24 hours, salted, covered and in the fridge.
Then thrown in the air fryer as is, cold, wet and slimy, 18 minutes, preheated to 400.
Simplest and easiest method possible, and it slaps harder than all the various, complicated things I've tried. Little honey, butter, white vinegar and black pepper in that Frank's, heated up and reduced 25% in the double boiler. Toss in your wings–covers them like glass. The crunch stands up to the sauce, staying dry and crispy, unlike other methods, which give the wings a superficial crispiness that appears superior until sauce becomes involved. The dry roasting preserves the textural integrity of the meat, unlike deep frying, which creates a pressurized barrier around meat, semi-blocking the passage of gases and over-steaming the meat from within, as the exterior becomes cauterized, causing further blocking. The convection component of air frying speeds up this passage of gases even more than a regular dry roast, further protecting the meat's structural integrity, while crisping up the skin nearly as well as deep frying–best of both worlds. Juicy meat falls right off the bone, and the fat under the crispy skin melts like butter. It just so happens that it's the easiest method of all–a lack of steps was certainly never my intention when setting out to find the best wing (not saying I've found it, but I might be getting closer…)
by gbgrogan
16 Comments
Whatever works best for you! I tend to keep things uncomplicated. I like to take the wings out of the package and season. They sit on the counter for about 30 mins until I feel like preheating the air fryer. Once preheated, they go in at 360F for 10 mins per side then hit them at 400F for a few mins per side to crisp them up. The big fat drums get a couple mins longer than the little flats. Toss in sauce and destroy.
Not my preferred method but from your description it sounds like you nailed it! I was thinking about the crisp level but you said it’s to your liking so keep on doing what you enjoy. Wings should be cooked to your preference
Even easier. Frozen wings. Air fryer 325 for 5 mins to thaw. Baking powder and seasoning. Air fryer 375 for 14-20 minutes. While that cooks, make sauce. Microwave some butter, add franks, sweet Thai chili sauce, Worcestershire, with optional jarlic. Toss and serve. Better than any chain and likely better than most local places. Half the effort was than half the cost.
I completely agree. Air fryer is the best choice for “healthy” wings.
Wash (rinse really) the skin, pat it dry.
Salt or a rub.
Way less calories than a traditional fried wing and just a delicious.
You can also toss them in a sauce after just the same.
air fry, then finish on the grill
If your gonna have them in the fridge for 24 hours anyways don’t cover them and let them air dry
I have done that before and they are good. However this method makes a big mess in my Ninja DT201 air fryer. If I lightly coat them with baking powder along with the spices there is much less splatter.
I can taste baking powder and I don’t like it
I dry brine, then sous vide them, then dry in the fridge, then cook on high temp in the convection oven. I image the convection oven is similar to an air fryer. The convection step is pretty quick (10-15 min) and high temperature. The dry brine step seasons the meat, tenderizes, and pulls out excess moisture. The sous vide and fridge steps gelatinize the skin and dry the outside. The meat is already nearly cooked by the sous vide step – the oven step is just to render the skin fat and crisp the wing. So you get crisp skin but a moist inside, all while baking. Yeah, it’s a lot more work than deep frying to try and get similar results. Still, the wings rock and get absolutely demolished whenever I serve them.
Baking powder always helps with crispiness.
Air fry or bake for healthier wings and yeah they come out pretty good.
If I want truly textbook, crispy wings, I will still deep fry over anything else. I agree it is more work and more mess, and definitely less healthy, but the final product is just perfection.
This is what I’ve been doing, I believe it’s called dry brining.
I just pull them out of the package a day or so before, longer if I can prepare that far ahead, season them and let sit uncovered in the fridge. I was using Laurie’s garlic salt but the little pieces of garlic would burn on the skin so now I just use regular salt.
There is a big difference between the dry brining and just throwing them in the air fryer straight from the package. I need to try other seasonings but plain salt has been so good I don’t want to experiment.
I don’t always need mine extra crispy as long as they don’t have rubbery skin. I like how they come out when I brush them with melted butter or olive oil before I air fry them.
I personally am not a fan of using plain Salt.
But i did work at a chicken franchise retailer in Australia when i was younger.
We coated our chicken with chicken salt.
Chicken Salt here in Aus is a big thing especially on our chips.
It takes the food to another level in flavour.
And it not as harsh as normal sea salt.
But health wise i guess all depends on how much salt you use.
How much of each ingredient do you use for the sauce?
Tbh Thats a really lengthy way of saying “I only know how to make decent wings one way”