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These crispy, delicious Lemon Butter Air Fryer Chicken Wings couldn’t be any easier to make!
We are loving our new Air Fryer – and these easy Lemon Butter Air Fryer Chicken Wings are sure to be on regular rotation at our house.
These Lemon Butter Air Fryer Chicken Wings cook up super crispy on the outside, and super juicy on the inside with no deep frying required!
How to make extra crispy Lemon Butter Air Fryer Chicken Wings?
We started by marinating twelve fresh, large, whole chicken wings in a zipper-seal bag along with the juice of one lemon and some kosher salt. The acid from the lemon tenderizes the chicken, while the salt helps open the pores of the skin, allowing the lemon juice to penetrate the skin.
A few other notes:
- We highly recommend cooking the wings whole, then cutting them into wingettes and drumettes before serving. This help keeps the wings extra juicy.
- Along with that, we strongly recommend using fresh (not frozen) chicken wings. When buying fresh, you can see the quality of the meat much easier. Also, with frozen, you’ll never know if the chicken has been kept at a steady frozen temperature, or if it has freezer burn.
After one to two hours of marinating, preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees F.
Remove the wings from the lemon juice marinade and pat dry, then place the chicken wings in a bowl. Pour melted butter over the wings, then season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Place the parchment paper circle in the bottom of your air fryer basket, then lay half of your chicken wings in the basket, wing tip up. Cook for 12 minutes, flip and brush with melted butter, and cook for an additional 13 minutes.
Remove the cooked wings to a baking sheet and keep warm in an oven, preheated to 250 degrees. Repeat with the rest of the wings. Before serving, cut into wingettes and drumettes.
These Lemon Butter Air Fryer Chicken Wings are delicious served as-is, but you could also eat them with your favorite dipping sauce, or hot sauce sprinkled on top. Don’t forget the napkins!
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Lemon Butter Air Fryer Chicken Wings
These crispy, delicious Lemon Butter Air Fryer Chicken Wings couldn’t be any easier to make!
Ingredients
12 large fresh whole chicken wings
Juice from one lemon
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 sticks butter, melted
Instructions
Place chicken wings in a gallon zip lock bag and squeeze in the lemon juice and one teaspoon of salt. Seal and lay flat in the fridge one hour, flip the bag and time one more hour for a total of two hours.
Heat air fryer for 15 minutes on 400 degrees F.
Drain wings and pat dry and place half in a large bowl.
Pour over half the melted butter and toss with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, half the pepper and half the garlic powder. The butter will congeal when it hits the cold chicken, don’t be concerned with this. Do not discard the remaining butter left in the bowl.
Place a parchment circle in the basket and lay in half the wings, wing tip up, and time 12 minutes.
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F to keep first batch of wings hot or simply serve in two batches.
After 12 minutes, flip, brush with butter left in bowl. If it congealed, melt in a microwave safe bowl. Sprinkle the tops with a little salt and cook for 13 minutes. Keep warm in oven.
Repeat with remaining chicken, butter, salt, pepper and garlic and serve with the first batch.
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Gotta say, I recently “inherited” an air fryer and I love it. Definitely going to try this recipe, they look so good! We love lemon pepper wings. If you have not tried your air fryer for baked potatoes yet, definitely do that. We had that for supper last night and WOW. Crispy skin, creamy inside. So good.
Thanks for the suggestion Raquel!
THESE SOUND REALLY GOOD. CAN THEY BE COOKED IN A REGULAR OVEN FOR THE SAME EFFECT? I DON’T HAVE AN AIR FRYER.
Hi Lisa – Absolutely! An air fryer is basically a small convection oven so spreading the wings on a baking sheet and roasting them at 400 degrees F should give you similar results.