How To Fry Chicken Wings At Home

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Go ahead and splurge. Deep fry those chicken wings. Hereโ€™s a handy guide showing you how.

Deep-frying is the standard way that wings are cooked in restaurants. While we stand by ourselves totally when we say our method for baking chicken wings is just as crispy and way easier, if you really want to go for it, youโ€™ve gotta deep-fry restaurant-style.

Itโ€™s actually not very hard to do. If you already own a deep-fryer, well, Iโ€™m guessing you know how to use it. If not, you can follow the instructions below for frying wings using your stovetop with a large pot, some oil, and a candy thermometer.

Plate of fried chicken wings.

Video: Frying Chicken Wings

Do I Need To Dredge Chicken Wings In Flour?

Iโ€™ve kept my fried chicken wings recipe as simple as possible, so I skip the flour coating. I think the wings get plenty crispy without that extra step, but some people love it. 

If you wanted to dredge them first, you could mix up about half a cup of all-purpose flour with a couple teaspoons of seasonings. Try a combination of garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika or use one of our fabulous seasoning blends. Toss your wings in the flour mixture before putting them in the hot oil.

Or, be like me, and add the flavor at the end with a great Buffalo sauce.

Tips For Frying Wings

  • Use an oil with a high smoke point. Youโ€™ll need the oil heated to 350-375ยฐF, so make sure youโ€™re working with an oil that can handle that temperature. Vegetable or canola oil work well, or try peanut oil.
  • Work in batches. If youโ€™re making a large amount of wings, avoid the temptation to cook them all as quickly as possible. The temperature of the oil drops when the wings are added, so adding too many at once will affect the cooking time. Plus, you want them to have some space to cook evenly.
  • Keep them crisp and warm. Transfer the chicken wings to a wire rack on a baking sheet after frying. If working in batches, you can keep them warm in a 200ยฐF oven.

How To Fry Chicken Wings

Hereโ€™s how to deep-fry chicken wings at home without a home deep-fryer:

Step #1

In a large pot, pour in 1 and 1/2 inches of vegetable or canola oil. Attach candy thermometer so itโ€™s in the oil, but not touching the pot. Heat on medium to 350ยฐF.

Pour oil in pan

Step #2

Cut 4 wings into drumettes and flaps, if they arenโ€™t already cut. Learn how to cut wings here. Then, once oil is heated, use tongs to lower wings carefully into the oil.

Place wings in oil

The oil may sputter and spatter. Be careful. The oil temperature will drop when the wings are added.

Keep temperature of oil stable.

Step #3

Place a maximum of 8 wing pieces in oil at one time. Try to keep oil at 350-375ยฐF or if temperature keeps rising, take off heat to a cool element for 1 minute. Monitor.

Cook wings.

Step #4

Flip wings occasionally until well-browned and internal temperature as read on an instant read thermometer is at 165ยบF, about 8-10 minutes.

Check the internal temperature of the wings.

Step #5

Use tongs to remove wings from oil. Transfer them to wire rack on a baking sheet or a plate with a paper towel to remove excess oil.

Place done chicken wings on paper towel

Step #6

Toss with sauce.

Toss chicken wings with sauce.

Step #7

Eat!

Fried Chicken Wings

More Chicken Wing Recipes

Podcast Episode About Frying Chicken Wings

Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:

Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.

Print

How to Fry Chicken Wings at Home

  • Author: Christine Pittman
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 1 serving 1x
  • Category: Appetizer
  • Method: Deep Fry
  • Cuisine: American

DESCRIPTION

Go ahead and splurge. Deep fry those chicken wings. Hereโ€™s a handy guide showing you how.


Ingredients

  • Vegetable or canola oil, enough to fill a pot by 1 and 1/2 inches
  • 4 chicken wings
  • Sauce (like Buffalo)

Instructions

  1. In a large pot, pour inย 1 and 1/2 inches of vegetable or canola oil. Attach candy thermometer so itโ€™s in the oil, but not touching the pot. Heat on medium to 350ยฐF.
  2. Meanwhile, cut wings into two pieces each. Learn how here.
  3. Use tongs to carefully lower the 8 wing pieces into the oil. The oil temperature may drop when the wings are added. Try to keep oil at 350-375ยฐF. If it drops too low, increase heat. If temperature rises, reduce heat. If it keeps rising, take the pot off of heat and transfer to a cool element for 1 minute. Monitor.
  4. Flip wings occasionallyย until well browned and the chickenโ€™s internal temperature reaches 165ยฐ F on an instant-read thermometer, 8-10 minutes.ย Place on a plate with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
  5. Toss with sauce. Serve immediately.

Love this recipe? Iโ€™d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know theyโ€™ll love it as well!

This post originally appeared in January 2016 and was revised and republished in October 2022.

How To Fry Chicken Wings At Home

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About Christine

Christine is the founder of TheCookful and also of her blog COOKtheSTORY. Her passion is explaining the WHY behind cooking โ€“ Why should you cook things a certain way; Will they turn out if you do it differently; What are the pros and cons of the method? Learn more about Christine, her cookbooks, and her podcast.

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42 Comments

  1. The fry time was perfect. I cooked flats for eight minutes, drumettes for ten minutes, turning half way. I used vegetable shortening. I also set the wings out for a half hour before cooking, so they would be about room temperature before frying. I used a wooden spoon to determine the oil temperature.






  2. I am loving this website. Such a wide variety of excellent recipes, tips and techniques.
    My grandson has a growing interest in making chicken wings at home so I was excited to find the free download of Chicken Wings, Fully. Unfortunately it seems the links to the recipes are not active in the PDF download. I think he would really get a kick out of trying some of these recipes. Is there another file 9r destination available?
    I appreciate your prompt reply and I appreciate all you do.
    Thanx, Greg Preston

    1. Greg, I’m so happy to hear that you’re loving our site! I apologize about the pdf. That is actually quite old and the links were removed for a variety of reasons. The only thing I can think of is that we do have a chicken wing section of the site that has some of those still remaining, it is here https://thecookful.com/category/ingredient/chicken/wings/ If I think of anything else that could help, I’ll let you know. Thank you for the kind comment!

  3. I like this recipe, i do the same thing except I use a bit of oil, lemon peper and paprika as a mixture in biwl as a topping.
    Cheers






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