Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings with Homemade Buffalo Sauce

Air Fryer chicken wings are crispy, easy, delicious, and no mess. Pair it with a finger-licking homemade buffalo sauce, and you have a match made in heaven. You will never make wings another way again!

I’ve been making chicken wings since 2001. From what I’ve learned from my experience, the key to crispy chicken wings is a method of preparation and sauce. Since I started using my air fryer, I noticed a big difference in taste and crispiness. And here we are years later, sharing the best chicken wings recipe tested, perfected, and loved. Served with homemade Blue Cheese dip.

The wings come out crispy, juicy, and tender in 20-25 minutes from start to finish. The crispiness seals the chicken wings in their entirety, leaving the inside meat juicy and tender. Once you bite the crisp, the meat slides right off the bone. Mouthwatering!

Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings Recipe:

Ingredients for the wings:

• Two pounds of chicken wings, cut into drummettes and wingettes.
• Salt and pepper for the taste

Ingredients for the homemade Buffalo sauce:

• 3/4 cup Franks Hot Sauce (or a hot sauce of your choice)
• 1/2 Stick of butter
• 1TBS flour (or corn starch)
• 2TBS Molasses
• 1TBS Brown sugar
• 1TBS Raw Honey
• 1tsp Maple Syrup
• 1tsp Tabasco
• 1TBS Ketchup
• 1TBS BBQ sauce
• Paprika – a pinch of (for taste)
• Cayenne – a pinch of (for taste)
  Note: If you don’t have all the above ingredients, don’t worry. Your wing sauce might not be as “rich”, but it surely will be savory. At least try to get the basics – Franks sauce, honey, butter, flour, and BBQ sauce.

How to make the best Chicken wings in the Air fryer:

Follow the directions of your air fryer manufacturer. The cooking time for the crispy chicken wings is usually 20-25 minutes at 390°F (approx 195°C).

1. Preheat the air fryer to 390 degrees F° (195 degrees C°)
2. Sprinkle and toss the wings with salt and pepper for taste. 
3. Arrange wings in the air fryer basket or tray in a single layer, spacing them evenly, and air fry for 10 minutes per side.
4. After 10 minutes, open the air fryer, flip each wing on the other side, and air-fry for the remaining 10 minutes, or until chicken wings are crisp and golden brown.

Homemade Buffalo sauce:

• While the wings are being cooked, in a small or medium saucepan, mix the following ingredients
• Begin by melting butter over low heat
• Once it’s melted, add flour to it  – it helps to thicken the sauce.
• Then add the remaining ingredients, one at a time.
• Cook the sauce by stirring it frequently over low heat until it thickens and caramelizes. It should take about 10 minutes. If the sauce comes out too thick, you can add water (a little at a time). However, don’t overdo it. We don’t want the sauce to be too liquidy.

• When the AirFry program is complete, with the help of kitchen thongs, toss wings with the sauce and serve hot.

Crispy Chicken Wings Variations

The essential equipment for this delicious recipe is an air fryer. I use and recommend Ninja Foodi XL, Cuisinart Air fryer, and Instant Vortex. I guarantee that you won’t look back once you try this method. However, if you don’t currently own an air fryer, you can still enjoy this easy chicken wings recipe with variations:

• Oven – You can use a regular oven with a broiler function. Broil the chicken wings in the high-pressure mode for 30 minutes, with occasional flipping in between.
• Instant Pot – You can place a wire rack at the bottom of the instant pot and cook for 7 minutes in high-pressure mode. The wings will come out fantastic with a fall-off-the-bone feel. Check out our instant pot crispy chicken wings recipe for more.

How to Serve Air Fryer Chicken Wings?

Once your air fryer chicken wings are ready, serve them hot or at room temperature. It’s important to remember not to dip the chicken wings into the sauce before air frying, or else they’ll turn out burned-skinned due to the sugar in the sauce. If you’re using the Instant Vortex Air Fryer, you can make 24 large wings at once (12 per tray).

Serve them with celery and a side of blue cheese dressing. Alternatively, you can try this homemade chipotle sauce for dipping or a BBQ sauce.

