Air Fryer Honey Soy Chicken Wings

These Air Fryer Chicken Wings are sweet, salty and savoury all in one with a perfectly crispy outside and tender chicken on the inside.  You won't believe these aren't deep fried they are so good.   Cooking chicken wings in the air fryer is perfect for creating fried chicken without the calories.

Recipe Highlights

• Perfectly crispy chicken with very little oil
• They cook fast with no marinating required!
• The glaze is super easy to make
• The Air Fryer cooks chicken wings super fast and makes them super crispy without being deep fried, like these Air Fryer Popcorn Prawns
• Sweet sticky, savoury chicken that's very moreish
• Perfect for Friday nights in front of the TV, Game Nights, and casual nights in
• Cooks in less time than the oven
• Easy to add spiciness or extra garlic for more punch

Check out my perfectly air fried marinated chicken breast which is great for make ahead meal prep!

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

• Chicken Wings:  defrosted chicken wings are best, but do make sure to pat the skin dry to remove as much as moisture as possible as moisture will prevent the skin from crisping up
• Flour and Baking Powder:  all purpose or plain flour is used to coat the chicken to help create a crispy skin.
• Salt:  adds seasoning  too the wings.  You can use sea salt, garlic ale, onion salt or even celery salt which will all provide slightly different flavourings.  Sea salt will provide the most seasoning.
• Honey:  I like to use pure natural honey with no other ingredients added.  I've also started recently buying Low GI Honey which has lower levels of sugar.  Alternatively you could use pure maple syrup, or sugar free maple syrup in the same quantities
• Garlic:  Nothing beats fresh garlic cloves however the garlic that comes in a jar or garlic paste will work just fine.
• Soy sauce:  I like to use regular soy sauce, however using light soy sauce or dak soy sauce will work fine as well.
• Sesame oil:  pure sesame oil is most commonly used, however toasted sesame oil is also great to use if you can find it.  Alternatively you could leave this out as the chicken skin will provide a type of oil to create a level of crispiness.   (the sesame oil does add an extra level of crispiness though)
• Rice wine vinegar:  This adds acidity and balance to the sweetness of the honey and saltiness of the say.  Alternatively you could use apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, miren (Japanese rice vinegar), or lemon or lime juice.

How To Make

1. Prepare Chicken Wings:  Wash and pat dry the chicken wings.  Toss chicken wings, all purpose flour, baking powder and table salt in a large mixing bowl, ensuring chicken is thoroughly coated, shaking off any excess flour.

2. Cook, turning halfway:  Cook the chicken wings for 16 minutes on 200 degrees C/400 degrees F, turning the chicken wings over at 8 minutes.

3. Prepare Glaze:  Meanwhile make the glaze my mincing the garlic cloves (if using fresh garlic, otherwise skip this step if using bottled garlic paste). 
4. Add minced garlic/garlic paste to a small pot along with honey, soy sauce, sesame seed oil and rice wine vinegar.  Cook for 1-2 minutes on medium heat, stirring continuously.

5. Glaze Chicken:  After 16 minutes total cooking, remove chicken wings out of the Air fryer and transfer to a mixing bowl. Coat chicken wings with the honey-garlic sauce.

6. Cook Again with  Glaze:  Place the chicken wings back into the Air fryer basket and cook for a final 5 minutes at the same temperature as before.
7. Serve:  Remove chicken wings from Air fryer and place on a serving dish.  Top with optional sesame seeds and sliced green onion.

Check out these Honey Soy and Garlic Chicken Rice Bowls for another quick and easy weeknight dinner.

Recipe Tips

• Skipping the flour and baking powder:  if you are pressed for time, don't have these ingredients, or can't be bothered, you can skip the flour and baking soda.  These are nice to haves and do end up creating a crispier chicken skin, however the chicken will still crisp up nicely on its own without baking powder or flour thanks to the oils in the chicken wings skin.
• Preheating Air Fryer:  This is really a matter or preference.  I tend not to worry about preheating my air fryer as I'm a little impatient.  However if you do preheat your air fryer, this could reduce the cooking time.
• Arranging Wings:  Depending on the size of your air fryer basket, you may need to cook in batches.  The important thing is to make sure you cook the wings so that they are not touching and the air can freely circulate to create super crispy golden crunchy wings.

• Add sauce halfway and after:  Brushing sauce onto the wings twice boosts the flavour.  Brushing the glaze on, halfay during the cooking process allows flavours to soak in and then again after cooking adds another layer and enhances the flavours that have developed during cooking.
• Turning Wings:   make sure to turn the wings over at the halfway point to ensure even cooking.  Cooking for the entire time on one side only will result in overcooking on one side and under cooking on the other side.

