These no-thaw Air Fried Frozen Chicken Wings can be made with any seasoning you'd like in just 25 minutes from freezer to table! There's no need to thaw the wings, and they pair perfectly with any sauce you have on hand.
If you enjoy easy air fryer chicken dishes, check out my air fryer chicken legs and honey garlic chicken wings.
Jump to:
- ❓ Why make frozen chicken wings in the air fryer
- 🍗 Ingredients
- 🍽 Ways to season air fryer chicken drumsticks
- 📋 How long to cook chicken wings in the air fryer?
- 🐓 3 most common chicken cooking mistakes
- ✔️ How to make air fryer chicken wings from frozen: step-by-step
- 💡 Why is my air fryer smoking?
- 🥘 Freezing and reheating
- 👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
- 🙋🏻♂️ Frequently asked questions
- 😋 What to serve with air fryer wings
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
❓ Why make frozen chicken wings in the air fryer
- super quick - they defrost and then cook up much quicker than baking in the oven.
- better for you - this healthy air fryer chicken wing recipe calls for just a tablespoon of oil on over a pound of chicken, causing much less fat to be retained on the wings than when they're deep fried or even when baked. You could even try air fryer wings with no oil, but I do recommend at least using a thin spray of oil to encourage the seasoning to stick.
- very versatile - you can use almost any seasoning for wings in the air fryer, but be sure to wait to add a low histamine sauce.
- extra crispy - thanks to the surrounding of heat, you can cook up small batch of wings in air fryer or even a high-quality toaster oven and it will still be super crispy.
🍗 Ingredients
Fresh or Frozen Chicken Wings: we have been loving the fresh-frozen options from Thrive Market, but use whatever source you tolerate. Just don't forget to split them into drums & wings, if needed, which for this recipe ended up at about 13 pieces for me.
Oil: you can use any high-heat low histamine oil, but I've found that even ghee and avocado oil can both start smoking in certain parts of the air fryer when it's set to 400°F (205°C), so I recommend using frozen lard if available.
Baking Powder: this one weird ingredient is the secret to cook frozen chicken into crispy air fryer chicken wings. It basically helps to pull moisture to the surface during the cooking process, aiding in the crisping.
Sea Salt: use finely-ground sea salt for this, otherwise it won't season the chicken evenly enough.
Seasoning: there are 3 low histamine seasoning blends to choose from in the recipe card, but each one is based on a popular chicken wing rub here in the US.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🍽 Ways to season air fryer chicken drumsticks
With Marinade: if you'd like to marinate these air fryer wings (NOT a low histamine method), add a tablespoon of lemon juice and leave out the sumac in the seasoning, and leave the wings in a gallon bag (air all pushed out) in the fridge for 1-6 hours before preheating the air fryer and cooking.
Wings are delicious plain or with marinade, if tolerated, but almost any seasoning would be great, including:
- dry rub with coconut sugar (seasoning #1 in the recipe card)
- honey mustard (seasoning #2 in the recipe card)
- garlic powder and zata'ar (seasoning #3 in the recipe card)
- lemon zest + garlic powder (drizzle with butter)
- dried rosemary and garlic powder
- lemon peppe r(if tolerated)
📋 How long to cook chicken wings in the air fryer?
Chicken wings taste best when cooked in the air fryer for around 16-18 minutes at 380°F (195°C). I also recommended flipping the wings halfway through cooking to ensure even frying. However, cooking time can vary depending on the size of the wings and your specific air fryer.
🐓 3 most common chicken cooking mistakes
1) Not Spraying Down: as an extra precaution, you can spray down the air fryer tray to make sure the air fryer wings don't stick at all.
3) Overcrowding: try to keep a single layer of wings in the air fryer, not stacking and not letting any of them touch each other. Because it's the super-heated air touching the chicken wings in the air fryer that's actually cooking them, any parts that touch will not crisp up as well.
2) Incorrect Batching: to use more or less chicken, for every half pound of additional wings add ¼ to ⅓ of the other ingredients.
✔️ How to make air fryer chicken wings from frozen: step-by-step
Step 1. Only preheat the air fryer if using refrigerated wings rather than frozen. Preheat your air fryer to 380°F (195°C) for 3 minutes, putting your frozen chicken wings in the air fryer basket (image 1).
Step 2. Once the air fryer is preheated, carefully take out the chicken wings and pull them apart from each other. If they're still too frozen in the middle once you pull some off, return them to the preheated air fryer for 2 minutes (image 2).
Then proceed to use paper towels to pat each wing as dry as possible (images 3 & 4). This dryness will help the wings crisp up even more, despite having been in the freezer. Immediately throw away the paper towels.
Step 3. Place your dried wings into a ziploc freezer bag along with your oil, baking powder, salt, and chosen spice blend (sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and sumac shown here) (images 5 & 6). Close the bag with a big bubble of air to facilitate seasoning (image 7), and toss everything until well-coated (image 8).
Step 4. Once covered in seasoning, chicken wings can be placed in a single layer to the basket of your air fryer (image 9). Cook them at 380°F (195°C) for 18-22 minutes, flipping them halfway through (I recommend cooking them 10 minutes, then flipping and setting it for 8-12 more minutes). Small wings won't need as long to cook, so check on them earlier (image 10).
💡 Why is my air fryer smoking?
Keep in mind that setting your air fryer at 400°F (205°C) can cause some oils to start smoking in hotter parts of your air fryer, notably avocado oil and some olive oils, even if they have higher advertised smoke points. Using lard instead can take care of that possibility.