As for the appetizers, you can try:

• Spicy Μozzarella sticks
• Αir fryer french fries
• Crispy air fryer carrot sticks
• Celery sticks
• Jalapeno Cheese balls
• Potato skins

How to Store Leftover Air Fryer Chicken Wings?

It’s best to eat crispy chicken wings fresh on the day you cook them. However, if you need to store any leftovers, you need to place them in an airtight container in the fridge for no more than 3 days. Then, if you want to reheat them, preheat the air fryer at 380 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 minutes and place them inside.

Try the Best Chicken Wings Recipe

It’s your turn! This easy chicken wings recipe makes for the perfect appetizer that’ll have you hooked. And since there’s no need for hot oils when air frying, this is the healthiest version of a mouthwatering delicacy without the extra fats and calories. If you’ve never tried air fryer chicken wings before, you’re in for a treat. So make sure to give it a go and please share your comments and photos with us!

Tasty Air fryer wings recipes:

Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Chicken wings (Butter).
Air Fryer Smoky Chipotle BBQ Chicken Wings.
Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings.

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Yield: 4

Tastiest Air Fryer Chicken Wings with Sticky Honey Buffalo Sauce (recipe)

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Welcome to the tastiest Air Fryer chicken wings, my fellow Chicken wings lover. You came to the right place. When it comes to making wings, I consider myself a professional. – I have been making chicken wings every weekend since 2001 and since then I perfected our Chicken wings finger-licking sauce because the sauce in chicken wings is the KEY to the taste. The second most important factor is the method of preparation.

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 22 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 pounds chicken wings
• salt and pepper to taste 
• Sauce ingredients:
• 3/4 cup Franks Hot Sauce (or you can use a hot sauce of your choice)
• 1/2 Stick of butter
• 1TBS flour (or corn starch) to thicken
• 2TBS Molasses
• 1TBS Brown sugar
• 1TBS Raw Honey1tsp Maple Syrup
• 1tsp Tabasco
• 1/2 tsp Liquid smoke (optional)
• 1TBS ketchup
• 1TBS bbq sauce
• Paprika - a pinch of (to taste)
• Cayenne - a pinch of (to taste)
• Note: If you don’t have all the above ingredients – Do not worry. Your wing sauce may not be as “rich”, but try to get the basics – Franks sauce, honey, butter, flour, BBQ sauce

Instructions

Directions:

Air Fry method - follow the directions of your Air fryer maker. The cooking time for the wings is usually 20-25 minutes at 390°F  (approx 193°C)

1. Preheat air fryer to 390F.

   Sprinkle the wings with salt and pepper to taste if desired. 
2. Arrange wings in the air fryer basket or tray in a single layer, giving them some space. Set the time to 20 minutes, then touch START.
3. After 10 minutes, open air fryer, flip each wing on the other side, and airfry for the remaining 10 minutes
4. Wing Sauce: While the wings are being cooked, in a small or medium saucepan mix together the following ingredients for the hot sauce. Begin by melting butter over low heat.  Once the butter is melted, add flour to it, it helps to thicken the sauce.  Work out all the lumps.  After flour, you then add the remaining ingredients, one at a time.  Cook the sauce, stirring it frequently, over low heat until it caramelizes and is nicely blended into the sauce. It should take about 10 minutes. If the sauce comes out too thick, you can add water ( little at a time) - however, you do not want the sauce to be too liquidy.
5. When the AirFry program is complete, toss wings with the sauce and serve hot.

Notes

1. This Instant Vortex Air fryer makes 24 large size wings at once (12 per tray) in 25 minutes

2. Serve Chicken Wings with celery and blue cheese. Or fresh carrots if desired.

3. Please also try this Chipotle sauce for dipping.

4. Do not sauce your wings before cooking or else the wings may have burned skin (because of the sugar in the sauce)

5. If you do not use an Air Fryer, you can try Instant Pot Chicken wings or if you have a regular oven with the broiler function, broil them on high for 15 minutes on each side in the middle rack. Make sure to take a peak every 5-10 minutes to make sure they do not burn and flip them occasionally.