Air fryer wings were always rubbery until I tried cornstarch

I kept making chicken wings in my air fryer and they came out with this weird rubbery skin no matter how long I cooked them. Saw someone on here mention tossing them in a tablespoon of cornstarch before seasoning and I figured why not try it. Did 12 wings at 380 for 25 minutes last night and the skin was actually crispy all over. Has anyone else found a trick that fixed something they were doing wrong for months?

2 comments

2 Comments

calebrivera5d ago

You ever notice how most cooking fails come down to skipping one stupid simple step? Same thing happened to me with roasting vegetables. I'd toss them in oil and salt, they'd come out all sad and soggy. Then someone told me to pat them dry with a paper towel first. Like, that's it. That's all it took. Cornstarch is the same idea, it's just pulling moisture off the surface so the heat can actually crisp things up instead of steaming them. I swear, half the stuff we mess up in the kitchen is just secret moisture management. It's like life in general, you know? You're banging your head against a problem for months, and the fix is some boring obvious thing you overlooked the whole time.

wyatta304d ago

Might want to check the cornstarch thing. Cornstarch doesn't really pull moisture off, it actually absorbs moisture and then gets crispy when it hits the heat. If you just pat dry your vegetables and skip the cornstarch, they'll still turn out pretty good. But that cornstarch step is what gives you that restaurant-style crunch.