The air fryer is perfect when you want to make better-for-you Buffalo Wings for just a few people. The air fryer takes them from a game day treat to something you can enjoy any day.
Yes, you can make delicious buffalo wings in the air fryer! Air fryer chicken wings are best when you need a smaller amount because you can’t fit as many as in the oven. It’s easy enough to do any day, and the wings get so nice and crispy.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Why Make Wings In The Air Fryer?
If you want to cook a smaller amount of wings, like enough for 2-3 people, then the air fryer is the way to go. You get crispy wings in no time without the hassle of deep-frying. Cook them, sauce them with a delicious homemade Buffalo sauce (or use store-bought), and you’ll be licking your fingers off in no time.
If you’re cooking for a crowd, then my absolute favorite way to cook wings is this Crispy Baked Chicken Wings recipe. Then you can toss those in your Buffalo wing sauce.
If you buy whole wings from the grocery store, here’s a tutorial for how to cut the wings into the pieces you are likely more familiar with from sports bars. Then it’s time to air fry them.
Ingredients
The ingredients are pretty simple for this buffalo wing recipe. You need your chicken wings along with some oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder for seasoning.
After the chicken is cooked, it gets tossed into that wonderful Buffalo sauce for the flavor you love. I make homemade sauce for mine with hot sauce and melted butter, but if you’ve got a bottle of your favorite from the store, that’s good too.
I suggest serving with some blue cheese dressing or Ranch dressing along with carrot and celery sticks.
How To Make Air Fryer Buffalo Wings
After you’ve cut the wings, preheat the air fryer to 360°F. Coat the wings in olive oil. You can either drizzle it on them and then rub it all over, or use an oil sprayer like this. Then season them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Put the wings into the air fryer basket in a single layer with the uglier-side-up. Why? You want the wings to finish cooking with their nicer-side-up so that the top side, the side you’re most likely to have facing up when serving, is more browned and crunchy. So you start with the ugly side facing up and then flip them after awhile. Make sense?
Cook them ugly-side-up for 12 minutes. Then flip them and cook for another 12 minutes. If you’re making your own Buffalo Sauce, now’s the time to do it.
After the second 12 minutes, increase the heat on the air fryer to 400°F and then cook them for another 6 minutes to get that really good crispy skin. During that last 6 minutes, put your sauce into a medium-sized bowl.
When the wings are done, transfer them to the bowl of sauce and toss them to coat. Serve immediately. Yum!
More Chicken Wing Recipes
You can browse our full collection of air fryer recipes, or try more of our chicken wing recipes below.
Air Fryer Buffalo Wings Recipe
The air fryer is perfect when you want to make better-for-you Buffalo Wings for just a few people. The air fryer takes them from a game day treat to something you can enjoy any day – guilt-free.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Instructions
- Remove chicken wings from refrigerator.
- Preheat air fryer to 360°F.
- Coat chicken on all sides with olive oil.
- Sprinkle on all sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Put chicken in a single layer in the air fryer basket, uglier-side-up. (Work in batches if you’re making extra.) Cook 12 minutes.
- Flip chicken wings and cook for another 12 minutes.
- Increase temperature to 400°F and cook until crisp and internal temperature on an instant read thermometer is 165°F, 5-6 more minutes.
- Put the Buffalo sauce into a medium-sized bowl.
- Remove chicken from basket and put in the bowl with the sauce. Toss to coat and serve immediately.
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This post originally appeared in September 2018 and was revised and republished in November 2024.
I just made these air-fried buffalo wings and they were AMAZING! My friend said they were the best chicken wings she’d ever had. Thanks.
Hello, is there any reason that the parcooking method wouldn’t work in the air fryer? Wondering if I can combine both methods from the site for an added crisp.