How To Reheat Chicken Wings In the Air Fryer

Its easy to reheat chicken wings in the air fryer.  Depending on your air fryer you may or may not need to pre heat before placing the wings in.  I tend not to worry about preheating the air fryer and just lay the wings flat in the basket, without touching.  I reheat for 3 to 4 minutes one side, then turn over and cook for the same time on the other side.

Making Double

Making a bigger batch of air fryer chicken wings with sweet and savoury flavours is as easy as doubling the recipe.  Twice the number of wings and double the ingredients for the glaze.  Make sure to single layer the wings in the air fryer basket as opposed to being tempted to just throwing them all in there to cook at one.

Cooking wings in a single layer will result in the best most crispy flavourful result.

What to Serve with Chicken Wings

• Air Fryer Garlic Bread
• Air Fryer Potato Wedges

Cooking wings in the air fryer is quicker and you get an all round better result. Even if you have to do multiple batches it often ends up being quicker that using the oven.  It's a fail proof way to ensure you get crispy skin and tender juicy chicken every time.

More Air Fryer Recipes

• Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
• Air Fryer Chicken Drumsticks
• Air Fryer Turkey Meatballs
• Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets
• All Air Fryer Recipes

Air Fryer Honey Soy Chicken Wings

Kim MorrisKim

These Air Fryer Chicken Wings deliver sweet, salty, and savory goodness with a crispy exterior and tender inside-so delicious, you won't believe they're not deep-fried!

4.50 from 6 votes

Print Save Saved!

Course Appetizer

Servings 10 wings

Calories 122 kcal

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 23 minutes mins

Total Time 28 minutes mins

Ingredients

 

½x1x2x3x

• ▢ 10 medium Chicken wings
• ▢ ¼ cup All purpose flour
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Sea salt
• ▢ ¼ cup Honey + 2 tablespoons
• ▢ 4 cloves Garlic
• ▢ 2 tablespoons Soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoons Sesame oil
• ▢ 2 tablespoons Rice wine vinegar

Optional

• ▢ 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• ▢ 2 tablespoons green onion

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

• Wash and pat dry the chicken wings. Toss chicken wings, all purpose flour, baking powder and table salt in a large mixing bowl, making sure that chicken is thoroughly coated.
• Shake off any excess flower into the mixing bowl and place each chicken wing into the Air fryer tray. If your air fryer is small you may need to do multiple batches to avoid overcrowding in the air fryer basket as this will affect the cooking and crispiness of the wings.
• Cook the chicken wings for 16 minutes on 200 degrees C/400 degrees F, turning the chicken wings over at 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile make the glaze my mincing the garlic cloves (if using fresh garlic, otherwise skip this step if using bottled garlic paste). Add minced garlic/garlic paste to a small pot along with honey, soy sauce, sesame seed oil and rice wine vinegar. Cook for 1-2 minutes on medium heat, stirring continuously.
• After 16 minutes total cooking, remove chicken wings out of the Air fryer and transfer to a mixing bowl. Coat chicken wings with the honey-garlic sauce.
• Place the chicken wings back into the Air fryer basket and cook for a final 5 minutes at the same temperature as before.
• Remove chicken wings from Air fryer and place on a serving dish. Top with optional sesame seeds and sliced green onion.

Notes

1. Nutritional information is for one chicken wing only.
2. Chicken Wings: defrosted chicken wings are best, but do make sure to pat the skin dry to remove as much as moisture as possible as moisture will prevent the skin from crisping up
3. Flour and Baking Powder: all purpose or plain flour is used to coat the chicken to help create a crispy skin.
4. Salt: adds seasoning  too the wings.  You can use sea salt, garlic ale, onion salt or even celery salt which will all provide slightly different flavourings.  Sea salt will provide the most seasoning.
5. Honey: I like to use pure natural honey with no other ingredients added.  I've also started recently buying Low GI Honey which has lower levels of sugar.  Alternatively you could use pure maple syrup, or sugar free maple syrup in the same quantities
6. Garlic: Nothing beats fresh garlic cloves however the garlic that comes in a jar or garlic paste will work just fine.
7. Soy sauce: I like to use regular soy sauce, however using light soy sauce or dak soy sauce will work fine as well.
8. Sesame oil: pure sesame oil is most commonly used, however toasted sesame oil is also great to use if you can find it.  Alternatively you could leave this out as the chicken skin will provide a type of oil to create a level of crispiness.   (the sesame oil does add an extra level of crispiness though)
9. Rice wine vinegar: This adds acidity and balance to the sweetness of the honey and saltiness of the say.  Alternatively you could use apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, miren (Japanese rice vinegar), or lemon or lime juice.
10.  

Nutrition

Calories: 122kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 7gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gSugar: 9g

Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners. Calories have been calculated for your convenience using My Fitness Pal and are based on the ingredients listed in the recipe card.

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