I’m not particular when it comes to cooking my chicken wings. Baked, deep-fried, grilled, it makes no difference to me. As long as I’m eating wings I’m one happy guy! During the week, though, if I want wings for lunch I gotta go with a technique that gets wings done with minimum fuss so I can get back to work. That usually means air frying them. I prefer to start with fresh wings, but sometimes they just can’t be found, so I grab some out of the freezer. This is my go-to method. This is how to cook frozen wings in an air fryer.
It’s really easy
This is not a complicated process. There’s nothing fancy about cooking frozen wings in an air fryer. No defrosting. Just cook them up a bit, season them, finish the cooking and sauce them. I sometimes also add more seasoning at the end.
Wing selection
Frozen wings come ‘pumped’. That means they are injected with a broth-like solution that plumps them up and keeps them juicy after cooking. Most frozen turkeys come the same way so don’t let the words ‘contains chicken broth’ scare you off.
I prefer sections when I buy frozen wings. Drumettes and flats, separated. Whole wings are fine, but they’re a bit harder to put into a small air fryer without them overlapping. You don’t want your wings to overlap, you want nice even cooking.
Seasoning
I like to season my wings with a light hand at first. I don’t want the seasoning to burn in the air fryer. So I add a little after the wings have cooked just a bit. When they are done I can add more, along with sauce if I’m using it.
I usually use salt and pepper for my seasoning, but I like store-bought ones too. If I want to make a mix at home, my fire-eater seasoning is my favorite.
Do not add the seasoning when the wings are still fully frozen. It’ll just roll right off the wings.
Saucing
You can use any sauce you want, of course. For homemade Buffalo-style sauces, I’m a big fan of my copycat’s of Hooter’s medium and hot wing sauces.
Dipping
Blue cheese dressing or my copycat of Wingstop’s ranch dressing make for great dipping sauces for your air-fried wings.
Cleaning up
I wipe my air fryer basket out after each ‘fry’. Every few cooks I’ll put the basket into the dishwasher for a good cleaning. But, I never put it directly into the dishwasher without wiping it out first. I don’t want all of that chicken grease in my dishwasher or my pipes. Check your air fryer’s cleaning recommendations for further information about cleaning your particular model.
It’s also easy to make great wings in a convection oven!
How To Cook Frozen Wings in an Air Fryer
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 wing pieces frozen, a combination of flats and drummies
- Your favorite wing seasoning
- Your favorite wing sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 400 F.
- Add wings to the fryer basket and cook for 10 minutes. Do not overlap the wings. Try to not let them touch each other or the sides of the basket so that they cook evenly.
- Use tongs to remove the wings to a bowl. Sprinkle with your wing seasoning and toss to coat.
- Return to the air fryer and continue cooking another 10 minutes or until the wings are golden brown.
- Remove from the air fryer. Toss with more seasoning and/or sauce and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate and will not include any store-bought wing sauce or seasoning nutritional values.
