My air fryer finally nailed chicken wings after I changed one thing

I spent three weeks trying different temps and times for frozen wings and they always came out dry or rubbery. Last Sunday I tried patting them dry with paper towels and tossing them in a tablespoon of cornstarch before cooking at 380 for 25 minutes, and they were crispy like a restaurant. Has anyone else found a weird trick that made a big difference for a specific food?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_joel13d ago

See, I gotta disagree a little bit here... frozen wings are tricky but 380 for 25 minutes seems like a long time to me. I tried that exact method with the cornstarch and they came out kinda chalky on the outside, not crispy like I wanted. If you're starting from frozen, preheating the air fryer to 400 and doing 15 minutes, then flipping and doing another 10-12 works way better in my experience. The cornstarch trick is solid for fresh wings but frozen already has that ice layer that messes with the coating. Also patting frozen wings dry is basically impossible since they're already wet from the freeze, so I just skip that step entirely.

pat36013d ago

Wait, you're getting chalky results? That's wild because cornstarch is my secret weapon for EVERYTHING in the air fryer now. I had the SAME problem with frozen wings though - they'd come out soggy or the coating would just slide right off. I found that if I toss them in the cornstarch and then let them sit on a paper towel lined plate in the fridge for like 10 minutes before cooking, it soaks up some of that extra moisture and the coating actually sticks. Total game changer for me.