Easy Air Fryer Chicken Wings Recipe

These air fryer chicken wings are the best and super simple to make! And with just two ingredients, you can throw together a tasty Buffalo wing sauce for a quick and easy take on everyone's favorite chicken wings.

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Love a classic Buffalo wing but dread using a deep fryer? These air fryer Buffalo wings are so quick and easy you'll be making them for everything from an easy appetizer to a quick weeknight dinner to a game day party.

Many air fryer wing recipes call for brining the chicken, or marinating, or cooking at multiple temperatures. What makes this air fryer chicken wings recipe so easy?

I skip everything and just put the chicken wings in the air fryer and "fry" them until the skin is crispy. That's it! There's no need for multiple steps or all that oil you need to deep fry.

Like my crispy smoked chicken wings, you can eat them plain if you like. But having grown up near Buffalo, I'm partial to traditional Buffalo wing sauce when the wings are fried. And I keep it simple with a 2-ingredient wing sauce recipe (or a bottled keto Buffalo sauce to save even more time.)

The only changes I make from the traditional Buffalo chicken wings recipe are to air fry them instead of deep-frying---and to serve them with ranch dip instead of blue cheese dressing for dipping. My easy ranch dressing is a great alternative to blue cheese if you're avoiding dairy.

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How to make wings in an air fryer

If your wings are whole, use a heavy knife to cut them through the joint and separate the wings into drumettes and wingettes. Also, trim the wings by cutting off the tips. Pat the wings dry with a paper towel and place them in the fryer as is (no oil or salt and pepper).

One of the keys to making crispy chicken wings in the air fryer is making sure you place them in a single layer in the air fryer basket---so they are not touching and the air can get all the way around them. If you want to add a second layer, use a double layer rack (like in the photo above) so the air can flow between the layers.

Depending on the size of your air fryer and the size of the crowd you're feeding, you may need to cook your chicken wings in batches to make sure they get a nice crispy skin.

How long to cook chicken wings

In my air fryer, it takes a total cook time of about 30 minutes to get the wings good and crispy. I cook them for 15 to 20 minutes, flip the wings over and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes until they are browned.

Pro tip: Don't have an air fryer or need to cook a big batch? Make crispy oven-fried wings by cooking them on a baking sheet with an oven-safe rack so the air can circulate all the way around them. Bake until browned and crispy, about 45 to 55 minutes.

Because you are not deep frying them, your crispy wings can go right into a bowl to toss with the Buffalo sauce.

How to make Buffalo sauce

The way I learned to make Buffalo wing sauce is super simple. And it takes just one substitution to make it paleo and Whole30-compliant. Traditional Buffalo sauce has just two ingredients---butter and hot sauce.

I substitute ghee for the butter and use a hot sauce that has just peppers, vinegar, water, salt and garlic as the ingredients (Frank's red hot sauce is my personal favorite). This recipe is keto diet friendly with just 1 gram of net carbs per serving.

It's just a matter of melting the ghee and stirring in the hot sauce before you toss in the wings.