Step 5. If you want to sauce the wings in the air fryer, don't just pour on the sauce. Take them out 4-5 minutes before they're set to be done, put them into a clean bowl, and quickly toss them in the sauce.
Then immediately return them to the air fryer to cook for the last 4-5 minutes. This will give the wings enough time to soak up the sauce without it making them soggy or scorching the sauce. Once your air fryer turns off, your wings are done— if using a more delicate sauce, drizzle it on now and serve.
🥘 Freezing and reheating
Freezing Instructions: if you want to freeze your leftovers, I highly recommend you make this recipe initially with fresh wings, as double-frozen meat loses a lot of texture. Regardless, consider putting them in single-serve glass containers that are easy to reheat in the toaster oven or the microwave, to save on dishwasher space and reduce plastic usage.
Reheat from Frozen: how long to reheat chicken wings in air fryer will vary depending on the size of the wings. But I've found that most of the time they're reheated after about 10 minutes in the air fryer at 300°F (150°C), sauce-on if using, or after just five minutes at 300°F (150°C) if they'd been kept in the fridge (NOT low histamine).
👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
Skin or No Skin?: many people with histamine issues shy away from chicken skin, as it's said to sometimes irritate histamine issues. While personally I tend to use skin-on chicken to make air fryer wings, if you do choose to use skinless wings, you also may need 1-2 minutes' less cooking time.
Which Baking Powder?: if you're hyper-sensitive to gluten, be sure to buy grain-free baking powder, like the type sold by Otto's.
Batching: to use more or less chicken, for every half pound of wings add (or subtract) ¼ tablespoon baking powder and just under ½ teaspoon sea salt.
Freezing Instructions: if you want to freeze your leftovers, make this recipe initially would fresh wings, as double-frozen meat loses a lot of texture. Consider putting them in single-serve glass containers that are easy to reheat in the toaster oven or the microwave, to save on dishwasher space and reduce plastic usage. Reheat in the air fryer at 300°F (150°C) for about 10 minutes, sauce-on if using.
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently asked questions
The exact time varies by wing size, but I find that air frying them for around 20-30 minutes has yielded the best results. Since most wings are smaller, I find that 20-22 minutes on a high temp does the trick.
If your wings are not crispy when cooked in an air fryer, it could be due to overcrowding in the basket, which prevents proper air circulation. Another reason is not cooking them at a high enough temperature to render the fat and crisp the skin. I find that making sure the wings are totally dry before you season them helps crisp up the skin.
Whether wings are better in an oven or air fryer can depend on personal preference, but air fryers can make for a crispier skin due to the intense circulation of hot air, which mimics the results of deep frying. However ovens are generally better for cooking larger batches, or if you prefer a less crispy texture on your wings.
The number of chicken wings an air fryer can hold depends on the size of the air fryer basket. What's most important is to arrange the wings in a single layer without overlapping to ensure they cook evenly and become crispy. Typically, a standard air fryer can hold about 10 to 15 wings at a time, but this can vary based on the size of the wings and the air fryer itself.
Both cornstarch and baking powder can be used to produce crispy chicken wings, but they work differently. Baking powder, which is alkaline, can help break down the proteins in the chicken skin, leading to a crisper texture when baked or air fried. Cornstarch, on the other hand, can create a thin, crispy coating on the wings.
😋 What to serve with air fryer wings
Have you tried this recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Crispy Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Wings (3 Flavors)
Equipment
- air fryer
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pounds chicken wings split into drums & wings 9-12 on average; see notes to use more or less
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- ½ Tablespoon baking powder NOT baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
BBQ Dry Rub Seasoning:
- 1 Tablespoon coconut sugar alt. brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika optional sweet or hot or smoked if tolerated
- ¼ teaspoon sumac optional
Honey Mustard Seasoning:
- 2 teaspoons honey
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika optional sweet or hot or smoked if tolerated
- ¼ teaspoon sumac optional
Zata'ar Seasoning:
- 1 teaspoon zata'ar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Only preheat the air fryer if using refrigerated wings rather than frozen. Preheat your air fryer to 380°F (195°C) for 3 minutes, putting your frozen chicken wings in the air fryer basket.
- Once the air fryer is preheated, carefully take out the chicken wings and pull them apart from each other. If they're still too frozen in the middle once you pull some off, return them to the preheated air fryer for 2 minutes, then proceed to use paper towels to pat each wing as dry as possible. This dryness will help the wings crisp up even more, despite having been in the freezer. Immediately throw away the paper towels.
- Place your dried wings into a ziploc freezer bag along with your oil, baking powder, salt, and chosen spice blend (sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and sumac). Close the bag with a big bubble of air to facilitate seasoning, and toss everything until well-coated.
- Once covered in seasoning, chicken wings can be placed in a single layer to the basket of your air fryer. Cook them at 380°F (195°C) for 18-22 minutes, flipping them halfway through (I recommend cooking them 10 minutes, then flipping and setting it for 8-12 more minutes). Small wings won't need as long to cook, so check on them earlier.
- If you want to sauce the wings in the air fryer, don't just pour on the sauce. Take them out 4-5 minutes before they're set to be done, put them into a clean bowl, and quickly toss them in the sauce. Then immediately return them to the air fryer to cook for the last 4-5 minutes. This will give the wings enough time to soak up the sauce without it making them soggy or scorching the sauce. Once your air fryer turns off, your wings are done— if using a more delicate sauce, drizzle it on now and serve.
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