Air Fryer Chicken Wings Baking Powder

Air fryer chicken wings baking powder style come out the crispiest air fryer wings ever! Baking hack you need to know, just like fried chicken in air fryer without flour!

Baking Powder Chicken Wings

We shared how to bake crispy chicken wings years ago with this same method, but those were cooked in the oven. You, or at least I, don’t always want to heat up the entire house so this comes in handy during the summertime. I mean you can get crispier wings than the longer oven baked method in less time, so game changer.

Whether you want to slather these with sauce at the end, just add salt and pepper, or make them into dry rub wings they’re amazing.

Air Fryer Baking Powder Chicken Wings

This isn’t the only trick to cooking extra crispy wings, the other is making sure the skin is super dry first. You can do this quickly just with a few paper towels after you rinse them off. If you are a no rinsing the chicken kinda’ person then okay you can skip that step. I typically run them under some cool water but we can differ on that.

There is an important reason why you don’t want to skip this part. You see if there is moisture on the outside it would make sense that it wouldn’t be able to dry up and get crunchy right? No matter what you add to the skins you always make sure your Ninja Foodi chicken wings or other brand of machine are free from water.

It also helps your powder to stick nicely. If not you’ll have a pasty mess going on. Once their dried you can get to sprinkling. All over on all sides you’ll want this “magic powder” to suck more of the moisture out before you cook.

We used separated drumettes and wingettes as you can see here. That is the most commonly sold and bought in the US anyway. If you buy them in bulk frozen, you’ll want to defrost these babies first. Yes, we have cooked frozen chicken wings in air fryer quite often but not for this method.

Super Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Wings

You can certainly do this for whole chicken wings in air fryer too. The only difference would be that you’d probably need a bit more powder and the cook time would be longer as well. These aren’t nearly as popular probably because they look kinda’ funky and are harder to eat for sure.

That is how I would describe these. From there you can make them lemon pepper with seasonings, barbecue with sauce or we love teriyaki sauce too.

Can you use baking powder on air fryer wings?

Yep, that is what we are getting to. You can use a baggie and kinda’ toss them with it so it gets on there evenly, in a bowl works, or lay on a baking sheet and sprinkle on. The key is to not cake it on but make sure all sides are touched with it lightly as a sprinkle of sorts. Amount will vary slightly depending on how large your pieces are.

What does baking powder do to fried chicken wings?

It kinda’ kick starts the browning process of the skin. So yes you could otherwise get the outside crisp but this just turns the level up a bit from crunchy to CRUNCHY in a little less time. Just like deep frying! Now another variation in cook time is just how golden brown you want them to be. Don’t get irritated if timing isn’t exactly dead on, it always varies just a bit.

Air Fryer Chicken Wings No Sauce

Once they are done your choices are endless. You can leave as is and just serve with chicken wing dipping sauces or toss with just one. If you are looking for a low carb choice then you may choose neither. That is okay, you can season it right up with lots of ready made bottled YUMs like this one.

Air fryer chicken wings baking soda or baking powder

As I mentioned you need to ensure the skin is nice and dry before you start this process for best results. Start by rinsing pieces in a large bowl with cool water. Lay on a few paper towels and fold over. Gently press down to eliminate all the moisture off of the skin.

• Then preheat your air fryer to 380 degrees F for 5 minutes.
  • On a baking tray or plate, lay in a single layer and sprinkle baking powder on skin on both sides (if larger than normal you may need an extra 1/2 tbsp to coat both sides.
• Add seasonings or just salt and pepper on both sides too. Spray inside of air fryer basket with non stick spray and lay wings in a single layer. Close basket
• Cook for 20 minutes to 25 minutes total flipping over halfway thru time until internally they reach 165 degrees.
  • When time is up increase temp to 400 degrees and cook another 5 minutes to really crisp them up as brown as you want.
• After air frying chicken wings is done, brush or toss with hot sauce, or just sprinkle with garlic powder for the best game day appetizer.

If you are making multiple batches, set done pieces on a wire rack, set on top of cookie sheets and set on oven racks set to warm. Then just keep going in batches. You don’t want to overlap them or it won’t get as crispy.

If you do have any leftovers this is how to reheat chicken wings in air fryer so they are crispy once again. Yes you could bake chicken wings for just a bit under the broiler but this way is way faster and won’t heat up your entire house to do so.