These Air Fryer BBQ Wings are an easy but flavorful appetizer that you’ll love serving for game day or at your next party!
Bold and classic, these extra crispy chicken wings are so simple to prepare and cook quickly in the air fryer for a fast appetizer.
If you love these, try pairing them with Easy Nashville Hot Wings for an impressive chicken wing platter!
This super easy appetizer is great to serve at parties, happy hours, or even as an extra crispy main course for dinner!
Why You’ll Love Air Fryer Chicken Wings
If you’ve never cooked wings in the air fryer, this is your sign to give it a try! These BBQ wings combine classic flavors with a quick and easy prep and fast cooking time.
You’ll love the BBQ sauce with a little extra kick. These wings are so versatile and can even be served as a main course for dinner.
Best of all, you only need 4 ingredients for this air fryer recipe. If you’re looking for a foolproof and crowd-pleasing appetizer that you can whip up in a pinch, these air fryer wings have you covered!
Serve with celery and carrots or your favorite dipping sauces for the ultimate savory appetizer experience. Or, try making these easy Air Fryer Cauliflower Parmesan steaks to go alongside!
Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Wings Ingredients
With just a few simple ingredients, you can easily prepare these delicious air fryer wings.
- Chicken Wings – I typically make about 12 at a time, but feel free to increase or decrease depending on the size of your crowd.
- Salt and Pepper – to taste.
- Melted Butter – gives your wings a distinctly buttery and delicious flavor
- Buffalo Sauce – gives the BBQ sauce a bit of extra zing.
- BBQ Sauce – feel free to use your favorite BBQ sauce–we really like the Sweet Baby Ray’s!
Instructions for Cooking Chicken Wings
- Pre-heat air fryer to 390 degrees. Take the chicken wings out of the refrigerator and let them reach room temperature. Pat dry with a paper towel.
- Coat with melted butter. If you prefer a more “healthy” wing, you can swap the butter for 0 calorie cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place wings in a single layer in the air fryer basket and air fry for 20 minutes.
The secret to lots of flavor is brushing the wings with butter and seasoning with salt and pepper before you cook them.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine BBQ sauce and hot sauce. Remove chicken from air fryer and coat with the hot BBQ sauce you created.
Doesn’t that sauce look so flavorful? The extra kick from the buffalo sauce takes your BBQ chicken wings to the next level!
- Place back in air fryer for 5-10 minutes or until wings reach your desired crispy-ness.
FAQs
How long should I cook my chicken wings in the air fryer?
It should take about 25 minutes to cook your wings all the way through. Some people like to do 12 minutes on one side and then another 12 on the other.
I prefer to cook them most of the way on one side and then flip them at the end just to make sure everything gets nice and crispy.
Should chicken wings be thawed before air frying?
This depends on whether or not you want to toss them in a sauce. If you are using a sauce like for these BBQ wings in the air fryer, you don’t need to worry about it as much.
But if you prefer your wings without sauce, it can be helpful to defrost first so you can season them more easily before cooking.
Click to save to your Pinterest board.
How do you make frozen BBQ wings in the air fryer?
If you want to cook your wings from frozen, you’ll need to change the process a bit. Cook plain for about 10 minutes to defrost, then coat with the butter, salt, and pepper.
Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes–you may want to flip them about halfway through. Then toss in your BBQ sauce.
You can eat them like this, or air fry for another minute or two to get the sauce nice and warm.
Can you put raw chicken wings in the air fryer?
Popular Variations and Substitutions
- If you’re not a big fan of spicy food, you can opt to exclude the buffalo sauce and just use the BBQ sauce.
- You can also create a honey BBQ sauce by mixing, you guessed it, honey and BBQ sauce together! This creates a great sweet and savory combo.
- To ensure extra crispiness, you can also dust your wings with some aluminum free baking powder along with the seasonings.
- Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing and garnish with parsley.
- For a healthier version of these wings, substitute some 0 calorie cooking spray for the butter.
More Recipes You’ll Love
- Smoked Salmon Puff Pastry – An elegant and savory appetizer that’s perfect for parties, brunches, and more!
- This Polynesian Chicken is made in the air fryer and is a great appetizer for game day.
- Best Dip Recipes – You’ll love serving one (or all!) of these yummy dips at your next happy hour or game day.
- Homemade Ranch Dressing – Cookie and Kate brings us a homemade dressing that would be excellent to pair with your air fryer chicken wings.
- These Hummingbird cupcakes are the perfect thing to satisfy your sweet tooth!
- Try one of these – over 25 appetizers all made in the air fryer.
Air Fryer Chicken Wings
Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Wings
These delicious and extra crispy air fryer chicken wings will be a huge hit at your next gathering!
Ingredients
- 12 Chicken Wings
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1/4 Cup Melted Butter
- 1/2 Cup Buffalo Sauce
- 1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce
Instructions
- Pre-heat air fryer to 390 degrees.
- Take the chicken wings out of the refrigerator and let them reach room temperature.
- Pat dry with a paper towel. Coat with melted butter (or 0 calorie cooking spray).
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Place on air frying rack and air fry for 20 minutes.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine bbq sauce and hot sauce.
- Remove chicken from air fryer and coat with the hot bbq sauce.
- Place back in air fryer for 5-10 minutes or until wings reach your desired crispy-ness.
Notes
- If you prefer a more “healthy” wing, you can swap the butter for 0 calorie cooking spray.
- Substitute honey for buffalo sauce if you like sweet over spicy.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 143Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 556mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 0gSugar: 4gProtein: 5g