix all the rub ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
For the wings
- Preheat air fryer at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.
- Prepare your dredge by mixing a bit of seasoning to the starch. Similarly beat your egg to make the egg wash and then add a bit of seasoning to the wash.
- Season wings evenly with dry rub.
- Dredge wings in the starch. Shake off any excess starch, then dip coated wings into the egg wash.
- Move the chicken wings to a plate of the panko breading and coat evenly.
- Lightly spray both sides of the chicken wings with cooking spray.
- Place wings in the air fryer basket in a single layer.
- Air Fry for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F. Flip wings halfway through cooking.
- When done cooking, take wings immediately out of the air fryer basket.