Salt and pepper wings in air fryer or baked in your oven are great! A cheap appetizer or dinner with crispy chicken skin. If you loved our air fryer wings recipe with dry rub, these are even easier with a punch of flavor.
This is all about simplicity really. Yes I do love a lot of flavor but you can choose to add that with difference sauces at the end instead. If you are having friends over or want to whip up a quick after school snack, wings salt and pepper air fryer style are great. (affiliate links present)
in Air Fryer
You could make in a Foodi with the attached lid and change seasonings too. Just use the temperature and timing below and you could add paprika or Old Bay seasoning too. The real deal is that you no longer have to turn on your oven and heat up your entire house to cook these to crispy!
with Frozen Wings
We are using fresh or defrosted here. If you wanted to make our air fryer frozen chicken wings this would be possible too. I would suggest that you cook for a few minutes first, then add the seasons so they stick. I will go over how this would be done in the oven too in just a bit if you really want to go that route.
This is how to bake frozen chicken wings is how to get them almost as crispy as these, but not quite. The most important step either way is to make sure they aren’t overlapping.
Should you put salt and pepper on chicken before cooking?
My suggestion is yes but that is up to you. In order to get the deepest flavors you would want to sprinkle some on when raw so it can stick to the skin and bake right on. If you wanted just a touch you could wait until they were cooked and then add at that time.
You see, a hot air machine circulates all the way around your meat and cannot get this done if one is on top of the other. You can see here how it should look in your basket. Whether yours is square, a circle or rectangle shape just move around so they have a bit of space in between.
Number three thing to remember is to spray the inside of your basket, or else they may stick. Even though there is a coating typically I always say to use an olive oil non stick spray. I know it suggests that you don’t in the instructions but seriously, it’s a must do. You may call them this. Maybe you are like huh??? Naked wings means they are essentially air fryer chicken recipes with no breading on the outside.
Ingredient Notes
- We used 12 wings on this go around that were fresh but defrosted/thawed would work the same way
- Just salt and black pepper was used, if you wanted to add other seasonings just sprinkle those on too
- Non stick olive oil spray is my favorite option but you could brush on avocado oil instead.
Sauces
Serve with sauces and diced green onions on top for a bit of color. If you want them to be VERY crispy, you can dust the outside with some cornstarch / potato starch to really dry. Then add white pepper, sea salt, etc… and air fry. And you need a few of our chicken wing dipping sauce ideas here when you serve them.
Some of these selections are cold and can be whisked together in a minute. Others you just add ingredients over medium heat to meld together. Allow to cool and then dunk them right in!
Gluten-free Option
Without flour or breading means these have lower calories and you can really taste the meat and seasonings. Without anything means that they are safe for those with celiac disease to enjoy. If you did want to add some type of light coating, follow our air fryer gluten free chicken wings recipe too.
If you have kids they love love love having a few dips served with it to make the meal fun. You can buy a few bottled varieties like teriyaki or barbecue or we have a few suggestions on homemade in that post below too. Go for a creamy and spicy together!
Fried
You can follow these steps but Deep Fry Chicken Wings in hot oil instead if you wanted to a golden brown. I am anti submerging in oil to cook any type of food for health and flavor reasons. I’d rather follow directions in recipe card below.
in Oven
We do have info on how long to cook wings in oven here and yes they will crisp but not like instructions below. These are beyond crunchy like you would get them at a bar with some beer y’all. I suggest if you are doubtful to try them both and see which is more wow for y’all. 😉
Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings Recipe
Equipment
- 1 air fryer
Ingredients
- 12 chicken wings
- salt and pepper, to coat
- 1/4 c butter, melted
Instructions
- Lay thawed chicken wings on paper towels and gently press down to remove the moisture from the outside of the skins.
- Melt butter. Put wings into a bowl and pour on top, toss to coat. Preheat air fryer to 390 degrees F for 5 minutes.
- Spray basket with non stick spray. Lay wings in basket without overlapping and sprinkle salt and pepper on all of them. Close basket and cook for total of 22 minutes (timing will vary depending on how large they are).
- Flip each piece over after 10 minutes, spray top with olive oil and salt and pepper the other side too. Continue air frying until both sides are as crisp as you'd like.
- ** If you want to brush on some sauce like teriyaki or bbq do so before the last 3 minutes so it can bake on to the skin.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What can you do with leftovers
When it comes to side dishes you can use the same pot after these are done, or before. A healthy choice is air fryer spaghetti squash served as is with butter or tossed with marinara for a low carb spaghetti type of dish.
The easiest thing is to just reheat chicken wings in air fryer the next day. It will fix that ewwww weirdness on the outside as they sit in the fridge. Get the skin crisped again and enjoy for lunch the next day! You can pull the meat off the bone and add into all sorts of recipes like a stir fry, casserole or our pressure cooker chicken and rice recipe.
You need to make sure the skin is dry! That is what is going to ensure that it gets as crispy as you want. Left with any moisture on the outside will not allow for that. Olive oil and seasonings will stick well after drying with a few paper towels first.
