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Crispy Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Wings

ByAlex Langdon Hours Updated on
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These super saucy, crispy air fryer buffalo chicken wings combine for the perfect amount of heat, flavor, and mess. With just 5 minutes of prep, and 16 minutes in the air fryer per batch, you can enjoy this classic game day appetizer in no time.

Super saucy, crispy, air fryer buffalo wings served in a pile on a white plate.

What To Expect

  • Great for: Game days, cookouts, and pizza nights.
  • Ready in: 5 minutes of prep, and 16 minutes in the air fryer per batch.
  • Makes: 12 wings
  • Flavor profile: Spicy, buttery, and packed with that classic buffalo flavor.
  • How to make it: Coat the wings in flour, air fry them, then toss them in our 3-ingredient buffalo sauce.

We hope you love this recipe!

If you give it a try, please let us know what you think by leaving a rating and review. We read and reply to every single comment!

Why This Recipe Works

We have enjoyed many buffalo wings. And through that vigorous testing, we’ve determined there are three major requirements for a good buffalo wing:

  1. Crispy skin on the outside, tender meat on the inside.
  2. Just the right amount of heat – spicy, but not too spicy.
  3. The messier the sauce, the better.

In addition, we tested out a few methods when developing this recipe and learned that air frying produced the best results, versus baking or shallow-frying. Here are the key takeaways from our experiment:

  • Air frying creates less mess than frying, which means less to clean up later.
  • The air fryer creates a perfectly even crisp on the wings, but doesn’t dry out the meat.
  • The wings were less greasy than when we fried them (plus, they’re healthier without all the oil!)
  • Baking wings just doesn’t give you that same fried-bar-food texture and flavor and ultimately leads to a disappointing texture.

Key Ingredients 

There are three main components needed for making crispy chicken wings: the wings, the flour, and the sauce. Here’s how we make ours:

  • Chicken wings – raw and thawed.
  • Flour mixture – flour, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, black pepper.
  • Buffalo sauce – butter, Frank’s Red Hot, and ranch dressing creates the perfect homemade wing sauce.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How To Make Air Fryer Buffalo Wings

Thanks to our handy-dandy air fryer, making crispy buffalo chicken wings is surprisingly easy. Here’s what you need to know: 

  1. Toss the chicken wings in seasoned flour.
  2. Cook the wings in the air fryer.
  3. Make our simple 3-ingredient buffalo sauce.
  4. Toss the wings in buffalo sauce and serve!

Expert Tips

  • If you are making a lot of wings and need to do multiple batches in your air fryer, keep the cooked wings warm  by placing them on a greased sheet pan in the oven at its lowest temp.
  • Be sure to spray the bottom of the air fryer basket before every batch so the wings don’t stick. You don’t want to lose any of that crispy outer layer!
  • Don’t sauce the wings until you’re ready to serve them. The longer they sit in the sauce, the less crispy they’ll be. 
  • Serve with ranch, blue cheese, carrots, and celery for the classic restaurant experience. And to help cool anyone’s mouth down when they can’t handle the heat!
A plate of crispy air fryer buffalo chicken wings that are drenched in sauce and served with ranch.

Serving Suggestions

Buffalo wings are a classic game day snack for a reason. You just have to have them. Here are some of our other must-have game day recipes:

Air Fryer Chicken Wings FAQs

For an air fryer at 400 degrees, you’ll want to cook chicken wings for 16 minutes flipping halfway through.

The buffalo sauce goes on the wings after air frying. This allows for the wings to get crispy while cooking and then get tossed in sauce.

Yes, the flour helps the wings to crisp while cooking. 

If your wings aren’t crispy you may have overfilled your air fryer. For crispy wings, they need to be cooked in a single layer while not touching one another. Another reason for not crispy wings is letting them sit too long in the sauce. As soon as the wings are sauced, they will slowly start losing their crispiness as the sauce soaks in.

A saucy, messing buffalo chicken wing being dipped into a small bowl of ranch with the ranch overflowing.

More Game Day Finger Foods

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We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex

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Buffalo wings on a plate.

Crispy Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Wings

Nicole & Alex Langdon
These super saucy, crispy air fryer buffalo chicken wings combine for the perfect amount of heat, flavor, and mess. With just 5 minutes of prep, and 16 minutes in the air fryer per batch, you can enjoy this classic game day appetizer in no time.
5 from 3 votes
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Total Time 21 minutes
Course Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 12 wings
Calories 159 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
 
 

  • 12 chicken wings uncooked

Seasoned Flour

  • ¾ cup flour
  • 1½ tablespoons ground red cayenne pepper
  • ¾ tablespoon garlic powder
  • ¾ tablespoon onion powder
  • ¾ teaspoon paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Buffalo Sauce

  • ¾ cup Frank's Red Hot
  • 4½ tablespoons butter melted
  • 1½ tablespoons ranch dressing

Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, and pepper.
  • Lightly grease air fryer basket with cooking spray and preheat to 400 degrees.
  • Toss chicken wings in seasoned flour to fully coat. Gently shake off excess flour, then cook in a single layer in the air fryer (working in batches if needed) for 16 minutes, flipping halfway through.
  • To make the buffalo sauce, combine melted butter, Frank's Red Hot, and ranch dressing in a medium bowl. Microwave for about 30 seconds, then whisk until fully combined.
  • Toss cooked wings in buffalo sauce and serve immediately.
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Video

Notes

Keeping the wings warm: If you are making a lot of wings and need to do multiple batches in your air fryer, keep the cooked wings warm  by placing them on a greased sheet pan in the oven at its lowest temp.
Spray the basket: Be sure to spray the bottom of the air fryer basket before every batch so the wings don’t stick.
Crispy wings: Don’t sauce the wings until you’re ready to serve them. The longer they sit in the sauce, the less crispy they’ll be.
Serving suggestions: Serve with ranch, blue cheese, carrots, and celery for the classic restaurant experience. And to help cool anyone’s mouth down when they can’t handle the heat!

Nutrition

Serving: 1wingCalories: 159kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 10gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 568mgPotassium: 100mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 226IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 10mgIron: 1mg
Like this recipe?Please leave a review below! We read and respond to every single comment.

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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Classic Comfort Foods Made Easy

Learn the 4 tips & tricks we use in our kitchen every day to make delicious meals, stress-free.

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As a kid, Alex was deemed the pickiest eater ever. That was at least, until he learned how to cook. While he always enjoyed cooking and eating good food growing up, the definition of good food was just really limited. Alex’s world of food quickly expanded in college as a way to get to know new friends. Now he’s constantly looking forward to finding new recipes and cuisines to try.

Alex is a mechanical engineer by degree, but a food blogger by reality. Even though engineering isn’t his day to day anymore, Alex has carried over many lessons learned from the engineering world to The Candid Cooks. With a very detail oriented, analytical mind, Alex thrives in the amount of data, science, and experimenting that comes with both cooking and running a website.

When Alex isn’t cooking or working on the blog, his favorite hobbies include playing soccer, running, hiking, reading a good book, or getting lost in a video game. Alex loves baking bread of all sorts, which is probably why pizza is one of his favorite foods to both make and eat!

5 from 3 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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2 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    These wings were a hit at my Super Bowl party! The sauce is so delicious and the air fryer/seasonings made them perfectly crispy.

    Reply