Crispy Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Wings (3 Flavors)
Crispy air fryer chicken wings from frozen, ready in under 30 minutes. The easiest air fryer frozen wings to serve with any sauce!
Servings: 2
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.
Notes
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.