Air Fryer Honey Garlic Wings

Air fryer honey garlic wings are so lipsmackin’ good! With a few simple ingredients and and easy hands-off cooking, you get to eat these crisp, sticky wings coated in a honey garlic sauce. The perfect appetizer for your game day party and every other occasion!

Do try these hot honey lemon pepper wings too, also made in the air fryer.

Raise your hand if your absolute favourite appetizer in the world is chicken wings. And chicken wings dunked in a sweet and spicy sauce? Mmm! I can devour a whole batch of these tiny honey garlic wings, no kidding!

Ingredients

Note: exact quantities are mentioned in the recipe card further down.

• Chicken wings, separated into drumettes and flats – You can do this yourself (it’s easy), but I prefer to buy them pre-separated to save time. If you’re at the butcher’s, ask them to separate the wings for you. If you want to do it yourself, here’s helpful Youtube video.
• Light olive oil – sub with any light tasting oil like avocado.
• Cornflour – can be subbed with potato starch.
• Baking powder – NOT baking soda!
• Sea salt

Honey Garlic Sauce

• Butter, salted
• Minced garlic – for super fresh garlicky flavor, use raw garlic cloves only. A garlic press comes in handy to mince a few cloves.
• Chilli flakes – for a touch of heat. They balance the sweetness of the honey.
• Black pepper, freshly ground – again, to balance the sweetness and kick things up a notch.
• Water
• Honey – use clear, runny honey

How to prep and air fry the chicken

• Spray the chicken all over with the olive oil. If you want to control the amount of oil, measure two tablespoons in a bowl and brush on the oil instead of spraying it.
• Combine the cornflour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Dip each wing in it lightly and shake off the excess.
• Preheat the air fryer to 375 Fahrenheit and set the timer to 30 minutes. Place the wings in the basket in a single layer. Make sure they don’t overlap.
• Flip the wings halfway through cooking to ensure even crispness.
• Once the time is up, take them out in a large bowl and pour the honey garlic sauce all over. Use a spatula or fork to turn the pieces so the sauce covers all the pieces. (See how to make the sauce below)
• Optional: once the chicken wings are coated in the sauce, you can pop them back in the air fryer for about 2 minutes at 375 F for even more crispiness.

How to make the honey garlic sauce

While the chicken is air frying, make the sauce.

• Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the garlic. Cook on low heat for 2 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients: chilli flakes, black pepper, water, and honey. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the sauce is thick but not still pourable, not sludgy.

Top Tips

• The most important tip to making crisp wings is to start with dry chicken. If you’ve washed the chicken, and it has moisture, the cornflour will cake the wings. Something we don’t want. So, take a bunch of paper towels and pat dry the wings thoroughly.
• A light dusting of cornflour is enough. If the cornflour is piled on too heavily, it will take longer to cook and brown in the air fryer. We don’t want remnants of a pasty looking white coating on the wings when they come out of the fryer.
• Do flip them the wings halfway through the cooking process for greater crispiness.
• Honey garlic wings are best served fresh. However, if you do have leftovers (how?), reheat them in a preheated air fryer at 350 Fahrenheit for about 3 minutes.
• Totally optional: add a teaspoon soy sauce to the honey garlic sauce if you want richer, umami flavors.
• For less sweetness, decrease the amount of honey and increase the butter.

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