Air fryer boneless wings no breading is easy and delicious to make. Marinated, with a dry rub or with barbecue sauce, these make a great Super Bowl appetizer or healthy dinner idea even kids will love.
Ever wondered how restaurants take the bones out of chicken wings? They don’t! If you want to make some yourself at home with chicken breasts, this is how you do it! Just one more easy air fryer recipe that should be put on your meal rotation this week.
What is a boneless wing?
Do you love these when you visit Wings N Things or Hooters but wondered just how they removed the bones?? Well it’s kinda’ a trick the way they do it because they aren’t dry rub air fryer chicken wings really at all! That is right, they are actually cubed medium chicken breasts that are sometimes breaded and seasoned to look like this popular finger food.
These are much healthier than air fryer frozen chicken nuggets though since you’re using real meat. You could consider them to be homemade chicken nuggets though since they are cut into small bite size pieces with a crispy outer texture.
Ninja Foodi Option
For this brand you just need to know that the lid that needs to be used is the one that is attached, that crisps food. The button on the front that says air crisp is the one needed too, follow rest of the directions below.
Tips: My Favorite models are the Cosori or making Ninja Foodi recipes with the lid that is attached.
It is best practice to put food into a hot basket. This is how to preheat air fryer first before adding your food so it becomes as crispy as possible. For best results, here’s a printable free air fryer cooking time chart here for your fridge.
Ingredient Notes
For the main protein you want chunks of chicken breasts (or thighs) that are large bite size pieces, similar to the size of a wingette or drumette.
Olive oil or even mayonnaise works to coat the outside of the skin so the coating will stick well. This is a great example of How to Bread Chicken Without Eggs.
Parmesan cheese is a great if you want to make them without breading of any kind.
Garlic powder, salt and pepper we used for seasonings but use what you love really. You could use our dry rub for chicken wings for bolder flavors. Melted butter and parsley were used for our “sauce”
Substitutions and Variations
This time the coating was parmesan cheese with some seasonings. You could opt for more of a breadcrumb mixture like we used for our air fryer fish nuggets instead. That part is up to you, the temperature and cook time would remain the same. You can save calories and make them gluten-free this way though.
You don’t add the sauce until the protein is already cooked so there are many options as far as that goes. There is a buttery parsley option included in the recipe card below. Alternatively you could toss with barbecue sauce, teriyaki, Asian chicken wing sauce, Frank’s hot sauce (buffalo sauce for buffalo wing style) if you wanted them spicy.
Finger foods are fun for kids and easy to eat when you’re on the go to. Protein packed and a great low carb keto option if you choose to make air fryer chicken no breading.
Air Fryer Boneless Wings Recipe
Equipment
- 1 air fryer
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 medium chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into large chunks
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 2 tsp parsley
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 370 F for 5 minutes.
- Lay small chunks of chicken on paper towels and remove moisture from the outsides. Put into a bowl and drizzle with oil, stir so every piece is coated well.
- In a small bowl combine cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix together.
- One at a time put chicken into coating and roll around so it is coated on all sides.
- Spray inside of basket with non stick spray and lay coated chicken pieces in one layer. When full close basket and cook at 370 F for 5 minutes, open to flip them over and cook another 5 minutes.
- * Timing will vary depending on how large your pieces are. To check break largest piece in half to ensure inside is no longer pink.
- In a bowl mix melted butter and parsley together. Use a pastry brush to brush this mix on top of cooked boneless wings and serve immediately.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
No Breading Boneless Chicken Wings Recipe
This method makes the cook time much less than if you used your oven. I have shared how to bake crispy chicken wings before and yes those were delicious, but had bones. If you have kids you’d agree that tenders if you want to call them that are easier for those little hands and mouths to eat.
It’s just one of many air fryer chicken recipes no breading to choose from. If you want to save on calories this is the way to go.
Do boneless wings need to be flipped in an air fryer?
You can use any brand for this. I have a few and love my Foodi and Cosori. As always do not overlap your food, no matter what you make. There isn’t a real need to flip either as there are holes on the bottom of the basket to rotate the hot air. You can though if you want the outsides super crispy.
With proteins you want to make sure the hot air circulates all around the chicken pieces on all sides. It is more important for things like this to reach the right internal meat temperature so it is safe to consume. You also want that deep fried crunch which is totally possible.
Timing will vary depending on how large your pieces are. To check break largest piece in half to ensure inside is no longer pink. Try our air fryer turkey wings while you’re at it.
How to save leftovers
If you have some left over just throw them into a sealed bag and suck the air out. Save some sauce for when you reheat them. Brush sauce on top, microwave for 30 seconds, flip, heat again and again until they are as hot as you’d like. Not too long though or you will dry them out. Then brush on more sauce before enjoying for best results.
OR you can just dice up your leftovers the next day since there are no bones and throw them into one of our leftover chicken breast recipes.
This is the perfect rub recipe! I’ll be coming back to this recipe over and over!
I love how quick and seamless these are! So crispy and great each time.